{"id":7839,"date":"2019-10-05T10:09:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T10:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-reading\/after-i-got-my-new-years-money\/"},"modified":"2019-10-05T10:09:13","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T10:09:13","slug":"after-i-got-my-new-years-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/after-i-got-my-new-years-money\/","title":{"rendered":"After I Got My New Years\u2019 money"},"content":{"rendered":"
Chinese Title: \u62ff\u5230\u538b\u5c81\u94b1\u4ee5\u540e
For those of you new to Chinese culture, one thing a Chinese child most looks forward to all year is the time during Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) when they get to go ask their neighbors and other adults for red envelopes co<\/em>ntaining some mo<\/em>ney – it’s a bit like trick-or-treating for cash. This essay is a<\/em>bout what happened to one kid’s Spring Festival haul. We’ll cover a lot of beginner grammar here.<\/p>\n

How to Read Chinese: Simplified Mandarin Chinese Essays for ChildrenI should probably talk a<\/em>bout a couple of points before we dive in. One is the use of the word \u73a9. Describing what he (or she, perhaps) does on Chinese New Year, the author says he can \u73a9\u5f97\u5feb\u6d3b – “play happily”. The Chinese don’t use “play” the way we do. While they do use it to mean “to play with toys” as a child does, they also use it to mean going out (like adults going out on Saturday night), or friends going out to a mall to go shopping – it’s really more of a blanket term better translated as “having fun”. So the kid is not saying they necessarily o<\/em>nly play with toys happily on Chinese New Year, but also maybe that they go hang out at parents’ friends houses, or whatever. It’s not specified.<\/p>\n

Another interesting point comes in here: \u5fc3\u91cc\u7279\u522b\u9ad8\u5174\uff0c\u4f46\u662f\u4e5f\u5f88\u626b\u5174 – “In my heart I was extremely happy, but also very disappointed”. Note the use of the words \u7279\u522b and \u5f88 – meaning “extremely” \/ “very” respectively. Thing is, in Chinese you can’t use a word like “happy” or “disappointed” without balancing it with a word measuring how happy or disappointed you were. There’s no way in general casual co<\/em>nversation to say “I was happy” – just regular ol’ happy. You can’t, for example, say just “\u6211\u9ad8\u5174“. Instead, say “I was VERY happy” \u6211\u5f88\u9ad8\u5174, or “extremely happy” \u6211\u975e\u5e38\u9ad8\u5174 or “exceedingly happy” \u9ad8\u5174\u6781\u4e86 or “fairly happy” \u6bd4\u8f83\u9ad8\u5174 or whatever. So when we translate Chinese, we could actually dro the “very”s and “extremely”s and all that, because they have much less meaning in Mandarin then they do to us. This used to bug me a lot when speaking. I didn’t want to say I was “very happy” – I wasn’t. I was just normally happy. But it was finally explained to me how little that “very” actually mattered. So bear that in mind.<\/p>\n

And another point: …\u6536\u5230\u4e86700\u4f59\u5143… This means “received over 700 yuan”. Notice that the word \u4f59, which means “over” \/ “more than” is written after the amount of mo<\/em>ney andbefore the actual word “yuan”. In English, this would be like saying “received 700-plus dollars”. You could also say \u6536\u5230\u4e86700\u591a\u5143, which means the same thing.<\/p>\n

And finally: Beware the definition I give for the word \u7531 here. It’s one of those grammar words that means a ton of different things in different co<\/em>ntexts – kind of like how the English word “to” is hard to define and used often. In my definition list, I o<\/em>nly ever show the definition relevant to this text, so you’re going to see the word \u7531 in many co<\/em>ntexts in many essays and it doesn’t always mean what it means here.<\/p>\n

