Conversation Starters #4 "Food"

A topic we ALL love and enjoy, food, is a super simple way to connect with others and use simple language. Let's unpack it together in this short and sweet podcast episode. :)

Baffling Lingo

FOOD

古时候，有个叫张三的人，他费了好大的劲儿，才积攒下三百两银子，心里很高兴。但他总是怕别人把这些钱偷去，就找了一只箱子，把三百两银子钉在箱中，然后埋在屋后的地底下。

可是他还是不放心，怕别人到这儿来挖，于是就想了一个“巧妙”的办法。他拿出一张纸，写上七个大字:“此地无银三百两”,贴在墙角边,这才放心地走了。
 
谁知道他的举动，都被隔壁的王二看到了。半夜，趁张三熟睡，王二把三百两银子全偷走了。为了不让张三知道，他也在一张纸上写了七个大字:“隔壁王二不曾偷”，也贴在墙上。

张三第二天早上起来,到屋后去看银子，银子不见了，一见纸条，才恍然大悟。

“此地无银三百两”比喻想要用自认为是聪明的手法隐瞒真相，结果反而暴露得更明显。

In ancient times, there was a man named Zhang San. He spent a lot of effort to save 300 taels of silver. He was very happy. But he was always afraid that others would steal the money, so he found a box, nailed the money in the box, and buried it under the ground behind the house.
However, he was still worried that others would come here to dig, so he thought of a "clever" idea. He took out a piece of paper and wrote in seven big characters: "there is no silver here, three hundred taels". He stuck it on the corner of the wall, and then he left with confidence.
Well, what he did, was seen by Wang Er next door. At midnight, while Zhang San was asleep, Wang Er stole all three hundred taels of silver. In order not to let Zhang San know, he also wrote seven big characters on a piece of paper: "Wang Er next door never stole it", which was also pasted on the wall.
Zhang San got up the next morning and went to the back of the house to see the silver. The silver was gone. When he saw the note, he suddenly realized. 

This idiom is a metaphor for trying to hide the truth with a clever trick, but the result is more obvious, a clumsy denial resulting in self-exposure.

HSK5 Vocab Based - Short Story Podcast

02. 成语--此地无银三百两Idiom--cǐ dì wú yín sān bǎi liǎng No 300 taels of silver buried here

在高速行驶的火车上，有一位老人不小心把刚买的新鞋从窗口掉下去一只，周围的人都觉得很可惜。没想到老人把另一只鞋也从窗口扔了出去。他的行为让周围的人感到很吃惊。

这时候，老人笑着解释说：“剩下的那只鞋无论多么好，多么贵，多么适合我穿，可对我来说已经没有一点儿用处了。我把它扔了出去，就有人可能捡到一双鞋子，说不定他还可以穿呢?

这些词语您明白吗？

高速行驶gāosù xíngshǐ  high speed driving
周围 zhōu wéi  around
可惜 kě xi  unfortunately; It's a pity...; It's too bad...
行为 xíng wéi  behavior
吃惊 chī jīng be amazed
解释 jiě shì  explain
无论 wú lùn  whether
捡   jiǎn    pick up
说不定 shuō bu dìng   maybe,perhaps 


On the high-speed train, an old man accidentally dropped one of his newly bought shoes from the window, which made everyone around feel very sorry. 
Unexpectedly, the old man threw another shoe out of the window. His behavior surprised the people around him. 
At this time, the old man explained with a smile, "the remaining shoe, no matter how good, how expensive, and how suitable for me, is of no use to me. If I throw it out, someone may pick up a pair of shoes, maybe he can still wear it!"