朝三暮四[zhāo sān mù sì]：morning/three/evening/four，to offer three in the morning and four in the evening 
宋国 Sòngguó：Song state:a state in the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) in Chinese history
板栗 bǎn lì：chestnut (n.)
宁愿 nìng yuàn：would;rather;better
口粮 kǒu liáng：ration
限制 xiàn zhì：limite;confine
食量 shí liàng：capacity for eating; appetite
顺从 shùn cóng：be obedient to; yield to
哄骗 hǒng piàn: cheat;humbug;deceive
The idiom originally means to fool others by playing tricks. It later extends to mean changing one's mind frequently or not being responsible.


乐读中文 (Lè Dú Zhōngwén) - "Joyful Chinese Stories"

朝三暮四[zhāo sān mù sì]

凤舞九天：中国唯一女皇武则天的权力之路
第一期：入宫·落发·命运的转折点

大家好！欢迎收听《凤舞九天》，我是子木。
在中国两千多年封建王朝史上，她是唯一一位——是的，唯一一位——被正史承认、登上皇帝宝座并建立自己王朝的女性。
她的名字，是武则天 (Wǔ Zétiān)。
但这条通往权力顶峰的路，起点却充满荆棘。公元624年，武则天出生。14岁，因美貌聪慧被选入唐太宗后宫，成为低等妃嫔——才人 (cáirén)。在雄主李世民身边，她默默汲取着权谋智慧。
然而，太宗驾崩，命运急转直下！按照残酷的宫廷规则，没有生育的她，必须削发为尼，在感业寺 (Gǎnyè Sì) 的青灯古佛前，耗尽余生...
难道，这个才华横溢的少女，就此被历史遗忘？她的野心与光芒，真能永远被寺庙的高墙封锁？
不！ 一道来自皇宫深处的目光，从未离开她... 谁在注视？这束目光，又将如何撕裂她黯淡的命运？
尼姑庵到皇后宝座！惊天逆转背后的男人是谁？我们下期再见

1、​​唯一​​ (wéiyī) - sole/only
2、​​承认​​ (chéngrèn) - acknowledge/recognize
3、​​建立​​ (jiànlì) - establish/found
4、​​顶峰​​ (dǐngfēng) - peak/summit
5、​​荆棘​​ (jīngjí) - thorns/brambles（比喻困难）
​​6、智慧​​ (zhìhuì) - wisdom
​​7、残酷​​ (cánkù) - cruel/brutal
8、​​规则​​ (guīzé) - rules
9、​​消耗​​ (xiāohào) - consume/exhaust
10、​​才华横溢​​ (cáihuá-héngyì) - exceptionally talented
11、​​野心​​ (yěxīn) - ambition
​​12、光芒​​ (guāngmáng) - brilliance/radiance
13、​​封锁​​ (fēngsuǒ) - block/seal off
​​14、深处​​ (shēnchù) - depths/heart
15、​​撕裂​​ (sīliè) - tear/rip apart
16、​​宝座​​ (bǎozuò) - throne
17、​​惊天​​ (jīngtiān) - earth-shattering

Advanced Chinese Listening

The Phoenix Empress: Wu Zetian's Throne【1】

日本語のあいさつ
「いただきます」や「ごちそうさまでした」などは英語にはない表現です。日本に旅行に来た時など、簡単に使えるとてもいい言葉だと思うので、使えるようになりましょう。

Japanese greetings
There aren't same meaning English words as "Itadakimasu" and "gochisousamadeshita" . When you visit Japan, these are beautiful words you can use easily, let's try ti speak and master it.

まいにち日本語 Daily Japanese Phrases

あいさつ greetings

Lots of English students get confused with the difference between 'fun' and 'funny'. Here I explain what they both mean. 

English with Nici!

Fun and funny!

