BaiYingying Posted April 7, 2012 at 12:14 PM Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 at 12:14 PM Hello everyone, I'm facing some serious difficulties translating the underlined part of this sentence. It would be great to know what the whole sentence means, actually, so that I understand the sense. Thank you for your time! 农民朱五四的工作由两部分构成，他有一个豆腐店，但主要还是要靠种地主家的土地讨生活，这就决定了作为这个劳动家庭的一员，要活下去只能不停的干活。 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted April 7, 2012 at 02:24 PM Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 at 02:24 PM The work of the peasant Zhu Wusi was made up of two parts. He owned a tofu shop, but he earned his living mainly by farming the land of his landlord. This background had determined that Because of this background, (his son Zhu Chongba), as a member of this working class family, would have had to work non-stop in order to survive. Note - I didn't quite understand who the underlined part referred to by reading the paragraph alone. But having read the text preceding it, I think it means that the fate of the peasant's son had been sealed. Also, I guess this is part of your homework etc? I have only read the first few chapters of the book but was not impressed (so I have not read on). Edit - I have made some amendments above. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaiYingying Posted April 7, 2012 at 03:07 PM Author Report Share Posted April 7, 2012 at 03:07 PM Thank you again Skylee! Well, this is actually part of my graduation thesis, I'm translating a few chapters of the first volume into Italian, to be precise. I haven't been practicing my Chinese for quite a long time now, that's why I have so many doubts! As far as your translation is concerned, I'm glad to see that the sense I gave to the sentence was right, the only part missing was the underlined one, because I misunderstood it referred to Zhu Chongba, thought it was speaking of "the family as workforce", something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaiYingying Posted April 8, 2012 at 02:03 PM Author Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 at 02:03 PM A little after that sentence, there's another one that I might have misinterpreted: 即使不把老百姓当人，但还要防着他们造反... Well, I thought it meant that the native Chinese people were not considered human by the Mongol invaders (Yuan dynasty) but apparently I'm wrong. Point is, I cannot find the real meaning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted April 8, 2012 at 02:14 PM Report Share Posted April 8, 2012 at 02:14 PM Even though the authority/court/government treated the people as if they were not human, they had to guard against their (the people's) uprising/rebellion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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