Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Claudia Ross has been teaching Chinese for over 25 years. She is a member of the board of directors of the Chinese Language Teachers Association and has twice served as president of the organization. Jocelyn Ross is currently an associate with the Balloch Group, working primarily on geology-related projects in China.

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The Lady in the Painting

Yale University Press

Contents

Acknowledgments..................................................viiIntroduction.....................................................ixAbbreviations of Grammatical Terms...............................xiStory............................................................1Vocabulary.......................................................8Structure Notes..................................................13Structure Exercises..............................................23Reading Comprehension Questions..................................27Story............................................................29Vocabulary.......................................................35Structure Notes..................................................37Structure Exercises..............................................42Reading Comprehension Questions..................................44Story............................................................45Vocabulary.......................................................53Structure Notes..................................................55Structure Exercises..............................................58Reading Comprehension Questions..................................59Story............................................................61Vocabulary.......................................................67Structure Notes..................................................68Structure Exercises..............................................70Narrative Practice...............................................71Reading Comprehension Questions..................................72Story............................................................73Vocabulary.......................................................79Narrative Practice...............................................80Reading Comprehension Questions..................................81Story............................................................83Vocabulary.......................................................90Structure Notes..................................................91Structure Exercises..............................................92Narrative Practice...............................................93Reading Comprehension Questions..................................94Story............................................................95Vocabulary.......................................................103Narrative Practice...............................................104Reading Comprehension Questions..................................105Story............................................................107Vocabulary.......................................................115Structure Notes..................................................116Structure Exercises..............................................117Narrative Practice...............................................118Reading Comprehension Questions..................................119Vocabulary Index: English - Chinese..............................121Vocabulary Index: Chinese (Pinyin) - English.....................129Structure Index..................................................137

Chapter One

1.1 Appositive Noun Phrases

A noun or pronoun may be followed by another noun phrase that provides additional information about the noun. The second noun phrase often includes a number and measure.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Jia li ji sh ta [yi g rn]. in his family there was only him [one person).

1.2. Verb repetition

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta meitian zaoshang, zi lshang kn kn shan, kn kn shui, ye you shhou chng chng ger. Every morning on the road he looked at the mountains and he looked at the water, and sometimes he sang

Verbs that refer to activities may be repeated, as in this sentence from Chapter 1. Repetition conveys the sense that these activities are casually done and are not performed in order to accomplish some specific goal or task.

1.3. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de shhou while, when

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de shhou is used to indicate that two events are ongoing at the same time. It can be translated as while or when in English. In this sentence from Chapter 1, the two events are painting ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) and thinking ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]).

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta hu n zhang hur de shhou chng xing, Zhang Dmng de wuzi li you zhyng yi zhang hur, yxu ta wanshang hu jia yihu, kyi jude jia li you yi g rn. When he painted the picture he often thought, (if) there were this kind of picture in Zhans Daming's room, perhaps after he returned home at night he could feel that there was a person in his house.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de shhou occurs after the first event, at the end of the first clause. In English, while or when occurs before the first event, at the beginning of the first clause.

In the following sentence from Chapter 1, [square brackets] illustrate the way that [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de shhou is grouped with the other words in the first clause.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [Titi zu fn de shhou], tamen kyi gen hizi wr. [While their wives cook}, they can play with the children.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de shhou is not used as a question word. To ask the question when, use [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme shhou when (literally: what time), Here is a question with [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme shhou followed by an answer. As with all content questions in Mandarin, the question word or phrase goes in the same place in the sentence as the answer.

Q: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] A: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ni shnme shhou chi wanfn? Wo lidian zhong chi wanfn. When do you eat dinner? I eat dinner at six o'clock.

