Lesson One

4. Translations and exercises

A. Make sentences with the expressions and sentence patterns.

B. Translate the following sentences into Chinese.

If you place the mouse on the sentences the Chinese translation will pop up on your screen. Click on the sentences to hear the answers spoken.

1. Yesterday Xiao Ding learnt 100 characters. He was really exhausted.

2. I went to the high street (大街) for a walk last week. There was nothing interesting to look at.

3. Mr. Wang is a very rich man. He is reckoned to be the richest person in  Taiwan.

4. As far as I am concerned there is not a single government in the world that is any good.

5. For God's sake, don't say any more. Look, the person who is in charge is sitting just beside you.

6. I don't give a damn whether he is here or not. I'll just say what I think.

7. He always says that he doesn't have enough to eat, but yesterday there was plenty of food on the table and he didn't eat anything.

8. During the Cultural Revolution (文化革命) Xiao Zhang suffered a great deal. Yes, that was because he didn't take great care when speaking in public before the Cultural Revolution.

9. Look at the time. The train is leaving in a minute. We have to rush.

  C. Translate the following passage into Chinese. (No sound in the following passages.)

Xiao Li is an extremely stingy character (小气). I think he is the number one mean person in the university. Everybody calls him “Stingy”. Last Sunday, he came with me and a few friends of mine to the outskirts of the city. Long before lunchtime, Xiao Li had already begun saying that he was hungry, so I started to look for a cheap restaurant where we could have a simple meal. When we reached a noodle bar, Xiao Li said, "What is so good about eating noodles? I'll take you to an excellent Shanghainese restaurant, where you can have huge quantities of delicious food and, what is more, you can have snacks such as jiaozi and zhagao." I thought that Xiao Li was going to treat us to a Shanghainese meal. We followed him to the restaurant. The food there was unexpectedly good. Just before we had finished eating, Xiao Li said he was going to make a phone call to his girlfriend. Well, the phone call lasted at least an hour and a half. We couldn't wait any longer. We paid the bill. Just before we reached the door, Xiao Li came in. I said, "We all thought that you had left us and gone home." But he said, "How could I? I have to get a lift from you." I was angry, "By the way, we have paid your share of the bill." He replied immediately,  “Oh, thanks so much. I've spent all my money on the call. Next time it will be my turn." Everyone laughed. So, for God's sake don't go out with Xiao Li!