Listening Exercise (and 成语)

[HashiriKata]

Hi,

http://www.wellesley.edu/Chinese/Chinese_Fables/index/index.html

I came across this listening section focusing on the Chinese chengyu: very clear, short audio recordings of the stories behind some of the very well-known chengyu's. Since the section is for listening practice, it doesn't give you the text of the recordings. After a trial listening, I think the difficulty level seems to be about intermediate and this idea occurred to me as a group listening project:

- Those of us who are interested can try to listen and output it in writing (the stories are quite short, probably just about half a page each). If we manage to output one story a week at the beginning of the weekend (say, Friday, after everyone has had a chance to listen and to think about), we can probably, by working together, get the complete text of the story at the end of the weekend (Sunday), together with an understanding of the grammatical structures used in the story (if anyone is interested enough to ask).

- Those who are more advanced than the level required for understand the recording can help by giving us the words or phrases we don't manage to catch (which can be seen as blanks in our initial versions).

- Those who find the recording beyond their level can still benefit by using the recordings and the texts we output simply as materials for learning. You can also ask question about the vocabulary and grammar used in the stories ( but I think it's unnecessary in this exercise to provide a translation of the text).

Apart from training our listening, this exercise will also give use some ideas how 成语 come about and some of the most common ones for us to use. What would you think about this project ? If you think it's useful one and have further suggestions, leave your feedback here and try to listen to the 1st story: 揠苗助长 (Spoiling things by impatience or excessive enthusiasm). I hope we can get a complete story out at the weekend (I don't want to rush this project so as to give the majority of learners, including me, a chance to listen and work it out for themselves. Otherwise, it will be just another reading exercise instead of a listening one.)

Cheers,

[semantic nuance]

Hi,

Ok. Let me be the first to try 揠苗助長. Here's the transcription:

揠苗助長

揠苗是把秧苗拔起來的意思.助長是幫助秧苗長大的意思. 你看, 這張畫上的農夫在拔他田裡的秧苗呢! 這個農夫的性子很急,沒有耐心.他總覺得自己種的莊稼長得太慢,沒有別人的快.他想:如果我把田裡的秧苗都拔高一點兒, 不就長得快了嗎?他決定了以後, 就在田裡把秧苗一棵一棵的往上拔.他一直拔到天黑才拔完.回家以後他很得意的跟家人說:我今天累死了! 可是我做了一件很聰明的事.你明天去田裡看看.我們的莊稼ㄧ定會比別人的長得高, 因為我想辦法幫助秧苗長高了.第二天早上,他妻子高高興興地跟他到田裡去看. 一看, 哎呀! 糟糕!田裡的秧苗全都枯死了.

Exercises

1. 這個成語是 a. ya4 miao2 zu4 zhang3 b.ya4 maio2 zhu4 zhang3 c. ya4 miao2 zhu4 zang3

2. 那個農夫要讓他的秧苗長得高,他就 a.多給秧苗肥料 b.把野草除掉 c.把秧苗往上拔高

3. 那個農夫今天特別高興,因為 a. 他的秧苗比別人長得高了 b.他想:他的秧苗會比別人長得高 c.他做了很多事.

4. 揠苗助長這個成語是說 a. 做事如果不順其自然,會得到相反的結果. b.只要能讓事情成功,什麼手段都可以用.

I can only help chinese part. I hope that someone can help translate some vocabularies into English for those beginners.

Hope it helps!

[skylee]

oh take a look -> http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/4-favourite-chinese-film677

[nipponman]

I knew that chengyu looked familiar!

Seriously though, I should listen to those more often

[Mr. Mulberry]

This seems like a great project, however I am a beginner still struggling to comprehend the basic sounds and tones. This exercise would be of more help to me (and to other beginners) if someone would provide a transcription into pin1yin1. That way I could listen to the exercise, write down the sounds I think I hear, and later check my transcription against the correct pin1yin1 you provide. Thank you!

[HashiriKata]

揠苗助长 (Spoiling things by impatience or excessive enthusiasm). I hope we can get a complete story out at the weekend (I don't want to rush this project so as to give the majority of learners, including me, a chance to listen and work it out for themselves. Otherwise, it will be just another reading exercise instead of a listening one.)

LOL! I didn't anticipate we'd complete the story so soon. So, I can only say thanks to SN for his hearty completion of the first fable.

