Here today we would like to learn a funny Chinese Expression:

不好意思 bù hǎo yìsi

My girlfriend and I have been staying with my parents here in San Fransico since the 4th of July. My family has been very generous and hospitable to her during that time. Naturally, her response was, “我觉得不好意思(wǒ juéde bù hǎo yìsi).” Then she asked me how to say 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi) in English.

I usually find 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi) pretty easy to translate, as it can often correspond to “sorry” or “excuse me” in English. When you’re a little late to a meeting, you can say 不好意思 (sorry). When you eat the last cookie and then somone else wants one, you can say 不好意思 (sorry). When you bump someone on the subway, you can say 不好意思 (sorry).

But in this case, my girlfriend’s usage was meant to express something like, “your kindness is too much,” or “you’re being so nice that it makes me feel too indebted.” And she wanted me to come up with one easy word or phrase to translate. When I couldn’t, and I asked for help from my sister, and she couldn’t either, my girlfriend just laughed: “you Americans never feel 不好意思(bù hǎo yìsi)!”

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Actually 意思 (yìsi) has many different meandings as following I have listed. All of them have something to do with what you think. Have you noticed that the bottom parts of the two Chinese characters are 心 (xīn, heart)? Attention, the second character is a light tone. Read aloud after me “意思 yìsi” ，不好意思 (bù hǎo yìsi) !

>>> 意思 yìsi
1.〖meaning;i dea〗∶意义;道理。
例如：不要误会我的意思 Please don’t misunderstand what I mean.
2.〖intention; wish; desire〗∶意图;用意。
例如：文章的中心意思 the key intention of this article
3.〖a token of affection, appreciation, etc.〗∶略表心意。
例如：这点东西送给您,小意思,别客气 This is a small token for you. I hope you like it.
4.〖suggestion; hint; trace〗∶某种趋势或迹象。
例如：我发现她对你有的意思呢！ I find she has something special feeling to you.
5. 〖interest; fun〗∶情趣;趣味。
例如：打乒乓球很有意思 It is very interesting to play table tennis.

6. 不好意思 (bù hǎo yìsi): excuse me; sorry; embarressed
例如：不好意思，我的中文说得不好。 I am sorry, my Chinese is very bad.

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When you meet Chinese friends, you can say like this to express how your Chinese is going.

Wǒ zhōngwén shuō de bù hǎo,

我 中 文 说 得 不 好，

Hěn bù hǎo yìsi.

很 不 好 意思。

Dànshì, xué zhōngwén hěn yǒu yìshí.

但 是， 学 中 文 很 有 意思。

>> I am sorry my Chinese is not good.

>> But, it is interesting to learn Chinese!

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Tips: Visit ChineseHour.com to learn Mandarin Chinese with native speakers !

画蛇添足【huà shé tiān zú 】

Adding feet to a drawing of a snake

:: to ruin the effect of something by adding something superfluous. ::

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An official in the ancient State of Chu gave a pot of wine to his men to celebrate the Spring Sacrifice ceremony. One of the men said: “We have only one pot of wine, and it’s only enough for one. So, let’s play for it. The first one to finish drawing a snake in the ground wins the pot of wine.”

The others agreed and started drawing their snakes in the ground.

Then, there was a winner, or so he thought. He had finished his drawing and reached for the pot of wine. But, when he saw that the others hadn’t finished their drawings, he arrogantly said to them: “How slow you are! The way you’re going, I can add feet to my snake and still win the pot of wine.”

So, he did. He added feet to his snake. But before he could finish, another man grabbed the pot of wine and said: “What snake has feet? That’s not a snake! So, I win!”

The moral of the story is that sometimes going too far can be as bad, or worse, than not going far enough.

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中文时间, ChineseHour.com, L’heure de Chinois, 中国語時間, 중국어 Time, الوقت الصيني, Học Tiếng Trung

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-Learn Chinese numbers and gestures -

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1 = 一　(yī)
2 = 二　(èr)
3 = 三　(sān)
4 = 四　(sì)
5 = 五　(wŭ)
6 = 六　(lìu)
7 = 七　(qī)
8 = 八　(bā)
9 = 九　(jĭu)
10 = 十　(shí)

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Any problems in this Chinese video lesson, please turn to our teachers online. ChineseHour.com is your first place to learn Chinese online from native Chinese teachers at the comfort of your home or workplace.

BEIJING, Oct. 12 — The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Sunday approved a decision on major issues concerning rural reform and development at the close of a four-day plenum. Hu Jintao, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a work report at the Third Plenary Session of the 17th CPC Central Committee, which was held from Oct. 9 to 12 in Beijing.

The government would try to make a breakthrough in reforming the rural system, proceed in liberating the rural economy and improving its dynamics, create a better economic environment, improve rural development policy.

Here, ChineseHour selects some hot Chinese words about “San Nong” , the common political terms for the rural development policy.

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三农问题 sānnóng wèntí

The issues concerning “Agriculture, Countryside and Farmers”. You can understand this easily because the character “nóng” is used three (sān) times in the phrase “农业、农村、农民” (nóngyè nóngcūn nóngmín, agriculture, rural development and farmers’ life).

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农业、农村、农民
nóngyè nóngcūn nóngmín

agriculture, rural development and farmers’ life

E.G.: The CPC has always placed great importance on agriculture, rural development and farmers’ life as they are vital to the country’s overall development.

