PART 2

“Long Time No See!”

New Characters and Words

Study the six characters below and the common words written with them, paying careful attention to each character’s pronunciation, meaning, and structure, as well as similar-looking characters. After you’ve studied a character, turn to the Practice Book volume and practice writing it on the practice sheet, making sure to follow the correct stroke order and direction as you pronounce it out loud and think of its meaning.

55	他	tā	he
Radical is 人 rén “person,” which is written 亻 when occurring at the left side of a character so as not to get in the way of the component at the right. The colloquial name for this radical is 人字旁 rénzìpáng “side made up of the character 人.” The rest of the character 他 consists of 也 yĕ “also” (52).
	他	tā	he, him [PR]
56	她	tā	she
Radical is 女 nǚ “woman” [BF]. This radical is referred to colloquially as 女字旁 nǚzìpáng “side made up of the character 女.” Note that when 女 is written at the left of a character as a radical, its last stroke is shortened so that it doesn’t collide with the component to its right. The rest of the character 她 consists of 也 yĕ “also” (52). This character didn’t exist in Chinese until the early twentieth century, when it was created under the influence of Western languages to distinguish the gender of the third person pronoun tā. Of course, in spoken Chinese there is still no difference. Be aware that in some older writings by more traditional authors, 他 may still be used to mean “she.” Contrast 她 with 他 tā (55).
	她	tā	she, her [PR]
57	们(們)	men	(plural marker for pronouns)
Radical is 人 rén “person,” which is written 亻 when occurring at the left side of a character so as not to get in the way of the component at the right. The colloquial name for this radical is 人字旁 rénzìpáng “side made up of the character 人.” Phonetic is 门 (門) mén “door.”
	他们 (他們)	tāmen	they, them (males only, or males and females together) [PR]
	她们 (她們)	tāmen	they, them (females only) [PR]
58	很	hĕn	very
Radical is 彳 chì “short and slow step” [BF]. This radical is referred to colloquially as 双立人 (雙立人) shuānglìrén “double standing person, two people with one following the other.” Phonetic is 艮 gèn (name of one of the eight trigrams in the Book of Changes). Contrast 很 and 们 (們) (57).
	很	hĕn	very [A]
59	忙	máng	busy
Radical is 心 xīn “heart.” When at the left side of a character, this radical is referred to colloquially as 心字旁 xīnzìpáng “side made up of the character 心” and is written as 忄. The radical 心 is frequently used for characters having to do with emotions or states of mind. Phonetic is 亡 wáng “lose” [BF]. Perhaps this mnemonic will help you remember this character: When you are really “busy” (忙), you occasionally “lose” (亡 ) track of what’s really in your “heart” (忄).
	忙	máng	be busy [SV]
60	吗(嗎)	ma	(particle that indicates questions)
Radical is 口 kŏu “mouth.” This radical is referred to colloquially as 口字旁 kŏuzìpáng “side made up of the character 口.” As is the case here, 口 often indicates that a word containing it is a particle used in speech. Phonetic is 马 (馬) mă “horse.”
	吗	(嗎) ma	(particle that indicates questions) [P]

New Words in BMC–SL 1-2 Written with Characters You Already Know

都	dōu	all, both [A] (都 is here pronounced dōu, not dū as in the city name 成都 Chéngdū)
好	hăo	be good [SV]

Reading Exercises (Simplified Characters)

Now practice reading the new characters and words for this lesson in context in sentences, conversations, and narratives. Be sure to refer to the Notes at the end of this lesson, and make use of the accompanying audio disc to hear and practice correct pronunciation, phrasing, and intonation.

A. SENTENCES

Read out loud each of the following sentences, which include all the new characters of this lesson. The first time you read a sentence, focus special attention on the characters and words that are new to you, reminding yourself of their pronunciation and meaning. The second time, aim to comprehend the overall meaning of the sentence.

一、北京很好，香港、台北也都很好。

二、我很忙，他们也很忙。你呢？你忙吗？

三、我很好。李小明、何台生他们也都很好。

四、金中、何大生他们都去上海吗？

五、王明，你好！你去天津吗？

六、她们去台山。他呢？他也去台山吗？

七、我去东京，文文去京都。他们呢？

八、我去上海，他们也都去上海。

九、广东人去广西，广西人去广东！

十、王大海去台北，我也去台北。你呢？你也去台北吗？

B. CONVERSATIONS

Read out loud the following conversations, including the name or role of the person speaking. If possible, find a partner or partners and each of you play a role. Then switch roles, so you get practice reading all of the lines.

