Chinese Primer, Volumes 1-3 [Revised] 0691129916, 9780691129914

Table of contents :
Lessons
Acknowledgments
Contents
Introduction
Foundation Work
UNIT I: Students
UNIT II: Drink, Eat, Run
UNIT III: A Timely Visitor
UNIT IV: Dogged Localizers and Directional Complements
UNIT V: The Nose Job
UNIT VI: Who's Next?
UNIT VII: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
UNIT VIII: Love Me, Love My Chinese
Appendix
Glossary and Index
Notes and Excercises
Contents
UNIT 1
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Lesson 5
UNIT II
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
UNIT III
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
UNIT IV
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
UNIT V
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
UNIT VI
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
UNIT VII
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
UNIT VIII
Lesson 1
Lesson 2
Lesson 3
Lesson 4
Grammar Checklist
List of Warnings
Character Workbook
To the Student
Traditional and Simplified Characters
Format of the Workbook
To the Teacher
Contents
Common Characters
Less Common Characters
Appendix I: Characters Used in Interjections
Appendix II: Characters That Have Phonetic Modification
Appendix III: Characters Arranged by Radicals
Appendix IV: Simplified Components
Appendix V: New Words in the Song "Bygone Times"
Index

Citation preview

Chinese Primer

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CHINESE PRIMER Lessons REVISED EDITION

Ta-tuan Ch'en Perry Link Yih-jian Tai Hai-tao Tang

Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey

Copyright © 2007 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1SY All Rights Reserved Revised Edition Library of Congress Control Number: 2006936530 ISBN-13: 978-0-691-12991-4 ISBN-10: 0-691-12991-6 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book was prepared at the Chinese Linguistics Project, Princeton University, with the aid of a grant from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation The publisher would like to acknowledge the authors of this volume for providing the camera-ready copy from which this book was printed CDs are available for use with the Chinese Primer. For further information, contact: Chinese Linguistics Project 218 Frist Campus Center Princeton University Princeton, NJ 08544 Phone (609) 258-0112. Fax (609) 258-7096 Printed on acid-free paper press .princeton. edu Printed in the United States of America 10

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We owe a large debt to Y. R. Chao's Mandarin Primer, not only for our several borrowings directly from it, but, more importantly, for its function as a model of our overall pedagogical approach. To the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and its Director, Scott McVay, we are grateful for constant firm support, both moral and material. We are also thankful to The Readers' Digest, who have assisted us unwittingly by publishing jokes that we have adopted in Units 3, 4, and 6. We have had important assistance from Hung-yun Chang, De-lin Chao, Chun-yen Jo Chen, Yung-chi Chao Ch'en, Arthur Chiang, Haidee T. Chiang, Chih-p'ing Chou, Nyr Indictor, Theresa Ko, Jon Koob, Melody Lai, Chu-chu Liang, Ron Morrisseau, Thomas G. Nimick, Dawn Sun, Jonathan Sweemer, Nai-ying Yuan Tang, Gus Tate, and Philip Williams. The test of a textbook is its effectiveness in day-to-day practice; nothing hones it better than the suggestions, and complaints, of language teachers and students. Our debt to the many teachers and students who have used this book in draft form is, therefore, much more concrete than what is covered by expressions of thanks to "students and colleagues" that scholars normally list among their acknowledgments in books.

The Authors

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CONTENTS Introduction

xi

Foundation Work

1

The Single Tones The Initials and Finals The Initials The Finals Hanyu PmyTn Full Tones in Combination and Tone Sandhi UNIT I: Students "Ren's" Best Friend (I) "Ren's" Best Friend (II) Being Finicky Chinese Class A Special Diet UNIT II: Drink, Eat, Run Drink Eat (I) Eat (II) Run UNIT III: A Timely Visitor Looking At Rooms Messy Room A Visitor is Coming Cleaning Up

3 6 6 11 18 22 34 34 36 38 40 42 46 46 48 50 52 54 54 56 58 62

UNIT IV: Dogged Localizers and Directional Complements

64

"Unable to See Clearly" or "Didn't See Clearly" In the Doghouse Lying Down on the Job Inside Outside

64 66 68 70

UNIT V: The Nose Job I'm Sleepy The Job The Big Sleep Li's "Good Deed" UNIT VI: Who's Next? All Set Please Help, Mom A Quiet Roommate Mother's Care UNIT VII: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner She Has a Boyfriend They're Home Mr. LI WenxTn UNIT VIII: Love Me, Love My Chinese Why "Wife"? Forced Study Why Study Chinese The Best Poem I've Ever Read

72 72 74 76 78 80 80 82 84 88 92 92 94 96 98 98 102 104 108

Appendix

110

Glossary and Index

129

TABLES 1.

Single Tones

3

2.

Table of Initials

6

3.

Table of (Pronounceable) Initials

6

4.

Medials, Post-medials, and Endings

11

5.

The Table of Finals in Basic Forms

11

6.

Tone Combinations

22

7.

The Half-Third and Full-Third Tones

23

8.

Modified and Regular Fourth Tones

25

9.

List of Radicals

118

10.

Styles of Characters

121

11.

Common Differences Between Printed and Written Forms

122

FIGURES 1.

Retroflex Tongue Position

8

2.

Palatal Tongue Position

8

INTRODUCTION The present textbook is conceived and written in conscious admiration of the principles of Y.R. Chao's Mandarin Primer (Harvard University Press, 1948). The overwhelming virtue of Mandarin Primer was its emphasis on internalization of Chinese by the Western student. "Internalization" refers to the process by which students adopt a second language as a living language, and as their own, getting a "feel" for it in ways that approach, if never entirely equal, the native speaker's. The key elements in bringing about internalization are: stress on oral-aural "foundation work"; uncompromising vigilance on the parts of both teacher and student to be sure that habits of correct tonal pronunciation are instilled before bad habits can take root; presentation of lively, natural Chinese; avoidance of overdependence on English; carefully planned sequential presentation of grammar points; audio-visual reinforcement (phonograph records in Mandarin Primer's day, CDs and computer files today); and emphasis on the unity of all aspects of language learning. The four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are pursued in concert, and used to reinforce one another. In all cases the unity of usage and context is stressed. Our stress on context derives from the Y.R. Chao teaching tradition. Rather than starting the learner with grammatical formulae and some vocabulary to "plug into" it, the Chao approach asks the student to "internalize" a piece of dialogue that contains a number of important grammatical points in natural context. Chao's Mandarin Primer did not even include vocabulary lists, for fear that students would study Chinese and English words in pairs, and thus inevitably be led astray by false equivalences. We have included vocabulary lists in this textbook, but these should never be used in place of lesson texts. To stress the vocabulary lists, or use class time on them, is to go against the basic design of the textbook and cannot bring superior results. To teachers who are considering use of this textbook for the first time, the length and richness of the dialogues may seem daunting. How can beginning students absorb so much? During the many years of using the first editions of this textbook, however, we have seen ample evidence that students can handle, and indeed appreciate, the richness. The key to success is in using the approach of the textbook correctly. The Y.R. Chao approach has shown that Western students can "internalize" Chinese much more quickly than is allowed by the method that begins with vocabulary lists and only very simple grammar. This textbook introduces many of the basic grammatical patterns of Mandarin before the end of Unit II. These patterns are not, in fact, intellectually difficult, and learning them in the early stages allows students, very quickly, to speak relatively free and natural Chinese. The escape from the strait-jacket of only being able to say certain things has beneficial effects on student morale, which, in turn, greatly aids further learning.

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CHINESE PRIMER Both teachers and students would be well-advised to read the rest of this introduction carefully

in order to get the most out of this textbook. The front material in the accompanying Character Workbook is also absolutely crucial.

FOUNDATION WORK "Foundation Work" is our term for the ear and tongue training that is necessary in order to perceive and to reproduce the sounds of Mandarin Chinese. It is hard to overstress the importance of Foundation Work. A good job on it will serve you well for a lifetime; a poor job can actually do more harm than good. If you form bad habits at the beginning stages of study, the habits can be hard to break. No matter how good you might get at reading or writing Chinese, with bad pronunciation you will always seem "alien" to a Chinese person. Training in tones is especially important. Western languages do not use tones, and native speakers of Western languages need to consciously train themselves in correct tonal pronunciation. In order to appreciate how disastrous the results of a bad foundation can be, try the following simple experiment: choose any fairly short English sentence, like, "The cat is on the mat." Now pick any vowel at random: a, e, i, o, u, and choose its "long" or "short" version, such as "short o" or "long a," or whatever you like. Now say your chosen short sentence using only that one vowel for every single syllable. How weird do you sound? Would English speakers understand you if you spoke that way? Yes, probably. But would they take you as a normal human being? Would they be likely to trust you? Tell you what they really think? Be your friend? No way. Not if you did the experiment correctly. What this experiment displays might be called "vowel-free English." If you do not master Chinese tones, you will end up speaking "tone-free Chinese," and the effects will be just as bad. This is why we call the possible outcome "disastrous." It is crucial to stress that Foundation Work is not just a matter of the first few days of study. The challenge lasts much longer. A good course might spend two or three weeks concentrating on Foundation Work before turning to Unit I, Lesson 1, but both teacher and student must be vigilant for at least a year in order to instill good pronunciation habits. A policy of zero-tolerance toward tone error is best. Every time you want to say something in Chinese, don't stop trying until you get the tones right.

INTRODUCTION

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During your Foundation Work, do not be misled by the ease of imitating the tones the first time you try. Most people can learn to imitate the four basic tones of Mandarin in less than ten minutes. But there is a huge difference between that and internalization of correct habits. Do not assume, either, that you can "learn all the words and grammar now" and then "pick up the right accent later, when I go to China." This does not work. Even some Chinese teachers, if they lack experience, might assure you that this is the way to go, but it is not. It is a great idea to go to China for advanced study, but if you go with bad tones you will only get fluent in bad tones. To Chinese people you will no longer seem a clumsy alien, but a very slick alien.

ROMANIZATION This text uses the hanyu pinyin romanization system, which uses the marks ",', v , and \ added above a vowel, to indicate tone. Every syllable includes a tone mark unless it is pronounced in the "neutral" tone (see p. 26). The tone-marking system is easy to master, but you need to work hard to be sure you fully adopt the tone and the tone mark psychologically whenever you speak, hear, read, write, or even think any word. Western languages sometimes use similar marks, but the purpose is not at all similar. For example in the English word cliche, the accent mark reminds you not to let the "e" be silent (as you otherwise might if it were "e") and to pronounce it to rhyme with "hay." In hanyu pinyin, the same mark tells you to make your voice rise in pitch as you say a syllable like he (see p. 3). In no Western language does any kind of a mark like that call upon you to do anything like what you need to do in Chinese. Some students, whether consciously or not, tend to view the vowels and consonants in a spelling as the "real" words and tone-marks as some kind of "add-on." Such an attitude invites disaster. The tone mark is just as real and important a part of any spelling as is everything else in the spelling. When you are writing hanyu pinyin, the ideal moment to write the tone mark is right before you write the vowel over which the tone mark appears. For example, in writing the phrase "hanyu pinyin," write "h," then " \ " then "a," then "n," and then: y, v, u, space, p, ", i, n, y, ", i, n. Say each syllable, either aloud or to yourself, using the correct tone, as you do the writing. This will help you to internalize good habits. On the other hand, the worst possible approach is to write a whole sentence or paragraph of hanyu pinyin and then go back and add the tone marks later. If you do that, you are showing that you fundamentally misconceive the nature of tones in the Chinese language. And the result could be to ruin your Chinese permanently.

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CONSTRUCTION OF TEXTS For the content of our texts, we have drawn upon the daily experiences of students: eating, drinking, classrooms, dorms, messy rooms, boyfriends, phone calls to worried parents, and so on. Our purpose in this is to allow students, as soon as possible, actually to use Chinese. We cannot at the same time focus on life in China, but this cost is far outweighed by the benefit of helping students to "internalize" Chinese as soon as possible. If you, the student, can adopt Chinese as your own living language at an early stage, your eventual absorption of Chinese culture will be much richer and more lifelike than if you regard Chinese as a foreign thing, something that needs to be translated in order to be understood. From a practical point of view as well, there is a major advantage in giving students materials that they can immediately use outside of class. It is well recognized in modern language teaching that actual use in daily life is the best kind of learning reinforcement a student can get. Many good language programs encourage students to organize language tables in dining halls, language dormitories, drama clubs, film series, and anything else that brings students closer to the ideal of "total immersion" in the target language. The first step toward this goal, obviously, must be to learn the vocabulary of daily student life. Nonetheless, every human language is part of a larger human culture in which it is embedded. Even when we present dialogues about student life on American campuses, the fact that we present them in Chinese raises interesting cultural questions. How do people address each other in Chinese? What are etiquettes of eating and drinking? And so on. To address some of these questions, we add a few paragraphs of "Culture Notes" to some of the lessons. We have also tried to make our texts lively, and even playful, because our teaching experience shows that students invariably learn better from such materials. At the first-year level students are not, after all, linguistically prepared for advanced or austere topics, and the effort to be serious with such limited resources can easily result in boredom. Since rigorous and thorough work on basic grammar and pronunciation is just as possible with light-hearted examples as with serious ones, why not ease the student's boredom with a little fun? Even if what the student finds funny is only the fact that we think we are being funny, that is better, in our opinion, than adding boredom to all the other difficulties of learning Chinese.

INTRODUCTION

xv

Some teachers and textbook authors, from an understandable concern for student "situational competence," like to organize grammar and vocabulary around the handling of tasks, for example visiting a post office, bank, hospital, bus station, etc. The intended advantage of this approach is to give students a unit of "experience" that can be transferred to in-country life. There is a danger, though, in trying to structure this kind of imagined situation without its seeming dry, mechanical, and in the end not flexible enough to help people gain genuine mastery. We feel that it is better to concentrate on internalizing the basics of pronunciation and grammar. If beginning students can master the basics, then adding this or that kind of specific vocabulary—"stamp," "checkbook," whatever—will always be a very small matter by comparison. From time to time there are calls in Chinese language teaching circles for textbooks to include newly-emergent usages. We do not try to do this. The problem with new usages, whether they originate in Beijing, Shanghai, Taibei, or elsewhere, is that one can never know how long they will last or whether they will spread to all groups of native speakers. By contrast the basic skills of pronunciation and grammar are essentially the same everywhere, and have been so for a long time. We feel that concentration on these basics best serves a student's long-term interests.

"NATURAL" CHINESE We have striven to assure that the Chinese presented in the texts of our lessons is as natural and lively as possible. Our working definition of "natural" language is language that a native speaker might actually use in the situations we have invented. There are certain problems, though, in carrying out our natural-language ideal. The biggest is encountered in Lesson One. It is extremely difficult to construct a dialogue based on a tiny amount of grammar and vocabulary and still make it entirely natural-sounding. We do our best. Another pressure away from complete naturalness is the understandable desire of many teachers for "pattern sentences" that can be used as models for classroom drill. We have included some sentences in the dialogues that can serve this purpose, but on the whole we have avoided the stringing together of model sentences, since this would be highly unnatural in Chinese, or in any language. The long-term best interests of students are, without question, best served by early and regular exposure to Chinese as it is actually used, rather than specially prepared "textbook Chinese." (A side benefit of this policy is its good effects on the morale of teachers. In using some textbooks, native-speaking teachers are called upon to give their students examples that they find unnatural and even un-Chinese; yet they are obliged to go along because they must, after all, earn a living. It can be quite a painful experience.)

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THE ROLE OF ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS When one stresses naturalness in Chinese, and then turns to provide a reasonably natural version in English, there is little chance that the vocabulary and grammar of the two versions will form a neat one-on-one correspondence. It is not our intention, in giving translations, to provide such correspondences. The student who looks for them will be wasting time, and maybe even hurting his or her Chinese. Our reason for including translations is to give the student quick and easy access to the basic content of the text. In studying individual Chinese sentences, the student can refer to the English as a reminder of the basic point of the sentence, or its larger context—but certainly not its structure. (Teachers who wish to assign memory work can ask their students to cover the Chinese side of their books and refer to the English for prompting in the basic content of the Chinese; but then the student must jettison the English structure and recite the Chinese on its own terms.) In order to remind students of the structural disassociation of the Chinese and English versions of the texts, we have deliberately been very free in our translations of the lesson titles.

PACING AND EXPLANATION OF GRAMMAR In introducing and explaining grammar, we have attempted, first of all, to plan the text so that basic structures unfold in a logical, graduated sequence. For example, we proceed from resultative complements (Unit I, Lesson 5) to potential complements (Unit II, Lesson 1) to directional complements (Unit IV, Lesson 2), and later to split directional complements, potential split directional complements, etc. A good pedagogical grammar is importantly different from a theoretical grammar; in teaching, one must not give all the possibilities at once, but unfold the important ones in planned sequence. Certain special grammatical terms have to be introduced ("potential complement" and "split complement," for example) simply because English grammar provides no parallels, and teacher and student must have a way of referring to the same thing. But in general, we try to keep the use of specialized terminology to a minimum, avoiding the jargon that might suit a professional linguist but only depress a beginning student. We feel that grammar notes are best when they are clear, to the point, and as simple as possible. We try, as well, to structure the presentation of grammar so as to avoid some of the common mistakes of beginning students. For example, the two senses of the English word " i f indicating 1) a conditional ("If she comes I will see her") and 2) "whether" ("I don't know if she will come") are expressed entirely differently in Chinese. This fact generates many mistakes in the speech of beginning students. In Unit II, Lesson 1 we introduce the Chinese ways of expressing the two "ifs"

INTRODUCTION

xvii

in successive lines, hoping thus to help teachers and students notice the difference and practice it, right from the outset. It is for the convenience of the student that we put the vocabulary lists and grammar notes in a volume separate from the main texts. With the material in two volumes, both can be opened on a desk and referred to simultaneously. To put text, vocabulary lists, and grammar notes all in the same volume would oblige one to choose between fragmenting the text or asking the student constantly to flip back and forth. For important grammar points, we intentionally repeat explanations or refer students to earlier notes. For points that especially tend to cause trouble for beginning Western students, we preface explanations with the word "WARNING".

AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS The present text has both audio and video accompaniments, which are available in CDs and video files. The audio recordings, which begin with Foundation Work and extend through all the lesson texts, are most useful in mastering pronunciation and assimilation of the dialogues. The video recordings can be used to reinforce the impression of context for the dialogues, and are best used after students have acquired basic familiarity with the texts. The video recordings have also proven to be very useful when students review earlier lessons.

STUDY OF CHINESE CHARACTERS Experience has shown that, in learning Chinese characters, first-year students do much better with many small doses than with a few large ones. It is much more effective to study for a short time once or twice a day than to study for a long time once or twice a week. Accordingly, we have prepared a character workbook that introduces five new characters each day—or, not counting weekends, twenty-five characters per week. The workbook includes the basic information about characters that a beginner will need: number and order of strokes, radical, pronunciation, and basic meaning. In addition it includes brief reading, transcription, and translation exercises that employ the day's characters. The importance of these exercises is that they induce students to regard characters as integral parts of language as a whole, including pronunciation, grammar, sense, and context. Characters, like all other aspects of Chinese, are best "internalized" in this holistic way.

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In using our text and Character Workbook simultaneously, the student will often encounter new vocabulary in the romanized text before encountering it in the Character Workbook. This is intentional, and part of the design of our textbooks. Most beginning students can learn to use words much faster than they can learn to write them in characters. Oral-aural learning should not be held back by insistence that students should immediately be able to write every word they can utter. There is nothing "un-Chinese" about allowing this temporary lag in character-learning; native speakers, after all, learn in the same order. And in any case, upon successfully reaching the end of the Character Workbook, the student's character knowledge will have substantially caught up with his or her oral-aural knowledge. This occurs because much of the new vocabulary in later lessons consists of compounds that use characters the student has already learned.

TRADITIONAL AND SIMPLIFIED CHARACTERS From ancient times Chinese characters have been closely bound up with concepts of Chinese culture and identity. It is not strange, then, that when the Communist government decided in the 1950's to simplify Chinese characters, the two differing sets of characters—simplified and traditional—became symbolic of very different political allegiances. The controversy over which version of Chinese characters is "better" has lasted to the present day. It has spread to Chinese language teaching circles in the West, where many Chinese programs stress one or the other kind of characters, and some even go to the extreme of insisting on only one version. The problem is compounded because, among a younger generation of Chinese teachers from China, there are some who were educated entirely in simplified characters and do not want to teach traditional characters because they themselves would have to go out and learn them. Similarly there are teachers from Taiwan who either can't or don't want to teach simplified characters. Sometimes the parents of students have very strong opinions: "No child of mine will write simplified characters!," "Traditional characters are ancient history—who needs them?" Etc. All of this sound and fury does no good for serious students. The goal of a second-language learner of Chinese should be to enter the Chinese world in all its fullness. It is obviously in the best interests of students to learn to read both kinds of characters. If you can read only traditional characters, you will be able to read nothing published in China since the mid 1950's. If you can read only simplified, then the ocean of one of the world's richest heritages before the 1950's is closed to you, as is most of the Chinese writing outside mainland China since the 1950's.

INTRODUCTION

xix

Another irony of the political controversy over simplified-versus-traditional characters is that it is not actually very hard to learn to read both. They are not all that different. A reasonable policy of many Chinese programs is to allow students to write whichever version they (or their parents, etc.) prefer. This allows them to express their political sentiments. But they must be able to read both kinds, so that they can engage the whole of the Chinese world. The Character Workbook (yellow book) in this series is designed to introduce traditional and simplified characters simultaneously. Reading exercises are given in both traditional characters and simplified characters. In order to be sure that students do not rely too much on only one kind of characters, we do not give all readings in both versions but alternate traditional and simplified from one page to the next. This obliges the student to get equally familiar with both kinds of writing. The Character Text (green book) includes all the lesson texts in both versions of characters. As another way of reinforcing the connection between the written and spoken language, we have, for the first three units, used slightly smaller print for characters that are pronounced in the neutral tone. The traditional-character texts begin from the right-hand side of the book (the "back" of the book in Western terms, but the front in traditional Chinese terms), where the characters are arranged in columns, top to bottom, in traditional format. The left-hand side of the book opens to the same texts written in simplified characters in rows that go left to right, as in Western books and as in simplified-character texts published in mainland China. The Character Text has proven very useful for two kinds of review: both of lesson content and of different versions of characters. Students who are adept at traditional characters and want to strengthen their reading of simplified characters (or the other way around) can use the Character Text. Precisely because students will already be very familiar with the content of what they are reading, they will find it convenient to concentrate on the version of characters they want to study.

PACING THE MATERIALS Our textbook consists of Foundation Work plus eight units that comprise 32 lessons. These materials will, naturally, be covered at different rates in different Chinese programs.

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In standard college programs, where most first-year Chinese courses meet five or six times a week for periods of 50 minutes each, a first-year course should be able to finish Unit VI, i.e., 26 lessons, in addition to the Foundation Work. Basic first-year grammar has been concentrated into these six units. Units VII and VIII, which introduce useful new vocabulary but are not rich in grammar, have been added for a variety of special purposes: some intensive college courses, which may meet as many as 10 hours per week, need more material for one year; some Chinese programs may wish to begin their second-year courses with Units VII and VIII, for the sake of continuity. And finally, because Units VII and VIII do not introduce much new grammar, they can be good self-study material for students who wish to continue on their own during summers. In the Character Workbook, a normal first-year college course will likely reach to about p. 110. The pages following p. 110 accompany Units VII and VIII and include a list of difficult or relatively little-used characters. Finally, we believe a first-year language text should have a clear format and ample exercises and these we have striven to provide. In our exercises, and our example sentences in the grammar notes we have tried to recycle vocabulary items from earlier lessons so that students will get built-in review of much of the vocabulary we introduce.

