Learn the language you'll need to take your pet to the veterinarian and get it neutered or spayed
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| INTRODUCTION |
| David: Welcome to chineseclass101.com. I am David. |
| Jane: 大家好(Dàjiā hǎo)，我是(Wǒ shì)Jane。 |
| David: Right. Jane is here with us today for our intermediate series, season 1, Lesson 19. |
| Jane: The Chinese Eunuch. |
| David: Right. This is not what you are expecting though. This is actually a story about our cat. |
| Jane: 在我们的办公室里有一只小猫，前几天它经历了一段非常痛苦的时间。(Zài wǒmen de bàngōngshì li yǒuyī zhǐ xiǎo māo, qián jǐ tiān tā jīnglìle yīduàn fēicháng tòngkǔ de shíjiān.) |
| David: Yes. It was a traumatic experience for him. So we’ve got a dialogue that’s about this. Before we take you to that, we want to remind you, if you are looking for a one on one tutoring practice, make sure to check out our Elite package at chineseclass101.com and if you are interested, we get to everyone a free trial to check it out. So send us an email and ask for that and we will have one of our teachers call you for a free class. |
| Jane: 快注册吧！(Kuài zhùcè ba!) |
| David: Right. That being said though, let’s go to the dialogue. |
| Jane: 好吧。(Hǎo ba.) |
| DIALOGUE |
| 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒjiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushùle.) |
| 天啊，太可怜了！(Tiānā, tài kělián le!) |
| 没办法，这也是为它好呀。(Méi bànfǎ, zhèyě shì wéi tā hǎo yā.) |
| 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yàobu, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshang gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| 什么？(Shénme?) |
| 它明天就要成猫太监了，今天还不能。。。(Tā míngtiān jiù yào chéng māo tàijiān le, jīntiān hái bù néng...) |
| 我。。。无语了。(Wǒ... wú yǔ le.) |
| David: One more time, a little bit slower. |
| 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒ jiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushù le.) |
| 天啊，太可怜了！(Tiānā, tài kělián le!) |
| 没办法，这也是为它好呀。(Méi bànfǎ, zhèyě shì wéi tā hǎo yā.) |
| 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yàobu, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshang gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| 什么？(Shénme?) |
| 它明天就要成猫太监了，今天还不能。。。(Tā míngtiān jiù yào chéng māo tàijiān le, jīntiān hái bù néng...) |
| 我。。。无语了。(Wǒ... wú yǔ le.) |
| David: And now with the English translation. |
| 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒ jiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushù le.) |
| Tomorrow my cat is going to get spayed. |
| 天啊，太可怜了！(Tiānā, tài kělián le!) |
| Heavens, how pitiable! |
| 没办法，这也是为它好呀。(Méi bànfǎ, zhèyě shì wéi tā hǎo yā.) |
| There's nothing to be done. This is better for it too. |
| 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yàobu, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshang gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| Why don't you look for a female cat for it tonight? |
| 什么？(Shénme?) |
| What? |
| 它明天就要成猫太监了，今天还不能。。。(Tā míngtiān jiù yào chéng māo tàijiān le, jīntiān hái bù néng...) |
| It's going to be a cat eunuch tomorrow, tonight it might as well... |
| 我。。。无语了。(Wǒ... wú yǔ le.) |
| I.. am speechless. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| David: I love that last line. |
| Jane: It is a very – apparently very, very popular internet language. |
