{"id":7842,"date":"2019-10-05T13:27:32","date_gmt":"2019-10-05T13:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/chinese-reading\/excerpt-from-tiger-team-ghost-hotel\/"},"modified":"2019-10-05T13:27:32","modified_gmt":"2019-10-05T13:27:32","slug":"excerpt-from-tiger-team-ghost-hotel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/my\/excerpt-from-tiger-team-ghost-hotel\/","title":{"rendered":"Excerpt from Tiger Team: Ghost hotel"},"content":{"rendered":"
This excerpt is one of the Tiger Team supernatural mystery novels for adolescents. The Tiger Team series was originally created in German by author Thomas C. Brezina, and features a band of young detectives: Jupiter Katz, son of a supernatural researcher Erasmus Katz, Jupiter’s cousin Vicky and Vicky’s little brother Nick. This is listed as “advanced” not necessarily because of the vocabulary – which isn’t terribly difficult – but also because some of the sentence structures aren’t very straightforward. This is the easy end of the advanced spectrum, so if you think you might be an advanced reader, try this.
Learn to Read Beginner, Advanced and Intermediate Chinese: Exercises for Advanced LearnersI found this Chinese translation of the Tiger Team novel “Ghost Hotel” in my local bookstore, and I’ve manually typed in the first few paragraphs of the book, which describe a dilapidated, mostly-abando<\/em>ned hotel, wher most of the novel takes place. This is interesting practice in reading lo<\/em>nger des<\/em>criptions, and includes many words that are strictly book-language: you’re not likely to run into them in daily conversation. There’s probably an actual English version of this book, but I can’t easily get my hands on this, so bear in mind you’re not reading the official English translation.<\/p>\n

There are a couple of difficult passages here that don’t quite mean what they seem to mean. One is \u6728\u6761\u90fd\u4e0d\u77e5\u4e0b\u843d\u4e86. Originally, I read this as “wooden slats scattered here and there”, or literally “wooden slats fallen down in who knows how many places”. But thanks to my Chinese friend Anna, I learned that \u4e0b\u843d, in this case, doesn’t mean “fall down”. It means “wher is it?” (the same as \u5728\u54ea\u513f). So \u4e0d\u77e5\u4e0b\u843d actually means “to be missing”, or “to be gone to who knows wher”.
Another phrase I should note is \u6570\u76ee\u8fdc\u8fdc\u5927\u4e8e\u5b9e\u9645\u9700\u8981, “an amount (\u6570\u76ee) far (\u8fdc\u8fdc) greater (\u5927\u4e8e) than actually (\u5b9e\u9645) needed (\u9700\u8981)”. \u5927\u4e8e was a new word for me, and I didn’t know that \u8fdc\u8fdc – meaning “far away” – can also sometimes be used the same way in Chinese as in English, to mean “very” (example: far above the normal amount).
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\u72ed\u7a84 – xiá zh\u01cei – Narrow
\u7a79\u9876 – qióng d\u01d0ng – Domed \/ vaulted roof
\u5c16\u5854 – ji\u0101n t\u01ce – Minaret
\u7070\u8499\u8499 – hu\u012b m\u0113ng m\u0113ng – Dusky
\u6233 – chu\u014d – poke, stab
\u77d7\u7acb – chù lì – To tower (of buildings)
\u5b64\u96f6\u96f6 – g\u016b líng líng – Solitary