— The Authors

FOUNDATION WORK To the Student The Foundation Work that follows will be truly fundamental to your study of Chinese in several important senses. First, you must learn a new system of sounds in order to speak and understand standard Chinese. These new sounds bear few exact congruities to American English, and your ear will have to pick up greater or lesser discriminations from English in almost every case. Second, your ability to master this phase of study will affect your later progress in all other aspects of the language, including grammar, idiom, reading, and writing. Third, in your eventual use of the language to communicate with Chinese people in real situations, you will find good pronunciation invaluable. Few things in the world are as comical as a heavy American accent in Chinese, and you will be wise to minimize, even eliminate, your own. In short, this Foundation Work is the most crucial phase of your entire first-year course. It will demand your keenest alertness and efforts. If you succeed at this stage, you will be on your way towards true mastery of Chinese. A half-hearted effort will, on the other hand, severely impair all your future progress or result in total failure to learn the language. Chinese Sounds Chinese syllables may have one or several meanings. By themselves or in groups of two, three, or more, they correspond to what one calls a "word" in Western languages. Each syllable has a written form called a character.1 It is the purpose of this Foundation Work to master the principles of pronunciation for all the syllables that are possible in Mandarin Chinese. When it is finished you should be able to pronounce anything correctly in Chinese, even if you have no idea what it means. Your task is facilitated by the simple and regular construction of Chinese sounds. Each syllable is composed of three components, and the list of possible combinations is not as long as one might fear. The first components are called (1) Initials, which resemble certain kinds of English consonant sounds. There are twenty-one initials, and they can be memorized in a rather neat systematic order (see Table 2). Not every syllable in Chinese has an initial, but all syllables must have (2) Finals, of which there are thirty-seven. A final includes one or more vowel sounds and in some cases a consonant ending. Finals can also be neatly analyzed in a chart that you should memorize (Table 5). There are a small number of syllables in Chinese that do not have established corresponding characters.

2

CHINESE PRIMER Chinese syllables differ from those of Western languages in their incorporation of (3) Tones, or

pitch configurations of one's voice. If someone tells you that Napoleon is coming to speak at your school, naturally you find this incredible and say, "Who?!"" in a rising tone of voice. In Chinese, we also use this kind of rising tone, but not just for emphasis or special effect. The actual meaning of the syllable changes with differing intonations. For example, the Chinese word for "lake" is pronounced in a rising tone (hii), but the same consonant-vowel combination pronounced in a falling tone (hii) can mean "household." It should be obvious that tones are a vital part of spoken Chinese that one ignores only at great peril. There are four tones in Mandarin Chinese. Every syllable "belongs" to one of the four, although actual voice configurations may vary according to specifiable contexts (see Lesson 4). The mathematically inclined will by now have calculated that, using the 21 initials, the 37 finals, including the syllables with a final but no initial, and the four tones, the number of syllables one must master is limited to 3,256. Actually, only about one-third that number of syllables occur. The others are not used. So your task is not all that great.

Lesson 1 THE SINGLE TONES 5 High Pitch 4 Middle High Pitch "' 3 Middle Pitch • • 2 Middle Low Pitch 1 Low Pitch

Table 1: Single Tones The scale on the right-hand side of Table 1 divides the comfortable voice range into five levels: upper, upper middle, middle, lower middle, and lower. We use the numbers from one to five to designate these five levels, where 1 represents the lowest comfortable pitch of your vocal range and 5 represents the highest. The lines in the table show the pitch contours used in pronouncing the four basic tones. The symbols " " , • " , • , and \ are used to represent the contour of each tone. These are placed against a vertical line ( 1 , -1, -A, NJ ) to indicate the range of the tone on the 5-point scale. The First Tone, which we designate using the sign "1, is high and level. It is approximately 5-5 (i.e., it starts at 5 and ends at 5) and is pitched near the top of your comfortable voice range. Do not worry if your first tone is higher or lower than the next person's, including your teacher's. It is the relative pitch which is important. Begin by humming or using the sound ah 1. (You can check yourself on the first tone by seeing whether you can hold the tone, as in singing.) The Second Tone (3-5 *1) starts around the middle of your voice range (3) and rises straight towards the level of the first tone (5). Do not let it sag. As a serviceable check on whether you have it right, compare your intonation to the one you use in saying "What?!" (*1) or "Who?!" ( 1 ) when you hear something unbelievable. (This rule of thumb is good but not perfect. Listen very carefully to the voices of your teachers and your recordings.) The Third Tone (2-1-4 vH ) begins near the bottom of your comfortable voice range (2), proceeds to reach the bottom (1), then turns upward to end above the middle (4). Thinking of this rise at the end, many students make the mistake of not reaching the very bottom of their range at the beginning. You must think low in pronouncing the third tone. If you wish to check yourself, compare your intonation to the skeptical tone you might use with the word "Yeah..." ( >A ) in conceding a point which you feel is true but irrelevant to the issue at hand. N.B. The third tone takes more time to say than do the first and second tones; do not rush it.

4

CHINESE PRIMER

The Fourth Tone (5-1 N) begins at the top of your comfortable range (5) and proceeds quickly to the bottom (1). It takes considerably less time to say than the third tone does. To check yourself, compare your intonation to that of an emphatic "No!!" (\l), which you might use if someone were to urge you to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge; though this is a serviceable memory device, again it is not perfect. Listen carefully to your teachers and audio recordings.

Exercises In the following exercises you will practice pronouncing Chinese syllables using correct tones. (You may set aside for the moment the question of pronouncing initials and finals with complete accuracy. The exercises use only those initials and finals with which you are unlikely to have difficulty.) 1.

Read the following syllables in rows from left to right: 1 st tone 1

2nd tone -1

3rd tone vi

4th tone NJ

a

ma i fei tang 2.

Read the same syllables top to bottom in columns.

3.

Read the same syllables in rows from right to left.

4.

Read the following syllables in rows from left to right: 1st tone "1

fa ai lau mi ting in tan huang tu ling

2nd tone 1

3rd tone

4th tone

v*

\l

THE SINGLE TONES 5.

Read the following syllables across the rows, then down the columns. The tones are in scrambled order.

ma i fei tang 6.

tu *1 M 1 v4

ting >A -1 NJ ~l

lai \J 1 vA 1 "I

ri shi

M

14 2.

CHINESE PRIMER The u final. u hu fu

3.

4.

"1 1 1

-1

hu

-1

fu

1 >A1 vH1 sA

u hu fu

\l \l N

1

u

1

u

1

u

1

chu

1

qu

1

chu

1

qu

1

Contrasting the / final and the it final. Change the lip position while keeping the same tongue position. u qu

1

l

1

1

qi

1

1

u qu

1

Contrasting /, u, and u by "pivoting" on the latter. 1

shu ji chu

1 1

u

1

U

1

U

1

l

1

xii

"1

xi zhu

1

xii

1

shu

1

-1

^1

qi

\J

qu

M

ji chu

ke zhe re he

1

zhe se che zhe

1

jii \l

qu

Thee final. e le ke de

7.

U

u

1

6.

-1

Contrasting the u final and the u final. Change the tongue position while keeping the same lip position.

1

5.

u hu fu

1 \|

\J vi

\l

>A -1

The varying quality of "e" in the e, ie, and Ue finals. she zhe e she

1 -1 \J J{

xie jie ie xie

1 -1

she zhe e she

-1

xiie jiie

\J

iie

1

xiie

THE INITIALS AND FINALS

15

Contrasting -/, e, and u. 1

cm si shi chi ci 9.

ge ke luo

1

1

1

lai pai bai mai

12.

13.

1

duo guo ke luo

1

1

>A

chu su shu chu cu

1

\l

-1 >A

-1

ke

>A

luo

v4

ke luo

Contrasting ai and ei. hai

11.

UO

M

1

"Back" vowels e and uo. e de

10.

\J

che se she che ce

1 -1 -1 >A H

chu su shu chu cu

1 -1

gui hui shui

1 A \l

vl NJ

/ and w/. guai

"1

huai

^\

shuai

\l

ao

"1

dao

N

chao

vd

iao "I diao \l qiao >A

mao

-1

miao

-1

tou

1

zhou

vi

kou

N

rou

-1

and iao.

Contrasting ao and ow. tao zhao kao rao

\l \l

16 14.

CHINESE PRIMER Contrasting u and iu. jii xii qii lu

15.

1

zhan

tan Ian

17.

1

uan

1

zhuan

-1

tian

1

tuan

\l

lian

\l

luan

1 vi -1 \l

uan juan

NJ

The similar quality of "e" in ie, iie, and "a" in ww and jie qie

1 sA

jian qian

1 *A

tie

-1

tian

*1

xie

NJ

xian

Nl

jiie qiie

1 >A

juan qiian

Contrasting a/i and en. 1

fen ben

1 ". For example: 116 i wo -1 or me (p.)

uan i wan - bowl (n.)

The u final is an exception to rule five. When it occurs without an initial, the "w" is added: U

i wu - five (number) When the ui and un finals occur without an initial, the "w" changes to a "w" by rule five and an ' V is added: ui i wei - stomach (n.)

un i wen - ask (v.)

Rule 6: When the finals beginning with u occur without an initial, the umlaut drops out and a " / ' is added in front. For example: ii i yu - fish (n.)

uan i yuan - distant (adj.)

Rule 7: For all syllables not covered by rules 1-6, simply use the initials and finals as listed in Tables 2 and 5. When Chinese is spoken by native speakers from North China, especially Beijing (Peking), an optional ending that sounds rather like an American "r" sound is frequently included at the ends of words. In your study of Chinese you will inevitably run across this usage in greater or lesser degree depending upon the dialect preferences of those with whom you speak. This textbook will introduce you to some of these forms, adding an "r" at the ends of certain words. For example, when pronounced with the V ending, the syllables hua, yang, mian, and ying become huar, yangr, mianr, and yingr. There are also certain sounds used as interjections that have unusual spellings such as e, mm, oh, etc. They do not appear in Table 5, but you can learn them case by case as you proceed.

HANYU PINYIN

21

Exercises 1.

Spell the dictated syllables and indicate tones by adding the tone mark in the correct places. 1. 6. 11. 16. 21.

2.

2. 7. 12. 17. 22.

3. 8. 13. 18. 23.

4. 9. 14. 19. 24.

5 10 15 20 25

Spell the dictated syllables and add the tone marks. Pay special attention to rules 2 through 7. 1. 6. 11. 16. 21.

2. 7. 12. 17. 22.

3. 8. 13. 18. 23.

4. 9. 14. 19. 24.

5 10 15 20 25

22

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 4 FULL TONES IN COMBINATION AND TONE SANDHI Having practiced the pronunciation of individual syllables, one must turn to the matter of syllables in sequence. It may seem simple, at first, just to string two or three syllables together, but often it is not. Experience has shown, for example, that students who have no trouble saying a second-tone syllable in isolation, and then a first-tone syllable in isolation, sometimes have considerable difficulty with the second-tone plus first-tone combination. They tend to leave the end of the second-tone syllable too low and then jump in pitch to meet the beginning of the following first-tone syllable. Other combinations present other pitfalls, so you need to practice all the combinations thoroughly. When you start to study grammar and meanings, you will not be consciously focusing on tone combinations, so it is crucial that the combinations be practiced until they become second nature. The problem is complicated to a certain degree by something called tone sandhi. ("Sandhi" comes from Sanskrit and refers to changes in sounds that are caused by their phonetic contexts.) In Chinese, the tonal value of a syllable changes under certain conditions. Study Table 6, in which the tonal configurations of all two-syllable combinations are represented systematically. Table 6: Tone Combinations

1

1 2 3 4

11 ~M ~U IN

2

in IN

3

Jl

J1

4

Nl

\M NJ "IN

The first two columns of Table 6 should present no great difficulties. The two-syllable combinations there represent the simple combination of individual tones. Before turning to column three, practice all the combinations of the first two columns. Practice thinking of each combination as a single unit. With the second tone plus third tone combination, for example, do not pronounce the second tone -1, then pause, collect your thoughts, and go on to the third tone -A. Practice each combination until it rolls off your tongue easily and without pause. When two or more syllables combine to form a single word, they are spelled with no spaces between the syllables: heiban (blackboard), jlsuanji (calculator), etc. On rare occasions, putting syllables together can cause ambiguities. For example, Yanan (a place name) can look like Yan + an or Ya + nan. Apostrophes are used to show the correct grouping: Yan'an.

FULL TONES IN COMBINATION AND TONE SANDHI

23

Exercises Practice the following combinations from the first two columns of Table 6. Think of their meanings as you go. ta ting ta lai ta dong

ta ma ren duo shei lai

nan dong men da

shu nan shei shuo ting zhong

men gao chl tang

Read the following: he tang zhong xiao xie duo

Pronounce the following combinations and learn their meanings: Zhongwen - 'Chinese language' (n.) gangbi - 'pen' (n.) xuexiao - 'school' (n.)

Zhongguo - 'China' (n.) YTngwen - 'English language' (n.) qianbl- 'pencil' (n.) The Half-Third Tone ( J )

The half-third tone is a variant of the regular third tone. (For purposes of distinction, we will call the latter a "full-third tone".) The difference between the half-third and full-third tones is shown in Table 7. Table 7: The Half-Third and Full-Third Tones T

5 High Pitch 4 Middle High Pitch 3 Middle Pitch

V

2 Middle Low Pitch 1 Low Pitch

The half-third tone begins as the full-third does, but, having reached its low point, remains at that level without rising again. As with the first tone, you may check yourself on the half-third tone by seeing whether you can prolong it at a constant pitch.

24

CHINESE PRIMER

As Table 6 indicates, a third-tone syllable is pronounced in the half-third tone when a syllable in the first, second, or fourth tone immediately follows. (The third-third combination will be dealt with below.) A full-third tone is pronounced only when no syllable immediately follows, i.e., only at the end of a phrase or by itself. (In hanyu plnyTn, no distinction is made between a full-third and a half-third tone.) Exercises on Half-Third Tone 1.

Pronounce the following from column three of Table 6 (temporarily omitting the 3rd-3rd combination). n! ting nl lai ni mai

2.

hao shu da men wo kan

Read the following: hen gao shou da xiao bao mai shu shei you you tang

3.

ta hao da ren shei gao shu nan hen da

Pronounce the following combinations and learn their meanings. laoshT - 'teacher' (n.) xiaohair - 'child' (n.) Meiguo - 'America' (n.) haokan - 'good-looking' (adj.) Beijing - 'Peking' (n.) Niuyue - 'New York' (n.)

Third Tone Sandhi As shown in Table 6, when one third-tone syllable is immediately followed by another, the first of the two changes to a second tone. In pronouncing wo da ("I beat"), for example, one does not use either ^ -A or J J but 1 -A . To help the student remember this point, we italicize the third-tone syllables that undergo this tone change. Thus: wo da, da gou, etc. When three or more third-tone syllables are strung together (wo mai wan, etc.), the third-tone sandhi rule can telescope upon itself and change all but the final syllable to second tone ( -1 1 vi, etc.). But this is not always the case. Depending upon the phrase structure of the string of syllables, or upon whether the speaker chooses to pause, the "telescoping" of tone

FULL TONES IN COMBINATION AND TONE SANDHI

25

sandhi may or may not occur. Both wo mai wan (-1 1 vl) and wo mai wan ( J *1 vd) are possible, for example. The knack of deciding such cases is rather easy to pick up after one has experienced a number of concrete examples. Exercises on Third-Tone Sandhi 1.

Practice the following examples of 3rd-tone sandhi: rii hao wo xie hen hao

2.

Read the following. Note that there is no distinction in the tonal patterns of the 2nd-3rd and 3rd-3rd combinations. shei dong wo dong da shei da zhong

3.

da gou mai wan wo hen hao

nl lai ni xie hen yuan gou da

wo kun xie xiao xie shu hao ren

Learn the following vocabulary items. fenbi - 'chalk' (n.) zougou - 'running dog, lackey' (n.)

Fourth-Tone Sandhi Note that the fourth-plus-fourth combination in Table 6 is represented as these is a variant of the fourth tone whose pitch configuration is as follows: Table 8: Modified and Regular Fourth Tones • • 5 High Pitch «> 4 Middle High Fitch 3 Middle Pitch + 2 Middle Low Pitch I Low Pitch

. The first of

26

CHINESE PRIMER

The modified fourth tone begins where the full fourth tone begins, but, in the same amount of time, falls only about half as far as the full fourth. Exercises on Fourth-Tone Sandhi 1.

Pronounce the following 4th-4th pairs. kan bao yao kan7

da ma ('curse extensively') yao mai

mai bao 2.

Pronounce the follwoing combinations from column four of Table 6.

3.

kan shu ma ren mai biao da shu yao ting mai zhl da gou kan shei yao wanr yao xie Pronounce the following vocabulary items and learn their meanings. diandeng - 'electric light' (n.) daxue - 'university' (n.) moshiii - 'ink' (n.) jiaoshi - 'classroom' (n.)

Neutral Tones In normal rapid speech, a good number of syllables, sometimes a majority, temporarily lose their tonal configuration and are pronounced in a "neutral" tone. All but a very few retain their original tone at a latent level, however, from where it re-emerges whenever the syllable in question is stressed. Therefore, you must always know the original tone for a given syllable, even if it is usually pronounced in the neutral tone. Although we call it a "neutral" tone (in Chinese it is called a "light" tone), there is nothing neutral or light about the correct way to pronounce it. It takes very little time to say, and does not hold or change its pitch. But the location of its pitch within the voice range follows certain rules. We use the voice-range stem (I) plus a dot (.1 or -I or 1 or .1, etc.) to show where one's neutral tone should be. The dots are normally placed to correspond to the five pitch levels described on page 3. 7

Yao may serve as an auxiliary verb preceding another verb. Thus yao kan = "wants to read (or look at)".

FULL TONES IN COMBINATION AND TONE S ANDHI

27

The following seven paragraphs discussing neutral tone pitch height are optional reading. The pitch height of the neutral tone is mastered fairly easily through practice, even by those who don't bother to learn the rules. When a neutral tone begins a phrase, its pitch is usually near the middle (3) of the voice range (-I )• However, the great majority of neutral tones do not begin phrases but follow regular tones directly. This is the best context for practicing them. Following a first tone, a neutral tone normally comes down to one's low-mid voice range (2), as in ta.de 1 .1 ("his" or "hers"). Following a second tone, a neutral tone falls right about the middle (3): shei.de "1 -I ("whose?"). This is often one of the more difficult combinations for beginning students to master, so be sure you have it right. Trace the pitch configuration with your finger as you say it, and be sure your finger, and your voice with it, comes back down after the second tone. Or imagine yourself going off a ski-jump, soaring upward for a moment, then landing with a small thud (the neutral tone) back on the ground. Following a half-third tone, a neutral tone goes up to one's high-mid range (4), as in nl.de J I ("yours"). Note that the third + neutral combination is the only one in which the neutral tone ends up higher than where the regular tone leaves off. In thinking of this combination, try imagining a rubber band stretched loosely between two hooks. You pull the rubber band downward at the center (the half-third tone), then release it and it rebounds upward (the neutral tone). Note that since a full-third tone cannot be immediately followed by another syllable, there exists no full-third + neutral combination. N.B. Tone sandhi rules continue to apply even if neutral tones are involved. Thus da + .ni = da .n! (-1 -I). There are a few exceptions to this rule, which you can pick up on a case-by-case basis. Following a fourth tone, a neutral tone rests at the bottom (1) of one's range, just where the fourth tone leaves off, as in da.de \J .1 ("the big one"). Although the above rules hold in most cases, there are certain contexts in which a neutral tone may move either higher or lower than its normal place. This is usually determined by the over-all flow of the tonal configuration, including the syllable which precedes as well as that which follows. These are very natural changes to make, and you will be able to pick them up as you go. How does one know when to use a neutral tone and when to pronounce a syllable in its regular tone? There are several rules which help answer this question—for instance, certain interjections and suffixes, and pronouns as direct objects, are always neutral —and you should learn these rules as they arise in your study. Beyond that, though, you will need to pick up many neutral tone usages on a case-by-case basis, just as you learn the other properties of various words and usages.

28

CHINESE PRIMER

In a few cases, the vowel quality of finals changes with a neutral-tone syllable. Most of these changes are fine points you can pick up later on. One important example to learn now, however, is a change in the e final. In the neutral tone, it becomes a "lazier" sound—requiring less muscular tension—rather like the final a in "America" or "soda". NOTE: In hanyu pinyTn, the normal way to indicate a neutral tone is by adding no tone sign at all. For example: 1 .1

tingle "have listened"

-1 1

laile "have come"

J 1

maile "have brought"

N .1

maile "have sold"

In this textbook, we have modified the standard system by adding a dot before neutral-tone syllables: 1 .1 tlng.le

-II lai.le

J1 mai.le

\l .1 mai.le

There are two good reasons for doing this: 1) Experience has shown that students master neutral tones more easily if this dot is added. 2) For many compounds, it is important that the student be aware of the original tone of a syllable even if it is pronounced in the neutral tone. For example, when students learn difang "place", they know immediately thatfang is neutral tone; but they have no way of knowing whether the original word (ij) is fang, fang, fang, or fang. If one writes the compound as difang, however, it is immediately clear that the original tone is first tone. This knowledge makes it much easier for the student, in later study, to associate the word correctly with other words using fang, such as fangxiang "direction", fangzhi "local gazette", sifang "the four directions", etc. We omit the tone signs only for particles (Me, .le, .ne, .ma, .ba, etc.) that are always in the neutral tone. There are a few very common usages that are almost always spoken in neutral tone, not their original tones. Examples are .ge and .de (see exercises l.b-d below) and .zi and .le (see exercise 3 below). In such cases we omit the tone sign as a matter of course. So, in this book, if you see any spelling with no tone sign, you should say the syllable in neutral tone. After students have mastered basic Chinese, they easily can—and should—return to the standard conventions of hanyu pinyTn (tingle, difang, etc.) in their scholarly or business work.

FULL TONES IN COMBINATION AND TONE S ANDHI

29

Exercises 1.

Learn the following vocabulary. a. b. c.

The numbers one through ten are: yT, er, san, si, wu, liii, qT, ba, jiii, shi. The syllable .ge is added after a numeral when counting concrete things:8 si.ge, ql.ge, etc. The syllable .de can follow a noun or a pronoun as the mark of the possessive. For example: nT.de - 'yours' shei.de - 'whose' Zhong.guo.de - 'China's'

d.

The same particle .de may follow an adjective to mean 'the one which is (adjective)', e.g.: hao.de - 'the good one' gao.de - 'the high (or tall) one' nan.de - 'the difficult one'

e.

The Chinese word shi corresponds in most ways to the use of 'is' and 'are' in English. It is usually pronounced in the neutral tone, and for present purposes you may use it to construct such sentences as: Zhe.shl shu - 'This is a book.' or 'These are books.' Na.shi deng - 'That's a lamp.' or 'Those are lamps.'

2.

Pronounce the following combinations, the second syllables of which are in the neutral tone. ta.de shei.de wo.de da.de nT.de gao.de zhe.shi zhT na.shi men

san.ge shi.ge jiu.ge liu.ge si.ge nan.de duo.de wti.ge

There is an exception to this principle in the case of er—'two'. See Unit 1, Lesson 3.

30 3.

CHINESE PRIMER Learn the following vocabulary. .Zi is a common suffix pronounced in the neutral tone. "I .1 J I -1 -I 1 I \l .1 N .1

zhuo.zi - 'table' (n.) yi.zi - 'chair' (n.) xue.sheng - 'student' (n.) bi.zi - 'nose' (n.) wa.zi - 'socks' (n.) dui.le - 'correct'

Special Tone Sandhi for Y i a n d B u The two Chinese words yi meaning 'one, once, a', and bu, 'no, not', both of which are extremely common, follow special rules of tone sandhi. Preceding a first-, second-, or third-tone syllable, yi and bit are pronounced in the fourth tone. Thus: N 1 \l "1 N vl N 1 NJ *1 M sA

yi-tian yi-nian yi-wan bu shuo butong btihao

'one d a y ' 'one year' 'a b o w l ' 'not say' 'not same—different' 'not good'

W h e n followed by a fourth-tone syllable, yi and bu are second tone, as in:

*1 \l yiyang

'one type—alike'

*1 \l budui

'not correct'

When used alone or at the end of a phrase, yi is first tone, and bu is fourth tone. Hence: 1 "I shfyT 'ten, one—eleven' VI bu! 'no!' N.B. These rules apply only to those specific words which mean 'one' and 'no'. (There are about 18 other Chinese syllables pronounced yi (~l), for example. These others never change, unless it be to neutral tone.) Exercises 1.