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家庭 联产 承包 责任制
jiātíng-liánchǎn-chéngbāo-zérènz

the household contract responsibility system

Note: In 1978, a group of villagers in Xiaogang village (小岗村) in eastern Anhui Province decided to adopt a household contract responsibility system, which entrusted the management and production of public owned farmlands to individual households through long-term contracts.

Later the system, described by then Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping “a great invention of Chinese farmers”, was widely adopted across the country and triggered the economic reform.

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三个代表 sāngè dàibiǎo

Three Represents

Note: Shorthand for the call that the Communist Party of China (CPC) provides insight and leadership for economic and cultural progress, and commit itself to public good.

Former CPC General Secretary Jiang Zemin, who was credited with its creation, literally admonished his comrades to “represent the development trend of China’s most advanced productive forces, the orientation of China’s most advanced culture, and the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the Chinese people”.

The theory is the result of deliberations of the CPC’s third-generation leaders on legitimacy and Party-building. At the 16th CPC National Congress in 2002, it was formally written into the Party Constitution.

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Any problems in these hot Chinese words and expressions, please turn to our teachers online at http://www.chinesehour.com/ . ChineseHour is your first place to learn Chinese online from native Chinese teachers at the comfort of your home or workplace.

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Please click the next links to read each poem:

1. 一望二三里 A leisure Walk
2. 咏鹅 Hymn to the Goose
3. 静夜思 In a Quiet Night
4. 游子吟 A Traveller’s Song
5. 春晓 Spring Morning

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一望二三里 A Leisure Walk
邵雍 (北宋) Shao Yong (Song)

yí wàng èr sān lǐ
一 望 二 三 里，
yān cūn sì wǔ jiā
烟 村 四 五 家。
tínɡ tái liù qī zuò
亭 台 六 七 座，
bā jiǔ shí zhī huā
八 九 十 枝 花。

Once a time, we walk leisurely for two or three miles
On the way, we see four or five villages
Six or seven temples and
Eight , nine or ten branches of flowers

【译文】
一眼望去就是两三里路，看见沿途炊烟袅袅，住着几户人家。仿佛让人看到山里数座亭台耸立，路边的野花昂首怒放。

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咏鹅 Hymn to the Goose
骆宾王 Luo Binwang (Tang)

é é é
鹅，鹅，鹅，
qū xiàng xiàng tiān gē
曲 项 向 天 歌。
bái máo fú lǜ shuǐ
白 毛 浮 绿 水，
hóng zhǎng bō qīng bō
红 掌 拨 清 波。

Honk, honk, and honk,
With upward neck thou to the sky loudly sing.
Thy white feathers float on the water green,
Thy red webs push the crystal waves with a swing.

【译文】
鹅呀鹅，弯着脖子向天唱着歌。洁白的毛漂浮在碧绿的水面上，红红的脚掌拨动着清清的水波。

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静夜思 In a Quiet Night
李白 Li Bai (Tang)

chuáng qián míng yuè guāng
床 前 明 月 光，
yí shì dì shàng shuāng
疑 是 地 上 霜。
jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè
举 头 望 明 月，
dī tóu sī gù xiāng
低 头 思 故 乡。

Before my bed shine bright the silver beams,
It seems the autumn frost on the ground so gleams.
I gaze upwards toward the moon in the skies,
And downwards look when a nostalgia does arise.

【译文】
那透过窗户映照在床前的月光，起初以为是一层层的白霜。仰首看那空中的一轮明月，不由得低下头来沉思，愈加想念自己的故乡。

———

游子吟 A Traveller’s Song
孟郊 Meng Jiao (Tang)

cí mǔ shǒu zhōng xiàn
慈 母 手 中 线，
yóu zǐ shēn shàng yī
游 子 身 上 衣。
lín xíng mì mì féng
临 行 密 密 缝，
yì kǒng chí chí guī
意 恐 迟 迟 归。
shuí yán cùn cǎo xīn
谁 言 寸 草 心，
bào dé sān chūn huī
报 得 三 春 晖。

The thread in the hands of a fond-hearted mother
Makes clothes for the body of her wayward boy;
Carefully she sews and thoroughly she mends,
Dreading the delays that will keep him late from home.
But how much love has the inch-long grass
For three spring months of the light of the sun?

【译文】
儿子临走前，仁慈的母亲手里拿着针线，为出远门的儿子缝衣服。母亲一针一线缝得又密又牢，就怕孩子在外迟迟不能归来。我们做儿女的就像路边的小草，怎能报答春天所给与的光辉呢？

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春晓 Spring Morning

孟浩然 Meng Haoran (Tang)

chūn mián bù jué xiǎo
春 眠 不 觉 晓，
chù chù wén tí niǎo
处 处 闻 啼 鸟。
yè lái fēng yǔ shēng
夜 来 风 雨 声，
huā luò zhī duō shǎo
花 落 知 多 少。

Into my slumber in spring steal beams of morning light,
And now to my ears come the voices of birds all around.
Yet I heard the sounds of winds and rains in the night,
I wonder how many flowers are fallen down to the ground.

【译文】
春夜酣睡不知不觉已到天亮，到处能听到鸟儿在鸣唱，依稀记得昨夜阵阵风声雨声，不知道又有多少花朵凋落了。

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Any problems in this Chinese Tang poem, please turn to our teachers online at http://www.chinesehour.com/ . ChineseHour is your first place to learn Chinese online from native Chinese teachers at the comfort of your home or workplace.