1.4. Prepositions

Mandarin prepositions include the following:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] cng from

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] do to, for Used with verb that involve the transfer of items to or for someone (write a letter to her, buy a book for her)

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] gen with

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] wang towards Used with movement towards a direction (walk east) or towards a location (walk towards the park)

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] du to Used with actions that do not involve movement or transfer of items (speak to her)

Prepositions are always followed by a noun phrase. A preposition plus the following noun phrase is a prepositional phrase. Here is an example of a prepositional phrase.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] gen hizi with the children

Prepositional phrases are always associated with a verb phrase. In Mandarin, the prepositional phrase always goes before the verb phrase. In English, the prepositional phrase always goes after the verb phrase.

In the following examples, the prepositional phrase is underlined and the verb phrase is indicated with [square brackets].

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Titai zu fn de shhou, tamen kyi gen hizi [wr]. While their wives cook, they can (play] with the children [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta gei Zhang Dmng [hu le yi zhang hen hao kn de mei rn]. He [painted a very beautiful woman] for Zhang Daming.

In Mandarin, the expression play a joke on someone is expressed with the preposition [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] gen with as follows:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] someone [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] gen someone [kai wnxio] [play a joke] on someone [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta xiang yxu sh: pngyoumen gen ta [kai wnxio]. He thought perhaps it was his friends [playing a joke] on him.

1.5. Expressing any, every, all, never, and no (noun)

Mandarin does not have distinct words that can be translated as any, every, all, never, and no (noun). Instead, Mandarin uses content question words in particular structures to express these meanings.

Mandarin content question words include:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shi who

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme what

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme shhou when

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] nar where

Content question words are used to express any, every, and all when they are followed by [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ye and occur before the verb phrase. The choice of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou or [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ye does not affect the meaning of the expression. However, when expressing any, every, and all, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou is more common than [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII].

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shi [??] dou everyone/anyone [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shi [??] ye [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme + dou everything/anything [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme + ye

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme shhou + dou every time/always/anytime [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme shhou + ye [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] nar + dou everywhere/anywhere [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] nar + ye

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Shi dou xihuan Zhang Dmng. Everyone likes Zhang Daming [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Zhang Dming de jia li shnme dou you. Zhang Daming's house has everything. (In Zhang Daming's house there is everything) [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Zhang Daming de pngyou shnme shhou dou chng ge. Zhang Daming's friends sing all the time. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Gao lao xiansheng nar dou qguo. Old Mr. Gao has been everywhere.

Content question words are used to express never and no (noun) when they are followed by [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou or [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ye and occur before a negated verb phrase. The choice of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou or [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ye does not affect the meaning of the expression. However, when expressing never and no, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] is more common than [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG shi + dou + NEG no one [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG shi + ye + NEG [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG shnme + dou + NEG nothing [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG shnme + ye + NEG [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG shnme shhou + dou + NEG never [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG shnme shhou + ye + NEG [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG nar + dou + NEG nowhere [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] + NEG nar + ye + NEG [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Shi ye b hu zu fn. No one can cook. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Shnme dou b xiang le. He didn't think about anything anymore. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Shnme shhou ye b hao No time is good. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Gao lao xiansheng nar ye mei qguo. Old Mr. Gao hasn't been anywhere.

Note: If the content question word is part of a larger phrase, the entire phrase occurs before [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou or [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and the verb. In the following sentence from the story, the content question word [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme is part of the larger phrase [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] shnme rn. Notice how it occurs before [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou and the verb phrase [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] mi you.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Keshi Zhang Dming hu do jia li, [shnme rn] dou mi you. But when Zhang Daming returned home, there was [no one] at all.

In order to convey the meaning of any, every, all, never, or no (noun), the question word (or the phrase that includes it) must occur before the verb phrase.

This is the case when the question word is the subject of the verb:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Shi dou rnshi Zhang Dmng. Everyone knows Zhang Daming.

and when it is the object of the verb:

say this: not this:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta shnme dinying dou knguo. Ta dou knguo shnme dinyng. He has seen every movie.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta shi dou xihuan. Ta dou xihuan shi. He likes everyone.