Practice the following combinations which use yf 'one'. N1 \l 1 \l sA *1 \l

yi-tian yi-nian yi-wan yi-yang

FULL TONES IN COMBINATIONS AND TONE SANDHI

31

Practice the following combinations which use bu 'no, not'. \l \l \l 1

"I -1 -A \l

bti-shuo bu lai bti dong bu mai

Pronounce the following. buhao bu nan yl-nian bu xiao bu tTng yidianr io yi.ge

buda bu da yl-tian bu wanr yiyang buyfyang5

Conclusion As promised at the beginning of this Foundation Work you should now be ready to pronounce any phrase at all in standard Chinese, whether or not you can understand it. You may find it amusing, therefore, to give your tongue a work-out on the following Chinese tongue twisters. Translations are provided, also for your amusement; do not worry at this stage about matching up the translation with the Chinese. Chi pu.tao bu tii pu.tao pfr; Bu chl pu.tao dao tii pu.tao pfr. When he eats grapes he does not spit out the grapeskins. It is, strangely, when not eating grapes that he does spit out grapeskins. Tongshan tong ling Tonglfngting. Tong Ifng tong ting Tongshan ding. Feng chin tong ting tong ling dong. Feng ting tong ting tong ling ting. On Copper Mountain there is a bronze bell in the Tongling Pavilion. The bronze bell and the bronze pavilion are on top of Copper Mountain. When the wind blows the bronze bell in the bronze pavilion moves. When the wind rests the bronze bell in the bronze pavilion rests. 9

Note that the tone of yang determines the tone of yi, which then determines the tone of bu. Yds second tone because the full tone form of .ge is .ge.

10

CHINESE PRIMER

32

General Review Exercises Spell the following.

1. 6. 11. 16. 21. 26. 31. 36. 41. 46.

2.

7.

12. 17. 22. 27. 32. 37. 42. 47.

3. 8. 13. 18. 23. 28. 33. 38. 43. 48.

4. 9. 14. 19. 24. 29. 34. 39. 44. 49.

5. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Pronounce the following. hen da shei shuo hen hao mai zhi liu.ge men gao xiao xie mai tang mai tang ta da shei.de bi ta he tang heiban duo xiaohair chT yao moshuT jiaoshi da yao lai wanr da bf.zi wo hen xiao gou bit dong mai yi.ge kan ta.de ni you shu yao mai bao

xie ba.ge yao ma shei xie hen duo shou hen da hao xuexiao

youfenbi hen haokan xue.sheng xiao kan Zhong.guo shuo YTngwen zhuo.zi duo xiao daxue kan diandeng m da .ta ta hen gao Zhong.guoren ma Mei.guo ting Zhongwen da yl.zi mai qT.ge wo da .ni ta da .wo shu hen hao Mei.guoren

Conversational Lessons

34

CHINESE PRIMER UNIT I STUDENTS

Lesson 1 "REN'S" 1 BEST FRIEND ( I ) (A is

an American,

B is a

Chinese.)

A:

What's your ( l a s t ) name?

B:

My name i s Ding. What's yours?

A:

Zhang. My f u l l name i s Zhang Rusi.

B:

Mine i s Ding Xln.

A:

I'm a student. Are you?

B:

Yes, I am, too.

A:

I'm an American student. Are you, too?

B:

No, I'm not; I'm a Chinese student.

A:

Are you in elementary school or high school?

B:

I'm a high school student — junior high.

A:

I'm in high school too, but not junior high. I'm in senior high.

B:

Both of us are students. You're a boy student, and I'm a girl student.

A:

You and I are both students, so we are friends, too.

You

are a girl student, and I am a boy student. Therefore you are a girl friend and I am a boy friend. B:

But I'm not your girlfriend.

A:

I'm not your boyfriend, either.

B:

We are new friends.

(They enter the classroom.)

UNIT I LESSON 1

35

D I 2 Y I DANYUAN NAN XUE.SHENG,

Ntj XUE.SHENG

D I Y I KE PENG.YOU ( I )

(A is an American, B is a Chinese.) A:

Gulxlng? 3

B:

Wo xlng4 Ding.5 NI gulxlng?

A:

Wo xlng Zhang. Wo.de6 mlng.zl jiao7 Zhang Rusl.

B:

Wo jiao Ding Xin.

A:

Wo shi* xue.sheng.8 NI shl .bu.shi9 xue.sheng?

B:

Shi. Wo ye10, shi xue.sheng.

A:

Wo

shi

yi.ge11

Mei.guo12

xue.sheng.

NI

ye. shi

Mei.guo

13

xue.sheng .ma? B:

Bu.shi.

Wo

bu.shi

Mei.guo

xue.sheng.

Wo

shi

Zhong.guo

xue.sheng. A:

NI shi xiaoxuesheng14 . hai.shi15 zhongxuesheng?

B:

Wo shi zhongxuesheng. Wo shi chuzhong xue.sheng.

A:

Wo

ye.shi

zhongxuesheng,

ke.shi

wo

bu.shi

chuzhong

xue.sheng, shi16 gaozhong xue.sheng. B:

Wo.men17 dou.shi18 xue.sheng. NI shi nan xue.sheng, wo shi nd xue.sheng.

A:

NI gen19 wo dou.shi xue.sheng, suo.yl ye dou.shi peng.you. NI shi nU xue.sheng, wo shi nan xue.sheng, suo.yl nl shi nU peng.you, wo shi nan peng.you.20

B:

Ke.shi wo bu.shi nl.de nUpeng.you!

A:

Wo ye bu.shi nl.de nanpeng.you.

B:

Za.men21 shi xln peng.you.

{They enter the classroom.) * The verb shi is often underarticulated, but not as much as a neutral tone pronunciation. In these cases we spell it shi without the tone sign. The presence of the tone sign (shi) indicates a normal full fourth tone. The presence of a dot indicates a normal neutral tone, regardless of whether .shi or .shi is written.

36

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 "REN'S" BEST FRIEND (II) A:

Who's that person? Is he a college student?

B:

No, he's our teacher. He too is an old friend.

A:

The teacher is our friend?

B:

Yes.

A:

Is this desk yours?

B:

No, it's his. This chair is his, too.

A:

Then which desk is yours?

B:

That one is mine; that chair is mine, too. That desk and chair are both mine. (Sees a distant object) Hey, what's that?

A:

It's a dog. (Whistles to call dog. Small dog runs over.)

B:

Hey, whose dog is this?

A:

It's my dog, and my good friend.

B:

A dog is your friend?

A:

Right.

Dogs

are

my

friends,

and

my

friends

are

dogs.

(Laughs) B:

I'm not a dog, so I'm not your friend, right?

A:

Oh yes, you're my friend. You may not be a dog, but you are my friend. (Points at a large dog) And even though he is a dog, he's not my friend.

UNIT I LESSON 2

37

D I ' E R KE PENG.YOU ( I I ) A:

Nei.ge1 ren shi shei?2 Ta shi .bu.shi yl.ge daxuesheng?

B:

Bu.shi,

ta

peng.you.

4

shi

wo.men.de

laoshl. 3

Ye.shi

wo.men.de

lao

A:

Laoshl shi wo.men.de peng.you .ma?

B:

Shi.de.

A:

Zhei-zhang zhuo.zi5 shi ni.de6 .bu.shi?

B:

Bu.shi, zhei-zhang zhuo.zi shi ta.de, zhei-jba yi.zi ye.shi ta.de.

A:

Nei-zhang zhuo.zi shi ni.de .ne?7

B:

Nei-zhang

zhuo.zi

shi wo.de, nei-jba yi.zi

ye. shi wo.de;

nei-zhang zhuo.zi gen nei-jba yi.zi dou.shi wo.de. (Sees a distant object) E?8 Na.shi shem.me?9 A:

Na.shi yi-zhl gou. (Whistles to call dog. Small dog runs over.)

B:

E? Zhei-zhi gou shi shei.de?

A:

Zhe.shi wo.de gou, ye.shi wo.de hao peng.you.

B:

Gou shi ni.de peng.you .ma?

A:

Shi.de, gou shi wo.de

peng.you, wo.de

peng.you

shi

gou.

(Laughs) B:

Wo bu.shi

gou, suo.yi

wo bu.shi

ni.de

peng.you, dui

.bu.dui?10 A:

Budui,11 budui, ni shi wo.de peng.you. Suiran12 ni bu.shi gou, dan.shi ni hai.shi13 wo.de peng.you. (Points at a large dog) Ta suiran shi gou, dan.shi ta bu.shi wo.de peng.you.

38

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 BEING FINICKY A:

Good morning, how are you?

B:

Morning. I'm doing all right. How about you?

A:

I'm not so well today. I'm feeling tired. That bed of mine is too soft; it's uncomfortable.

B:

My bed's soft too — not hard enough. Maybe they're both too old.

A:

The rooms in this dormitory aren't very good — they're all so small.

B:

But this classroom of ours is pretty good. Big windows like this,

a

tall

door, very

bright

in

the

room —

makes

it

comfortable. A:

The food at this school is really terrible. Breakfast is bad, lunch is bad, and dinner is bad too.

B:

You may say it's bad, but I think the school's food is all right.

A:

It's not bad enough for you? Yesterday noon's chicken was undercooked,

last

night's

beef

was

too

tough,

and

this

morning's eggs were overdone. B:

I think you're asking too much. This is a good school, and it's famous. It has lots of students, and has good teachers. But that's not enough for you.

A:

There may be a lot of students, but the playing fields are too small, and there aren't enough teachers.

B:

This

is

no

good,

that's

no

good!

You're

just

a

strange

person. Look how good our Chinese teacher is! A:

The teacher's good, all right, but she's a little too short, and her nose is too flat. Really unattractive. Her eyes...

B:

Stop it! What a rotten egg you are! She's my mother, you know!

A:

Huh?... (Runs out)

UNIT I LESSON 3

39

DISAN KE YAO.QItJ TAI GAO1 A:

Zao,2 ni hao .ma?

B:

Zao, wo hai 3 hao. NI .ne?

A:

Wo j l n . t i a n 4 you .dianr 5 bushu.fu. 6 Wo jue.de hen7 l e i . W6.de nei-zhang chuang t a i ruan, hen bushu.fu.

B:

W6.de chuang ye hen ruan, .le.

bugou ying. 8

yexu dou t a i

jiu

9

A:

Zhei.ge sushe .de wu.zi dou butai10 hao, dou nem11 xiao.

B:

Ke.shi za.men.de zhei-jian jiaoshi12 bucuo.13 Chuang.hu zem da, men zem gao. Wu.zi ye hen liang. Suo.yi hen shu.fu.

A:

Zhei.ge xuexiao

.de fan14 zhen buhaochl.15 Zaofan buhaochl,

zhongfan buhaochl, wanfan ye buhaochl. B:

Suiran nl shuo buhao, ke.shi wo jue.de zhei.ge xuexiao .de fan hai bucuo.

A:

Hai bugou buhaochl .ma? Zuo.tian zhong.wu .de ji tai sheng, wan.shang .de niurou tai ying, jin.tian zao.shang .de jidan .you16 tai lao.17

B:

W6 jue.de ni.de yao.qiu tai gao .le. Zhei.ge xuexiao shi yi.ge

hao

xuexiao,

ye.shi

yi.ge

youming

.de xuexiao.

Xue.sheng duo, laoshi hao,18 ke.shi ni jue.de hai bugou hao. A:

Xue.sheng suiran duo, ke.shi qiuchang tai xiao, laoshi ye tai shao.

B:

Zhei.ge xing.qing

buhao,

nei.ge

ye

buhao.

Ni

zhei.ge

tai qiguai. Ni kan, za.men.de

ren19

Zhongwen

.de

laoshi

duo.me20 hao .a.21 A:

Zhei-wei22 laoshi hao shi hao,23 ke.shi ta you .dianr24 ai, bi.zi ye bugou gao, zhen buhaokan. Ta.de yan.jlng...

B:

Bie shuo

.le.25

Ni

mu.qln27 .ei!28 Ai

29

...

(Runs out)

zhen. shi

yi.ge

huaidan!26

Ta

shi wo

40

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 4 CHINESE CLASS (A is a male American student, B is a female Chinese student,) A:

Have a seat, have a seat. Do you have any more classes?

B

None now, but I do this afternoon.

A:

How many classes do you have this afternoon?

B:

Two.

A:

What classes are they? Chinese classes?

B:

No, English classes. I don't have Chinese classes.

A:

Why aren't you taking Chinese?

B:

Because I am Chinese; I can speak Chinese. That's why I'm not studying Chinese and want to study English.

A:

I really

like Chinese. I study

it every day, and

go to

Chinese class every day. B:

If you like Chinese so much, can you speak it yet?

A:

I can only

speak a little bit, but

I can write

Chinese

characters, you know! B:

Can you write a lot of characters?

A:

Big, small — I can write them both.

B:

Really? I don't believe it.

A:

Look.

This

is

the

character

"big",

and

this

is

the

character "small". B:

Oh, I see. All you can write are these two characters "big" and "small"!

A:

I can also write

"one",

"two", "three", and

"above", and

"shrimp". B:

"Shrimp"? How do you write the character "shrimp"?

(A writes ' xia '.) B:

Oh... that's "below", not "shrimp". Oh no! The moment you mention shrimp, I get hungry.

A:

Okay, let's eat.

{Continued in next lesson)

UNIT I LESSON 4

41

DISI KE ZHONGWEN-KE1 (A is a male American student, B is a female Chinese student.) A:

QIng2 zuo, qing zuo. Ni hai you ke .ma?

B:

Xianzai mei.you3 ke, ke.shi xia.wu you ke.

A:

Xia.wu you ji-tang4 ke?

B:

You liang-tang.5

A:

Shi shem ke,6 shi .bu.shi Zhongwen-ke?

B:

Bu.shi, shi Ylngwen-ke, wo mei.you Zhongwen-ke.

A:

Ni weishem7 bu xue Zhongwen .ne?

B:

Yln.wei8 wo shi Zhong.guoren, wo hui9 shuo Zhong.guo-hua,10 sud.yi wo bu xue Zhongwen, yao11 xue Ylngwen.

A:

Wo zhen xi.huan Zhongwen. Wo tianx12 dou xue Zhongwen. Meitian13 d6u14 you Zhongwen-ke.

B:

Ni nem xi.huan

Zhongwen,

xianzai

hui shuo

Zhong.guo-hua

.bu.hui?15 A:

Wo zhi16 hui shuo yidianr, ke.shi wo hui xie Zhong.guo-zi .ei.

B:

Ni hui xie hen duo Zhong.guo-zi .ma?

A:

Da zi, xiao zi,17 wo dou18 hui xie.

B:

Zhen.de? Wo bu xin.

A:

Ni kan, zhe.shi 'da' .zi, zhe.shi 'xiao1 .zi.

B:

.Oh, ni zhi hui xie 'da', 'xiao' zhei liang.ge zi .a.

A:

Wo ye hui xie yi, er, san. Hai .you19 shang, hai .you xia.20

B:

'Xia'? 'Xia' . zi zem21 xie?

(A writes 'xia'.) B:

.Oh... shi 'xia', bu.shi

'xia'. .Ai.ya, ni yi shuo xia wo

jiu22 e .le.

A:

Hao, 23 za.men c h l - f a n 2 4

(Continued in next lesson)

.ba.25

42

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 5 A SPECIAL DIET A:

Would you like something to drink first?

B:

I'll have some tea, some "clear tea".

A:

What's "clear tea"?

B:

"Clear tea" is green tea. Chinese usually drink green tea, very seldom black tea.

A:

We

Americans

usually

drink

black

tea, not

green

tea. I

don't drink black tea or green tea, only soda. B:

Drinking

too

much

soda

makes

your

stomach

feel

uncomfortable, so I don't drink soda. Hey, I'm starving. A:

Me too. What do you want? I have money today; I'll treat you. This restaurant's

famous for its lobster. How about

having that? B:

Fine. I'll have lobster.

A:

Excellent.

(Speaking

to

the

waiter)

We'll

have

two

lobsters. (Feels pocket) Uh oh! Where did my wallet go? It was just here, but now it's not anymore. B:

(Pointing at

something

some distance

away on

the floor)

Look over there. Something's over there. I wonder if it's your wallet. A:

Where?

B:

Over by that chair.

A:

(Walks over and takes a look) No, this isn't my wallet. (Chuckling with embarrassment) Do you have any money?

B:

Yes, but maybe

not

enough. All

I have

is one...

two...

three... four... five... six... seven... eight... nine... ten... eleven... eleven dollars. A:

Well, then we can't have lobster. What can we have?

B:

Then let me treat you to something else. First you were treating me, now I am treating you.

UNIT I LESSON 5

43

DIWU KE CHI-KUI 1 A:

NI yao .bu.yao xian he .dianr shem.me?2

B:

Wo yao he-cha, he qlngcha.

A:

Qlngcha shi shem.me?

B:

Qlngcha jiu.shi3 llicha.4 Zhong.guoren duobanr5 he lUcha, hen shao he hongcha.6

A:

Worn1 Mei.guoren duobanr he hongcha, bu he lticha. Wo hongcha lUcha dou8 bu he, jiu9 he qlshul.

B:

He tai duo qlshulr du.zi hui10 jue.de bushu.fu, suo.yl wo bu he qlshulr. E,11 wo e.sI12.le.13

A:

Wo ye e.sl.le. NI yao chl shem.me? Jintian wo you qian, wo qing14 .nl.15 Zhei-jia16 fanguanr .de longxia hen youmlng. NI xiang17.bu.xiang chl?

B:

Hao, na18 wo jiu19 chl longxia.

A:

Hao-ji. le.20 (Speaking to the waiter) Wo.men yao21 liang-zhi longxia. {Feels pocket) .Al.ya, wo.de pibao shang nar22 .qu23 .le? Pibao benlai zai zher,24 xianzai bu zai .le.

B:

(Pointing at something some distance away on the floor) NI kan

nar. Nar

you

dong.xl,25 buzhldao26

yi.ge

shi

.bu.shi

nl.de pibao. A:

Nar? Zai na. II?27

B:

Nei-jba yl.zi .nar.28

A:

(Walks over and

takes

a

look) Bu.shi, zhe

bu.shi

wo.de

pibao. (Chuckling with embarrassment) Ni you qian .ma? B:

You, ke.shi wo.de qian yexu bugou. Wo zhi you yl, er, san, si, wu, liu, ql, ba, jiu, shi, shiyl29 ... shiyl-kuai30 qian.

A:

Na wo.men jiu buneng31 chl longxia .le.32 Neng chi shem .ne?

B:

Na wo qing .nl chl bie.de33 .ba. Benlai ni qing wo,34 xianzai wo qing nl . le .

44 A:

CHINESE PRIMER Thank

you,

thank

you.

But

I've

invited

you

to

something, too. B:

What's that?

A:

(To eat) A loss.

A sample of model book for practicing calligraphy da zi "large characters" Calligraphy by Liu Gongquan (778-865)

(eat)

45

UNIT I LESSON 5 A:

Xie.x,

xie.x, ke.shi wo ye qing ni chi dong.xi

B:

Ni qing .wo chi shem .le?

A:

Chl-kul.

.le

•*>

t

fit

-ti

•*•

ft" J

t Su

-t

-a

* «• A sample of model book for practicing calligraphy xiao zi "small characters" Calligraphy by Wen Zhengming (1470-1559)

46

CHINESE PRIMER

UNIT II DRINK, EAT, RUN Lesson 1 DRINK (A is a Chinese, B an American) A:

Who's there?

B:

It's me, Zhang Rusl.

A:

Come in, please. Come in.

B:

Are you busy? Have some time?

A:

I'm not doing anything. Have a seat.

B:

I had nothing much to do this afternoon, and thought

I'd

come over for a chat. A:

Fine, I wanted to talk with you, too. What would you like to drink — something hot or something cold?

B:

I guess I'll have something hot.

A:

Do you want tea or coffee?

B:

Either's fine — I drink both. If you have Chinese tea, I'll have that.

A:

Chinese tea is all I have, no other kind. I wonder if you like green tea? That's all I have.

B:

Green tea's fine. I had it every day when I was in China.

(A puts tea leaves into a cup and pours in boiling water.) A:

This is the Chinese way of steeping tea. You're probably used to drinking it this way.

B:

Of course I am. I lived in China for two years, and always drank it this way.

UNIT I I LESSON 1

47

DI'ER DANYUAN HE-CHA, CHI-FAN, PAO-BU1 DIYI KE HE-CHA (A is a Chinese, B an American) A:

Shei .a?2

B:

Shi wo, 3 Zhang Rusl.

A:

Qlng jin, qlng jln.

B:

NI mang .bu.mang? Ni you kongr4 .mei.you?

A:

Wo mei shi. Ni qlng zuo.5

B:

Wo jln.tian xia.wu6 mei shem7 shi, xiang gen8 .ni tan.x.9

A:

Hen hao. Wo ye hen xiang gen .ni tan.x. Ni he shem.me? Re .de .hai.shi liang ,de?10

B:

Wo he re .de .ba.

A:

Ni yao cha .hai.shi kafei?11

B:

Cha

huo.zhe12

kafei

dou

xing.13

Wo

liang-yangr14

dou

he.

Yao.shi15 ni you Zhong.guo chaye, na wo jiu he-cha. A:

Wo

zhi

buzhidao

you ni

Zhong.guo xi.huan

chaye,

mei.you

.bu.xi.huan16

bie.de

qlngcha.

Wo

chaye.

Wo

zhi

you

qlngcha. B:

Qlngcha hen hao. Wo zai Zhong.guo

.de shi.hour17 tianx he

qingcha. (A puts tea leaves into a cup and pours in boiling water.) A:

Zhe.shi Zhong.guo fa.zi pao-cha. Ni he.de-guan18 .ba?

B:

Dangran he.de-guan. Wo zai19 Zhong.guo zhu.le20 liang-nian, dou. shi21 zem he .de.22

48

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 EAT (I) B:

(Drinks tea) Mm, this is good tea. By the way, Li, how do you feel about life in America now that you've been here two months?

A:

Pretty well,

I suppose, except for three things

I'm

not

used to. The first is that my English is not good enough. The teacher speaks too quickly in class, and sometimes I think I've understood when actually I haven't. The second thing is drinking cold water. The third is eating with a knife and fork. B:

What? You still can't use a knife and fork?

A:

I can, yes, but not the right way. Can you teach me how to do it?

(A takes out a knife and fork, gives them to B,) B:

Hold the knife in your right hand, and the fork in your left, cutting this way. When you're finished cutting, you put down the knife, take the fork in your right hand, and eat one piece at a time. Easy, isn't it?

A:

For you, yes. For me it sure is hard. I've already made a couple of dumb mistakes. Once

I was

cutting

a piece

of

chicken, and, with my first cut, the chicken flew up into the air and fell into the coffee cup of the guy sitting next to me.

UNIT I I LESSON 2

49

DI'ER KE CHI-FAN (SHANG) B:

(Drinks tea) .Mm,1 zhe chaye2 hen hao. Xiao LI .a,3 ni lai Mei.guo

yl.jlng

liang.ge

yue

. le,4

guo.5de-guan

ni

.guo.bu.guan?6 A:

Bie.de hai hao,7 zhi you san-jian8 shi.qing buda9 xiguan.10 Diyi-jian shang-ke

shi .de

wo.de

Yingwen

shi. hour

shulping

shuo-hua

bugou

shuo

.de

gao.

tai

Laoshl

kuai.11 You

shi.hour12 wo yiwei13 ting-dong14 .le, qishi15 mei tlng-dong.16 Dier-jian shi he liang-shui. Disan-jian shi yong dao-cha17 chl-fan.18 B:

Zem.me?19 NI xianzai hai buhui na dao-cha .ma?

A:

Na

shi

na,20 ke.shi

hui

na

.de budui. NI

neng

.bu.neng

jiao.x21 .wo zem na dao-cha? (A takes out a knife and fork, gives them to B.) B:

NI

you.shou22

yong 23

zemyangr

qie.

na

dao.zi,

Qie-wan. le,

24

yong

zuo. shou

fang.xia

dao.zi, 26

you.shou na cha.zi, yi-kuai yi-kuai .de

na

cha.zi, 25

zai

yong

chl. Hen rong.yi,

27

shi .bu.shi? A:

Dui ni28 hen rong.yi, dul wo .ke29 hen nan. Wo yl.jlng nao30 .guo31 liang-ci32 xiao.hua

.le. You yl-ci,33 wo qie yi-kuai

jl. Wo yl34 qie, jl jiu tiao .de hen gao, diao .dao35 wo pangbianr nei.ge ren .de kafei bei.zi.ll36 .le.