A:李老师多大了？
B:她今年50岁了。
A:她女儿呢？
B:她女儿今年20岁了。


Daily conversation 日常对话

在办公室 In the office 

Zero = statements which are true in general. 
First = for something that is real or possible. 100% possible. 
Second = for something that could be possible but is probably unlikely. 50/50
Third = for something in the past that we cannot change – it’s too late! 100% impossible


All Ways Business

Easy Conditionals 

In this episode we will learn some interesting "Color" phrase, you will learn how to say 【furious,jealous,malnutrition】 ect.
--------------------------------------------------
It is recommended that you study in the following ways:
1st time: listen without looking at the text.
2nd time: look at the text and write down the new words, later look up the dictionary. 
3rd time: listen again without looking at the text.
4th time: repeat after it without looking at the text.
大家好，我是Yuli。欢迎收听我的播客。
今天想和大家聊一聊【颜色】的话题。
我们先从红色开始吧。如果我们说“她脸红了”，意思是“她害羞了。”因为害羞的时候我们的脸会变红。一个人很生气的时候，也可以说“他气得脸红。”。除了“脸红”，还有一个词叫“眼红”，意思是嫉妒别人。例如：“我看到他那辆漂亮的新车就非常眼红。”“红”还有“有名”的意思，我们可以说“他是个很红的明星。”也可以说“他是个很火的明星。”
第二个是黄色。如果一个人休息不好，或者营养不良，他的脸色看起来不太健康，我们可以说“他脸色发黄。”“黄”还有“没有了，失败了”的意思，例如：客户突然说不买他的房子了，这笔买卖黄了。 有一句俗语叫做“黄花菜都凉了”，意思是等一件事或者一个人等了很久，例如：你怎么才来，我等到黄花菜都凉了。黄色还有一个不好的意思，黄色笑话指的是blue jokes。
第三个是绿色。一个人很恐惧的时候，我们可以说他的脸绿了。例如：他吓得脸都绿了。生气的时候也可以说“他气得脸都绿了。”绿色的帽子在中国还有一个特别的意思，我们说一个人戴绿帽子，意思是他的另一半出轨了别的男人或者女人。
在西方股票市场，绿色代表股价上升；而在中国股票市场则相反，红色是上升，绿色是下跌。主要原因是，中国人喜欢红色。
你还知道哪些颜色的俗语？留言告诉我吧。我们下期见。
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害羞	hài xiū	shy
嫉妒	jí dù	envy
营养不良	yíng yǎng bù liáng	malnutrition
黄色笑话	huáng sè xiào huà	porn jokes
恐惧	kǒng jù	fear，scared
出轨	chū guǐ	cheat(on sb.)
股票	gǔ piào	stock
股价	gǔ jià	share price
上升	shàng shēng	rise
下跌	xià diē	fall,decline

Yuli's Chinese Channel

有趣的“颜色”短语 Interesting "Color" phrase （Intermediate level）

In this episode we dive into language learning. Why people learn languages? Why some languages become popular? What happens to the brain as we learn languages? Plus some notes on language families, similarities and differences between languages.

Hope you enjoy!

FarsiLounge

FarsiLounge ep.2: Learning Languages

In this story, a piece of toast named Buttersy has an uncomfortable bus ride to work. How will she deal with the terrible smell? This is Part 3 of 5. 

The bus kept going as the morning sun rose higher and higher. The candy passengers begun to seem uncomfortable. They wiped sweat off their foreheads and fanned themselves using their wrappers. The temperature was rising. 

Buttersy had a painful look on her face as she sniffed. “What’s that smell?” 

She scanned the bus and found the offender. 

In the middle of the bus was a middle-aged piece of cheesecake. He sat at the window and almost took up two seats because of his size. He was sweating, breathing heavily and groaning. The passenger next to him left her seat and decided to stand at the front. 

“Ugh, it’s disgusting,” said Buttersy, now holding her nose, not worried about what others will think. “How can he be so inconsiderate? A thing like that shouldn’t leave the house without a wrapper!” 

Choco laughed, knowing that Buttersy wasn’t serious, but only expressing her frustration. He said, “This is public life. Just keep breathing through your mouth; we’re not far from our stop.” 

Buttersy held her nose, getting angrier and angrier. She noticed the bus was equipped with a huge air conditioning system, but it was only blowing a tiny breeze. 

“What’s going on!? Are these candies all crazy?” she said, noticing how the others just tolerated the sour smell that filled the bus. “I’d prefer to have a bird peck out my eyes than this.” 

As the journey continued, the smell only got worse and worse. 
