91 Listening to Peking opera & painting face masks 听京剧画脸谱
残すところあと10回になりました。大変でしたが、終わりが見えると少し寂しくもあります。
Hi everybody, 大家好. 欢迎收看今天的成长汉语. Thanks for joining us for today’s episode of Growing up with Chinese.
Now Mike’s mom’s tour of 北京 has officially commenced. And I hear that there’re many fabulous destinations in store for our gang. So without further ado, let’s check in with Mike and his mom and see where they’re off to today.
小明妈：怎么样，你们觉得京剧好看吗？
Mike：阿姨，我觉得京剧比我想像的还要精彩。
Mike妈：演出的确很精彩，我也很喜欢。
Mike：对了，阿姨，我有一个问题。我在美国看歌剧的时候，观众都要等演员表演结束后，才会鼓掌。可我刚才看到观众们一边看戏，一边鼓掌。这不会影响演员的表演吗？
Mike妈：是啊，我还听见有很多观众在叫好呢。
小明妈：哈哈。这和西方的习惯完全不一样。演员在演出中很希望听到观众的鼓掌声和叫好儿声。观众的反应越热烈，演员的表演越有劲儿。
Mike：哈哈，是这样啊。阿姨，我还有一个问题。
小明妈：你今天的问题可真不少啊。没关系，尽管问。
Mike：我特别喜欢京剧演员脸上的图案。
小明妈：噢，你说的是脸谱吧？
Mike：对对，阿姨，为什么每个演员的脸上的图案都不一样呢？ 我看，即使都是男演员，可是，他们脸上图案都不同。
小明妈：麦克，脸谱主要是用来表现人物性格的。角色不同，人物的脸谱当然也不一样。
Mike：真有意思，我要上网买本有关京剧脸谱的书，仔细看看。
小明妈：麦克，你与其看书，还不如自己尝试一下画京剧脸谱呢。
Mike：画脸谱？！ 给我吗？
小明妈：是啊，是给你画啊。时间还早，我知道一个可以拍京剧照片的地方，你们想去吗？
Mike：想去，想去，我想画脸谱！
Mike妈：太好了，我也想去看看。
小明妈：我得打个电话预约一下，咱们走吧。小明妈：您好，我们想拍一组京剧照片。
接待员：好的，请稍等。您有预约吗？
小明妈：有，我姓李，刚刚打过电话。
接待员：好的，这边请。
接待员：请问，是哪位想拍照片？
Mike：我，我！
接待员：您想拍什么人物呢？
Mike：我……
小明妈：麻烦您给我们介绍一下，好吗？
接待员：如果是小男孩儿的话，可以拍“小生”、“武生”，还可以……
Mike：怎么左一个“生”，右一个“生”的，我都听不懂。
接待员：哈哈，怎么说呢。孙悟空，你听说过吧？
Mike：听说过，听说过，齐天大胜孙悟空嘛！ 我就要拍孙悟空。
接待员：好的，我让化妆师来给你化妆。Mike：妈妈，阿姨，快看啊，太好玩儿了。
小明妈：哈哈，麦克，好玩儿的还在后头呢。一会儿再给你穿上孙悟空的服装，你就成了一个活脱脱的美猴王了。化妆师：好了，你们看，怎么样！
Mike妈：哈哈，儿子，妈妈都认不出来你了。
小明妈：太有意思了，一会儿阿姨一定要跟你照张合影。
化妆师：来，我们换衣服吧。
Mike：美猴王来也！
我在美国看歌剧的时候, 观众都要等演员表演结束后, 才会鼓掌. We do usually wait until a Western opera performance is over or at least at stopping point before we applaud, right? 才会鼓掌.
可我刚才看到观众们一边看戏, 一边鼓掌. And yet, just then the audience was watching and applauding all at the same time. 一边看戏, 一边鼓掌.
Now Mike’s mom even noticed that 很多观众在叫好. Many of the audience members were calling out or yelling 好! 叫好. So, the question is “doesn’t this interfere with the performer’s performance?”
这不会影响演员的表演吗? 影响演员的表演 to interfere with the performer’s performance. And the answer is, no, not in the slightest.
Mike：对了，阿姨，我有一个问题。我在美国看歌剧的时候，观众都要等演员表演结束后，才会鼓掌。可我刚才看到观众们一边看戏，一边鼓掌。这不会影响演员的表演吗？
Mike妈：是啊，我还听见有很多观众在叫好呢。
小明妈：哈哈。这和西方的习惯完全不一样。演员在演出中很希望听到观众的鼓掌声和叫好儿声。观众的反应越热烈，演员的表演越有劲儿。
Now we’ll get into what I’m about to mention some more in our cultural spotlight selection today. But so that you can all follow the dialogue a bit better right now, the 生 character in 北京 opera refers to a main male character.