(.de)

50

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 EAT (II) A:

(Continuing) And there was the time when I was eating with an American (girl) classmate. There was a cherry tomato in the salad, and I thought to myself, "This tomato is small enough that I shouldn't have to cut it." But the moment I bit it, the

juice squirted onto her face and her pretty

clothes. B:

(Chuckling) And what did she say?

A:

She

was

actually

very

polite,

as

though

nothing

had

happened. It wasn't until a little later, when she thought I

wasn't

paying

attention,

that

she

wiped

her

face.

Actually I did notice, though. B:

That kind of dumb mistake always happens when you're new to foreign countries. I remember when I first got to China, I was eating at a friend's house and made a dumb mistake, too — because I didn't know how to use chopsticks. I picked up a piece of meat with the chopsticks — but not very securely — and it fell into the soup bowl with a great plopl Hot soup

splashed

all over my

friend's younger

sister —

her

hands, faces and clothes. She was polite, too. She said, "It doesn't matter, it's nothing. It didn't burn." A:

By now you're pretty good with chopsticks, I suppose.

B:

No problem now, of course. Do you have some chopsticks? I can show you.

(A takes chopsticks, gives them to B.) Is

this the way to hold them? A:

Right, right. You hold them exactly right.

UNIT I I LESSON 3

51

DISAN KE CHI-FAN (XIA) A:

(Continuing)

Hai

.you

yi-cl, wo

gen

yi-wei

Mei.guo

nu

tongxue yikuair1 chl-fan. Shengcai2.ll you .ge3 xiao fanqie.4 Wo xiang, "Jiran5 zhei.ge fanqie zem xiao, jiii buyong6 qie .le." Ke.shi wo yi yao, fanqie .de zhl jiii jian .dao nei-wei

nu

tongxue

.de

lian.shang7

gen

piao.liang

(.de) .de

yl.fu.shang .le. B:

(Chuckling) Ta shuo shem .ne?

A:

Ta

dao8 hen

ke.qi, hao.xiang

Guo.le yi-huir,11 ta kan

wanquan mei-shir9

.wo bu zhuyi

.de

.shi.de.10

.shi.hour cai12

ca.le .yi.xia13 lian.14 Qishi wo hai.shi kan. jian15 .le. B:

Gang dao wai.guo,16 zong yao17 nao zhei-zhong18 xiao.hua .de.19 Wo

ji.de wo gang dao Zhong.guo

.de

.shi.hour, zai yi.ge

peng.you jia.li chl-fan, wo yln.wei kuai.zi na .de buhao20 ye nao.le xiao.hua. Wo jia.le yi-kuai rou, mei jia-zhu,21 "pa"

.de22

Peng.you

yi-sheng23

mei.x

.de

diao

.dao

lian.shang,

( .de)

tangwafl.li24

shou.shang,

.le.

shen.shang25

dou.shi re tang. Ta ye hen ke.qi. Ta shuo, "Buyaojin, mei guan.xi,26 bu tang,27 bu tang." A:

Ni xianzai na kuai.zi na .de hen hao .le .ba?

B:

Xianzai dangran mei.you wenti .le. NI you .mei.you kuai.zi? Wo ke.yl28 na

.gei .ni kan.x.29 (A takes chopsticks, gives

them to B.) Shi .bu.shi zem na .de? A:

Dui.le, Dui.le. Ni na .de wanquan dui.

52

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 4 RUN B:

Actually, things like this aren't really hard. They'll come if you just keep practicing. I'm sure that after a few more weeks you'll be using a knife and fork with no problem.

A:

How about your tea?

B:

My tea? It's finished.

A:

Want some more?

B:

No, no, that's enough.

A:

There's something else I'd

like to ask you. I'm

all

and

day

long

these

days,

haven't

been

studying

getting

any

exercise at all. I want to ask you to help me think of some way to get some daily exercise. B:

I run every morning. Would you like to run with me?

A:

Fine! Do you run fast? Maybe we can race.

B:

Five years ago I could have raced you. But if I did it now, you'd win and I'd lose for sure.

A:

Why's that? You don't know if I run fast.

B:

I used to run the marathon, and I was very fast. I ran over ten miles every day. Then I fell and injured my leg and have not been able to run fast since. Now all I do is jog a leisurely

two or three miles a day

for exercise, that's

all. A:

Where all do you run?

B:

Right on the street. Not many people are out early in the morning.

A:

Great. So let's start tomorrow, okay?

B:

Fine. I've got to be going now. See you tomorrow morning.

A:

See you then.

UNIT I I LESSON 4

53

D I S I KE PAO-BU B:

Qlshi zhei-zhong shl blng1 bunan, zhi yao2 duo lian.xi3 ji-ci jiu xing. Wo xiangxin4 zai5 gud ji.ge libai, ni na dao-cha6 jiu wanquan mei.you wenti .le.

A:

Ni.de cha .ne?

B:

Cha wo he-wan.le.7

A:

Hai yao .bu.yao?

B:

Gou.le, gou.le, buyao .le.

A:

Hai .you yi-jian shi wo yao wen.x .ni. Wo xianzai yi-tiandao-wan8

nian-shu,9

shem

yun.dong

dou10 mei.you.

Wo xiang

qing .ni bang.x wo.de mang,11 xiang .ge shem fa.zi12 mei-tian yun.dong vx.13 B:

Wo mei-tian zao.chen pao-buf ni gen .wo yikuair pao, .hao .bu.hao?14

A:

Hao .a!15 NI pao .de kuai bu.kuai?16 Yexu za.men ke.yl bisai17 .yi.xiar.

B:

Wu-nian qian18 wo ke.yl gen .ni bisai, xianzai yao.shi gen .ni bisai, kending19 shi20 ni ying wo shu.

A:

Weishem.me? Ni .you21 buzhidao wo pao .de kuai .bu.kuai.

B:

Yiqian22 wo shi pao ma.lasong23

.de, wo pao

.de feichang24

kuai, mei-tian dou pao shi-ji-li.25 Houlai26 tui shuai-shang .le,

xianzai

pao.bu-kuai

.le.

Mei-tian

manmanr.de27

pao

liang-san-li, duan.lian vx .jiu.shi.le.28 A:

Ni dou29 zai nar pao?

B:

Jiu30 .zai jie.shang pao. Zao.chen jie.shang mei shem ren.

A:

Hao-ji.le, na ming.tian jiu kaishi, .hao .bu.hao?

B:

Hao. Wo dei31 zou .le. Ming.tian zao.shang jian.32

A:

Ming.tian jian.

54

CHINESE PRIMER

UNIT III A TIMELY VISITOR Lesson 1 LOOKING AT ROOMS (Two students are looking at rooms in a rooming house near school.) A:

This room's very small, I'm afraid it's not big enough for the two of us.

B:

Right, this room is too small for two people. Besides, the bed's too soft. I don't like soft beds, do you?

A:

No, I don't. This table's too low, too. (To landlady) May we look at some other rooms?

L:

Well... have a look at number three. It's bigger than number five. (They enter number three.)

B:

Yeah, this

room's bigger.

It's

a bit bigger

than

number

five. A:

A bit bigger? It's much bigger than that one. The beds are a lot harder, too, and the table's higher.

B:

But this room doesn't seem to be as bright as the other one.

A:

I think they're about the same, since the windows in this room are as big as the other room's. Besides, it doesn't matter much if the room's not bright, because we can turn on the

light. There are

lots of

lamps here.

(Goes over and

turns on lamp) There — the light's on now. Would you say it's bright enough? B:

Yeah,

it's bright

enough. Hey, the

ceiling

in this

room

seems a bit lower. Does it seem to you the ceiling here is as high as in the other room? L:

All

the

ceilings

here

are the

same height. There

going to be any differences. A:

Let's take this room — what do you think?

B:

All right, let's do that.

aren't

UNIT I I I LESSON 1

55

DISAN DANYUAN KE.REN D I Y I KE KAN-FANG.ZI 1 (Two students are looking at rooms in a rooming house near school.) A:

Zhei-jian wu.zi hen xiao, za.men liang.ge ren2 zhu kongpa3 bugou da .ba.

B:

Dul.le,

zhei-jian wu.zi

liang.ge

ren

zhu

tai

xiao

.le.4

Zhei-zhang chuang ye tai ruan. Wo bu xi.huan ruan chuang, nl .ne? A:

Wo ye bu xi.huan. Zhei-zhang

zhuo.zi ye tai ai.

(To the

landlady) Wo.men ke .bu.7ce.yi5 kan.x bie.de fangjian? L:

Na ni.men kan.x san-hao6 .ba. San-hao bl7 wu-hao da. (They enter number three.)

B:

E, zhei-jian wu.zi da.8 Zhei-jian bi wu-hao da .yi.dianr.9

A:

Da .yidianr? Zhei-jian bi nei-jian da duo .le.10 Zhe wu.zi .de chuang ye ying .de duo. Zhuo.zi ye gao.

B:

Ke.shi zhei-jian hao.xiang mei.you nei-jian nem liang.11

A:

Wo jue.de cha.buduo,12 yln.wei zhei-jian wu.zi .de chuang.zi gen

nei-jian

yiyang

da.13

Erqie14

buliang

ye

buyaojin,15

yln.wei za.men /ce.yi kai-deng. Zher16 you haoji-zhan17 deng. (Goes over and turns on lamp) Deng kai.le.18 Ni kan19 gou liang .bu.gou? B:

.Mm, gou liang .le. E, zhei-jian .de fangding20 hao.xiang ai yi.dianr.21 Ni

jue.de

zhei-jian

you

mei.you

nei-jian

nem

gao?22 L:

Zher .de wu.zi dou yiyang gao, buhui you shem butong23 .de.24

A:

Za.men jiu yao zhei-jian .ba. Ni kan zemyang?25

B:

Hao, jiu zem jueding .le.26

56

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 MESSY ROOM (Three weeks later) A:

Look, you've got more and more clothes scattered around and our room's getting messier every day.

B:

You've got quite a few things yourself. Not only a lot of books, but big ones, too. One here, one there — downright chaotic.

A:

I just straightened them up this morning.

B:

The more

straightening

you do, the messier

it gets. And

when you're finished, the books all wind up on my bed. A:

I'm sorry. I forgot to put these books on the bookcase.

B:

And

then there's

your

newspaper —

also

a sheet

here, a

sheet there. From now on don't read the paper in the room. A:

How'm

I

going

to

learn

the

news

if

I

don't

read

the

newspaper? B:

You can go to the library to read. Let's set up a work schedule Fridays

starting I'll

sweep

today, the

okay? floor

Mondays, and

dust

Wednesdays off

the

and

table.

Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays you do it. How does that sound? A:

Fine. We'd better get our work schedule down on paper and then stick it up on the wall. That way we won't forget.

B:

Your handwriting is better than mine. You write it.

(A draws up the schedule and sticks it onto the wall,)

UNIT III LESSON 2

57

DI'ER KE WU.ZI TAI LUAN (Three weeks later) A:

NI kan nl.de yl.fu yue lai yue1 duo, za.men zhe wu.zi yltian bl yl-tian2 luan.

B:

NI.de dong.xl ye bu shao3 .a.4 NI.de shu budan5 duo erqie da. Dong yl-benr,6 xl yl-benr, jianzhl7 luan .de budeliao.8

A:

Wo jln.tian zao.chen gang zheng. 11 guo9 .a.

B:

NI yue zheng. 11 yue luan.10 NI zheng. ll-wan. le, nl.de shu dou dao wo chuang.shang .lai11 .le.

A:

Dul.buql,12 zhei-j'I-benr13 wo wang.le14 fang

.dao

shujia.zi

xl

yl-zhang.

. shang .qu .le,15 B:

Hai

.you

ni.de

bao,

ye.shi

dong

yl-zhang,

Yihou16 bie zai wu.zi. II kan-bao17 .le. A:

Bu kan-bao zem zhl.dao xinwen?18

B:

NI ke.yl dao tushuguan19 za.men

ding

yi.ge

Xlngqiyi-san-wu

23

.qu20 kan

gongzuo

.a. Cong

shijianbiao,22

jln.tian qi,21 .hao

.bu.hao.?

wo. sao-di ca zhuo.zi, er-si-liu ni lai,24

ni kan zemyang? A:

Hao .a. Za.men zul hao25 ba26 gongzuo shi jianbiao xie .zai27 zhi.shang, ranhou28 tie .zai qiang.shang, jiu buhui wang.le.

B:

NI zi xie .de bl wo hao,29 ni lai30 xie.

(A draws up the schedule and sticks it onto the wall.)

58

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 A VISITOR IS COMING B:

This

room

of

ours

might

be

messy,

but

it's

pretty

comfortable. It's much better than living in a dorm, if you ask me. A:

No question. It's a bit cheaper, too. Also closer to the classrooms.

Especially

somebody

like

you,

who's

always

late, just has to be close to the classrooms. B:

By the way, do you think this room of ours is the messiest in the whole building?

A:

I don't think we count as the messiest, actually. Number five is even worse.

59

UNIT III LESSON 3

DISAN KE KE.REN YAO1 LAI B:

Za.men

zhe wu.zi

luan

shi

luan, ke.shi ting2 shu.fu. Wo

jue.de bl zhu sushe hao .de duo. A:

Na dangran, ergie ye pian.yi .yl.dianr. Zher li3 jiaoshi ye jin. Xiang

.nl zheyangr4 changx chidao .de ren, youqi5 dei

zhu .de jin .yl.dianr cai xing.6 B:

E,

nl

kan

za.men

zhei-jian

wu.zi

shi

.bu.shi

zhei-suo

fang.zi.II zui luan .de yi-jian .le? A:

Qishi za.men zhei-jian hai buneng suan.shi7 zui luan .de, yln.wei wu-hao bl zhei-jian geng8 luan.

Ml At

60 B:

CHINESE PRIMER But we can't just compare ourselves with the bad ones; we have to compare with the good ones.

A:

Right. Exactly

right. But that's easy to say and not so

simple to do. (Another few days pass.) A:

You had a letter downstairs, and I brought it up for you.

B:

Thanks. (Reading the letter) Oh no! Blast it!

A:

What's the matter? Who's the letter from?

B:

I have a relative who lives nearby, and he wants to come visit.

A:

When' s he coming? How can we have guests in a messy room like this? We better clean it up fast.

B:

Relax. He's not coming till a week from Friday. We've still got more than a week.

A:

Since you're always so slow with things, you better start cleaning up now.

B:

I may be slow, but I've never screwed things up. That's a lot better than you.

A:

Okay, let's not throw accusations back and forth. Why don't we just get to work?

B:

No way —

I have

a test tomorrow. Got to be off to the

library to study. Let's put it off a couple of days!

UNIT III LESSON 3 B:

61

Buguo zam bu ylnggai zhl gen huai .de bl, 9 ylnggai gen hao .de bl cai xing.

A:

Dul.le. Nl shuo .de zhen dul. Ke.shi shuo.ql. lai10 rong.yi, zuo.ql.lai jiu bu nem jiandan .le.

{Another few days pass.) A:

Louxia you yi-feng nl.de xin, wo gei .nl na.shang.lai11 .le.

B:

Duoxie, duoxie. (Reads the letter) .Ai.ya! Zaogao!12

A:

Shem shi? Shei lai .de xin?13

B:

Wo you .ge qln.ql zhu .zai fujin.14 Ta yao lai kan .wo.

A:

Ta shem shi.hour lai? Za.men zhe wu.zi zem luan, zem neng zhaodai ke.ren? Za.men dei mashang zheng. li vx.

B:

Ni bubi15 jinzhang.16 Ta xia.ge xingqiwu17 cai18 lai, hai .you yi.ge duo19 libai .ne.

A:

NI

zuo-shi

xianglai20 man,

sud. yl

zul

.hao

xianzai

jiu21

kaishi zheng.II. B:

Wo zuo-shi suiran man, dan.shi wo conglai22 mei wu.guo shi, bl .nl hao .de duo.

A:

Zam bubi nl guai23 wo, wo guai nl

.le, hai. shi24 like jiu

dong-shou .ba. B:

Buxing, wo ming.tian you kaoshl. Wo dei shang tushuguan .qu kan-shu, guo liang-tian zai shuo25 .ba.

62

CHINESE PRIMER Lesson 4 CLEANING UP

(One week A:

later)

It's already Wednesday and he hasn't lifted a finger. This guy's just too lazy. I've got to think of something. I'm afraid

I'll just

have

to trick

him. (Writes a note and

sticks it on the door, locks the door, and goes out.) B:

(Taking down

the note

and reading

it) "I had originally

decided to visit you on Friday. But it turned out I had to come here to see my dentist, so I'm here two days early. I just saw my dentist, and then came over to visit you, but you

weren't

afternoon."

home. Egad!

I'll come Only

back

at three

two and a half

o'clock

hours.

this

(B throws

clothes, books, notebooks, etc. into closets and drawers.) (3:40 p.m. A enters.) A:

My! How neat! This room's never been so neat! What happened?

B:

Where've

you been

all this

time?

I'm dead

tired

from

cleaning up the room all by myself. A:

Why'd

you have to clean

it up so soon?

Isn't our guest

coming on Friday? B:

He came two days early to see his dentist. He already came once this morning, but luckily we weren't home so he didn't come in. He left a note on the door saying he'd be back at three. It's already 3:45 now and he's still not back. I'm going crazy here waiting. I've got a lab at four that I'm going to have to miss.

A:

(Stifling laughter) Go ahead and go to your lab. He won't be coming.

B:

(As the truth begins

to dawn) How do you know he isn't

coming? (Picks up note and looks at it carefully) You must have written this! (A runs out.) I'm going to beat you to a pulp! (Chases A)

UNIT I I I LESSON 4

63

D I S I KE FANGJIAN

ZHENG.hi (One week later) A:

Jln.tian yi.jing

libaisan

.le, ta yidianr

Zhei.ge ren tai Ian .le. Wo dei xiang zhi hao2 pian

Kongpa

.ta

.yi.xia

dou1 mei

dong.

.ge fa.zi cai xing.

.le. (Writes a note and

sticks it on the door, locks the door, and goes out.) B:

(Takes

down

the

note

and

reads

it)

"Wo benlai

juedlng

libaiwu lai kan .ni, houlai3 yln.wei yao dao zher .lai kan yayl jiu zao4 lai.le liang-tian. Gangcai5 wo kan.le yayl jiu lai kan

.ni, ni bu zai-jia.6 Wo xia.wu san~dian zai lai."

Hao-jia.huo!7 Hai

.you

liang.ge

ban8 zhong.tou.

(B throws

clothes, books, notebooks, etc. into closets and drawers.) (3:40 p.m. A enters.) A:

.He!

Zhen

gan.jing!

Zhe

wu.zi

gan.jing.guo. Zhe.shi zem hui shi? B:

Ni

zem

xianzai

cai10

hui. lai?11

conglai

mei.you

zem

9

Wo

yi.ge

ren12

zheng.11

fangjian zheng.11 .de lei.si.le. A:

Ni hebi zem zao jiu13 zheng.11, ke.ren bu.shi libaiwu cai lai .ma?14

B:

Ta yin.wei kan yayi zao lai.le liang-tian. Shang.wu yi.jing lai-guo15

.le,

xing.kul

za.men

dou

bu

zai-jia,

ta

mei

jin.lai. Ta .zai men.shang liu.le .ge tiao.zi shuo san-dian zhong zai lai. Xianzai yi.jing san-dian san-ke16 .le, ta hai .bu lai. Wo deng .de ji.si.le. Wo si-dian zhong hai you yitang shiyan, zhi hao bu qu .le. A:

(Stifling

laughter)

Ni

fang-xln

qu

shang-shiyan

.ba.

Ta

buhui lai .de. B:

(As the truth begins to dawn) Ni zem zhi.dao ta buhui lai? (Picks up note and looks at it carefully) Zhe yiding17 shi ni xie .de! (A runs out.) Wo fei da. si .ni buke!18 (Chases A)

64

CHINESE PRIMER

UNIT IV DOGGED LOCALIZERS AND DIRECTIONAL COMPLEMENTS Lesson 1 "CAN'T SEE CLEARLY" OR "DIDN'T SEE CLEARLY" (As soon as the teacher [T] goes to the podium, some students [B, C, E] start laughing, because the teacher is wearing a brown shoe on one foot and a black shoe on the other.) T:

What are you laughing at, Shi ifelei?

B:

You have a brown shoe on your left foot and a black one on your right. They don't match, and you yourself can't see it.

T:

Oh no! How embarrassing! I got up very early this morning, before it was very bright out. I couldn't see clearly, and that's why I put on the wrong shoe.

C:

But sir, in our last class you explained that clearly" Was

and

your

"didn't

particular

"can't see

see clearly" mean different things. case

one

of

"can't

see

clearly"

or

"didn't see clearly"? T:

When I got up this morning, my room was still rather dark, so I was

"unable to see clearly".

If the room had

been

bright enough, or if I had turned the light on, but had still put on the wrong shoes, that would have been a case of "didn't see clearly". Do you understand? A (All the students)i Now we understand. T:

My appearance may indeed be a bit strange today, but

I'm

going to use an unusual method to lecture you on Lesson Eight.

So

perhaps

my

rather

unusual

appearance

will

be

fitting after all. I want all of you to look and see if there is anything on the floor. Is there? A:

No. Nothing at all. We can't see a thing.

UNIT IV LESSON 1

65

D I S I DANYUAN LAO HUANG DIYI KE "KAN.BU-QING.CHU" GEN "MEI KAN-QING.CHU" (As soon as the teacher [T] goes to the podium, some students [B, C, E] start laughing, because the teacher is wearing a brown shoe on one foot and a black shoe on the other.) T:

Shi Kelei,1 ni xiao shem.me?

B:

Nln2 zuo jiao chuan huang xie,3 you jiao chuan hei xie, zuoyou bu yiyang, nin ziji kan.bu-jian.

T:

.Ai.ya! Zhen buhaoyi.sl. Jln.tian zao.chen wo qllai4 .de hen zao,

tian

hai mei

liang.5 Wo

da

kan.bu-qlng.chu,

suo.yi

chuan-cuo.le.6 C:

.a, zhao7

Laoshl

.nin

sud8 jiang

shang-ci

.de, "kan.bu-

qlng.chu" gen "mei kan-qing.chu" yi.sl buyiyang, nin daodi shi "kan.bu-qlng.chu" hai.shi "mei kan-qing.chu"? T:

Wo qilai .de shi.hour, wu.zi.li hai.shi heix .de,9 suo.yi wo shi

"kan.bu-qlng.chu".

Yao.shi

wu.zi.li

shi

liang

.de,

huo.zhe wo kai.le diandeng, ke.shi wo hai ba xie chuancuo.le,

na

jiu.shi

"mei

kan-qing.chu".

Ni.men

dong.le

.mei.you? A (All the students): Xianzai dong .le. T:

Jln.tian

wo.de

yang.zi

jln.tian wo yao yi.ge

tebie

.de

gei

dique10 you

.ni.men

fa.zi

.dianr

jiang diba

jiang,

sud.yl

wo

. yi. dianr dao ye hen heshi. Ni.men kan

qiguai,

ke. Wo yao yong yang.zi

tebie11

.a, di.shang

dong.xl .mei.you? You mei.you dong.xl? A:

ke.shi

Mei.you. Shem dou mei.you. Shem dou kan.bu-jian.

you

66

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 IN THE DOGHOUSE (There appears

on

the floor a doghouse covered with a black

cloth.) T:

How about now?

A:

Yes — now something is there.

T:

Wang Ruzhang, what is it that's on the floor?

E:

A big box. But I don't know what's inside, because I can't see.

T:

If I take away the cloth you all can see.

A:

Wow, it's a big dog! And good-looking!

T:

This is our family dog. His name is Lassie, but we all call him Old Yaller. This is Old Yaller's doghouse.

