蒙學漢文初階 第三十五課 Beginning Chinese - Entry Level Lesson #35 一夕月色糢糊 one night moon color blur muddle 半夜睡醒 half night sleep awake 聞窓外雨聲淅瀝 hear window outside rain sound [onomatopoeia "c"][ onomatopoeia "lee"] 簷馬丁東 eave horse [onomatopoeia "ding"][ onomatopoeia "dong"] One night when the moon was hazy. I woke up at midnight and heard from the window outside: the rain went pitter-pattering and the wind chime goes ding-ding-dong-dong. 簷馬 are so called because most probably they resembled the distant sounds of ringing bells put on horses to warn people. Wind chimes are used in ancient China to determine the wind direction and later to become musical chimes for the rich and powerful and can be made from jade! 淅瀝 and丁東 (or 叮咚, 玎璫) are onomatopoeia. This lesson teaches that if the moon is hazy, then rain will sure to follow.