| David: Yeah people who will leave out that 我(Wǒ), they will just go with 无语了。(Wúyǔle.) |
| Jane: Yeah. |
| David: Well, I don’t have anything to say. |
| Jane: Yeah. |
| David: Right and that was my reaction too. So we’ve got a lot of vocab here which is about pets and traumatic experiences that they go through. Let’s get to that now. |
| Jane: 好吧。(Hǎo ba.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Jane: 猫咪(Māomī) |
| David: Kitty. |
| Jane: 猫咪，猫咪。绝育(Māomī, māomī. Juéyù) |
| David: Sterilization. |
| Jane: 绝育，绝育。手术(Juéyù, juéyù. Shǒushù) |
| David: Surgery. |
| Jane: 手术，手术。可怜(Shǒushù, shǒushù. Kělián) |
| David: Pitiful. |
| Jane: 可怜，可怜。太监(Kělián, kělián. Tàijiàn) |
| David: Eunuch. |
| Jane: 太监，太监。无语(Tàijiàn, tàijiàn. Wúyǔ) |
| David: Speechless. |
| Jane: 无语，无语。要不(Wúyǔ, wúyǔ. Yào bù) |
| David: Why not. |
| Jane: 要不，要不。要么(Yào bù, yào bù. Yàome) |
| David: Either. |
| Jane: 要么，要么。(Yàome, yàome.) |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| David: Okay. So our vocab section today is all about pets. |
| Jane: 是的，今天的词汇量对那些家里有宠物的听众来说应该是很有用的。(Shì de, jīntiān de cíhuì liàng duì nàxiē jiā li yǒu chǒngwù de tīngzhòng lái shuō yīnggāi shì hěn yǒuyòng de.) |
| David: Right especially if you need to take them to the vet and get them neutered or spayed. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: Which you really should. In China, a lot of people don’t. |
| Jane: 但是应该说越来越普遍了。(Dànshì yīnggāi shuō yuè lái yuè pǔbiànle.) |
| David: Yeah, yeah it’s more and more common and it’s actually really cheap too. Anyway, our first word is |
| Jane: 猫咪(Māomī) |
| David: Which means kitty. |
| Jane: 猫咪(Māomī) |
| David: Kitty as in the sentence. |
| Jane: 你的猫咪也太凶了，老咬人。(Nǐ de māomī yě tài xiōngle, lǎo yǎo rén.) |
| David: Your kitten is too savage. It’s always biting people. |
| Jane: 你的猫咪也太凶了，老咬人。(Nǐ de māomī yě tài xiōngle, lǎo yǎo rén.) |
| David: Your kitten is too savage. It’s always biting people and what’s that adjective? |
| Jane: 凶(Xiōng) |
| David: Right. That means fierce. |
| Jane: 凶(Xiōng) |
| David: Our next phrase is a bit technical. |
| Jane: 是的，这是一个专业用语:绝育手术。(Shì de, zhè shì yīgè zhuānyè yòngyǔ: Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: Let’s hear that again. |
| Jane: 绝育手术。(Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: In the dialogue, we heard it in this sentence. |
| Jane: 明天我家猫咪就要去做绝育手术了。(Míngtiān wǒjiā māomī jiù yào qù zuò juéyù shǒushùle.) |
| David: Right. Tomorrow afternoon, my cat has to go and do |
| Jane: 绝育手术。(Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: Right and that’s really two words together. The first, |
| Jane: 绝育(Juéyù) |
| David: Means sterilization. |
| Jane: 绝育(Juéyù) |
| David: Next we have the word for surgery. |
| Jane: 手术(Shǒushù) |
| David: Surgery. |
| Jane: 手术(Shǒushù) |
| David: Right. So in English, we say to neuter or to spay but in Chinese, |
| Jane: 在中文里，这个词是不分公母的。(Zài zhōngwén lǐ, zhège cí shì bù fēn gōng mu de.) |
| David: Right. |
| Jane: 绝育手术。(Juéyù shǒushù.) |
| David: And our next word is, what happens if that happens to you. You will become a |
| Jane: 太监(Tàijiàn) |
| David: Right. |
| Jane: 太监(Tàijiàn) |
| David: This is a really Chinese word. |
| Jane: 太监(Tàijiàn) |
| David: Right. |
| Jane: 中国古代时，有很多太监。(Zhōngguó gǔdài shí, yǒu hěnduō tàijiàn.) |