A:

Hey! That house isn't bad!

T:

Come on, Old Yaller.

{Old Yaller comes out of doghouse.)

Here's a cookie for you. (Dog eats cookie.) Go back now. (Doghouse door has fallen shut. Dog walks up and is unable to enter. The teacher goes over.) Old Yaller can't go in, because he can't open the door. Now I open the door, and he can go in. (Dog enters.) Come out, Old Yaller. Come over here. Go over there by the chair. Run under the table. Now jump out. (The dog pants.)

UNIT IV LESSON 2

67

D I ' E R KE GOU FANG.ZI (There now appears on the floor

a doghouse covered with a black

cloth.) T:

Xianzai .ne?

A:

Xianzai you dong.xi .le.

T:

Wang Ruzhang, xianzai di.shang shi1 shem dong.xl .a?

E:

Shi .ge da he.zi. He.zi.II shi shem.me

jiu buzhldao .le,

yin.wei kan.bu-jian. T:

Wo ba bu na-diao2 nl.men jiu kan.de-jian .le.

A:

.A, shi .tiao3 da gou, zhen piao.liang!

T:

Zhe.shi

wo. men

jia .de gou, ming.zi

jiao Laixi,4 ke.shi

wo.men dou guan5 .ta jiao Lao Huang. Zhe.shi Lao Huang zhu .de fang.zi. A:

.Oh! Zhe fang.zi hen bucuo .ma.6

T:

Lao Huang, ni lai. (Lao Huang comes out of doghouse.) Wo gei .ni yi-kuai binggan7 chi. (Dog eats cookie.) Xianzai ni hui.qu8 .ba. (Doghouse door has fallen shut. Dog walks up and is unable to enter. The teacher goes over.) Lao Huang jin.bu-qu9 .le, yin.wei men kai.bu-kai.10 Xianzai wo ba men kai-kai,11 ta jiu jin.de-qu .le. (Dog enters.) Lao Huang ni chu.lai. Ni shang zher .lai. Ni zou .dao yi.zi nar .qu.12 Ni pao

.dao zhuo.zi

pants.)

di.xia

.qu. Ni tiao.chu. lai.

(The

dog

68

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 LYING DOWN ON THE JOB T:

(Continuing) Are you tired? Rest for a while and drink some water. (The dog drinks,) Stand up. Sit down. Stand up. That stool is a bit tall. I wonder whether you can climb up onto it. Give it a try. (The teacher goes over to the stool.) Come on, Old Yaller, climb up. Now, let me sit on the chair while you sit on my lap, okay? Now jump off! Next, I want you first to stand in front of the students, and then to stand between the stool and the chair. How's that? You want to sit in that chair? That chair is too small for you, you can't get into it. How about lying down on your back? Or else

just

lie

on your

stomach...

I think

you've

rested

enough, Old Yaller. Now I want you first to run to the left side of the table, and then to the right side. Then sit in front of the chair. After that, go behind the chair and stand there. Finei

Come on over. Run!

(To the students)

Look, now Old Yaller is walking back and forth in front of me, making it impossible for me to do anything. So I say to him,

"Old Yaller, don't walk

around

here. Go beside

the

doghouse and walk around." So he goes over to his doghouse. Right now he's walking around beside the doghouse.

UNIT IV LESSON 3

69

DISAN KE LAO HUANG TAI LEI .LE T:

(Continuing) NI lei .le .ma? NI xie .hulr, he .dianr shul. (The

dog

Nei-zhang

drinks.)

NI

deng.zi you

zhan.ql.lai.

Zuo.xia.

Zhan.ql.lai.

.dianr gao, wo buzhldao

nl pa.de-

shang qu .pa.bu. shang.qu. NI shl.x .kan1 .ba. (The teacher goes

over

Xianzai

to

rang

shen.shang, yao

the .wo

.hao

stool.) zuo

. zai

Lao

Huang,

yl.zi. shang,3

.bu.hao? NI tiao.xia.qu

nl .bai

.nl xian zhan .zai xue.sheng qian.tou, 5

deng.zi gen yl.zi .de zhongjianr. 6

nei-jba xia.qu.

yl. zi. shang? 7

NI tang

8

Nei-jba

pa.shang.lai.2

nl

4

zuo

. zai

wo

Xianzai wo

zai zhan .zai

Zem.me, nl xiang zuo zai

yl.zi

tai

xiao,

nl

zuo.bu-

.zai di.shang .ba, huo.zhe nl jiu pa.zhe9

.ba. Lao Huang, nl xie-gou.le .ba? Xianzai wo yao .nl xian pao .dao zhuo.zi zuo.bianr, zai pao .dao zhuo.zi you.bianr, ranhou

nl

hou.tou

jiu

zai yl.zi qian.tou

zhan.zhe.10

Hao!

Guo.lai,

zuo.zhe, zai dao yl.zi pao

guo-lai!11

(To the

students) Nl.men kan, zhei.hulr Lao Huang .zai wo mianqian zou-lai zou-qii,12 rang .wo mei fa.zi13 zuo-shi.qing. Wo .jiu gen .ta shuo, "Lao Huang .a, bie zai zher zou, dao fang.zi pangbianr

.qu zou." Ta jiu zou .dao fang.zi pangbianr .qu

.le.14 Xianzai ta zheng .zai fang.zi pangbianr zou .ne.15

70

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 4 INSIDE OUTSIDE T:

(Continuing) Old Yaller doesn't

like to stay

indoors. He

likes to play outside the house, since outside the air is fresh and there is lots of space. There is also a lawn and flowers

and

trees.

Sometimes

Old

Yaller

likes

to

eat

flowers; I tell him, "You're eating flowers again! I've told you you're not permitted to eat flowers. If you ever eat flowers again, I'll hit you!" He shakes his head, meaning that he won't ever dare eat flowers again. Old Yaller is very happy playing outside, but it's getting late, and he has to go back inside his doghouse. Just as he is about to go

through

the

door,

I call

to him,

"Old

Yaller,

look!

What's on the door?" Dog: Huh? There's a landscape painting on the door. T:

Look again at what's above the door.

D:

There are some characters above the door.

T:

What characters?

D:

They're too small. I can't make out what characters

they

are. T:

If you walk a little closer you can make them out.

D:

Now I have recognized them.

T:

Good. Would you read them out loud?

D:

Lesson

Eight:

outside,

inside,

above,

below,

in

front,

behind, left, right, in between, come out, go in, come up, go down, get up; Localizers and Directional Complements. T:

(To students) All of you saw that, I trust. Even Old Yaller understands

everything

in

Lesson

Eight,

and

all

the

characters. Is it possible that you do not? I would guess that all of you understand. I have guessed correctly, right? A:

We're sure that you are wrong. We still don't understand, because Old Yaller is smart and we are stupid.

UNIT IV LESSON 4

71

DISI KE LI.TOU WAI.TOU T:

(Continuing) Lao Huang bu xi.huan dai .zai fang.zi li.tou. Ta

xl.huan

.zai

fang.zi

wai.tou

wanr,

yln.wei

wai.tou

kongqi hao, di.fang ye da. Wai.tou you1 you caodi, you you huar, you you shu. Lao Huang you shi.hour xi.huan chl huar. Wo gen Lao Huang shuo, "Ni you2 chl huar .le. Wo gao.su . ni buxu chl huar .ma!3 Ni yao.shi zai chl huar wo jiu yao da .ni .l'a."4 Ta yao.x tou, yi.sl shi shuo5 ta yihou biigan zai chl .le. Suiran Lao Huang zai wai.tou wanr .de hen gaoxing, ke.shi

shi.hour

yi.jing

bu

zao

.le.

Ta

dei

zou

.hui

fang.zi.li .qu .le. Ta zou .dao menkour gang yao jin.qu, wo jiao .ta, "Lao Huang, ni kan men.shang you shem.me?" Dog: E? Men.shang you .zhang shanshui-huar.6 T:

Ni zai kan.x men shang.tou you shem.me.

D:

Men shang.tou you ji.ge zi.

T:

You ji.ge shem zi?

D:

Zi tai xiao .le, wo kan.bu-chulai7 shi shem zi.

T:

Ni zou jin .yi.dianr jiu kan.de-chu shi shem zi .lai8 .le.

D:

Xianzai wo kan.chu.lai .le.

T:

Hao, ni nian.x .kan.

D:

Diba

ke:

wai.tou,

li.tou,

shang.tou,

di.xia,

qian.tou,

hou.tou, zuo.bianr, you.bianr, zhongjianr, chu.lai, jin.qu, shang.lai,

xia.qu,

qi.lai;

Localizers

and

Directional

Complements. T:

(To students) Ni.men dou kan-qlng.chu . le .ba? Diba ke sud jiang

.de, diba ke sud you

.de9 zi, lian10 Lao Huang dou

dong.le, nandao11 ni.men hai bu dong

.ma? Wo cai12 ni.men

kending dou dong .le. Wo cai .de bucuo .ba? A:

Nin cai

.de kending cud

.le. Wo.men hai bu dong, yln.wei

Lao Huang cong.ming, worn ben.

72

CHINESE PRIMER

UNIT V THE NOSE JOB Lesson 1 I'M SLEEPY (Monday at 9 a.m., outside a classroom.) A:

(Yawning) I'm really sleepy. I didn't get to bed till 2:00 a.m. last night.

B:

Where were you?

A:

My parents came to New York the day before yesterday. They came to visit my sister. She phoned to tell me about it, so I went to New York yesterday. My other brothers and sisters all went to New York from Boston and Philadelphia. We had a good time together for a whole day.

B:

Where all did you go?

A:

It was my parents' first time in New York. We went to the United Nations, the World Trade Center, and the Statue of Liberty. Of course we also went to a Chinese restaurant for a big meal.

B:

Well, you must have had a great time.

A:

It was great, all right, but tiring too.

B:

I imagine you'll be nodding off again in class today.

A:

No, I won't.

(Students enter the classroom and sit down. Professor enters and begins to lecture.) P:

Today I will lecture on Lesson 20. Before discussing the text, I will discuss Chinese society during the May Fourth period.

UNIT V LESSON 1

73

DIWU DANYUAN* HUA B I . Z I D I Y I KE WO ZHEN KUN (Monday at 9 a.m., A:

(Yawning)

outside

Wo zhen

a classroom.)

kun.

wan.shang1

Wo zuo.tian

liang-dian

zhong . c a i shang-chuang. B:

Ni shang nar . qu .le? 2

A:

Wo fu-mu3 qian.tian 4 dao Niuyue . l a i . l e . 5 Ta.men shi l a i kan .wo mei.x .de. Wo mei.x da-dianhua 6 gao.su .wo, wo zuo.tian jiu

dao

Boshidun

Niuyue

.qu.le.

Wo ge.x,

Feicheng7 dao Niuyue.

jie.x,

di.x,

Wo.men yikuair

ye

cong

wanr.le

yi-

tian. B:

Ni.men dou wanr.le .xie8 shem di.fang?

A:

Zhe.shi

wo

Lianheguo,

fu-mu Shi.jie

diyl-ci Mao.yi

dao Niuyue. Zhongxln,

Wo.men

hai.you

kan.le

Ziyoushen-

xiang.9 Wo.men dangran ye shang Zhong.guo guan.zi10 .qu da11 chl.le yi-diin. B:

Na ni.men yiding wanr .de hen gaoxing .lo.12

A:

Gaoxing shi gaoxing, ke.shi hen lei.

B:

Wo kan .ni jln.tian shang-ke dagai you13 yao shui-jiao.

A:

Buhui .de.

(Students enter the classroom and sit down. Professor enters and begins to lecture.) P:

Jln.tian

jiang

di'er.shi

ke, zai mei.you

jiang

kewen

yiqian,14 wo xian gei .ni.men jiang .yi. jiang Wu-si15 shidai .de Zhong.guo she.hui.

*

From Unit V Lesson sandhi.

1 on, we no longer use italics to indicate tone

74

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 THE JOB B:

(Whispering

to

C

and pointing

at A)

Look,

he's

fallen

asleep again. C:

He always falls asleep as soon as he gets to class.

(C holds chalk in front of A's nose and A, nodding, bumps into it, leaving a white mark.) D:

I've got every color of pen here. {Gives C colored pens; C holds them in front of A 's nose.)

P:

I forgot my watch today. What time is it?

E:

Nine forty-eight. Class is almost over.

P:

Time's up now; let's stop here. For next time, in addition to preparing the text and doing the exercises, be very sure you go to the language lab and listen to the tapes.

B:

Should we wake him up?

C:

Not this time. Let's see how long he sleeps.

(Students for next class enter. Two students sitting in the back [F and G] notice A and wonder about him.) F:

What a weird guyl Do you know him?

G:

You might say I know him.

F:

What do you mean, "you might say you know him"?

G:

Because I know him, but he doesn't know me. We live in the same

dorm.

He's

famous

in

the

dorm;

at

night,

when

everybody studies, he either sings at the top of his lungs, or turns his music way up. Everybody loathes him for it.

UNIT V LESSON 2

75

DI'ER KE HUA B I . Z I B:

(Whispering

to C and pointing

at A) NI kan, ta you shui-

zhao1 . l e . C:

Ta zong.shi yl shang-ke jiu shui-jiao.

(C holds chalk in front of A's nose and A, nodding, bumps into it, leaving a white mark,) D:

Wo zher you ge-zhong2 yan.se .de bl. 3 (Gives C colored pens; C holds them in front of A's nose.)

P:

Wo wang.le dai4 biao. Xianzai jl-dian .le?

E:

Jiu-dian si.shlba-fen. Kuai5 xia-ke .le.

P:

Xianzai shi.hour dao.le, wo.men jiu jiang .dao6 zher. Xia.ci shang-ke

yiqian

ni.men

chu.le7

yu.bei

kewen

zuo lianxi

yiwai, yiding dei shang yuyan-shixishi .qu ting luylndai. B:

Za.men yao .bu.yao ba .ta jiao-xing?

C:

Zhei-hui zam bu jiao .ta; kan .ta shui .dao shem shi.hour. OU ^j%

%3^ ^^

w^ ^%

+3* ^^

%1* *^

(Students for next class enter. Two students sitting in the back [F and G] notice A and wonder about him.) F:

Zhei.ge ren hao8 qiguai. Ni ren .bu.ren.shi .ta?

G:

Ye9 ke.yi shuo ren.de.10

F:

Zem jiao11 "ye ke.yi shuo ren.de"?

G:

YIn.wei wo ren.de yi.ge

12

sushe.li.

ta, ta bu ren.de wo. Wo.men Ta zai sushe.li

hen youming,

dajia nian-shu .de shi.hour, ta bu.shi jiu.shi ba yinyue kai16 taoyan18 .ta.

13

14

dasheng

zhu . zai wan.shang chang-ger15

.de hen xiang,17 suo.yi renren dou

76

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 THE BIG SLEEP F:

He's sound asleep. Should we wake him up?

G:

No, don't.

Let's wait and see how the teacher w i l l

handle

it. (Teacher goes to the podium, opens his book; A suddenly starts to snore.) T:

Who's that snoring? How come there's

snoring even before

class has started? F:

(Pointing) He's the one.

T:

What happened to his nose?

G:

I don't know, but he's got all sorts of colors on it: red, yellow, blue, white, black, green.

T:

Wake him up.

G:

Hey! Wake up, wake up!

(A opens his eyes, looks all around; startled, he looks at his watch and stands up. Other students stifle their laughter.) A:

What class is this?

(Students burst out laughing.) T:

This is computer science. You must not be in this class.

A:

No, I'm not. I'm from the Chinese class before this one. Excuse me . . . . excuse me. (Heads out)

T:

You'd better go to the bathroom first to look in the mirror and wash up.

A:

Right, right.

(Enters restroom, looks in mirror) A:

Oh my gosh! Another of Li's good deeds!

UNIT V LESSON 3

77

DISAN KE DA-HU.LU1 F:

Ta shui .de zhen hao. Yao .bu.yao ba . ta jiao-xing?

G:

Bu jiao .ta, kan laoshl zem ban.2

(Teacher goes to the podium, opens his book; A suddenly starts to snore,) T:

Shem ren da-hu? Zem hai mei.you kaishi shang-ke jiu da.ql hu .lai.le?

F:

(Pointing) Shi zhei-wei tongxue.3

T:

Ta bl.zi shi zem hul shi?

G:

Buzhldao shi zem hui shi. Bi.zi.shang you hong, huang, Ian, bai, hei,4 lti ge-zhong yan.se.

T:

Ba .ta jiao-xing.

G:

.Hei! Xing.le!5 Xing.le!

(A opens his eyes, looks all around; startled, he looks at his watch and stands up. Other students stifle their laughter,) A:

Zhe.shi shem ke?

(Students burst out laughing,) T:

Dianzi-jisuanjl.6

Ni

hao.xiang

bu.shi

zhei-ban

.de

xue.sheng. A:

Bu.shi,

bu.shi.

Wo

shi

shang.yi-ban

Zhongwen-ke

.de

xue.sheng. Dui.buqi, dui.buqi. (Heads out) T:

Ni

.hao7 xian

zui

dao

cesuo

zhao.x8

jing.zi

ba

.yi.xi.9 A:

Shi, shi. Ow ^^

%X^ ^^

VI* ^^

%A* *^^

*1^ ^^

(Enters restroom, looks in the mirror) A:

.Ai.ya! Zaogao! Yiding shi Xiao Li gan .de hao shi. 10

lian

xi

78

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 4 L i ' s "GOOD DEED" (A finds

A:

C.)

(Catching C and twisting his arm) You're disgusting, Li! How could you pull a stunt like that? You made a big fool of me!

C:

Ouch! Ouch! Sorry! Sorry! Ow—!

A:

Just tell me how you are going to apologize.

C:

I'll treat you to a movie, okay?

A:

Okay, this weekend. Saturday afternoon.

C:

Okay,

okay.

chuckles

That's

fine,

as he massages

that's

fine.

(A

his arm.) Now you

lets

go.

C

can tell me,

Zhang: when did you wake up? A:

At five after ten.

C:

How did it happen?

A:

A student sitting next to me woke me up.

C:

What did the teacher say?

A:

He said I didn't seem to be a student in that class. The other students all burst out laughing, and the teacher told me to go to the bathroom to look in the mirror and wash up. Now can I ask you something? When did you paint my face?

C:

I started about 9:15.

A:

Where did you start?

C:

On the tip of your nose.

A:

How come there were so many colors? How did you do it?

C:

I just put the colored

pens in

front of your nose. You

bumped into them yourself. A:

Where did the colored pens come from?

C:

They were Ding's.

A:

Disgusting. Okay, march! Let's go find Ding.

C:

Right. He has to help pay for the movie.

(They go off together.)

UNIT V LESSON 4

79

D I S I KE XIAO LI 6AN .DE HAO SHI (A finds A:

C.)

(Catching C and twisting his arm) Xiao LI, nl tai kewu .le. NI zem ke.yl zhe.yang kai-wanxiao? Rang

.wo nao

.le ,ge da

xiao.hua. C:

.Ai.yo,1 .ai.yo, dul.buql, dul.buql, .ai... .yo...

A:

NI shuo, nl zem dao-qian .ba?

C:

Wo qlng .nl kan-dian.ylng, .xing .bu.xing?

A:

Hao, zhei.ge zhoumo,2 llbailiu xia.wu.

C:

.Hao, .hao, .hao, .hao, ke.yl, ke.yl, ke.yl, ke.yl.

(A lets

go. C chuckles as he massages his arm.) Lao Zhang, nl xianzai ke.yl gao.su .wo .le .ba. NI shi jl-dian zhong xing .de?3 A:

Wo shi shi-dian wu-fen xing .de.

C:

NI shi zem xing .de?

A:

Shi zuo .zai pangbianr

.de yi.ge xue.sheng ba .wo jiao-xlng

.de. C:

Laoshi shuo shem.me?

A:

Laoshi shuo wo hao.xiang bu.shi nei-ban .de xue.sheng. Bie.de xue.sheng dou xiao.ql.lai .le. Laoshi jiao .wo dao cesuo .qu zhao.x jing.zi, ba lian xl .yl.xl. E, xianzai wo ye yao wen.x .nl. NI shi shem shi.hour gei .wo hua .de lian?4

C:

Dagai jiu-dian yi-ke kaishl .de.5

A:

Shi zai nar kaishl hua .de?

C:

Zai bi.zi jianr.shang kaishl .de.

A:

Zem you nera duo yan.se, shi zem hua .de?

C:

Wo ba yan.sebl fang .zai nl bi.zi qian.tou, shi nl zljl peng .de

A:

Nar lai .de yan.sebl?

C:

Yan.sebl shi Xiao Ding .de.6

A:

Tai kewu .le. Zou! Za.men qu zhao Xiao Ding .qu.

C:

Dull Kan-dian.ylngr7 ta ye dei chu-qian.8

(They go off together.)

80

CHINESE PRIMER

UNIT VI WHO'S NEXT? Lesson 1 ALL SET Daughter: I've found another person to ride to school in my car, Mom. Now there are four all together, counting me. We've decided to leave the day after tomorrow. Mother: Have you gotten all your things ready?

You're

taking

everything you need, I hope. D:

Everything's all ready except that I still have to buy two bath towels.

M:

Why don't you buy them at that department store on Great Eastern Street? Their things are good — and inexpensive, too. Let me show you something ... look at these two pairs of sneakers.

D:

They're exactly alike!

M:

This pair I bought at that department store for $12.75; the other pair

I bought

somewhere else

for

$15.99. The

same

thing with a price difference as big as that! By the way, do those people riding with you know how to drive? D:

One

of

them

doesn't. But

three

drivers

are

enough.

One

knows how to repair cars as well as drive them. With her in the car I've got nothing to worry about. M:

Have all of them driven on long trips before?

D:

Yes. They're all older than I am. I'm the only freshman. Two

of

them

are

juniors,

and

the

other

one's

going

to

graduate next year. M:

How many thousand miles are on that old car of ours?

D:

Forty-five thousand and something. I just sent the car for repair and a check-up, and there's no problem.

UNIT VI LESSON 1

81

DILIU DANYUAN XIA-YI.GE SHI SHEI? DIYI KE YU.BEI SHANG-XUE Daughter: Ma, wo

you

.dao1 yi.ge

zhao 3

xuexiao. Xianzai lian

wo

da2 wo.de

ren

che

qu

zljl yigong you sl.ge ren .le.

Wo.men jueding hou.tian dong-shen. Mother: NI dong.xl dou yu.bei-hao.le4 .ma? Yao yong .de dong.xl dou dai.le5 .ba? D:

Chu.le hai yao mai liang-tiao xl-zao maojln ylwai, bie.de dou yu.bei-hao.le.

M:

Ni

ke.yi

dao

Dadong

Jie

nei-jia

baihuo

gongsl

.qu mai.

Ta.men nar .de dong.xl you pian.yi you hao. Wo gei .ni kan yi-yangr dong.xl. Ni kan zhei-liang-shuang qiuxie. D:

Zhei-liang-shuang qiuxie wanquan yiyang .ma!

M:

Zhei-shuang shi nei-jia baihuo gongsl mai

.de, shier-kuai

ql-mao wu.6 Nei-shuang shi ling.yi-jia7 mai .de, shiwu-kuai jiu-mao jiu. Yiyang

.de dong.xl, jia.qian cha zem duo. E!

Nei ji.ge zuo .ni che .de ren dou hui .bu.hui kai-che? D:

You yi.ge buhui. Buguo you san.ge ren kai-che ye zugou .le. You yi.ge ren ye8 hui kai-che ye hui xiu-che, you ta zai che.shang wo jiu fang-xln .le.

M:

Ta.men dou kai.guo changtu .mei.you?

D:

K-a-i—

.guo.9

xlnsheng.

Ta.men

Ta.men you

dou

bi

liang.ge

.wo

da.10

shi

san

Zhi

you

wo

nianji, you

shi yi.ge

ming.nian jiu bi-ye .le. M:

Za.men nei-liang jiu che ji-wan li11 .le?

D:

Si-wan wu-qian duo li. Wo gang ba che song.qu xiu.li.guo, mei.you wenti.

82

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 PLEASE HELP, MOM (The

next

living

evening.

Father,

mother,

and daughter

are

in

the

room.)