So the attendant at the photo studio was asking Mike what kind of main male character he wanted to be. 武生 refers to a main male character who does 武术. And probably the most famous 武生 of 北京 opera is 孙悟空 or the Monkey King. Now, Mike referred to the Monkey King as 齐天大圣孙悟空. 齐天大圣 is actually Monkey King’s self proclaimed title, hmm, which can translate as “great sage equal of heaven.”
接待员：如果是小男孩儿的话，可以拍“小生”、“武生”，还可以……
Mike：怎么左一个“生”，右一个“生”的，我都听不懂。
接待员：哈哈，怎么说呢。孙悟空，你听说过吧？
Mike：听说过，听说过，齐天大胜孙悟空嘛！ 我就要拍孙悟空。
接待员：好的，我让化妆师来给你化妆。
OK, let’s take a few minutes to go over some of today’s vocabulary.
- 鼓掌 applause, applaud. gǔ zhǎng
- 图案 pattern, design. tú àn
- 化妆 put on makeup. huà zhuāng
Spotlight
The costumes of 北京 opera performer wears are stunning to say the least*1. Now even the more simple costumes are full of embroidery and bright colors. Getting dressed and applying your makeup can take upwards of two hours can you imagine? Now this is in large part do to makeup and hair.
Now depending on the role you play, you might have different patterns to paint on your face that identifies you as a good guy or bad guy. A spirit or a living being, a king or a servant, a monkey, yes like Monkey King, or a human.
Now as far as hair goes, well, let’s just say that between wigs, individual hair pieces, decorated hair jewels, and ornaments, hats, feathers, headdresses, you’re looking at pounds of weight on your head. So much so, the many 北京 opera performers struggle with headaches in the first few years of practice. But boy*2, are they beautiful.
Now many of the stories acted out in 北京 opera come from legend, myth and history. And unlike a lot of realistic theater that we’re used to seeing these days, 北京 opera is extremely stylized*3 much like the commedia dell’arte*4 of Italy or Japanese Kabuki.
Now there are four main characters in 北京 opera. The 生 main male character, the 旦 any female character, the 净 painted face male character, usually quite a forceful character, and the 丑, the clown or comic relief.
Now obviously there are many subtypes for each character depending on the piece of opera being performed, but they all fall under one of the categories I just mentioned. And they can be identified by their costumes and makeup.
Primer
All right it’s time to look at today’s language points and to begin with we have a pattern: 与其 A 不如 B.
Now this pattern is used when you compare two things A and B. And decide to go with the latter option or B. Now oftentimes 还 is added before 不如 and so the pattern becomes 与其A还不如B.
So 小明’s mom said today “Mike, 你与其看书, 还不如自己尝试一下画京剧脸谱呢.” Mike instead of looking at it up in books, you might as well go personally to try having 北京 opera makeup put on. OK, so you could also say 与其你去, 还不如我去. Rather than you going, I will go.
- 与其在家看电视，我们不如出去走走。／可一会儿有NBA球赛，你不看了吗？
- 我们与其站着看别人放风筝，不如自己放。／好啊！
OK we’ve got another pattern to go over with 左 something 右 something.
Now typically the verb or phrase that comes after 左 and 右 should be the same. And it implies that something is repeated be it an action or a thing.
So Mike used the 左右 pattern this way today. 怎么左一个“生”, 右一个“生”的, 我都听不懂. What’s up with all the 生s, or a 生 here and 生 there, I don’t get any of it. Now you could say 他左说右说, 妈妈还是不让他去. No matter what he said, his mom still wouldn’t let him go.
All right, finally we gonna take a look at the expression 还在后头呢. Now this can also be said as 还在后边呢. It’s like saying X is yet to come, it can be good or it could be bad. For example, you could say to me, 这本书我刚看了开头很好看. I’ve only read the beginning of this book, but it’s already really good. And I could reply 好看的还在后头呢, 我一口气全看完了. Well the best is yet to come, I read it all in one sitting*5. OK so today 小明’s mom said 好玩儿的还在后头呢. The most fun is yet to come.
- 哇，北海公园真漂亮！／漂亮的还在后头呢，跟我来！
- 小明，这首歌真好听。／嗯，更好听的还在后头呢。
好了, 我们今天剩的时间不多了. We’ve just about run out of time for today, I hope you all enjoyed our show.
Now, please don’t forget to visit our website if you want to review anything or watch today’s episode again, and while you are there please feel free to leave us any comments or send in any questions you have. It’s always good to hear from you and your feedback is very important to us. OK, I will see you all next time. 大家, 加油, 下次见.