| David: In ancient times, there were many eunuchs in China. |
| Jane: 中国古代时，有很多太监。(Zhōngguó gǔdài shí, yǒu hěnduō tàijiàn.) |
| David: Right. Our last word is a new word. |
| Jane: 这是一个近年来非常流行的网络用语。(Zhè shì yīgè jìnnián lái fēicháng liúxíng de wǎngluò yòngyǔ.) |
| David: Right. It comes from the internet. |
| Jane: 无语。(Wúyǔ.) |
| David: Speechless. |
| Jane: 无语。(Wúyǔ.) |
| David: You use this word as follows. |
| Jane: 我无语了，你怎么能这么说呢？(Wǒ wúyǔle, nǐ zěnme néng zhème shuō ne?) |
| David: I am speechless. How can you say that? |
| Jane: 我无语了，你怎么能这么说呢？(Wǒ wúyǔle, nǐ zěnme néng zhème shuō ne?) |
| David: I am speechless, how can you say that? So this is maybe the last five years. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: And a lot of the time, people will also drop 我 and they will just say |
| Jane: 无语(Wúyǔ) |
| David: Or they will tape it out followed by five exclamation marks. |
| Jane: 看来(Kàn lái)David经常用这个词。(Jīngcháng yòng zhège cí.) |
| David: Yes. It’s really useful actually. Okay, so that takes us through our vocab. We’ve got two more words we are going to cover in our grammar section. |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: And |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| David: It’s grammar time. Our grammar section today is focusing on two words. |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: And |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: The difference between these words. These words sound a lot alike but there is a big difference between them. |
| Jane: 是的。我们先给大家介绍的是“要不”的用法。(Shì de. Wǒmen xiān gěi dàjiā jièshào de shì “yào bù” de yòngfǎ.) |
| David: Right. In our dialogue, we heard this in the following sentence. |
| Jane: 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yào bù, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshàng gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| David: Why don’t you get a female cat for her tonight? |
| Jane: 要不，你们今天晚上给它找只小母猫吧。(Yào bù, nǐmen jīntiān wǎnshàng gěi tā zhǎo zhǐ xiǎo mǔ māo ba.) |
| David: So there are two things to note straight away. First is the meaning of |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: “Why not” or “how about”. |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: And the second thing to note is they were placing it at the beginning of our sentence. |
| Jane: 要不，给他点钱，他太可怜了。(Yào bù, gěi tā diǎn qián, tā tài kěliánle.) |
| David: Why don’t you give him some money? He is really pitiful. |
| Jane: 要不，给他点钱，他太可怜了。(Yào bù, gěi tā diǎn qián, tā tài kěliánle.) |
| David: Right. There is a third thing to note too which is that using this softens the tone of the sentence. |
| Jane: 用“要不”会使你的语气更加委婉。(Yòng “yào bù” huì shǐ nǐ de yǔqì gèngjiā wěiwǎn.) |
| David: Right. It softens the tone. We’ve got one more sample sentence for you. |
| Jane: 路这么远，要不打车吧？(Lù zhème yuǎn, yào bù dǎchē ba?) |
| David: It’s such a long trip. Why don’t we take a cab? |
| Jane: 路这么远，要不打车吧？(Lù zhème yuǎn, yào bù dǎchē ba?) |
| David: Right. So that’s |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: The second word |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: Is easily confused with this but it’s actually quite different. |
| Jane: 是的。要么总是成对儿的出现在句子里。(Shì de. Yàome zǒng shì chéng duì er de chūxiàn zài jùzi lǐ.) |