\u8fc7 – guò – To celebrate
\u4e0d\u4f46…\u800c\u4e14 – bù dàn…ér qi\u011b – Not o<\/em>nly [sthg], but also [sthg else]
\u538b\u5c81\u94b1 – y\u0101 suì qián – Mo<\/em>ney Chinese children get as presents during Chinese New Years
\u4ee5\u5f80 – y\u01d0 w\u01ceng – Before, previously
\u4e0a\u7f34 – shàng ji\u01ceo – To give mo<\/em>ney up to higher authorities
\u7531 – yòu – To leave something to someone (to manage \/ handle)
\u723d\u5feb – shu\u01ceng kuai – Straightforward
\u80af\u5fb7\u57fa – k\u011bn dé j\u012b – Kentucky Fried Chicken
\u82e6\u601d\u51a5\u60f3 – k\u01d4 s\u012b míng xi\u01ceng – Rack one’s brains
\u8ba2 – d\u012bng – To subscribe to (a newspaper \/ magazine)
\u732e – xiàn – To donate
\u52e4\u4fed\u8282\u7ea6 – qín ji\u01cen jié ju\u0113 – Diligent and thrifty
\u9010\u6e10 – zhú jiàn – Gradually
\u6211\u975e\u5e38\u559c\u6b22\u8fc7\u65b0\u5e74\uff0c\u56e0\u4e3a\u8fc7\u5e74\u4e0d\u4f46\u80fd\u7a7f\u65b0\u8863\u670d\uff0c\u73a9\u5f97\u5feb\u6d3b\uff0c\u800c\u4e14\u8fd8\u80fd\u6536\u5230\u5f88\u591a\u7684\u538b\u5c81\u94b1\u3002\u4eca\u5e74\u6211\u4e00\u4e0b\u5b50\u5c31\u6536\u5230\u4e86700\u4f59\u5143\u538b\u5c81\u94b1\uff0c\u6211\u62ff\u7740\u538b\u5c81\u94b1\uff0c\u5fc3\u91cc\u7279\u522b\u9ad8\u5174\uff0c\u4f46\u662f\u4e5f\u5f88\u626b\u5174\uff0c\u6015\u5988\u5988\u7ed9\u6536\u8d70\u4e86\uff0c\u4ee5\u5f80\u7684\u538b\u5c81\u94b1\u90fd\u8981\u4e0a\u7f34\u7684\uff0c\u6211\u5c31\u7ed9\u5988\u5988\u5546\u91cf\uff1a\u4eca\u5e74\u6211\u521a\u6ee1\u5341\u5c81\uff0c\u6211\u5df2\u7ecf\u957f\u5927\u4e86\uff0c\u5e0c\u671b\u8fd9\u4e9b\u538b\u5c81\u94b1\u7531\u6211\u6765\u4fdd\u7ba1\uff0c\u6ca1\u60f3\u5230\u5988\u5988\u5f88\u723d\u5feb\u7684\u7b54\u5e94\u4e86\uff0c\u6211\u5fc3\u91cc\u4e50\u7684\u5f00\u4e86\u82b1\u3002\u6211\u62ff\u5230\u8fd9\u4e9b\u538b\u5c81\u94b1\uff0c\u6211\u5e94\u8be5\u600e\u6837\u6765\u82b1\u8fd9\u4e9b\u94b1\u5462\uff1f\u4e70\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u7684\u73a9\u5177\u3001\u8fd8\u6709\u6211\u6700\u559c\u6b22\u5403\u7684\u80af\u5fb7\u57fa\uff1f\u6211\u82e6\u601d\u51a5\u60f3\u4e86\u597d\u51e0\u5929\uff0c\u6211\u6253\u7b97\u7528\u8fd9\u4e9b\u94b1\u6765\u4e70\u6211\u559c\u6b22\u7684\u4e66\u7c4d\u3001\u4e70\u4e00\u4e9b\u5b66\u4e60\u7528\u54c1\u6216\u8005\u8ba2\u62a5\u7eb8\u3001\u732e\u7231\u5fc3\u6350\u6b3e……\u9664\u4e86\u8fd9\u4e9b,\u6211\u662f\u51b3\u4e0d\u4e71\u82b1\u7684\u3002<\/p>\n

\u6211\u89c9\u5f97\u8fd9\u6837\u505a\uff0c\u4e0d\u4f46\u53ef\u4ee5\u4ece\u5c0f\u5b66\u4f1a\u52e4\u4fed\u8282\u7ea6\u3001\u4e0d\u4e71\u82b1\u94b1\u7684\u4e60\u60ef\uff0c\u800c\u4e14\u8fd8\u53ef\u4ee5\u4f7f\u6211\u5b66\u4f1a\u7ba1\u7406\u3001\u5b66\u4f1a\u751f\u6d3b\uff0c\u8fd9\u6837\u624d\u4f1a\u4f7f\u6211\u9010\u6e10\u6210\u957f\u8d77\u6765\u3002
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I really love New Year, because [during] New Year I can not o<\/em>nly wear new clothes, and play happily, but also I can get a lot of New Year’s money. This year in a short while I got more than 700 yuan, and holding that New Years’ money, in my heart I was extremely happy, but also my spirits were dampened, I was afraid mama would take it away from me, [because] in the past [I had to] give over my New Year’s mo<\/em>ney to the higher authorities [author means his mother here, not God], so I discussed it with mom [thus]: this year I’m fully 10 years old, I’m already a grown up, and I hope this New Year’s mo<\/em>ney can be left under my care, but I never though she’d agree so easily [lit: so frankly], and happiness bloomed in my heart like a flower. I held the New Year’s money, but what should I spend this mo<\/em>ney on? Buy a toy I like, or my favorite thing to eat, Kentucky Fried Chicken? I racked my brains for several days, and decided to use the mo<\/em>ney to buy some books I liked, buy a few school supplies or to subscribe to a newspaper, and to make a charitable donation… apart from these things, I figured I’d better not spend it recklessly [author likely means they won’t spend the rest at all].<\/p>\n

I though that doing it this way, I not o<\/em>nly could learn to be diligent and thrifty starting in primary school, and develop careful spending habits, but also this could let me study mo<\/em>ney management, study life [skills], and this would finally let me gradually mature.<\/div>\n