一、

王大中：林小文，你好！

林小文：王大中，你好！

王大中：你忙吗？

林小文：很忙。你呢？

王大中：我也很忙。

二、

林广海 ：何台生好吗？

王中 ：他很好。

林广海 ：何小明呢？

王中 ：他也很好。

林广海 ：王文生、王生山他们呢？

王中 ：王文生、王生山他们也都很好。

三、

何京生：林一明，你好！

林一明：何京生，你好！我去山西。你呢？

何京生：我去山东。

林一明：她们呢？

何京生：她们也去山东。

C. CHARACTER DIFFERENTIATION DRILLS

Distinguish carefully the following similar-looking characters, pronouncing each one out loud and thinking of its meaning.

一、他 他 他 也 也 也

二、她 她 她 也 也 也

三、他 也 她 也 七 也 他 她

D. NARRATIVES

Read the following narratives, paying special attention to punctuation and overall structure. The first time you read a narrative, read it out loud; the second time, read silently and try to gradually increase your reading speed. Always think of the meaning of what you’re reading.

一、	李文、王京生他们去南京。我也去南京。金明明也去南京。李文、王京生他们都很忙。我也很忙。金明明也很忙。你呢？你也去南京吗？你也很忙吗？
二、	林文生去河北，也去河南。他很忙。李京去湖北，也去湖南，她也很忙。我去广东，也去广西。我也很忙。

Reading Exercises (Traditional Characters)

A. SENTENCES

Read out loud each of the following sentences, which include all the new characters of this lesson. The first time you read a sentence, focus special attention on the characters and words that are new to you, reminding yourself of their pronunciation and meaning. The second time, aim to comprehend the overall meaning of the sentence.

B. CONVERSATIONS

Read out loud the following conversations, including the name or role of the person speaking. If possible, find a partner or partners and each of you play a role. Then switch roles, so you get practice reading all of the lines.

C. CHARACTER DIFFERENTIATION DRILLS

Distinguish carefully the following similar-looking characters, pronouncing each one out loud and thinking of its meaning.

“She” and “he” beauty salon

D. NARRATIVES

Read the following narratives, paying special attention to punctuation and overall structure. The first time you read a narrative, read it out loud; the second time, read silently and try to gradually increase your reading speed. Always think of the meaning of what you’re reading.

Notes

A1A. Another use of the 顿号 ( 頓號 ) dùnhào (、) is to separate items in a series that stand in unmarked coordination, somewhat like the English conjunction “and.” Thus, 香港、台北也都很好 could mean “Hong Kong and Taipei would also both be fine.” The dùnhào would be used, for example, between the names of different items that you wish to purchase, between each of the names in a series of personal names that is mentioned within a sentence, or between the names of different countries in a sentence. For this reason, the dùnhào is in English sometimes referred to as the “enumerative comma” or “listing comma.” In spoken Chinese, there would be a brief pause wherever a dùnhào occurs. Note how the dùnhào and the regular comma, called 逗号 ( 逗號 ) dòuhào, differ in appearance:

DÙNHÀO:、

DÒUHÀO:，

As you see above, the dùnhào slants down toward the right and is rounded at the bottom, as distinguished from the dòuhào, which is rounded at the top and then slants down toward the left.

A1B. Notice that the character 都 can represent two different words with two different pronunciations. Pronounced dū (as in 成都 Chéngdū) it means “city,” but pronounced dōu it is an adverb meaning “all, both.” Context will usually make the intended meaning and pronunciation clear. There are in Chinese a number of common characters that can represent several different spoken words with different pronunciations. Of course, in English we also have cases where one written form represents several different spoken forms; for example, consider the word “read” in “What will you read?” as opposed to in “What have you read?”

A3. After a listing of names in a series, the appropriate plural pronoun is often added so as to “sum up” and clarify or emphasize the group of people concerned. Thus, in this sentence, 李小明、何台生他们 ( 李小明、何台生他們 ) would literally mean “Li Xiaoming and He Taisheng, they….” Normally, the “they” would be omitted in an English translation.

B2, B3. Note that while 她们 ( 她們 ) always refers to “they” in the sense of two or more women, 他们 ( 他們） can be used both for groups of men and for mixed groups consisting of men and women. Of course, this distinction exists only in the written language, since the spoken language has only one term (tāmen), which is not marked for gender.

D1, D2. Note that in Chinese, if you come to the end of a line (in either horizontal or vertical format) and are in the middle of a multisyllabic word, you write as many syllables as will fit on that line and then just continue on the next line. Chinese has nothing equivalent to the English hyphen at the end of a line to indicate that the preceding syllable is normally written together with the syllable that follows in the next line.