| David: Yeah. It comes in pairs as in the following sentence. |
| Jane: 你要么去医院打针，要么把这药吃了。(Nǐ yàome qù yīyuàn dǎzhēn, yàome bǎ zhè yào chīle.) |
| David: Either you go to the hospital and have an injection or you take this pill. |
| Jane: 你要么去医院打针，要么把这药吃了。(Nǐ yàome qù yīyuàn dǎzhēn, yàome bǎ zhè yào chīle.) |
| David: Right. So |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: Means either/or. |
| Jane: 是的。他给对方的感觉是你必须要从中取一，听起来更具有强迫性。(Shì de. Tā gěi duìfāng de gǎnjué shì nǐ bìxū yào cóngzhōng qǔ yī, tīng qǐlái gèng jùyǒu qiǎngpò xìng.) |
| David: Right. It’s a lot more forceful. |
| Jane: 你要么现在就跟我回去，要么永远也别回去了。(Nǐ yàome xiànzài jiù gēn wǒ huíqù, yàome yǒngyuǎn yě bié huíqùle.) |
| David: You either come back with me now or you never come back. |
| Jane: 你要么现在就跟我回去，要么永远也别回去了。(Nǐ yàome xiànzài jiù gēn wǒ huíqù, yàome yǒngyuǎn yě bié huíqùle.) |
| David: You either come back with me now or you never come back. Very, very forceful, very strong. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: So to recap, we’ve got two words here. The first is |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: The second is |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: They sound similar but they are used very differently. |
| Jane: 是的。(Shì de.) |
| David: In the case of |
| Jane: 要不(Yào bù) |
| David: We put this at the start of a sentence and it means how about in the case of |
| Jane: 要么(Yàome) |
| David: It comes in pairs and it’s a very forceful way of offering a choice. |
Outro |
| David: And that’s our lesson for today. As always, our PDF for this lesson contains a copy of the dialogue transcript along with a write up of this cultural note. If you have any questions, please contact us at contactus@chineseclass101.com |
| Jane: 我们等你。(Wǒmen děng nǐ.) |
| David: From Beijing, I am David. |
| Jane: 我是Jane。(Wǒ shì Jane.) |
| David: Thanks a lot for listening and we will see you on the site. |
| Jane: 下次见吧。(Xià cì jiàn ba.) |
| David: Bye bye. |
14 Comments
HideHave you ever had to go to the vet in China?
Hello robert groulx,
Thank you for your comment, we hope you enjoyed the lesson!
Let us know if you have any questions.
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
thanks for the lesson
my favorite phrase is 你要么现在就跟我回去，要么永远也别回去了
no i did have a chance to go vet
robert
你好 Leah，
谢谢你的留言。你说得对，那两个句子中的“也”是用来表示强调的。
对，公或母指的是性别。男的小猫叫小公猫。
“might as well”不是直接的翻译。还不能... = still cannot...仍然不能够...。例如：他已经三岁了，还不能说话。
如果你有任何问题，请随时联系我们。
Ngai Lam
Team ChineseClass101.com
你好，我有两个问题。
在这个句子里，“也”不是“also”的意思，就是为emphasis才用的吗？意思是跟“太凶了”一样的吗？
“你的猫咪也凶了，老咬人。”
在这里也是emphasis对吗？“你要么现在就跟我回去，要么永远也别回去了”
Jane说“这个词是不分公母的。” 在这里，“公母”的意思是性别或者男女对吗？然后“找只小母猫”如果是男的可以说什么，“找只小公猫”吗？“公”是男的吗？
对了，最后这个句话“还不能”是一个expression吗，表示“might as well” 吗？怎么用这个句话？可以说 “我们已经在超市，还不能去看一下水果的价格。”
谢谢你们😄
Hello Sira,
Thank you for your question.
You can read about our Elite program here (the page is for Japanese, however, the concept is the same):
https://www.japanesepod101.com/member/member_upnewapi.php?signup_source=signup_upsellnew.php&nxt=cc_info&product_type=Elite
If you have further questions about it, please email us at contactus@ChineseClass101.com.
Cheers,
Lena
Team ChineseClass101.com
What is the Elite package
Hi Sidi Aly,
谢谢你！:grin:
Yinru
Team ChineseClass101.com
很有意思 !!!!
Hi 乐天,
哈哈哈，真的吗？:mrgreen:
Echo
Team ChineseClass101.com
哇塞...太色了...:eek: