Category: News Vocabulary

Chinese Words Translation：ostrich 鸵鸟(tuó niǎo)

鸵鸟(tuó niǎo) ostrich Usage Notes: “鸵鸟”是非洲一种体形巨大、不会飞但奔跑得很快的鸟，据说鸵鸟遇到危险的时候，就把头埋到沙子里，以为这样别人就看不见自己了，其实自己屁股露在外面，更加引人注目。所以鸵鸟也带有逃避困难的比喻义。
The ostrich is a large African bird that cannot fly but does run fast. It is said that when an ostrich encounters danger, it will bury its head into the sand because it believes that, by doing so, it cannot be found. But its rear end is still in plain sight, which makes it even more eye-catching. As such, the ostrich is a metaphor for escaping during times of difficulty.

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Learn Chinese word: 压岁钱 yāsuì qián

  Explanation: On the first day of lunar, the young generation congratulates the old generation with “Happy New Year!”
Then the old generation will give the young some lucky money which wrapped with red paper or red envelope. Because red is a color with joyful. Lucky money means the old generation‘s love to the young and hope them can have a good luck in this new year. this is the lucky money which lots of the young want.

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Chinese idioms: 叶公好龙(Yègōnghàolóng )

Chūnqiū shí, yǒu gè jiào Yè Gōng de rén, tā fēicháng xǐhuān lóng. Zài tā de jiā lǐ dàochù kěyǐ kàndào lóng de tú’àn. Tā chángcháng déyì de duì dàjiā shuō:”Wǒ zuì xǐhuān de jiù shì lóng!”
春秋时，有个叫叶公的人，他非常喜欢龙。在他的家里到处可以看到龙的图案。他常常得意地对大家说：“我最喜欢的就是龙！”In the Spring and Autumn Period, a Lord Ye was said to be very fond of dragons. Dragon pictures and carvings could be seen everywhere in his house. He was always proud to say, "What I like most is the dragon!"
Yè Gōng xǐhuān lóng de shìqíng chuán dào le tiān shàng zhēn lóng de ěrduǒ lǐ, lóng jué dé fēicháng gǎndòng, juédìng dào Yè Gōng jiā bàifǎng, xiàng tā biǎoshì gǎnxiè. Yè Gōng yí kàn jiàn zhēn long, xià dé dà hǎn “jiùmìng”, zhuǎn shēn jiù pǎo. Lóng kàn le hòu, fēicháng shīwàng, shuō dào:”āi, yuánlái tā bìng bú shì zhēn de xǐhuān wǒ, zhī shì nàxiē xiàng lóng de dōngxī bà le!”
叶公喜欢龙的事情传到了天上真龙的耳朵里，龙觉得非常感动，决定到叶公家拜访，向他表示感谢。叶公一看见真龙，吓得大喊“救命”，转身就跑。龙看了后，非常失望，说道：“唉，原来他并不是真的喜欢我，只是那些像龙的东西罢了！”When a real dragon in the heaven heard what he had professed, it was very moved and decided to pay a visit to Lord Ye's home and express his appreciation. But when Lord Ye saw the real dragon, he was so frightened that he shouted "help" while running out for his life. The dragon felt very disappointed and exclaimed, "Well, what he loved was not me but things like the dragon after all!"
Words：
到处dàochù： everywhere（adv. ）
得意déyì： complacent（adj. ）
感动gǎndòng： touched（adj.）
拜访bàifǎng： to visit（v.）
失望shīwàng： disappointed（adj.）
Meanings：
 “好”的意思是喜爱。“叶公好龙” 常用来讽刺那些只是口头上说喜欢，其实对其并不了解，言行不一致的人。"好(hào)" means "love/like", and "叶公好龙(yègōnghàolóng)" is always used to satirize those who always claim their liking for something but actually they really don't know what they are fond of.
Sentences：
1. Yǒu de niánqīngrén gǎn shímáo guò yángjiē, zìjǐ shuō bú qīng guò de shénme, hái piānpiān shuō xǐhuān, zhēn shì Yè Gōng-hàolóng.
有的年轻人赶时髦过洋节，自己说不清过的什么，还偏偏说喜欢，真是叶公好龙。Some young people follow the fashion to celebrate foreign festivals. They actually can't tell why they are celebrating, but still say they enjoy the festivals. They are really should be described as 叶公好龙.
2. Tā duì diànnǎo de xǐhào jiùshì Yè Gōng-hàolóng, zhī zài zuǐ shàng shuōshuō éryǐ.
他对电脑的喜好就是叶公好龙，只在嘴上说说而已。His love for computers is just like 叶公好龙, and this is only demonstrated by word of mouth.
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