{"id":7843,"date":"2019-10-05T14:23:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T14:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-reading\/i-am-all-alone\/"},"modified":"2019-10-05T14:23:35","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T14:23:35","slug":"i-am-all-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/fr\/i-am-all-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"I am All alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
This melancholy kid doesn’t seem to have very much luck with pets or siblings.
Mandarin Chinese Bginner Passages: Learning Mandarin Reading for Beginners You may or may not have a little difficulty with the sentence \u697c\u533a\u4e0d\u8ba9\u517b, which is said in regards to a pet dog. Looking at each word…
\u697c – lóu Building
\u533a – q\u016b District \/ region \/ area
\u4e0d – bù No, not, doesn’t
\u8ba9 – ràng Allow, let
\u517b – y\u01ceng Raise, take care of (as in a child or a pet)
… the meaning isn’t too hard to decipher “the building doesn’t allow raising [of dogs]“. But while the meaning isn’t difficult, some of the words are used a little bit differently than they are in English. For example, in English, when we say someone “raises dogs”, or “raises” any type of animal, it usually indicates some kind of professio<\/em>nal or large-scale dedication to breeding that type of animal. When people casually keep a pet or pets, we say they “have a dog”, or “own a dog”. Not so in Chinese. The correct Chinese term for having a pet dog (or many types of pet) is “raising a dog” – \u517b\u72d7. So, for example, saying “I want to raise a dog” (\u6211\u60f3\u517b\u4e00\u53ea\u72d7) is the equivalent of saying “I want a dog” in English.
The other question this raises is “what do they mean by \u697c\u533a, ‘building district’”? You’d assume this means the area around your apartment building, and you’d be right – but why “\u533a”? This is because in China, many older apartment blocks are much more like tiny districts or communities than they are in the western world. In one complex, there may be several buildings that make up your block, with little numbered sub-staircases (\u5355\u5143) that each co<\/em>ntain 12 or so apartments, and they may include small playgrounds inside the block or have other amenities. \u697c\u533a refers to all buildings in the apartment block, any outdoor areas or amenities for that apartment area.
The Chinese title of this text is \u6211\u5b64\u72ec.
Click to Listen
\u72ec\u751f\u5b50 – dú sh\u0113ng z\u01d0 – o<\/em>nly child
\u517b – y\u01ceng – To raise
\u89e3\u95f7 – ji\u011b mèn – Relieve bordom
\u653e\u8d70 – fàng z\u01d2u – To let go, to free (an animal)
\u966a\u4f34 – pei bàn – To accompany, be with
\u5fe0\u81e3 – zh\u014dng chén – Loyal subject
\u6211\u662f\u4e2a\u72ec\u751f\u5b50\uff0c\u5bb6\u91cc\u6ca1\u6709\u5144\u5f1f\uff0c\u53ea\u597d\u517b\u52a8\u7269\u6765\u89e3\u95f7\u3002\u53ef\u662f\uff0c\u5c0f\u9ec4\u72d7\uff0c\u697c\u533a\u4e0d\u8ba9\u517b\uff0c\u53ea\u597d\u653e\u8d70\uff1b\u5927\u767d\u9e45\uff0c\u88ab\u4eba\u5077\u8d70\u4e86\uff1b\u5c0f\u677e\u9f20\uff0c\u4e0d\u5c0f\u5fc3\u4ece\u7a97\u53f0\u4e0a\u6454\u4e86\u4e0b\u6765\uff0c\u6b7b\u4e86\u3002\u5c31\u8fd9\u6837\uff0c\u6211\u7684\u5c0f\u52a8\u7269\u6b7b\u7684\u6b7b\uff0c\u653e\u7684\u653e\u3002\u73b0\u5728\u53ea\u6709\u4e24\u53ea\u5c0f\u4e4c\u9f9f\u966a\u4f34\u7740\u6211\u3002\u6211\u5fc3\u60f3\uff1a\u4f60\u4eec\u4fe9\u53ef\u7b97\u5f97\u4e0a“\u5fe0\u81e3”\u4e86\u3002
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I’m an o<\/em>nly child, I have no brothers, so I have to raise pets to relieve my boredom. But as to the little yellow dog, the building [management] doesn’t allow [people to have dogs], so we had to set it free; the big white goose was stolen, and the little squirrel accidentally leaped from the window ledge and died. In these ways, my pets have died, or been let go. Right now I o<\/em>nly have two turtles to accompany me. In my heart I think: “You two are my o<\/em>nly “loyal subjects”.

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