1.6 [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [Verb.sub.1], [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [Verb.sub.2] zenme [Verb.sub.1], dou/ye [Verb.sub.2] no mutter how (one) does [Verb.sub.1], [Verb.sub.2]

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] dou is more common when [Verb.sub.2] is affirmative. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ye is more common when [Verb.sub.2] is negated or involves negation.

As this example from Chapter 1 illustrates, [Verb.sub.2] is often a resultative verb. (For more on resultative verbs, see Structure Note 2.2.)

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Zenme shu ye shubuzho. No matter how he tried to sleep he couldn't sleep.

1.7. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ba

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ba sentences are used to indicate what the subject does to or with the object of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ba.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta: ba hur huwan le, ji jio Dming do ta jia li n. He finished painting the picture and told Daming to come to his house to take it.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ba sentences can often be loosely translated as:

Noun [Phrase.sub.1] takes Noun [Phrase.sub.2] and does something with it.

This sentence from Chapter 1 can be phrased in this way:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta ba hur huwn le ... He took the picture and finished painting it ...

1.8. Manner adverbials

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Zh wi lao xiansheng hu hu hur, hu de haojole. This old gentleman can paint, and he paints extremely well.

To indicate how an activity is generally performed, follow the activity verb with [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de + adjectival verb.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta hu de hao. He paints well.

Usually, an intensifier ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] hen very, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ti too, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] zhen really, etc.) precedes the adjectival verb:

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta hu de hen hao. He paints very well.

As illustrated in the sentence above from Chapter 1, the intensifier [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] jle always follows the adjectival verb: [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] hu de haojile paints extremely well.

If the activity verb takes an object, the verb must he included twice, once before the object, and once before the manner adverbial.

[verb + object] [verb + [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de + adjectival verb phrase]

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta [hu hur] [hu de hen hao]. He paints pictures very well.

1.9. Verb [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] le Verb did an action briefly or quickly

This pattern implies that the subject did the action for a short period of time.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta kn le kn n zhang hur. He took a look at the picture.

1.10. [??] yi [VP.sub.1] ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) [VP.sub.2] as soon as [VP.sub.1], [VP.sub.2]

[??][VP.sub.1] ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) [VP.sub.2] as soon as [VP.sub.1] occurs, [VP.sub.2] occurs, OR

yi [VP.sub.1] (ji) [VP.sub.2] when [VP.sub.1] occurs, [VP.sub.2] occurs, OR whenever [VP.sub.1] occurs, [VP.sub.2] occurs.

[??] yi before a measure indicates the number one, but-yi before a verb indicates sequence. [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] ji typically occurs before the second verb phrase in this pattern, but its presence is not obligatory.

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta pao do jia, kai kai mn, wang wuzi li yi kn, ni xiang wuzi li zho le huo mi you? He ran home, opened the door, and when he looked into the room, what do you think? Had the room caught fire or not?

The event described in [VP.sub.1] may be only loosely connected to the event in [VP.sub.2].

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] Ta yi kn, mi you rn le. When he looked, there wasn't anyone there anymore.

1.11. Describing a noun with a description: description + [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de + Noun

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] N tian ta [zi witou yingdang zu de] shqing hen duo, That day the things [he had to do outdoors] were numerous. (That day, he had a lot of things he had to do outdoors)

In Mandarin, descriptions or modifiers of the noun always occur before the noun. Specifiers (this/that), numbers, and measure phrases go directly before the noun:

|number + measure| + noun |specifier + measure| + noun [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [yi ben] shu [n ben] shu [one] book [that] book

All other modifiers are typically followed by [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de, though [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] de is sometimes omitted.

A single noun may be described by more than one description phrase. In this case, the noun that is being described occurs once, at the end of the series of description phrases. In the following example, each description is presented in [square brackets].

[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] [Zhang Dmng de] [hen mei de] titai [Zhang Daming's] [very pretty] wife

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Lady in the Paintingby Claudia Ross Jocelyn Ross Copyright © 2009 by Yale University. Excerpted by permission.
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