There are still another 13 fables to decipher but what do you think we should do? Should we just freely take one and have a go until all of the fables are completed? (From the above experience, it does seem unrealistic to take the one-fable-per-week approach). Here's the link again for your convenience:

http://www.wellesley.edu/Chinese/Chinese_Fables/index/index.html

nipponman: I missed your thread about the 1st fable. Did you try the other 13 ?

[semantic nuance]

Oops! I didn't know you didn't want it to be done so soon. My apologies! Hope I was not in the way of some project.

[HashiriKata]

No problems, semantic nuance, there are more than one way to Rome ! I only hope that eventually we'll all together get to the heart of all the 14 fables.

Cheers,

[gougou]

There is also a book (which does have transcripts), which I bought about a week before discovering that most of it was online as well

[bomaci]

I'll have a go with this one.

六. 对牛弹琴

对牛弹琴这个成语用得很多. 你想一个人弹琴给牛听会有什么结果呢? 从前有一个很有名的音乐家, 叫gong1ming2yi2. 有一天他对着一头正在吃草的牛弹一手优美的曲子.那条牛好象没听见的样子, 仍然继续低着头吃草.gong1ming2yi2想大概是他弹得不好,所以牛听了没有反应. 后来他又想牛没有反应可能不是因为他的曲子弹得不好.也许是因为那条牛根本听不懂他弹的这个曲子. 于是他就弹了一手像蚊子叫的曲子. 那条牛一听见这手像牛蝇飞来飞去的曲子就立刻停着吃草. 摇着尾巴, 好像在要赶走牛蝇赶走一样. 以后大家都用"对牛弹琴"这个成语. 比喻对愚蠢的人说深奥的道理,或是用来讥笑人说话不看对象.

I hope I got all of it correct. I'm not sure how to the musicians name should be written in characters though.

EDIT: Sorry I missed your posts originial intention. Guess I shouldn't have transcribed it so quickly.

[HashiriKata]

Hi Bomaci,

I've come round to the idea that we just simply put out the materials and let people use it the way that best suits them, so you are doing fine . (I'm myself typing out No 2: 掩耳盗铃 at the moment and will post it once done.)

I'm not sure how to the musicians name should be written in characters though.

I remember seeing the name somewhere as 公明仪 but I need to listen to the recording again to be sure.

[nipponman]

nipponman: I missed your thread about the 1st fable. Did you try the other 13 ?

I tried the fifth, and I think 13th, but never got around to asking any questions, I'm on it now though!

[HashiriKata]

I tried the fifth, and I think 13th, but never got around to asking any questions, I'm on it now though!

That's good, nipponman, and good luck! .

Ok, I've managed to type out Fable No 2 but there are still 2 words I don't quite catch (the sentences in red below). Anyone knows what can these words be?

掩耳盗铃

掩耳是把耳朵捂起来的意思。盗铃是偷铃的意思。

古时候的钟和铃都是乐器，只是大小不一样。所以，掩耳盗钟就演变成掩耳盗铃了。

这个人偷铃的时候，为什么把他的耳朵捂起来了？这个人到一个[。。的]家里去偷东西，[。家]已经搬家了，东西都搬走了，没什么东西可以投了，只有一个大钟还留在院子里。这个人想，这个钟也许可以卖点儿钱，就试试搬那个大钟，可是太重了，怎么搬也搬不动。他想，也许我把那个大钟敲碎，就可以一块一块地搬回去了。于是，他就去找了一个铁锤来敲那个大钟。他[。。地]敲了一下， 那个大钟就响了起来，很久不能停止。他想，糟糕，这如果被邻居听见了怎么办？他就赶快把自己的耳朵捂起来。他以为他自己听不到钟的声音，别人就也一定听不见了。

你想：他这样做聪明吗？他骗了自己，也能骗别人吗？

[bomaci]

掩耳盗铃

掩耳是把耳朵捂起来的意思。盗铃是偷铃的意思。

古时候的钟和铃都是乐器，只是大小不一样。所以，掩耳盗钟就演变成掩耳盗铃了。

这个人偷铃的时候，为什么把他的耳朵捂起来了？这个人到一个[。。的]家里去偷东西，[。家]已经搬家了，东西都搬走了，没什么东西可以投了，只有一个大钟还留在院子里。这个人想，这个钟也许可以卖点儿钱，就试试搬那个大钟，可是太重了，怎么搬也搬不动。他想，也许我把那个大钟敲碎，就可以一块一块地搬回去了。于是，他就去找了一个铁锤来敲那个大钟。他[。。地]敲了一下， 那个大钟就响了起来，很久不能停止。他想，糟糕，这如果被邻居听见了怎么办？他就赶快把自己的耳朵捂起来。他以为他自己听不到钟的声音，别人就也一定听不见了。

你想：他这样做聪明吗？他骗了自己，也能骗别人吗？

The first one sounds like xing4fan4 to me, but I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean. The other one "他..地" sounds like 他轻轻地 to me.