\u5c71\u4e18 – sh\u0101n qi\u016b – Hill
\u5149\u79c3\u79c3 – gu\u0101ng t\u016b t\u016b – Bare, bald
\u6742\u8349 – zá c\u01ceo – Weeds
\u63a9\u57cb – y\u01cen mái – Bury
\u90a3\u680b\u623f\u5b50\u662f\u6728\u8d28\u7ed3\u6784\u7684\uff0c \u770b\u8d77\u6765\u5c31\u50cf\u662f\u5a5a\u793c\u86cb\u7cd5\u3002 \u5b83\u603b\u5171\u6709\u56db\u5c42\uff0c\u8d8a\u5411\u4e0a\u8d8a\u72ed\u7a84\uff0c\u6240\u4ee5\u6700\u9ad8\u7684\u90a3\u5c42\u5c31\u53ea\u662f\u4e00\u5ea7\u5e26\u6709\u5c0f\u5c0f\u73bb\u7483\u7a79\u9876\u7684\u5c16\u5854\u4e86\u3002
\u7070\u8499\u8499\u7684\u6728\u5934\u5916\u5899\u5df2\u7ecf\u8150\u673d\u4e0d\u582a\uff0c \u9ed1\u8272\u7684\u7a79\u9876\u4e0a\u597d\u50cf\u4e5f\u88ab\u6233\u4e86\u597d\u51e0\u4e2a\u7a9f\u7abf\u3002
\u7a97\u6237\u90fd\u662f\u62f1\u5f62\uff0c\u6570\u76ee\u8fdc\u8fdc\u5927\u4e8e\u5b9e\u9645\u9700\u8981\uff0c\u4e0a\u9762\u8fd8\u9489\u4e86\u597d\u591a\u6728\u6761\u3002
\u8fd9\u680b\u623f\u5b50\u4ece1911\u5e74\u8d77\u5c31\u77d7\u7acb\u5728\u8fd9\u5ea7\u5b64\u96f6\u96f6\u7684\u5c71\u4e18\u4e0a\u3002\u6709\u65f6\u5019\uff0c\u9644\u8fd1\u7684\u519c\u6c11\u53d1\u73b0\u8fd9\u680b\u623f\u5b50\u4f1a\u50cf\u78c1\u94c1\u4e00\u6837\uff0c\u5438\u5f15\u7740\u4e4c\u4e91\uff0c\u96f7\u7535\uff0c\u51b0\u96f9\u548c\u98ce\u96e8\u3002
\u5982\u679c\u8c01\u5728\u590f\u5929\u7684\u65f6\u5019\u8d70\u8fd1\u8fd9\u680b\u623f\u5b50\uff0c\u5c31\u4f1a\u53d1\u73b0\u8fd9\u91cc\u5947\u7279\u73b0\u8c61\uff1a\u623f\u5b50\u5468\u56f4\u4e3a\u6570\u4e0d\u591a\u7684\u90a3\u51e0\u68f5\u6811\u90fd\u662f\u5149\u79c3\u79c3\u7684\u3002 \u6811\u679d\u5982\u540c\u9edd\u9ed1\u7684\u624b\u81c2\uff0c \u9ad8\u9ad8\u5730\u6307\u5411\u5929\u7a7a\u3002
\u8fd9\u5757\u5730\u88ab\u4f4e\u77ee\u7684\u6728\u6805\u680f\u5708\u5728\u5f53\u4e2d\uff0c \u6709\u51e0\u5904\u5df2\u7ecf\u88ab\u4eba\u635f\u574f\uff0c \u6728\u6761\u90fd\u4e0d\u77e5\u4e0b\u843d\u4e86\u3002 \u751a\u81f3\uff0c \u6709\u7684\u5730\u65b9\u5df2\u7ecf\u5b8c\u5168\u88ab\u6742\u8349\u6240\u63a9\u57cb\u3002
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The building was co<\/em>nstructed of wood, and looked like a wedding cake. Altogether, it had four floors, each narrower than the one below, so the topmost floor was just a small minaret topped with a glass dome.
The gloomy outer wall was already in a state of extreme disrepair, and the dark and the vaulted roof looked as if it had been stabbed full of holes.
The windows were all arched, there were far more of them than actually necessary, and they had wooden boards nailed over them.
The house had towered atop this isolated hill since 1911. Sometimes, the nearby villagers would find that the building was like a magnet, attracting dark clouds, lightening, hail, wind and rain.
If anyone walked near the house during summer, they would discover a strange phenomenon: the few surrounding trees were all bare. The tree branches were like dark arms, pointing tall towards the sky.
The land was encircled by a low fence, which had been broken in several places, and the wooden slats were missing. It was in such a state that some parts of it had even been completely buried by weeds.
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