Father:

All our friends and relatives here are happy that you

can go to this university, Xiao

Zhen. It's an expensive

school, but a really good one. Some of their departments are world-famous. I hope you make the best of your

four

years of college life. You must work hard on your courses, but

at the same time

learn to enjoy

yourself. The most

important thing is to learn to be a good person. M:

I feel you have some bad habits that need to be corrected. You always eat candy while you read, for instance.

D:

I don't eat nearly as much as I used to.

M:

And you stay up too late at night; you don't go to bed until two or three a.m. The next day you're so tired you can't keep your eyes open. How can you have any energy left for classes?

D:

I know, I know all about it. Mom — I have something I need your help with.

M:

What's that?

D:

I can't take my flowers and my goldfish with me ... I have to ask you to take care of them.

M:

You know I'm terrible at keeping flowers and can't stand goldfish.

D:

Of course I do. But there's no way I can take them. I have to bother you with it.

M:

Okay, let me give it a try . . . Xiao Zhen, this is your first time away from home. I really am a bit worried. You call us often from school, you hear?

D:

Don't worry, Mom and Dad, I'll call home often.

UNIT VI LESSON 2

83

D I ' E R KE QING MA.MA BANG-MANG (The

next

living

evening.

Father,

mother,

and daughter

are

in

the

room.)

Father:

Xiao Zhen,1 nl zhei-ci neng shang zhei.ge daxue, zher

sud you .de qln.ql peng.you dou jue.de hen gaoxlng. Zhei.ge daxue suiran gui, ke.shi dique shi .ge hao xuexiao. Ta.men you ji-xi quan shijie dou youming. Xlwang ni haohaor.de guo si-nian daxue sheng.huo; yi-fangmian2 yao yong-gong3 du-shu,4 yi-fangmian ye yao zhl.dao zem wanr, youqi yaojin

.de shi

5

xue zem zuo-ren. M:

Wo jue.de nl you .xie buhao .de xiguan ylnggai gai-diao.6 Bi.fang shuo nl zong.shi yibianr7 kan-shu, yibianr chl-tang.

D:

Wo yi.jlng bi yiqian chl .de shao .de duo .le.

M:

Hai .you ni mei-tian liang-san-dian

cai

shui

.de tai wan,

shang-chuang,

zong.shi

di'er-tian

banye8

lei .de9

yan.jlng dou zheng.bu-kai, nar10 hai you jing.shen shang-ke? D:

Zhl.dao .le. Wo dou zhl.dao .le. Ma, wo you .jian shi yao qing .nin bang-mang.

M:

Shem shi?

D:

Wo nei-ji-pen huar, hai .you jlnyu, dou buneng dai.qu, dei qing .nin guan.x.11

M:

NI zhl.dao wo zui buhui guan-huar, wo youqi taoyan yang-yu.

D:

Wo dangran

zhl.dao, ke.shi wo mei fa.zi dai.qu, zhi

hao

ma.fan .nin .le. M:

Hao, wo shi.x kan .ba. Xiao Zhen ll.kai12

jia, wo zhen

.a, zhe.shi nl diyl-cl

you .dianr bu fang-xln. NI dao.le

xuexiao yao changx lai13 dianhua .ou.14 D:

Ba, Ma, nin fang-xln hul jia .de.

.ba, wo ylding hui chang da-dianhua

84

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 A QUIET ROOMMATE The first phone call M:

Hello? Hello? Who's this? With whom am I speaking? Whom do you want? ... Oh, it's Xiao Zhen! This is a terrible line ... I didn't even know it was you! Hang up and call again.

(Phone rings again,) M:

Hello?

D:

I'm here, Mom! I've already moved into the dormitory.

M:

Did everything go well along the way? How are the dormitory rooms ?

D:

Everything was fine. The weather wasn't very good at first. It was raining — but later it cleared up. It took us only six hours. The dorm is fine. The rooms are big — two of us to a room.

M:

So you have a roommate. Is she there?

D:

No, she hasn't moved in yet. But we've already met. She's from California, and really nice. We hit it off very well. The second phone call

M:

How are you, Xiao Zhen? Why haven't we had any news from you for three weeks?

D:

I'm incredibly busy with my schoolwork ... besides, I can't sleep well at night.

M:

You're staying up late again, are you?

D:

No, I lose sleep because of my roommate.

M:

What? You've been quarreling with your roommate? Didn't you tell us last time how nice she was?

UNIT VI LESSON 3

85

DISAN KE TONGWUR Diyl-ci dianhua M:

.Wai, wai. 1 Nin nar?2 Nin nei-yi-wei? Nin zhao shei? shi Xiao Zhen .a! Dianhua sheng.yln h u a i - j i . l e ,

.Oh, ni

wo dou mei

tlng-chu shi ni . l a i ! Ni gua.shang, zai cong3 da y i . g e . (Phone rings M:

again.)

.Wai.

D:

Ma, wo.men dao.le. Wo yi.jlng ban.jin sushe .le.

M:

Ni.men yi-lu dou hao .ba? Sushe fangjian zemyang?

D:

Yi-lu

dou hen shunli. Gang

chu.lai

.de shi.hour

tian.qi

buda hao, xia-yu,4 houlai jiu qing .le. Wo.men kai.le liu.ge zhongtour jiu5 dao.le. Zher sushe hen hao, fangjian hen da. Wo.men liang.ge ren yi-jian. M:

Na ni you .ge tongwur .le, ta lai.le .mei.you?

D:

Ta hai mei.you ban.jin.lai, buguo wo.men yi.jing 6

mian .le. Ta shi cong Jiazhou hen tan.de-lai.

jian.guo

lai .de, ren hen hao, wo.men

7

Di'er-ci dianhua M:

Xiao Zhen, ni zemyang8

.le? Ni zem san.ge xlngqi dou mei

xiao.xi9 .a? D:

Wo gongke mang

.de yaoming,10 erqie wo wan.shang

shui.bu-

hao. M:

Ni you.shi shui .de hen wan, .shi .bu.shi?

D:

Bu.shi. Wo shui.bu-hao shi yln.wei wo tongwur .de yuan.gu.11

M:

Zem.me? Ni gen .ni tongwur chao-jia .le? Ni shang-ci bu.shi shuo ta feichang hao .ma?

86 D:

CHINESE PRIMER We haven't quarreled. She's just fine during the day, but something

goes

wrong

at

night. When

she's

asleep

she's

always either snoring or talking in her sleep — sometimes she even grinds her teeth, and it sounds just awful. She makes

such

a

racket

there' s

simply

no

way

I

can

fall

asleep. M:

Doesn't that mean you're kept awake every night?

D:

It's not as bad as every night, but it's almost that bad.

M:

Then you should move into another room.

D:

But I really don't want to leave her. She'd feel very bad if I moved out. She's really a nice person. She's kind, cheerful, neat — maybe if I just listen to her snoring a few more days I'll get used to it.

M:

I have

some bad

news

for you —

your chrysanthemums

are

dead. D:

(Sadly) Oh. The third phone call

D:

I fell and hurt my hand, Mom.

M:

What happened? Did you hurt it badly?

D:

It's nothing, don't worry. Yesterday afternoon my car was being used by my roommate, so I went out shopping on foot. There was

ice on the road, and

I was careless

and

down. I didn't fall hard; it'll be okay in a few days. M:

Your roses are dead.

D:

Oh.

fell

UNIT VI LESSON 3 D:

Worn mei

chao-jia. Ta

wan.shang jiu budui

zhei.ge

87

ren bai.tian

.le. Ta shui-jiao

hen

hao, dao

.de shi.hour bu.shi

da-hu, jiu.shi shuo menghua, you shi.hour hai yao-ya, yao .de12 nantlng-ji. le.

Suo.yi

nao

.de wo

jianzhi mei

fa.zi

shui. M:

Na ni bu.shi mei-tian wan.shang dou shui.bu-zhao .le .ma?

D:

Suiran buzhi.yu13 tianx shui.bu-zhao, dan.shi ye cha.buduo zemyangr .le.

M:

Na ni ylnggai ban .dao bie.de wu.zi .qu.

D:

Ke.shi wo you bu yuan.yi li.kai .ta. Yao.shi wo ban.chu.qu, ta yiding

hen

nanshou. Ta

zhen

shi

.ge hao-ren; ta xln

hao,14 xing.qing hao, you ai gan.jing; yexu wo zai duo ting ji-tian ta da-hu jiu xiguan .le. M:

You yi.ge buhao

.de xiao.xi yao gao.su

.ni, jiu.shi ni.de

juhua si .le. D:

(Sadly) .Oh. Dlsan-cl dianhua

D:

Ma, wo.de shou shuai-shang .le.

M:

Zem hui shi? Shuai .de li.hai15 .bu.li.hai?

D:

Mei-shir.16 Nin bie bei17 wo jie.shang

jinzhang.

gei18

tongwur .qu mai 19

yi.ge bu xiaoxln

Zuo.tian xia.wu wo.de qiche

kai.chu.qu.le, wo

jiu

.dianr dong.xl. Lu.shang .jiu shuai. le, shuai

ji-tian jiu hao .le. M:

Ni.de mei.guihuar si .le.

D:

.Oh.

zou-lu you

.dao

bing. Wo

.de hen qing, guo

88

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 4 MOTHER'S CARE The fourth phone call D:

I've got good news for you, Mom. This afternoon I saw the doctor

for

the

last

time,

and

he

said

my

hand

has

completely healed. M:

Wonderful! But you must be more careful from now on. Don't fall again.

D:

There's students

going to be a China Night here next month. The are

going

to

sing

Chinese

songs, make

Chinese

food, and do Chinese calligraphy and painting. They asked me to show them how, so I have to ask you to help. M:

How do you want me to help? You mean you want me to go to your school?

D:

No, I'd

like to ask you, Dad, and your

friends —

Uncle

Wang, Uncle Li, Uncle Zhang, Uncle Ding, and Auntie Chen — to help by making a videotape with all those things on it: singing,

cooking,

calligraphy,

painting

...

you

think

they'd be willing? M:

(Ironically) You really are ingenious! Let me go ask them for you.

D:

That

song

you

and

Dad

used

to

sing

called

"We

Were

Children" is a pretty one. Could you tape that one for us? M:

What song is that? I've never heard of any such song.

D:

It's also got something about the wind, and the birds, and stuff.

M:

Oh, you mean "Recalling the Time When We Were Young".

D:

Yeah, right, that's the one. And then I'd like to ask you, Uncle Wang, Auntie Chen, and them to sing one all together, okay? I hope you can send it to me next week, because we have to start practicing soon.

M:

All right, we'll give it a try. You really are a pain.

UNIT VI LESSON 4

89

DISI KE WO ZHEN DANXIN1 Dlsl-ci dianhua D:

Ma, you .ge hao xiao.xi gao.su .nin. Jln.tian xia.wu wo zui hou yl-cl kan yl.sheng. Ta shuo wo.de shou yl.jlng wanquan hao .le.

M:

Hao-ji.le. Yihou yiding dei xiaoxln; bie zai shuai .l'a.

D:

Xia.ge yue zher you .ge Zhong.guo Wanhui. Tongxue.men yao chang Zhong.guo-ger, zuo Zhong.guo-cai,2 xie Zhong.guo-zi, hua Zh6ng.guo-huar. Ta.men jiao3 .wo jiao

.ta.men, wo zhl

.hao qing .nin bang-mang. M:

NI yao .wo zem bang .ne? NI nandao yao .wo dao nl xuexiao qu .ma?

D:

Bu.shi. Wo xiang qing Ba.x, Ma.x, hai .you nin.de peng.you Wang Bo.x, Li Bo.x, Zhang Shu.x, Ding Shii.x, Chen Ayi4 bangmang gei .wo lu yi-juan luxiangdai5 ba chang-ger, zuo-cai, xie-zi,

hua-huar

dou

lu.shang.qu,

buzhidao

ta.men

ken

6

.bu.ken. M:

(Ironically) Ni dao zhen xiang.de-chu hao ban.fa

.lai. Wo

qu gei .ni wen.x .ta.men .ba. D:

Nin

gen

Xiaohair"

Ba.x hen

chang

chang

haotlng,

nin

.de ke

nei.ge .bii.ke.yi

ger

"Wo.men

gei

.wo.men

Shi lu

nei.ge ger? M:

Nar you zem .ge ger .a? Wo conglai ye buzhidao you zem .ge ger.

D:

Hai .you shem feng .a, niaor .a, .shem.de.7

M:

.Oh, ni shi shuo "Ji.de Dangshi Nianji Xiao".8

D:

Dui.le, dui.le, jiu.shi nei.ge. Hai yao qing .nin gen Wang Bo.x, Chen Ayi

ta.men

ji.ge ren hechang

yi.ge

ger,

.hao

.bu.hao? Xiwang nin xia.ge xingql jiu ji .gei .wo. Yin.wei wo.men dei zao .dianr kaishi lian.xi. M:

Hao .ba. Wo.men shi.x kan .ba. Ni .ke zhen ma.fan.9

CHINESE PRIMER

90

The fifth phone call M:

Hello? Xiao Zhen, your goldfish are dead, . . . Hello? Xiao Zhen? Xiao Zhen? What's wrong? Why aren't you talking?

D:

(Feebly) My mums are dead, Mom — and my roses, too. Now the goldfish are gone. I'm really worried.

M:

What are you worried about?

D:

I wonder how Daddy's doing.

M:

Nonsense! Your father is neither flower nor fish — don't make me lose my temper! I'm not saying any more to you. Good-bye.

dang

M

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UNIT VI LESSON 4

91

Diwu-ci dianhua M:

.Wai, Xiao Zhen, ni.de jlnyu si .le. Yi? Xiao Zhen? Xiao Zhen? Ni zem .le? Ni zem mei sheng.yln .le?

D:

{Feebly) Ma, juhua si.le, meigui ye si.le, xianzai jlnyu ye wan.le, wo zhen danxln....

M:

Ni danxln shem.me?

D:

Wo buzhldao Ba.x zemyang .le.

M:

Hu-shuo!10 Ni Ba.x you bu.shi huar, you bu.shi yu. Ni bie rang .wo sheng-qi .le. Wo bu gen .ni shuo .le. Zaijian!11

BEN SHI* Jide dangshi nianji xiao, Wo ai tan tian ni ai xiao. You yi hui bingjian zuo zai tao shu xia, Feng zai lin shao niao zai jiao. Women bu zhi zenyang shui zhuo liao, Meng li hua er luo duo shao. Music: HUANG Zi (1904-1938) Lyrics: LtJ Qian (1905-1951)

BYGONE TIMES I remember, when we were young I liked to talk, and you liked to laugh. One time, as we sat side by side Beneath the peach tree, The wind was in the treetops And the birds were chirping. Somehow, we fell asleep, And knew not how many Flowers fell in our dreams! For vocabulary of Ben Shi see p. 142 of the Character Workbook.

92

CHINESE PRIMER

UNIT VII GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER Lesson 1 SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND (A middle-aged watching

couple sits in the living room. The father is

television;

the

mother

is

knitting.

The

telephone

rings, and the mother gets up to answer it.) Mother: Daughter: M:

Hello? I'm done with exams, Mom, and I'm dead tired.

I'm sure you haven't been sleeping. You need a good rest. When are you coming home?

D:

Day after tomorrow. Mom ... (pause)

M:

What's the matter? Why aren't you talking?

D:

I want to come home with a friend, and invite the friend to stay with us for a few days, okay?

M:

Fine, no problem. I'll put another bed in your room, and you can stay together where it'll be easy to talk.

D:

It's a boyfriend, Mom. We better have him sleep on the sofa in the living room.

M:

Oh, you have a boyfriend! Wonderful! Why didn't you let us know earlier? Your Dad and I were worrying about this just the day before yesterday. We were saying you're just about through with college and still don't have a boyfriend. Are the two of you close yet?

D:

Uh-huh. We've already talked about marriage. Mom — daytime long distance calls are expensive. Let's not talk any more now; let's wait till we see each other.

M:

Fine.

(They hang up simultaneously.)

UNIT V I I LESSON 1

93

DIQI DANYUAN KAN.FA 1 BUTONG D I Y I KE YOU.LE NANPENG.YOU . L E

(A middle-aged watching rings,

television;

sits the

in

the living

mother

is

and the mother gets up to answer

Mother:

room. The father

knitting.

The

is

telephone

it.)

.Wai.

Daughter: M:

couple

Ma, wo kao-wan.le, kao .de lei si.le.

Ni yiding shi mei shui-jiao. Ni dei haohaor.de xiu.xi2 vx. Ni shem shi.hour hui.lai?

D:

Wo hou.tian hui-jia. Ma ... (pause)

M:

Shem shi? Ni zem bu shuo-hua .le?

D:

Wo yao gen yi.ge peng.you yikuair hui.lai, xiang qing .ta zai jia.li zhu .ji-tian, .hao .bu.hao?

M:

Hao .a, mei wenti. Wo zai .ni wu.zi.li zai fang yi-zhang chuang, ni.men zhu .zai yi.ge wu.zi.li, shuo-hua fang.bian .yi.dianr.

D:

Ma, shi .ge nanpeng.you. Rang

.ta shui .zai keting.li .de

shafa.shang .ba. M:

.Oh! Ni you.le nanpeng.you .le. Tai hao .le! Ni zem bu zao .dianr gao.su

.wo.men

.ne? Wo gen .ni ba.x qian.tian hai

.zai .nar zhao-ji3 .ne, shuo .ni daxue dou4 kuai bi-ye .le, hai mei.you nanpeng.you. Ni.men yi.jing hen hao5 . le .ma? D:

.Ng. Wo.men yi.jing tan.dao6 jie-hun

.le. Ma, bai.tian da

changtu dianhua hen gui, xianzai bu gen .nin duo tan, deng jian.le mian zai shuo7 .ba. M:

.Hao.

(They hang up simultaneously.)

94

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 THEY'RE HOME M:

{To father)

Did you hear

that?

It

was a phone c a l l

from

Xiao Zhen. F:

(Watching television) Mm.

M:

You've been watching TV for two hours already. You don't hear a thing I say to you. No more TV! (She turns off the television.) Xiao Zhen called to say she has a boyfriend.

F:

Really?

M:

She says she's finished with exams. She's coming home with her boyfriend day after tomorrow, and wants to invite him to stay with us a few days. They're pretty close already — even talked about marriage.

F:

Something as important as this — why didn't she bring it up with us before?

M:

That's just the way she is. Don't tell me you didn't know it, either.

F:

You must be happy now that she has a boyfriend.

M:

Of course I am. You mean to say you aren't? Jjj^

(Two

JjC

Jj%

JJ^

5j^

days later. Doorbell rings, father opens door, sees Xiao

Zhen and her boyfriend Li. Father is dismayed. ) D:

Let me introduce you, Dad. This is my friend Li Wenxln.

Li:

Hello, Uncle Wang.

F:

(Calling mother) Meiylng! Xiao Zhen's back!

(Mother comes out.) D:

Hello, Mom! This is my friend Li Wenxln.

L:

Hello, Aunt Wang.

M:

Have you had lunch yet? You must be hungry.

D:

We ate on the airplane.

UNIT V I I LESSON 2

95

DI'ER KE TA.MEN HUI.LAI M:

NI t l n g . j i a n

(To father)

.LE

.mei.you?

Shi Xiao Zhen l a i

.de

dianhua. F:

(Watching television) .Ng.

M:

NI yl.jlng kan.le liang.ge zhongtour gen

.ni shuo

.de dianshi

.le.1 Wo

shem.me ni dou tlng.bu-jian. Buxu kan .le.

(She turns off the television.) Xiao Zhen lai dianhua shuo ta you.le nanpeng.you .le. F:

Zhen.de?

M:

Ta

shuo

ylkuair

.ta kao-wan.le.

Hou.tian

hul.lai, yao qing

gen

.ta nanpeng.you

.ta zai jia.li

zhu .ji-tian.

Ta.men yi.jlng hen hao .le, dou tan .dao jie-hun .le. F:

Zem zhongyao2 .de shi, ta weishem bu zao gen .wo.men tan.x?

M:

Ta.de xlng.qing jiu.shi3 zem tebie, ni ye bu.shi buzhldao.4

F:

Ta xianzai you.le nanpeng.you .le, ni gaoxing .le .ba?

M:

Wo dangran gaoxing .le, nandao ni bu gaoxing .ma? Stf

(Two

^tf

Stf

Sl^

^Sf

days later. Doorbell rings, father opens door, sees Xiao

Zhen and her boyfriend Li. Father is dismayed.) D:

Ba, wo gei .nin jie.shao. Zhe.shi wo peng.you LI Wenxln.

LI:

Wang Laobo.5

F:

(Calling mother) Meiylng,6 Xiao Zhen hui.lai.le.

(Mother comes out.) D:

Ma, nin hao. Zhe.shi wo peng.you LI Wenxln.

L:

Wang Bomu.

M:

Nl.men chl.le wufan .mei.you? Du.zi ylding e .le .ba?

D:

Wo.men zai feijl.shang chl-guo.le.7

96

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 MR. LI WENXIN (Father and LI sit on sofa in living room,) F:

What time did you leave the dorm today? (Said three times, the first time at normal volume, the second time a little louder, the third time very loudly,)

L:

We left the dorm at nine o'clock in the morning.

F:

(Loudly) How did you come, by train or by plane?

L:

We came by plane.

F:

At which airport did you board the plane? Was it at the South Airport or at the North Airport?

L:

We boarded at the North Airport.

F:

(To himself) Talking to this guy really wears you out I

(In a side room) M:

(In a hushed voice) I know you always say good looks don't matter in a person — that the most important thing is good character.

Still,

a

person's

looks

shouldn't

be

too

peculiar, should they? Just look at this friend of yours — hair half grey half brown; one ear high and the other low; one eyebrow long, the other short; one big eye, one little one; a huge nose; a very strange-looking mouth, too. D:

You don't have to speak so softly, Mom. Li Wenxin is hard of hearing. He's not going to hear you.

M:

What? He can't hear talk? Then how do you talk with him?

D:

Really good friends don't necessarily have to talk.

M:

(Annoyed) Right. You

are quite right. He really

is your

good friend. There's nothing left for me to say. You can go keep your good friend company! (Exit)

UNIT VII LESSON 3

97

DISAN KE LI WENXIN (Father and Li sit on sofa in living room.) F:

Nl.men jln.tian shi ji-dian zhong li.kai sushe .de?1 (Said three times, the first time at normal volume, the second time a little louder, the third time very loudly.)

L:

Wo.men shi shang.wu jiu-dian li.kai sushe .de.

F:

(Loudly) Nl.men shi zem lai

.de? Shi zuo huoche lai

.de?

Hai.shi zuo feijl lai .de? L:

Wo.men shi zuo feijl lai .de.

F:

Ni.men shi zai nei.ge feijlchang shang .de feijl?2 Shi Nanjichang, hai.shi Bei-jichang .a?

L:

Wo.men shi zai Bei-jichang shang .de feiji.

F:

(To himself) Gen .ta shuo-hua .ke zhen lei.

(In a side room) M:

(In a hushed

voice) Wo zhl.dao ni chang shuo ren haokan

.bu.hao.kan mei.you guan.xi, zui yao.jin shi xing.qing hao. Ke.shi

ren

.de

yang.zi

ye

bu

ylnggai

tai

tebie,

.shi

.bu.shi? Ni kan.x .ni zhei-wei peng.you, tou.fa ban hul ban huang,3 er.duo yi

gao yi dl,4 mei.mao

yi chang yi duan,

yan.jlng yi da yi xiao, bi.zi tebie da, zui .de yang.zi ye hen qiguai. D:

Ma,

nin

bubi

zem

xiaosheng

shuo-hua.

Li

Wenxln

er.duo

buhao, ta shi buhui tlng.jian .de.5 M:

Shem.me? Shuo-hua tlng.bu-jian? Na ni zem gen

.ta tan-hua

.ne? D:

Zhen.de hao peng.you, shi bing bu yiding yao tan-hua .de.