[HashiriKata]

I think you're right with 他轻轻地敲了一下.

I think your "xing4fan4" would also make sense with 姓范 (= the surname Fan), so it would be: 这个人到一个姓范的家里去偷东西，范家已经搬家了，东西都搬走了,...

So, here we are, the complete fable:

2. 掩耳盗铃

掩耳是把耳朵捂起来的意思。盗铃是偷铃的意思。

古时候的钟和铃都是乐器，只是大小不一样。所以，掩耳盗钟就演变成掩耳盗铃了。这个人偷铃的时候，为什么把他的耳朵捂起来了？这个人到一个姓范的家里去偷东西，范家已经搬家了，东西都搬走了，没什么东西可以投了，只有一个大钟还留在院子里。这个人想，这个钟也许可以卖点儿钱，就试试搬那个大钟，可是太重了，怎么搬也搬不动。他想，也许我把那个大钟敲碎，就可以一块一块地搬回去了。于是，他就去找了一个铁锤来敲那个大钟。他轻轻地敲了一下， 那个大钟就响了起来，很久不能停止。他想，糟糕，这如果被邻居听见了怎么办？他就赶快把自己的耳朵捂起来。他以为他自己听不到钟的声音，别人就也一定听不见了。

你想：他这样做聪明吗？他骗了自己，也能骗别人吗？

OK, now is someone else's turn to give us another fable, please!

[semantic nuance]

这个人到一个姓范的家里去偷东西，范家已经搬家了，东西都搬走了，没什么东西可以投了，只有一个大钟还留在院子里。

这个人到一个姓范的家里去偷东西，范家已经搬家了，东西都搬走了，没有什么东西可以偷了，只有一个大钟还留在院子里。

六. 對牛彈琴

那条牛一听见这手像牛蝇飞来飞去的曲子就立刻停着吃草.摇着尾巴, 好像在要赶走牛蝇赶走一样.

那条牛一听见这手像牛蝇飞来飞去的曲子就立刻停止吃草.摇着尾巴, 好像在要赶走牛蝇一样.

Hope it helps!

[semantic nuance]

Hi,

I'll contribute another one--三. 亡羊補牢

三. 亡羊補牢

亡羊是羊丟了.補牢是修理羊圈.這個人的羊丟了以後,是不是應該去修理羊圈呢?很久很久以前,在一個鄉村裡,住著一個牧羊人, 他的名字叫張三.張三家裡養了十幾隻羊,每天早上他都去牧羊.ㄧ天早上,他去牧羊的時候,發現羊少了一隻. 羊怎麼會丟了一隻呢? 仔細ㄧ看是他的羊圈破了一個洞.他知道一定是昨天夜裡,狼從這個洞裡進來, 把羊吃了一隻. 他非常難過. 他的鄰居知道了就跟他說:真可惜, 你快把羊圈修ㄧ修吧!免得狼再來吃你的羊. 張三說: 羊已經被狼吃了,現在修理羊圈還有什麼用呢? 太晚了! 他沒有接受鄰居的建議. 第二天早上,張三去牧羊的時候,發現他的羊又少了一隻. 原來昨天晚上, 狼又從這個洞進來了. 他真後悔沒有聽鄰居的話, 又損失了一隻羊.他就馬上去修理羊圈.羊圈修好了以後,他的羊就沒有再被狼吃了.後來, 我們就用亡羊補牢這個成語勸告人:如果做事出了差錯,要馬上想法子補救, 還來得及, 不太晚.

Hope it helps!

[nipponman]

semantic nuance,

You can't just take all the fables like that! Leave some for the rest of us! sheesh:mrgreen:

::Just kidding:: good work!

[semantic nuance]

nipponman,

真不好意思ㄋㄟ. 我下次改進改進! 我會把其他的都留給別人去聽寫. 不是故意的!

SN

[nipponman]

Heh:mrgreen: ,

真不好意思ㄋㄟ

ㄋㄟyou3 shen2me yi4si?