In this episode I cover a perennial question "How do I improve my English skill"?

Teacher Stan's musings

10.000 hours rule

大家好，您正在收听中文播客《丹霞说》，我是丹霞。你知道“笑一笑，十年少”吗？

        “笑一笑，十年少”，这是中国人常常说的一句话，意思是笑有很大的作用，笑一笑会让人年轻很多。
        只有常常笑，才能使自己年轻，不容易变老。所以我们每天都应该在工作、学习中，多想想高兴的事儿，多做做能让自己开心的事儿，试着让自己更快乐。
        所以，今天你笑了吗？

少 [shào] young
作用 zuòyòng  affect ; function
让 ràng  let; make
年轻niánqīng  young
应该yīng gāi should; ought to; must
事儿shì er  matter; affair, thing; business
试 shì  to try  

"Smile, ten years younger" is a saying often used by Chinese people, which means that laughter has a great effect, and a smile will make people younger. Laughing often can we make ourselves younger and not grow old easily. So we should think more about happy things, do more things that can make us happy, and try to make ourselves happier in our work and study every day.

So, did you laugh today?

 HSK3 Vocab Based - Short Story Podcast

03. “笑一笑，十年少”[xiào yi xiào，shí nián shào] Smiles keep one young 

大家好，您正在收听中文播客《丹霞说》，我是丹霞。今天我给大家说说白雪的爸爸。

白雪的爸爸叫夏东海，妈妈常常叫他老夏。老夏做的菜很好吃，他有一家饭店。叫“老夏饭店”。饭店不大，可是每天都有很多客人。饭店里有饭，有面条儿，果汁，还有很多菜。

白雪小的时候，每天都跟爸爸妈妈一起去饭店，他们三个人也在饭店吃早饭、午饭和晚饭，每天都很晚关门回家。可以说，饭店是白雪的第二个家。

客人们都很喜欢白雪，喜欢和她说话。白雪有大大的眼睛和小小的嘴巴，很可爱。爸爸妈妈很忙的时候，白雪也能帮忙给客人拿筷子，水和菜单。

白雪六岁的时候开始上学，爸爸每天早上给女儿准备午饭，因为白雪觉得学校的午饭不好吃，她喜欢吃爸爸做的。下午四点多，白雪从学校回到饭店，爸爸妈妈问她今天在学校学习了什么。如果饭店没有人来吃饭，爸爸会看白雪写作业。

这些词语你明白了吗？

客人    kè rén  guest
面条儿 miàn tiáo’er  noodles
菜     cài  dish, vegetable
关门   guān mén to close door
说话   shuō huà  to speak, talk
帮忙   bāng máng to help
拿     ná  to take, to hold
筷子   kuài zi  chopsticks
菜单   cài dān  menu
准备   zhǔn bèi to  prepare; preparation
觉得   jué de  to think, feel
作业   zuò yè  homework


Today I'll tell you about Bai Xue's father.

Bai Xue's father is named Xia Donghai, and his mother often calls him Lao Xia. Lao Xia's cooks very well. He has a restaurant. It's called "Laoxia Restaurant". The restaurant is not big, but there are many guests come every day. There are rice, noodles, fruit juice and many dishes in the restaurant.

When Bai Xue was young, she went to the restaurant with her parents every day. The three of them also had breakfast, lunch and dinner in the restaurant. They closed late every day and went home. It can be said that the restaurant is Bai Xue's second home.


The guests all like Bai Xue and like to talk to her. Bai Xue has big eyes and small mouth. She is adorable. When mom and dad are busy, Bai Xue can also help bring chopsticks, water and menus to guests.


Bai Xue started school when she was six. Her father prepares lunch for her daughter every morning. Because Bai Xue thinks the school lunch is not delicious, she likes to eat what her father makes.

At time past 4 pm., Bai Xue returned to the restaurant from school. Her parents asked her what she learned at school today. If no one comes to the restaurant for meal, dad will watch Bai Xue do her homework.

02. 白雪爸爸有个饭店 Báixuě bàba yǒu gè fàndiàn Baixue’s dad has a restaurant

大家好，您正在收听中文播客《丹霞说》，我是丹霞。

01 白雪放假啦！Báixuě fàng jià la! Baixue is on holiday!

今天，白雪告诉我，下个星期她有七天的假期，这是她的年假。她跟我分享了她的计划。

放假的时候，她一点儿也不想待在家里。因为她非常喜欢运动，所以她打算下个星期每天都去锻炼锻炼。她觉得工作日的时候，每天待在办公室八九个小时，需要坐在电脑前面很长时间。如果不运动，身体会慢慢变得不健康。

星期一早上她打算去公园跑步；
星期二她可能去游泳；
星期三她和朋友们去打篮球；
星期四她想去小河边骑自行车；
星期五她会去爬山。
星期六她不出门儿，她得打扫一下儿她的家，然后喝喝咖啡看看书，好好儿休息一下儿。

她问我星期天有没有空，她想和我一起去买衣服，吃饭和看电影。我高兴地答应了！真希望星期天快点儿来呀！

这些词语你知道吗？

年假 nián jià  n. annual leave, annual holiday
分享 fēn xiǎng v. to share
骑自行车 qí zì xíng chē v.o. to ride bike
答应 dā yìng  v. to say yes, to promise
希望 xī wàng  v. to hope


Today, Bai Xue told me that she has seven days' holiday next week, which is her annual leave. She shared her plan with me.

She doesn't want to stay at home at all during the holiday. Because she likes sports very much, she plans to exercise every day next week. She felt that she needed to sit in front of the computer for a long time when she stayed in the office for 8 or 9 hours every day on weekdays. If don't exercise, body will slowly become unhealthy.

She is going to run in the park on Monday morning;

She may go swimming on Tuesday;

On Wednesday, she went to play basketball with her friends;

On Thursday, she wants to go cycling by the river;

She will go climbing on Friday.

She doesn't go out on Saturday. She has to clean her house, drink coffee, read books and have a good rest.


She asked me if I was free on Sunday. She wanted to go shopping, dinning out and watching movies with me. I said yes happily! I really hope this Sunday come soon!