M:

(Annoyed) Dui.le, ni shuo .de zhen dui. Ta zhen shi ni.de hao peng.you. Wo mei shem ke shuo .de6 .le. Ni qu pei ni.de hao peng.you .qu .ba! (Exit)

98

CHINESE PRIMER

UNIT VIII LOVE ME, LOVE ME CHINESE Lesson 1 WHY "WIFE"? (A is Chinese, B and C are Americans,) A:

There's a question

I've

always wanted

to ask the two of

you, but have never had the chance. With both of you right here today, why don't I just ask? The question is how, in the beginning, you got interested in studying Chinese. Why don't you go first, Lao Wang? B:

My answer is simple. I wanted to study Chinese because my "wife" was Chinese.

A:

"Wife?" Why do you say this word in English?

B:

Because in the year when we met, the Chinese ways of saying such

things

"tai.x"

for

were

very

interesting.

"wife", and

some

said

Some

Chinese

"ai.ren".

In

(Peking), Shanghai, Nanjing, XI' an and Guangzhou everybody

used

"ai.ren"

Xianggang

(Hong

Kong),

for

Taiwan

said

Beijing (Canton),

"wife";

but

Chinese

in

(Taiwan),

and

America

all

said "tai.x". I wasn't sure what I should do, so I decided just to say "wife" and be done with it. A:

That wasn't a bad idea.

B:

It was fine when you used problems

came

up

when

you

"wife" for your own wife. But used

it

to

address

somebody

else's wife. For instance, if a Mr. Zhang introduced his wife to me and used

"tai.x" for "wife", I could call her

"Zhang Tai.x"; but if he used "ai.ren", then I didn't know what to say. I couldn't address her as "Zhang Ai.ren", but couldn't call her "Zhang Wife", either. A:

You could use her given name, or say something like "Xiao Li" or "Xiao Wang".

UNIT VIII LESSON 1

99

DIBA DANYUAN WEISHEM XUE ZHONGWEN DIYI KE AI.REN1 GEN TAI.TAI (A is Chinese, B and C are Americans.) A:

Wo ylzhi2 xiang wen

.ni.men liang-wei yi.ge wenti, ke.shi

lao mei.you jl.hul. JIn.tian zhenghao nl.men liang-wei dou zai.zher,3

wo

jiu

.lai4

wen.x

.ni.men

.ba.

W6.de

wenti

jiu.shi ni.men dangchu weishem yao xue Zhongwen? Lao Wang, qing .ni xian shuo .ba. B:

W6.de

huida

hen

jiandan.

Yln.wei

wo

"wife"

shi

Zhong.guoren, suo.yi wo yao xue Zhongwen. A:

"Wife"? Zhei.ge zi ni weishem yao yong Ylngwen shuo?

B:

Yln.wei wo.men ren.shi

.de nei-nian, Zhongwen

.de shuo.fa

hen you yi.sl. Y6u.de5 Zhong.guoren guan "wife" jiao tai.x, you.de jiao ai.ren. Zai Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, XI'an, Guangzhou,6

renren

dou

Xianggang, Taiwan, hai

guan

"wife"

jiao

.you Mei.guo

ai.ren.

Ke.shi

.de Zhong.guoren

dou

guan "wife" jiao tai.x. Wo ye buzhldao gai zem jiao hao,7 suo.yi wo jueding gancui8 shuo "wife" suan.le.9 A:

NI zhei.ge fa.zi hen bucuo.

B:

Dangshi yong mei.you

"wife" zhei.ge

wenti,

ke.shi

yao

zi lai

shuo

cheng.hu

hai.shi you wenti. Bi.fang shuo Zhang

ziji

bie.ren

.de "wife" .de

"wife"

.Xian.sheng gei .wo

jie.shao ta "wife", yao.shi ta guan "wife" jiao tai.x, wo ke.yi

cheng.hu

.ta

"wife" jiao ai.ren

Zhang

tai.x,

dan.shi

ruguo10

ta

guan

.ne, wo jiu buzhldao gai zem jiao .le.

Yln.wei wo buneng cheng.hu .ta Zhang Ai.ren, ye buneng jiao .ta Zhang "wife". A:

Ni ke.yi

jiao

Wang .shem.de.

.ta ming.zi huo.zhe

jiao

.ta Xiao LI Xiao

100 B:

CHINESE PRIMER Sure, if I knew her well, I could say things like that. But how could I use her name, or "Xiao Wang" or "Xiao Li", if it was the first time I met her?

A MAP OF CHINA

PROVINCES 1. He.bei 2. Shan, xl 3. Nei Menggu1 Zizhiqu

^b

4.

Liao.ning

^i& f*j % & ,>.

5.

Jilin Heilongjiang

Written "Mongol" on official maps. The Chinese pronunciation, however, is "Menggu" Simplified characters in parentheses.

101

UNIT VIII LESSON 1 B:

wo gen ,ta hen shou,11

Yao.shi Ke.shi

wo gen . ta

diyi-cl

dangran

jian-mian

ke.yi

zem neng

zem jiao. jiao

. ta

mlng.zl huo.zhe jiao .ta Xiao Wang Xiao Li .ne?

PROVINCES 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18

(Continued)

Shan.dong Henan Jiang, sti An.hui Zhe.jiang Jiangxl Fujian Hu.bei Hunan Guangdong Guangxl Zhuangzu Zizhiqu Shanxl

19. Ningxia Huizu Zizhiqu 20. Gan.su 21. Qing.hai 22. Xinjiang Weiwuer3 Zizhiqu 23. Si.chuan 24. Guizhou 25. Yunnan 26. Xizang Zizhiqu 27. Hainan 28. TAIWAN CITIES

a.

Beijing

g.

Chongqing

b.

Shang.hai

h.

Guilin

c.

Nanjing

i.

Guangzhou

d.

Hangzhou

j.

e.

Wuhan

f.

XI'an

Xianggang (Hong Kong) Tai.bei

k.

NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES A.

Mongolia

E. Bhutan

I. Thailand

B.

Korea

F. India

J. Laos

C.

Nepal

G. Bangladesh

K. Vietnam

D.

Sikkim

H. Burma

L. Russia

Written "Uvgur" on official maps. In addition to the places mentioned in Unit VIII Lesson 1, we have added a few major cities which are frequented by tourists.

102

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 2 FORCED STUDY A:

Yeah, that really is a problem. I guess all you could do was wait till you knew her a bit better and then use her given name. But let's get back to that question I was just asking. You said you wanted to learn Chinese because your wife was Chinese. Are you saying your wife couldn't speak English? She went to college in America, I remember — you were classmates. Of course she could speak English.

B:

My wife

can speak

English, but my

daughter

won't

speak

Chinese. A:

What's that have to do with your studying Chinese? You're getting me more and more confused.

B:

My wife

always

pressured

our daughter

to

learn Chinese.

"Your mother is Chinese," she would say, "so you should be able to speak and read Chinese." She sent our daughter to Chinese

school

every

Saturday

to

study

Chinese, but

our

daughter really didn't want to go. A:

Why not?

B:

Our daughter Monday

felt that

through

Friday,

she already and

that

had

to go to

weekends

were

school

for

good

solid recreation. She felt it was very unfair that she had to

get

up

early

on

Saturdays,

do

homework,

and

go

to

school. She also felt she was being forced into learning Chinese by her mom. A:

If

she

really

didn't want

to learn, there was

forcing her. B:

That's what I thought, too. But not her mom.

A:

So what did your daughter say?

no point

UNIT VIII LESSON 2

103

DI'ER KE Bl NtJ.ER XUE ZHONGWEN A:

E, zhe dao dique shi .ge wenti. Zhl . hao xian bu cheng.hu .ta, deng shou .yi.dianr zai jiao .ta mlng.zl .ba. Xianzai hui

.dao wo gangcai wen .ni .de wenti. NI shuo ni "wife"

shi

Zhong.guoren

suo.yl

ni

yao

xue

Zhongwen.

Nandao

ni

"wife" buhui shuo YIngwen .ma? Wo ji.de ta shi zai Mei.guo shang

.de daxue, ni.men shi tongxue, ta dangran hui shuo

YIngwen .lo. B:

Wo "wife" shi1 hui shuo YIngwen, ke.shi wo nU.er bu ken shuo Zhongwen.

A:

Zhe gen ni xue Zhongwen you you shem guan.xi

,ne? NI yue

shuo wo yue hu.tu .le. B:

Wo "wife" zong bl wo nii.er xue Zhongwen. Ta dui2 nU.er shuo, "NI

Ma.x

shi

Zhong.guoren,

ni

jiu

ylnggai

hui

shuo

Zhong.guo-hua, hui kan Zhongwen shu." Ta mei.ge xlngqlliu ba nti.er song .dao Zhongwen xuexiao3 .qu xue Zhongwen, nU.er hen buyuan.yi qu. A:

Weishem.me?

B:

NU.er jue.de ta cong xlngqlyl dao xlngqlwu yi.jlng shang.le wu-tian

xue

.le,

zhoumo

benlai

ke.yi

haohaor

wanr.x,

xianzai llbailiu you yao zao qi, zuo-gongke, shang-xue, ta jue.de

hen

bu

gong, ping, ta

ye

jue.de

ta

shi

bl.zhe qu xue Zhongwen .de. A:

Jiran ta buyuan.yi xue, ye jiu buyong bl .ta .le.

B:

Wo ye.shi zem xiang, ke.shi ta ma.x bu ken.

A:

Na ni nu.er shuo shem .ne?

bei

ma.x

104

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 3 WHY STUDY CHINESE B:

She used to say, "I hate Chinese." My wife got very upset. The more the mother forced Chinese onto the daughter, the less the daughter wanted to learn. Their relationship got pretty tense. Eventually I had the idea that if I were to learn Chinese, and speak it at home with my wife, then our daughter

would

learn

to

speak

it,

too.

That's

how

it

happened that I began to study Chinese. Once I began I got very interested, and so have kept on studying all along. A:

How many years have you been studying Chinese?

B:

I took three years at summer school, then lived a year in Taibei and a year in Beijing, and then kept it up when I came back. It's been six years already.

A:

How

about

you, Lao

Ding?

How many

years

have

you

been

studying Chinese? C:

I've

been

literature

studying when

I

six was

years, too.

I

in

Once,

college.

liked in

comparative a

Chinese

literature class, I read a few poems by Li Bai in English translation. I thought I'd never read any poems better than Li Bai's, that they really were the best in the world... A:

Excuse me, let me interrupt. Do you remember which poems they were? Could you give us a line or two?

C:

(Scratches head) Well, ah... mm... I guess I can't come up with one just like that. did

I

like Chinese

(Changing the subject) Not only

literature, but

I got

interested

in

international politics and Asian history as well. At the same time I saw Sino-American relations getting better day by day, so I decided to study Chinese. A:

Just now when I asked Lao Wang why he studied Chinese, his answer was very simple. But I ask you and you come up with all these fancy reasons.

UNIT VIII LESSON 3

105

DISAN KE WEISHEM XUE ZHONGWEN B:

Ta chang shuo, "I hate Chinese." Wo "wife" hen sheng-qi. Ta yue bi nti.er, nti.er jiu yue bu ken xue Zhongwen, mu-nU .de guan.xi hen jlnzhang. Houlai wo xiang yao.shi wo xue-hul.le1 Zhongwen, wo gen

.wo "wife" zai jia.li shuo Zhongwen, na

nii.er ye jiu hui shuo

.le. Jiu zemyang wo jiu kaishi xue

Zhongwen. Wo yi kaishi xue, jiu dui Zhongwen feichang you xing.qu,2 suo.yi jiu yizhi xue .dao xianzai. A:

Ni xue.le ji-nian Zhongwen .le?

B:

Wo

zai

shuql

xuexiao.li3 xue.le

san-nian, ranhou wo

zai

Taibei zhu.le yi-nian, zai Beijing zhu.le yi-nian. Hui.lai yihou ji.xu xue, xianzai yi.jlng xue.le liu-nian .le. A:

.Ne.me4 ni .ne, Lao Ding .a, ni xue.le ji-nian Zhongwen .le?

C:

Wo

ye

xue.le

xi.huan

liu-nian

bijiao

5

.le. Wo

wenxue.

You

zai

yi-ci

daxue wo

.de

shi.hour

nian.le

yl-menr6

Zhong.guo wenxue ke, du.le ji-shou Yingwen fanyi .de Li Bai7 .de

shl. Wo

jue.de

mei.you bi Li Bai

zai wo

suo du.guo

.de shl geng hao

.de 8

.de

shl

.li, zai

.le. Na zhen.shi

shi.jie.shang zui hao .de shl... A:

Dui.buqi, wo da .ge cha.9 Ni ji .bu.ji.de shi nei-ji-shou? Ni neng .bu.neng shuo yi-liang-ju?

C:

(Scratches head) Zhei.ge10, zhei.ge... ss11. .. zhei.ge... wo yi-shi12 dao xiang.bu-qilai13 .le. (Changing the subject) Wo budan xi.huan Zhong.guo wenxue, wo dui guoji zheng.zhi gen Yazhou14

lishi

ye

you

xing.qu.

Tongshi

wo

kan

Zhong-Mei

guan.xi yi-tian bi yi-tian hao, suo.yi wo jiu jueding xue Zhongwen. A:

Gangcai

wo wen

Lao

Wang

ta weishem

xue

Zhongwen,

ta.de

huida hen jiandan. Ke.shi wo wen .ni, ni jiu shuo.chu zem yi-pian da dao.li15 .lai.

106 B:

CHINESE PRIMER That's just the way Lao Ding is. No matter what you ask him —

big questions, little questions, whatever — he always

gives you a lot of baloney. He's tops at bragging. He and I've been good friends for many years, so I know him well. Right, Lao Ding? C:

Nonsense.

A C h i n e s e poem b y L i B a i ( 7 0 1 - 7 6 2 ) *

Shanzhong Yu Youren Duizhuo Er ren duizhuo shanhua kai, Yi bei yi bei fu yi b e i . Wo zui yu mian qlng qie qu, Ming zhao youyi bao qin l a i . DRINKING IN THE MOUNTAINS WITH A HERMIT Face to face, we two drink, with mountain flowers blooming First one cup, then another, and yet one more again I'm tipsy now, and fear must sleep; you needn't stay with me On the morrow, i f you l i k e , bring your lute along

*

LI Bai wrote thousands of poems. We have chosen t h i s one because many of the characters are familiar to beginning students.

UNIT VIII LESSON 3 B:

107

Lao Ding jiu.shi zheyangr. Buguan16 nl wen . ta shem wenti, wulun shi da went! xiao wenti, ta dou . gei .nl shuo.chu yipian da dao.li, yln.wei ta zul hul chui-niu.17 Wo gen Lao Ding shi duo-nian

.de lao peng.you, suo.yl wo hen zhl.dao

.ta, dul .bu.dul, Lao Ding? C:

Bie hu-shuo.

t 4- it

108

CHINESE PRIMER

Lesson 4 THE BEST POEM I'VE EVER READ B:

Just

now

couldn't

Lao

Ding

remember

said

LI

a single

Bai' s poetry

was

line. That brings

great, but a story to

mind. Somebody told me this when I was in China. You know that

many

Chinese

poems

have,

four

lines,

with

seven

characters to a line. Once somebody told a friend: D:

I read a poem today that was really superb. I've never seen a better one.

The friend asked: E:

What was it about?

He said: D:

It described spring.

The friend said: E:

If it was so good how about reciting it for us?

He said: D:

Well,

urn...

ah...

the

first

two

lines

I've

forgotten. I don't quite remember the third line, either.

The

fourth

line

seems

to

be

...

something... something... something... "spring". (A and C laugh.) A:

Very amusing story.

C:

Your point is that I'm like the guy in the story, right? In fact you're completely wrong.

B:

How is that?

C:

At least he came up with the word "spring"; I couldn't even get a single word out, so he's way ahead of me.

B:

(Sarcastically) Not at all. You're much too polite.

A:

I've got to go to work now. I'll talk to you later. Bye!

UNIT V I I I LESSON 4

109

DISI KE HAO SHI B:

Gangcai

Lao Ding

ke.shi

ta

xiang.qi

lian

yi.ge

Zhong.guo

shuo LI Bai yi-ju

gu.shi

ye

.de shl hao

xiang.bu-qllai.

.lai.

Zhei.ge

.de shi.hour bie.ren gao.su

.de budeliao, Zhe

gu.shi

rang

shi

wo

.wo zai

.wo .de. Nl.men dou

zhl.dao Zhong.guo-shi hen duo shi si-jii, mei-ju ql.ge zi. You yi-hui yi.ge ren gen .ta peng.you shuo: D:

Wo jln.tian nian.le yi-shou shi, zhei-shou shi xie .de zhen mei. Wo conglai mei nian.guo zem hao .de shi.

Peng.you wen: E:

Zhei-shou shi shi jiang shem .de?

Ta shuo: D:

Shi miaoxie chun.tian .de.

Peng.you shuo: Jiran zhei-shou shi zem hao, nl neng .bu.neng bei1

E:

.gei .wo tlng.x .ne? Ta shuo: Ss... zhei.ge... zhei.ge... tou-liang-ju2wo wang.le,

D:

disan-ju wo ye ji.bu-da qlng.chu,disi-ju hao.xiang shi shem.me3. .. shem.me... shem.me... "chun." (A and C laugh.) A:

Zhei.ge gu.shi hen you yi.sl.4

C:

NI.de yi.sl shi shuo wo gen gu.shi.II nei.ge ren cha.buduo, shi .bu.shi? Qlshi nl wanquan budui.

B:

Zem .ne?

C:

Nei.ge

ren

hai

shuo-chu

yi.ge

"chun"

.zi

.lai, wo

lian

yi.ge zi dou shuo.bu-chulai, suo.yi ta bl .wo hao duo .le. B:

(Sarcastically) Na.ll, na.li,5 nin tai ke.qi .le.

A:

Xianzai

wo

yao

.Zai.jian, vx!

shang-ban

.le,

xia-ci

zai

tan

.ba.

HO

CHINESE PRIMER

Appendix THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE AND ITS SCRIPT THE CHINESE LANGUAGE Old and New Chinese. Chinese is usually regarded as one of the oldest languages in the world. The Chinese as spoken today by a radio announcer in Beijing (Beijing i t # ) is probably as unlike the Chinese of Confucius as, say, the English heard on American radio is unlike the English of Chaucer. On the other hand, whether in Europe or China, people talked for thousands of years before any of their talk began to be written down. Viewing things this way, one realizes that all spoken languages, as far as we can tell, are equally old in their origin and equally new in their present form. Why, then, should Chinese be commonly thought to be such an "old" language? One reason is that literary Chinese, which is still widely used, is largely based on the language of the ancient classics. More students at a Chinese university know their Mencius (Mengzt 3a. -p, 4th century BCE) than students at an American university know Chaucer (14th century CE). Another reason is the relative social and cultural homogeneity and stability in China during more millenia than has been the case with most other peoples of the world. Of upheavals China has had plenty. But even the conquering Mongols and Manchus made little impression on the language. There was no large-scale borrowing of words such as followed the Norman invasion of Britain. Our Knowledge of Old Chinese. The ancient Chinese language is basic knowledge for modern Chinese intellectuals, but only in the sense that the text in characters and the idiom in composition are understood. When classical Chinese is read aloud today, it is pronounced in Mandarin or another modern dialect. By studying these sounds, as well as the pronunciations in Japan, Korea, and Indo-China of anciently borrowed Chinese words, modern scholars have made reconstructions (except for the pitch configuration of tones) of the ancient Chinese pronunciation of about 600 CE. This is called Ancient Chinese. There have also been attempts—even more tentative—to reconstruct the pronunciation of Chinese about a thousand years earlier than that. This is called Archaic Chinese. Broadly speaking, Archaic Chinese had a rich system of consonants and vowels, and probably only three tones. It had ten final consonants and four grades of initial consonants: voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, voiced unaspirated, and voiced aspirated. (Modern Mandarin lacks the two voiced grades.) There were a few initial consonant clusters, like gl-, kl-, bl-, and /?/-, but these were relatively infrequent.

APPENDIX

111

From Archaic to Ancient Chinese, the most important change was that certain consonants (the pure voiced initials and endings b, d, g) became vowel sounds. There were four tones in Ancient Chinese: Even, Rising, Going, and Entering. The Entering tone comprised words ending in -p, -t, or -k. A large part of the Going tone came from Archaic forms ending in -b, -d, or -g. Growth of Modern Dialects. Modern Mandarin is linguistically one of the younger of the modern dialects, meaning that it has evolved relatively far from ancient pronunciation. Certain broad changes since 600 CE have affected most modern dialects of Chinese including Mandarin. The voiced initials of Ancient Chinese have lost their voicing in all dialects except those of Zhejiang (Zhejiang M ^), parts of Jiangsu {Jiang.su A^HL), and parts of Hunan (Hii.ndn $] z~&), and Zhejiang (Zhejiang), and parts of Guangxi (GuangxT /fr ©), Anhui (An.hui -§M§0, and Jiangsu (Jiang.su). The second zone is the great Mandarin-speaking region comprising most of the rest of China proper and the greater part of the northeast provinces. In the third zone, the territories and borderlands of the southwestern provinces and district of Xinjiang (Xinjiang #rft), non-Chinese languages are spoken side by side with versions of Mandarin. While the last zone includes more than half the area of all China, it holds less than one-tenth of the population. There are nine main groups of dialects in China, six in the first zone and three in the second. The first six groups are the Guangdong dialects; Kan-Hakka (Gdn-Kejia %%%%); the Amoy or Xiamen (Xiamen /Hfi) dialects, including Swatow (Shan.tou */&%%)', Fuzhou (Fuzhou 4i^H); the Wu (Wu &) group, including Shanghai and Wenzhou (Wen.zhou *&.#!); and the Hunanese group, known as Xiang (Xiang #8), which is the literary name for Hunan. The Guangdong, Kan-Hakka, and Amoy dialects frequently preserve the ancient consonantal endings -m, -p, -t, -k. The Fuzhou dialect forms a group apart, although it is near the Amoy group in many respects and is often classed together with it under the term Min (Min f*1), which is the literary name of Fujian province. The Amoy dialects are often called Southern Min (Minndnhud fA i& t£) and the Fuzhou dialects Northern Min (Minbeihua ?$lbi£). The Wu dialects and the Hunanese group frequently retain

112

CHINESE PRIMER

from Ancient Chinese the voicing of initials like b, d, g, and dz. The second dialect zone, including roughly two-thirds of the population and most of China proper, is the zone of the Mandarin dialects, which can be divided into a northern group, a southern group, and a southwestern group. The northern group includes the Yellow River basin and the northeastern provinces. The Beijing dialect, upon which standard Mandarin is based, belongs to this group. The southern Mandarin group covers a rather small area between Hankou {Hankou /H o ) and Nanjing. The southwestern group covers the region of greatest dialectal uniformity—including Sichuan (Shchuan E9 Jl|), Yunnan {Yunnan I? il)), Guizhou {Gul.zhdu H"*H), part of Guangxi (GudngxT), and part of Hubei {Hu.bei $3 ib) up to and including Hankou. All Mandarin dialects have relatively simple sound-systems and either four or five tones. They share a common vocabulary for frequent words such as personal pronouns, demonstratives, interrogatives, and particles. The mutual intelligibility of Chinese dialects depends, as with other languages, both upon the dialects themselves and upon the education of the speakers. The three groups of Mandarin dialects differ about as much as the English dialects of the British Isles, North America, and Australia. The other groups of dialects are about as far from Mandarin and from each other as, for example, Dutch or Low German is from English, or Spanish from French. (To be sure, these European languages are written differently, while all Chinese dialects have a common written form; our comparison concerns spoken language only.) On the whole, the differences among the Mandarin dialects are less radical than the difference between English and German. Within Mandarin dialects ranging from Sichuan to Heilongjiang {Heilongjiang M.M.^) speakers can pretty much understand one another. For speakers of the non-Mandarin dialects, ignorance of Mandarin can be a problem when traveling or when doing educational or public work. Most educated persons acquire a Mandarin of sorts either from school or by "picking it up" from others. Among people in public life, linguistic difficulties arising from dialect differences have been relatively negligible. For the common people, with their limited contact with other habits of diction and articulation, it is often impossible to communicate orally across the boundaries of dialect groups, or even subgroups. Dialects, Mandarin, and Classical Chinese. The modern Chinese dialects differ from one another primarily in three respects. The most important difference is that of pronunciation. For example # . 'woods' is pronounced lin in Beijing, ling in Shanghai, and lam in Guangzhou. Second, dialects differ in the choice of words for common use. The word for 'he, she' is ta 4& in Mandarin, yi if~ in the Shanghai dialect, and ghoe it in Cantonese. Out of these three words from the common stock of Chinese language, some dialects choose one and other dialects choose another for ordinary use, leaving the others as obsolete or literary words. Third, dialects can differ in grammar. In Mandarin, one uses the word-order 'give me some water,' while in Shanghainese and Cantonese one says 'give some water me.' But these grammatical differences are not very

