58 Birthday celebrations 过生日
大家好, it’s great to see all of you here for today’s episode of Growing up with Chinese. 欢迎大家收看今天的成长汉语.
Now the day everyone has been waiting for has finally arrived, it’s 兰兰’s birthday. And we’ve been invited to her party along with Mike, 小明 and their buddies. 小明 has even had his hair done for the big event, so to speak. So without further ado*2*3, let’s put on our party hats, and go join the fun.
同学：兰兰，生日快乐。
兰兰：谢谢，谢谢。快请进！
小明、麦克：兰兰，生日快乐。同学：哇噻，兰兰，你今天真够漂亮的。就跟小公主似的。
兰兰：哈哈，谢谢你。
兰兰：小明，我看你今天俨然就是一个大明星啊。太帅啦！
小明：那当然了。兰兰，今天是你的生日嘛。这是我在理发店设计的发型。怎么样？ 酷吧？
兰兰：太酷了。我一定多跟你照几张照片。
麦克：小明，你看，你一个人把风头都抢光了！
兰兰：人到齐了。我们点蜡烛，吃蛋糕吧。
同学：是啊，我们都等不及啦。快点蜡烛吧。
小明：等等，等等。我去拿相机。小明：兰兰，快点儿许愿吧。
兰兰：好吧。
大家：祝你生日快乐。
同学们：兰兰、兰兰，吹蜡烛吧。同学：这个蛋糕真好吃。我最喜欢吃蓝莓蛋糕了。
同学：我也最喜欢蓝莓口味的。
麦克：兰兰，你有这么多好朋友，我真为你感到高兴。
兰兰：麦克，等你过生日的时候，我们也会参加你的生日party啊。
同学们：是啊，我们一定去！
麦克：是吗？ 哎呀，真是太好啦！
生日快乐. Happy birthday. Now 生日 we covered recently, it means birthday. And 快乐 means happy. So pretty easy. But make sure you remember that unlike English, the happy comes after the event at hand*4. 生日, 快乐.
你一个人把风头都抢光了. You have single-handedly stolen all the limelight. 风头 means public attention or limelight. And 抢 is a verb that means to rob, snatch, steal or grab. 光 in this context, implies bare or empty. So 抢光 is to steal everything, to grabbed all, there is nothing left. 你一个人把风头都抢光了. You single-handedly stolen all the limelight.
同学：兰兰，生日快乐。
兰兰：谢谢，谢谢。快请进！
小明、麦克：兰兰，生日快乐。同学：哇噻，兰兰，你今天真够漂亮的。就跟小公主似的。
兰兰：哈哈，谢谢你。
兰兰：小明，我看你今天俨然就是一个大明星啊。太帅啦！
小明：那当然了。兰兰，今天是你的生日嘛。这是我在理发店设计的发型。怎么样？ 酷吧？
兰兰：太酷了。我一定多跟你照几张照片。
麦克：小明，你看，你一个人把风头都抢光了！
人到齐了, 我们点蜡烛吧, 吃蛋糕吧. Everyone’s here, let’s light the candles and eat the cake. 齐 in this context, means all present. So 人到齐了 is like saying everyone is present or everyone is here. 点 when used as a verb means to light. 蜡烛 is candle so 点蜡烛 is to light candles. 蛋糕 is how you say cake in Chinese. So 吃蛋糕 is to eat cake.
快点儿许个愿吧. Hurry make a wish. Now 许愿 is to make a wish or many wishes. So to split 许 and 愿 up with 个, 许个愿 implies that you make one wish.
兰兰：人到齐了。我们点蜡烛，吃蛋糕吧。
同学：是啊，我们都等不及啦。快点蜡烛吧。
小明：等等，等等。我去拿相机。小明：兰兰，快点儿许愿吧。
兰兰：好吧。
大家：祝你生日快乐。
吹蜡烛 is to blow out the candles. 吹 is the verb to blow.
我最喜欢吃蓝莓蛋糕了. Blueberry cake is my favorite. 蓝莓 is how you say blueberry in Chinese. So, 蓝莓蛋糕 is blueberry cake, sounds good, doesn’t it?
我真为你感到高兴. I’m really happy for you. 感到 is to feel and 高兴 means happy. 感到高兴 to feel happy.
同学们：兰兰、兰兰，吹蜡烛吧。
同学：这个蛋糕真好吃。我最喜欢吃蓝莓蛋糕了。
同学：我也最喜欢蓝莓口味的。
麦克：兰兰，你有这么多好朋友，我真为你感到高兴。
兰兰：麦克，等你过生日的时候，我们也会参加你的生日party啊。
同学们：是啊，我们一定去！
麦克：是吗？ 哎呀，真是太好啦！
So let’s first take a look at today’s vocabulary words.
