Unit 9
Part I: Listen and Learn 2
Click on the speaker icon of the
following sentences and listen to the recording. The Chinese characters
are in big5 format.
-
W
ji
o
John, sh
M
igu
r
n.
My name is John. I am an American.
我叫 John, 是美國人。
-
W sh
B
n Zh
u
y ji
dinz
gngs
de zng jngl.
I am general manager of an electronics
company in Pennsylvania.
我是賓州一家電子公司的總經理。
-
Wmen gngs
g
n Zhnggu
zu
shngyi.
My company is doing business with
China.
我們公司跟中國做生意。
-
W ch
ng
do Zhnggu
q
.
I often go to China.
我常到中國去。
-
Zhnggu
y chng
yu rn
do wmen
gngs
li.
Some people often come from China
to my company.
中國也常有人到我們公司來。
-
W xinzi
zi xu
Zhngwn.
I am learning Chinese now.
我現在在學中文。
-
Shu de hi
b l
ul.
(I) don't speak fluently yet.
說得還不流利。
-
Yu de hu
hi tng
b dng.
(I) still don't understand some
words.
有的話還聽不懂。
Notes:
-
'gn...'
means 'with...' This prepositional phrase is always placed before the verb
in Chinese. In English, the prepositional phrase is usually after the verb,
e.g. We do business with China. This is an important feature of the Chinese
language.
-
'Zhnggu
y chng
yu rn
do wmen
gngs
li.' The direct translation
of this sentence would be: China also often have somebody to come to our
company.
-
'Yu
de hu hi
tng b
dng.' There is no subject
here in this sentence. The subject is understood: 'I'. This is a typical
Chinese sentence construction. Some people call it 'object fronting construction'
and somebody considers that 'yu
de hu' is a topic. Subject
dropping is very common in Chinese, particularly in a discourse.
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