APPENDIX

113

many or very prominent. The literary language or wenydn 3L~t~, which is often called "classical Chinese" by Western scholars, is not a dialect. It has no pronunciation of its own, but infuses all the dialects. The same sentence in wenydn has as many pronunciations as there are dialects. The Analects of Confucius must, of course, have been pronounced in a particular way in the state of Lu (Lu •%) in the sixth century BCE. But today, when the Analects is still read (if not spoken) as a text, it can be read equally well using the sounds of any dialect. The fact that there is a single system of characters throughout China has certainly played a major part in the preservation of wenydn, but the contemporary life of wenydn is not in the writing as such, but in the understanding, reading aloud, learning by rote, quoting, and free use of this common idiom. It is, accordingly, possible to reach the whole of Chinese literature through the medium of any one of the major dialects. Vernacular Literature and the Literary Revolution. Most of traditional Chinese literature is in wenydn. Writing in the vernacular style, whether in standard Mandarin or in another dialect, was, until recent decades, looked down upon as a less dignified kind of writing. There is very little vernacular literature in dialects other than Mandarin. Mandarin vernacular texts exist in the form of Buddhist lectures of the ninth century, some philosophical works of the Sung (Sdng) dynasty (960-1278), and a comparatively small number of plays and novels from the Yuan (Yuan) dynasty on (since 1277). Vernacular literature in other dialects, such as Cantonese and the Suzhou (Su.zhou) dialect, exists in even less significant amounts. Since the "literary revolution" that was part of the May Fourth Movement beginning in the late 1910s (See Unit V, Lesson 1, note 15), the use of modern vernacular Chinese in writing has spread greatly. Ironically, the first articles advocating the use of modern written vernacular were themselves written in wenydn, and the leaders of the movement continued to write letters in the classical language long after they had begun to write articles in modern vernacular. The modern vernacular movement penetrated most deeply and quickly in the field of literature. New novels and plays, and to a lesser extent poetry, were written in the modern vernacular and came increasingly to be accepted among modern educated youth. (By now nearly all creative writing, as well as publications on scientific subjects and translations of foreign books, is in modern vernacular Chinese. In schools, only the vernacular is taught in the elementary grades, and wenydn is introduced beginning in junior high school.) Change was slowest to come in government, in business, and in the non-academic professions, no doubt because of the difficulty of disturbing well-established phraseology and familiar conventional forms. A paradoxical result of this, during the 1920s through 1940s, was that while news despatches, official notices, and even advertisements were often in wenydn, the literary sections of newspapers and often the editorial sections as well, were in the vernacular. Since the 1940s, the written vernacular has established itself more and more firmly in every part of China,

CHINESE PRIMER including Taiwan, Hong Kong, and overseas Chinese communities. Unification of the National Language. Parallel with the trend toward literature in the modern vernacular, there came a series of efforts to unify the national language. We have seen that there was already a great degree of linguistic unity within the second dialect-zone. After 1911, when China became a republic, there was a conscious movement to unify the spoken language of the new nation. A Society for the Unification of Pronunciation was formed under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. A system of 39 "national phonetic letters," or zhilyin zxmu ii.^^-^, was devised. A standard of pronunciation based mainly on the Beijing dialect was fixed in 1919. It was revised in 1932 in the direction of still closer approach to the pure dialect of Beijing. Machinery was set up to train school teachers to teach "the national language"—or guoyu M ti-, as standard Mandarin was called. In 1937, the government subsidized the four largest publishers in the country in the manufacture of type matrices in which each character was cast in one block with the pronunciation indicated on the right-hand side. They then ordered all textbooks through the sixth grade to be printed in such type, so that all reading matter could be self-pronouncing. The Romanization Problem. The first major problem for language reformers was to unify pronunciation. A second was how best to represent Chinese sounds in the Roman alphabet. This had been done in several ways before. Matteo Ricci (1552-1610) had devised a spelling system around 1600. But extensive use of romanized texts did not come until the Christian Bible was translated into various dialects for use by missionaries. The first romanization to gain adoption in official circles was invented by Thomas Wade (1818-1995), a British diplomat who served in China and pursued an avocation in Chinese language and literature. Wade's system was later modified by Herbert Giles (1845-1935), originally also a British diplomat, but who left the foreign service to spend most of his life as a professor of Chinese at Cambridge University. Giles' Chinese-English Dictionary, published in 1912, established "the Wade-Giles system" of romanization as a standard in English-speaking governmental and scholarly circles, and it remained a standard into the 1970's. The Wade-Giles system indicates tone by number. "China," for example, or zhongguo in hanyu pinyin, in Wade-Giles is chung'-kuo2. In practice, though, the tone numbers were usually omitted, and most users of the Wade-Giles system ignored tones in speaking as well. In 1928, the system of Gwoyeu Romatzyh (GR) l l f f f l ^ ^ , 1 also called "national romanization," was adopted by the government. This was theoretically a system of transcription to be used only when Chinese names or words were mentioned in a foreign text or in public signs for foreigners, although in practice most government departments, until the Communist revolution

1

The word romatzyh, which is actually pronounced ludmazh apparently is a combination of GR with Italian (Roma = Rome) or English roma(niz'dtion).

APPENDIX

115

in 1949, themselves followed the practice of foreigners in China by using the Wade-Giles system of romanization. The distinctive feature of GR is that it spells syllables in different tones with different letters, instead of using diacritical marks or numerals. Thus mai 'to bury' JJL is spelled differently from mae 'to buy' W and may 'to sell' # , whereas in hanyu plnyin the distinctions are mdi, mdi, and mai, and in Wade-Giles mai2, mai3, and mai4". (Moreover, in the pTnyln and Wade-Giles systems, tone indications are normally omitted entirely, except in textbooks and dictionaries.) Spelling is more complicated in GR, but it gives an individuality to the physiognomy of words, with which it is easy to associate meaning in a way not possible in the case of forms in which tone marks or numbers are added as appendages. Tonal spelling has proven in practice to be a most powerful aid in enabling a student to grasp material with precision and clarity. Thus the long-range utility of GR, far from its original aims, has turned out to be in the teaching of Chinese to speakers of other languages. The greatest difficulty with a toneless spelling system, or a system like hanyu pTnyln or Wade-Giles in which tone indications are usually omitted, is that it becomes a matter of far-fetched guesswork to try to pronounce a word or name correctly unless one already knows from other sources what the tones in the word or name are. The romanization system becomes only a prompting device, not an adequate representation of sounds. There remain many technical difficulties as well as social and political hurdles to be surmounted before any romanization can come into general use inside China. But the majority of Chinese are not much concerned with romanization. They carry on their daily life of reading and writing in characters. Romanization of Classical Chinese. Any spelling of Chinese sounds using the Roman alphabet faces the problem of using only 26 letters to represent all the distinctive features of all syllables in Chinese. Thus hanyu piny in distinguishes a retroflex and palatal " j " sound using zh and j . Wade-Giles, as well aspTnyTn, distinguishes two "u" sounds using u and it. GR manages to spell all the syllables in Mandarin without using diacritical marks—but, as noted, needs more complicated spelling rules in order to do it. The problem for classical Chinese is much more severe. Whereas modern Mandarin has about 1,300 different syllables—burden enough for the Roman alphabet— the Ancient Chinese of 600 CE, as represented in the dictionary Gudngyun /fHI, 1007 CE, had as many as 3,877 distinctive syllables. To try to render all of these in romanized spellings would lead to arcane, if not unreadable, complexity. On the other hand, to collapse all the syllables into the 1,300 of modern Mandarin (i.e., to write the classical language as it is pronounced in modern Mandarin) would lead to too much ambiguity because of homophones. In short, the chief objection to any all-purpose romanization for Chinese has to be the fact that one cannot use it to represent wenydn adequately. Therefore any abolition of the characters would mean the drastic cutting off of

CHINESE PRIMER China's cultural heritage, most of which is in the classical language. It is all very well to say that the literature of the present and the future is and will be in the vernacular and therefore intelligible in romanized writing. But this would not solve the problem of how to put classical texts into romanization. CHARACTERS Pictographs and Ideographs. Ancient Chinese writing is usually described as being pictorial or ideographic. Thus, a circle with a dot inside it © was the character for 'sun', and three horizontal strokes B. represented the number 'three'. In Chinese tradition, six categories of characters, called liushu 7^ Ir, are recognized. (1) Xiangxing $*fy 'pictographs' are the easiest to understand. (2) Zfiishi 4m ^F 'simple ideographs' are characters consisting of simple diagrammatic indications of ideas, as J i for 'up' and T for 'down', or —, —, -H- for the numbers 'one, two, three'. (3) Hulyl it It* 'compound ideographs' are characters whose meaning is the combination of the meanings of their parts. Stock examples are jh 'stop' + \ 'arms' = ^ 'military' and K 'human' + ~f 'word' = it 'honest'. Characters in the preceding three categories form only a small minority of all characters. They are, theoretically, independent of spoken language. For example, three strokes would form as good a sign for the English word 'three' as for the Chinese word san. Conceivably the Chinese system of writing could have developed along its own lines into a complete system of symbols, independently of the Chinese language. Actually, however, from ancient times, the written characters became so intimately associated with the words of the language that they lost their functions as pictographs or ideographs and became "logographs," meaning conventionalized visual representations of spoken words. They were no longer direct symbols of ideas, but only symbols of ideas in so far as the spoken words they represented were symbols of ideas. One should not, therefore, be misled by the popular conception that an analysis of the formation of characters will lead to a correct understanding of the Chinese words they represent. Borrowed Characters, Phonetic Compounds, and Derivative Characters. The vast majority of characters are logographs, which themselves fall into three categories. As the ancient Chinese devised characters to represent words, obviously the meaning of many words could not be "pictured." A common practice was to borrow a character whose word had the same sound as the word for which a character was sought. For example, in Archaic Chinese, there was a word lag for a kind of wheat, which was written with a picture of the wheat plant (See Table 10, p. 121). There existed, at the same time, a homonym Idg that meant 'come'. Rather than to invent another character for this word with a meaning that was hard to picture, ancient writers simply borrowed the character for the plant to write the word for 'come'. Such characters are known as

APPENDIX

117

(4)jidjie \li.i% 'borrowed characters'. In the example just cited, the original word happens to have become obsolete long ago. But in some cases, both the original word and the word for which the character was borrowed exist side by side. For example, ran fk\ 'to burn' is also the character used for the word ran 'thus, so'. To differentiate the two, an extra part ^C 'fire' was added to the character (which, as an ideographic compound, already contains a part meaning 'fire' in the form of four dots at the bottom), thus making an 'enlarged character' $£ for ran 'to burn'. This allows the original character to be used only for the word ran 'thus, so'. Characters so enlarged belong to a group called (5) xingsheng fy ¥ or xiesheng tit ^'phonetic compounds'. The original character $* ran is called the 'phonetic' and the added part the 'signific', which in the majority of cases is also the 'radical'. (On radicals, see pp. 119-120 below.) Similarly, ffi wang 'a net' is now written $®, enlarged by&, a signific associated with threads or strings, while the original character l§) is borrowed exclusively to write the homonym wang 'have not'. Besides the enlargement of a loan character, there is a second source of phonetic compounds. Words in every language acquire extended meanings. Thus, the word wen 'line, streak' is written with the ideograph >C. By extension (not by loan), the same word also has the figurative meanings of 'writing, literature, culture'. To distinguish in writing between the literal and the figurative meanings of the same word wen, a signified is added to form the character $L, to be used in the literal meaning, leaving the original character SL for the figurative meanings only. Sometimes it is the other way around: The derived meaning has the enlarged character. Thus, the word fang means 'square' in the general sense and 'a square' as a place in a city. To differentiate between the two, the word is written JT for 'square' in general and A£, with an additional graph Jb., which has to do with places, for 'square, market place'. It is as if one were to write Tiananmen Squerre, with a suggestion of terre in the second word. Third, there is the group of pure phonetic compounds in which the signific is added to a phonetic which was never a loan or a semantic extension in the first place, but was expressly used for its sound to combine with the signific. For example, tang 'sugar' written Hr, consists of %, the signific relating to cereal foods and the phonetic M tang; or yu 'elm', written }#, consisting of 4 s the signific for 'tree' and the phonetic ivt yu. Pure phonetic compounds are of relatively recent origin. Many characters of the preceding categories seem to be pure phonetic compounds because most people are not aware that the unenlarged character or 'phonetic' was used as a loan character or used in a related meaning in old texts for centuries before the enlarged form came to use. Phonetic compounds form by far the majority of all characters. When they were formed, the sound of the original character and that of the compounded character were identical or very similar. Later, differences in sound between compounds and their phonetics developed and increased, and it is now no longer practical to infer the present sound of a compound character from the present

118

CHINESE PRIMER

sound of its phonetic or the other way around. But after the sounds of both the compound and its phonetic are learned, it will be of help to note the phonetic similarity. Finally, the traditional classification of characters recognizes a category (6) zhudnzhu # > £ that we might translate as 'derivative characters'. Scholars include here words whose sound, meaning, and written form all undergo an associated modification, for example from ? heng 'propitious' to %- xidng 'enjoy'. But membership in the zhudnzhu class is both small and uncertain, and scholars differ widely over what it should include. Table 9: List of Radicals

1 2 3 4 / — )

0 10 A n 20 C "h 30 p 40 F 50 3^ 60 + 'I* 70 3? 80 90 Iff jit 100 110 /S 120 130 is 140 in 150 & % R 160 170 * ft 180 •t I A * 190 PI 200 * 210 • * i 2 3 4

r

n

r «

5 6 7 8 9

J H Jim u

0 10 20 h 30 It 40 iX 50 *** 4 JFf- 60 ih 70 30 90 a? ?K 100 +); ^\ 110 ^: 120 & 130 140 150 * A 160 * ^ 41 170 ,% 180 * 190 il % ftft, 200 210 5 6 7 8 9

APPENDIX

119

Radicals. Various systems have been used, through the centuries, to classify characters according to their component parts called 'radicals'. The most important practical use of such systems is in arranging dictionaries. In most cases, a radical is the signific, or the character minus its phonetic, since the majority of characters are phonetic compounds. For example, in the character i^, i is the radical and JT the phonetic. In the relatively small number of cases where the character is not phonetically formed, the analysis of the radical is a matter of arbitrary convention, which often is at variance with the actual history of the character. Therefore etymological conclusions cannot follow from radical systems. Table 9 lists the radicals in the traditional system of 214 radicals employed by many dictionaries. The order of the radicals is arranged by the number of strokes, beginning with one stroke for No. 1 — and ending with 17 strokes for No. 214 lit. Within each group that has the same number of strokes, the order is purely conventional. Note that many of the radicals have one or more variant forms. With certain radicals, such as 9 or 85, the variants are more frequent than the main form. Radicals 140 and 162, in modern texts, always occur in their variant forms. The main forms remain, however, in their conventional positions on the list, since the variant forms do not have the same number of strokes as the main forms, and would require a different place in the list. In a dictionary arranged by radicals, the characters under each radical are arranged in the order of the number of strokes. For example, under the radical fc mu 'tree, wood', there is first the radical itself as a character, then the characters with one additional stroke, such as ifc. wei 'have not (yet)' and ^ ben 'root'. Next are the characters with two additional strokes, such as ^ Zfiu, a surname, down to characters with as many as 24 strokes, such as I t ling 'sill'. For different characters under the same radical with the same number of additional strokes, the dictionaries differ in their order of arrangement. The problem of finding a character in a dictionary thus involves two steps: (1) correctly identifying its radical, and (2) counting the number of additional strokes. Sometimes characters that appear to have radicals plus additional strokes are in fact complex radicals that do not involve additional strokes, for example: 'K^fa.^^^M-Ms and t£ are all themselves radicals. A majority of characters can be broken down into a left-hand side and a right-hand side, in which case the left-hand side is usually the radical, as in if #"$w.f&. Important exceptions (referring to Table 9) are radicals 18 (variant), 59, 62, 66 (variant), 69, 76, 163 (variant), 172, 181, and 196, all of which occupy the right-hand side, as in »#L$!j£p$£. Other characters can be divided into an upper and a lower part. Of these, the majority have radicals occurring at the top, such as nos. 8,40, 87 (variant), 116, 118 (variant), 122 (variant), 140 (variant), and 173 (variant). In cases where the radicals occur at the bottom, as in 7 t ^ # ^ : , the number of different radicals is actually greater than the number of radicals that occur at the top; but the total number of characters that have such radicals is smaller than the number that have radicals at the top.

120

CHINESE PRIMER

Finally, certain radicals enclose, or partially enclose, or are otherwise mixed up with the residual strokes, as in S foi&il. J l #- and 4 s whose radicals are Q fi F k. -fc-f- and A . While the above rules will cover most of the cases, many irregular cases have to be learned individually. For example, 48 is under S and not fc., |& is under ^ and not i t , etc. Most dictionaries have a special list of characters whose radicals are difficult to discern; this list is arranged not by radical, but by the total number of strokes. Some dictionaries list characters under several "possible" radicals. For example ^S might be indexed under fc as well as @ , with a note pointing out which is the actual radical. Some Chinese-English dictionaries are arranged alphabetically according to the spellings of hanyupinyin or another romanization system. These dictionaries are very convenient if you already know the pronunciation of a character and simply want to check on its meanings and uses. But if you don't know the pronunciation, you still need to look up the character by finding its radical in an index. Order and Number of Strokes. In teaching children to write, Chinese teachers lay great stress on the order of strokes in which a character is written. There are both aesthetic and practical reasons for this. When made with a brush-pen, characters will not have the right shape unless the order of the strokes is correct. Moreover, since most everyday writing is in a running hand (see p. 121), in which separate strokes become connected, a wrong order will result in unrecognizable writing. The general principle of making the strokes is from left to right and from top to bottom. In strokes that thin down to a sharp point, the direction is from the thick to the thin end, which in some cases involves making strokes from below upwards or from right to left, as / in J and ^ in - t . When a horizontal stroke and another stroke intersect, the horizontal one is usually made first. In a character containing a vertical stroke with two symmetrical parts on both sides, as in ?K, the vertical stroke is made first, followed by the left-hand side, then the right-hand side. In complete enclosures, the left hand wall is made, then the top and the right-hand side are made in one stroke, then the content filled in, and finally the bottom stroke added. (For examples, see characters Ef and 4SJ in the Character Workbook, p. 4.) In counting strokes, a horizontal line and a vertical line joining it from the right end down, as 7 in , are counted as one stroke. Similarly an L-shaped combination of lines is sometimes counted as one stroke. These two operations can be combined in a single stroke, as in the last stroke of ^ , which is b . (See jk in the Character Workbook, p. 6.) Styles of Script. The earliest known Chinese writing consisted of inscriptions on ox bones and tortoise shells, recording oracles of divination under the rulers of the Shang (Shang l$j) dynasty, ca. 1766-1122 BCE. Next in antiquity we find inscriptions, mostly on bronzes, of the Chou (Zhou Wi) dynasty, ca. 1122-246 BCE. Characters written for the same word differed widely from age to

APPENDIX

121

age until finally, under the Ch'in (Qin ^-) dynasty, 246-206 BCE, a system of characters known as 'seal characters' (or 'small seal', as contrasted with the 'great seal' of Chou) was established. From the time of this system until the system of simplified characters introduced in the People's Republic, there was comparatively little change in the basic structure of characters, although the type and finish of strokes changed considerably as a result of the change from the stylus to the brush as a writing instrument. Current styles of writing consist of (1) zhudnzi ¥ - ? 'seal characters', now used only in actual seals; (2) lishu Ht la or lizi I t ^ 'scribe's writing', now used occasionally for ornamental purposes; (3) kaishu f^^ 'model or regular writing'; (4) kebdnzl MMi^ 'printed characters', which are the same as the regular characters except for certain details to be noted below; (5)jidntizi fl f t ^ 'simplified characters', introduced primarily in the 1950s (see pp. 123-125 below); (6)xingshu ft # 'running hand' (literally 'walking style of writing'), a more flowing and slightly abbreviated form of ordinary characters; and (7) cdoshu %^ or cdozl %"%- 'cursive characters' (literally 'grass characters'), consisting of extremely abbreviated forms of characters for quick scribbling and for ornamental use. Table 10 lists examples of these seven styles of characters in addition to two ancient styles. Table 10: Styles of Characters A

B

C

D

E

F

i

$

^*

H

*1

*$*

Shang dyn. inscript.

£

*t

4&

t£

fr

&

Chou dyn. inscript.

^

jjj

^

^

f$|

|$

zhudn

4 4

^T 4^* ff ^)

& £> -ft Jt

fa* P£* f^ ff

fa

JJ jfo

& ft jfe kai ^ kebdn Mr xinS

% fy **t c&°

jL

P«4- &

jidnti

seal

scribe regular printed running

cursive simplified

Column A is the word Idi 'come' (< Archaic lag), borrowed from a homonym meaning a kind of wheat. Column B is wei 'to do, to be', originally a picture of a hand leading an elephant. C is the word xing 'walk', originally a picture of crossroads, later interpreted (wrongly) as a picture of steps. D is the word qi 'its', originally a picture of a dustpan. (The present character for dustpan %,

122

CHINESE PRIMER

pronounced ji, is an enlarged form.) E is jiang 'descend', which started as a picture of feet going down a flight of stairs. F is wii, and started as a character meaning 'dancing', then later was borrowed for a homonym meaning 'have not'. The seal form is enlarged by a signific, which was dropped later. The modern character for 'dance' wii is an enlarged form # , in which the phonetic j«*t occurs in the abbreviated form &. The regular written style (kaishu) is the same as the printed style (kebanzi) except that the printed style includes some small flourishes and exaggerated shadings. In only a few cases do differences of structure exist. It is important to be familiar with both the printed and written styles, because the radical indexes of some dictionaries are based on the printed style even though nobody writes in the printed style. For example, the printed form of the character &j has the radical I\\ (in variant form) on the top, but in the written form, as shown in the fifth character in column B, Table 10, the radical cannot even be seen. When the number of strokes additional to the radical differs in the two styles, the printed style is used for counting strokes. For example, in # the number of additional strokes in 3t is nine (counting the central dot), although the dot is rarely made in regular written style. Table 11 lists some common differences between the printed and written styles of characters and parts of characters. Table 11: Common Differences Between Printed and Written Forms

II

II

£I

II

APPENDIX

123

CHANGES SINCE 1949 In the decades since the accession of the Communist government in 1949, the Chinese language has continued to evolve on the mainland as well as in Taiwan and in overseas communities. Some of the changes have come from the influence of English and other Western languages; some have resulted from borrowings among dialects; and some have been the comings and goings of stylish usages such as occur in any living language. We cannot attempt to review all these changes, but will discuss three important aspects of language reform that have resulted from the policies of the Communist Party since the 1950s: (1) the simplification of characters, (2) the promulgation of the phonetic spelling system called hanyu pinyin j | l ^ # i and (3) popularization of standard spoken language under the name putonghua %^.i% or 'common speech'. All three efforts have encountered certain difficulties and controversies. Simplification of Characters. The first official step taken after 1949 to promote the simplification of characters was the publication, in 1950, of an approved list of simplified forms that had been in popular use for years, and in some cases for centuries. After 1950 there were three major efforts, in 1956, 1964, and 1977, to introduce newly simplified forms. In 1956 the State Council published a list of 515 characters that had consisted of an average of 16 strokes apiece and gave each a new simplified form that consisted of an average of 8 strokes apiece. Official media across China began to substitute the new characters for the old. The reforms of 1964 came after much discussion and debate on the question of how much to allow simplified forms to serve not only as independent characters but as parts of characters as well. For example, should