宅(zhái) to stay at home all day
The saying of “宅(zhái)” refers to a group of people who indulge in something excessively, such as computer games, and cartoons. These people would rather stay at home than go out.
乌鸦喝水(wūyā hē shuĭ) How did a Thirsty Crow Successfully Drink Water?
Yìzhī wūyā kŏukĕ le, dàochù zhăo shuĭ hē. 一只 乌鸦 口渴 了，到处 找 水 喝。 A crow felt thirsty and was looking for water everywhere.
Zhèshí, wūyā kànjiàn yígè píngzi. …
碰壁(pèngbì) Be rebuffed
In this word, 碰(pèng) means “bump” and 壁(bì) means “wall.” The whole word 碰壁(pèngbì) literally means “run up against a wall.” But people usually use it to describe a situation in which you are turned down or rebuffed. In Chinese feudal times, …
Carl has promised his girlfriend May to have dinner with her after work in a new restaurant. But the taxi driver dropped him off at a wrong place and he had troubles in finding the restaurant.
吃闭门羹 (chī bìméngēng) To be denied entrance Wáng xiānsheng hé tā de péngyŏu chăojià hòu, měicì xiăng qù héjiě dōu huì chī bìméngēng. 王 先生 和 他 的 朋友 吵架 后，每次 想 去 和解 都 会 吃 闭门羹。 Ever since the quarrel between Mr. Wang …
炒鱿鱼 (chăo yóu yú) Get fired
In China, when people are fired by their boss, they often like to say “我被炒鱿鱼了(wŏ bèi chăo yóu yú le) I am fired.” If foreigners hear this phrase for the first time, they may not understand.
Now take a …
In the previous issue, the story ended with “At that time, a wolf came…” Let’s see what happens next:
Láng láidào zhū lăodà de fángzi qián, yī kŏu qì jiù bă zhū lăodà de căofáng chuī dăo le. Zhū lăo dà zhĭnéng xiàng zhū …
Conversation: 租房子 (zū fáng zi)Rent a house
Beginner Level / 初级水平 (chū jí shuĭ píng)：
A: Qĭngwèn nín zhè tào gōngyù duōshăo qián yígè yuè? A: 请问 您 这 套 公寓 多少 钱 一个 月？ A: Excuse me, how much is the apartment a month?…
流行词语 (liúxíng cí yŭ)Popular words
忽悠(hū you) is an often-used word in northern area of China and it originates from the word 胡诱(hú yòu), which means recklessly misleading. It became popular from a witty skit “selling crutches” …
讲价 (jiăngjià) Bargaining
Gùkè: Qĭngwèn zhè tiáo kùzi duōshăo qián? 顾客：请问 这 条 裤子 多少 钱？ Customer: Excuse me, how much are these pants?
Shòuhuòyuán: Yībăi sānshí yuán. 售货员： 130 元。 Shop Assistant: 130.
Gùkè: Yŏu zhékòu ma? 顾客：有 折扣 …
啃老族 (kĕn lăo zú) Parent-dependent adults
啃老族(kĕn lăo zú) refers to a group of adults who have a common feature: They stay at home instead of searching for jobs. This group is also called NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) …
Qĭngwèn, qù Zhōngguāncūn ma? A: 请问， 去 中关村 吗？ Excuse me, does the bus go to Zhongguancun? Dào, Shànglái ba. Nĭmen cóng tĭyù dàxué xiàchē, ránhòu zài huàn chē. B: 到， 上来 吧，你们 从 体育 大学 下车，然后 再 换 车。 Yes. Please aboard! You can …
Imagine this: A beautiful and cool girl is standing opposite a young man. He puts on his new clothes, plays his guitar and sings his favorite songs to attract her attentions. Here is a song expressing a boy’s loneliness and complex feelings in this situation. …
It is one of the hottest TV series so far in 2009. In this series, you will see a lot of issues facing young people in China today. How does a 17-year-old girl struggle to assume her responsibility and finally successfully escape from her mother’s …
In the past few months, the H1N1 virus has made news headlines around the world. The virus was originally referred as 猪流感(zhūliúgǎn) “swine flu.” To help you learn these three Chinese characters, we’ll introduce 猪流感(zhūliúgǎn) word by word.
With the basic meaning of …
Click in the arrow to listen how to pronounce the word in Mandarin…
Mandarin, like most Chinese dialects, is a tonal language. This means that tones, just like consonants and vowels, are used to distinguish words from each other. Many foreigners have difficulties mastering the tones of each character, but correct tonal pronunciation is essential for intelligibility …
Chuánshuō yuángŭ shíhou, tiān hé dì shì hé zài yìqĭ de, jiù xiàng yí gè jīdàn shì de. 传说 远古 时候， 天 和 地 是 合 在 一起 的，就 像 一 个 鸡蛋 似 的。 Shìjiè de kāichuàng rén Pángŭ jiù shì zài zhège jīdàn …
Sānguó shídài, wèiguó yŏu gè jiào Lú Yù de rén, 三国 时代，魏国 有 个 叫 卢 毓 的 人，
Hĕn xiăo de shíhou jiù shīqù le fùmŭ hé liăng gè gēge. 很 小 的 时候 就 失去 了 父母 和 两 个 哥哥。
Lú Yù …
功夫熊猫(gōngfu xióngmāo) Kung Fu Panda is a remarkable movie released in June last year. Chinese style is prevailing in the movie, which is the combination of “功夫”(gōngfu) Chinese martial arts and China’s national treasure–panda. Many Chinese enjoyed this movie as …