- 公主 princess. gōng zhǔ
- 抢 rob, snatch, grab. qiǎng
- 蜡烛 candle, candles. là zhú
- 俨然 just as, like. yǎn rán
- 风头 public attention, the limelight. fēng tou
- 口味 flavor. kǒu wèi
We’ve got a fun radical to talk about today it’s the bug or insect radical 虫. Now, 虫 as a character looks like this... This is the character for insect or bug.
Now, it doesn’t really change much from its character form to its radical form. And today we can see our insect or bug radical in the character 蜡 of 蜡烛.
So let’s look at 蜡. Here we have our bug radical and here we have the rest of our character component. Now, 蜡 on its own means wax and if you considered that bees make wax, then it’s quite appropriate that the character for wax 蜡 has a bug radical.
Spotlight
Today we continue our series on the Chinese zodiac, we’re down to the final three animals and today we will be covering the years of the rooster and the dog.
People born during the year of the rooster are said to be very straightforward. They aren’t afraid to speak out blatantly*5 regarding their likes and dislikes. And prone to be domineering*6 which can get annoying, roosters are still very loyal, trustworthy, sociable and like to make people happy. They’re also said to have very sharp analytical minds and like flashy things.
Now, I wouldn’t necessarily think of the roosters being sharp. But then again, they certainly aren’t dumb animals.
Onto the dog. A dog is a man’s best friend we all know that saying right? And true to*7 this saying, people born in the year of the dog are said to be above all else*8 very loyal and faithful. So dogs are said to be intelligent, caring, good at listening and not showy.
Although many people born in the year of the dog are said to be terrific warriors and talented naggers*9. Regardless though, they’re very honor and duty bound, constantly guarding and helping those less fortunate than them.
Primer
All right everyone it’s language point time. 下面我们一起来看一下今天的语言点. Now to start with let’s take a look at a pattern: 够 something 的.
Now this is a pattern that expresses a high degree. And an adjective or verb phrase is what comes in between 够 and 的. So for example I could say 够好吃的 that’s pretty good or 够高的 pretty tall. Now in our dialogue, the 够 something 的 pattern was used this way. 你今天够漂亮的, 就跟小公主似的. You look awfully beautiful today just like a little princess.
- 今天真够热的，我看起码有38度。／家里还有冰激凌吗？
- 不包了，我看饺子已经够多的了。／好啊，我也累了。
俨然. 俨然 means like, or just as. Now another way to say 俨然 would be 和 something 差不多. So you could say 他说起话来俨然是个小大人. He’s just like a small adult when he speaks. Now today 兰兰 said: 小明, 我看你今天俨然就是一个大明星. 小明 I think you’re just like a big star today.
- 兰兰穿那条裙子真好看，俨然是个芭比娃娃。／嗯，我也觉得像。
- 这画是你画的？ 哇，俨然就是一个中国的毕加索嘛。／过奖过奖！
为 something 感到. OK, so you 为 somebody 感到 a two syllable verb or adjective that describes a feeling or state. So you can think of way as meaning “for” and 感到 is to feel. So this pattern is kind of like saying “I for you feel X.” So for example, 我为你感到难过. I feel bad for you.
- 妈，你看，这次运动会我得了第一名。／妈妈真为你感到骄傲！
- 兰兰姐，我的小兔子今天早上死了。／我真为你感到难过。
OK that just about wraps everything up for today but before we say goodbye, I got a fabulous, fabulous letter from Amy in Australia that I want to share with all of you. Now she writes:
“At the risk of sounding completely naive, does everyone in China eat rice?”
OK, Amy I love your question. Because on the one hand that might sound like a funny question. But actually it’s a fabulous question because the answer is “no.”
Indeed, rice is a staple*10 of the Chinese diet but depending on what region of China you live in, you might not eat rice all that often. For example northern China is known for its wheat based starchy foods so dumplings, 包子 or steamed buns, sometimes they have fillings sometimes they don’t, steamed bread all of these are consumes as regularly if not more regularly than rice.
Now 山东 or 山西 might be known for their noodles, and Tibet is known for its tsampa*11 or roasted barley. So while we think of rice is being a very integral part of the Chinese diet and being very Chinese, it’s not a given*12 that all Chinese people eat rice everyday. It completely depends on the area. So that was a fabulous question Amy and thank you very much for writing to us.
OK everybody, don’t you all forget to write us too, with any questions or comments that you might have. Thanks for joining us today on Growing up with Chinese, I look forward to seeing you all next time. 好, 大家, 加油, 下次见. Bye for now.
