jenny's blog

美墨边境墙的问题已经造成了美国历史上时间最长的政府关门——35天。
The disagreement on the US-Mexico border wall has caused the longest government shutdown in US history —— 35 days.

在1月25日，白宫和众议院达成了共识，批准了3个星期的预算，来进行有关边境墙的商讨、支付政府员工的部分工资并且维持社会秩序。
On 25th Jan, the White House and the Congress have reached an agreement and authorized a 3-week funding budget to allow time for negotiations to take place while paying for the salary of some federal employees and maintain social order.

今天，很多华人家庭会举行“接财神”的仪式。
Today, many Chinese families will perform rituals, welcoming the Wealth God.

接财神是汉族古老的节日习俗，逐渐影响了所有的华人。
This is an ancient ritual of the Hans, which have spread to all the Chinese.

传说中，正月初五是财神的生日。家家户户会置办酒席，为财神庆祝生日。
In our ledged, 1st Jan of the Lunar Calendar is the birthday of the Wealth God. Households will put on a feast and celebrate the birthday of the Wealth God.

所以，今天不妨对朋友们说几句“大吉大利”、“升官发财”哦！
Therefore, why not say something like ‘great fortune’ and ‘get a promotion and a raise’ to your friends today?

“我 们 不 要 他 这 样 的 儿 子，坑 爹！”
Wǒmen búyào tā zhèyàngde érzi, kēngdie!
We do not want sons like him, who cheat their fathers!

So the interesting phrase in this sentence is 坑爹（kēngdiē）. It has two meanings.

The first one is literal. 坑（kēng）is used as a verb, meaning ‘to defraud, to trick, to cause damage to’. 爹（diē）is a more ancient reference to one’s father. Hence 坑爹 means ‘to do no physical, harmful things, especially cheating, to your father’. For example:

Sūn: nǐ shǔshá ya?
孙： 你 属 啥 呀？
Sun: What is your zodiac sign?

Gāo: shǔzhū.
高： 属 猪。
Gao: It’s the pig.

Sūn: guònián liùshí le?
孙： 过 年 六 十 了？
Sun: You are going to be 60 this year?

Gāo: sānshíliù de zhū.
高： 三 十 六 的 猪。
Gao: 36.

Āiya, wǒde māya. Zhè yǎnjing zhǎngde yě tài zìsī le, tā néng kànjiàn biéren, biéren kànbújiàn ta.
“哎呀，我的 妈呀。 这 眼 睛 长 得 也 太自私了。它 能 看 见 别 人，别 人 看 不 见 它。”
Oh my god, these eyes are so selfish. They can see others but others cannot see them.

1. 我的妈呀（wǒde māya）can be directly translated to ‘my mother!’ It has the same effect as ‘oh my god’, is a way to express surprise or excitement.

2. 自私（zìsī）means selfish. 长得自私（zhǎngde zìsī）means grows to look selfish

3. 看见（kànjiàn）means can see and 看不见（kànbújiàn）means cannot see.

《演戏给你看》这部小品有三个主角，分别是村主任，句主任、被要挟去吹捧村主任的村民，孙二愣子和暗访的干部，高科长。

‘yǎnxìgěinǐkàn (meaning Act For You)’ has three main characters, head of a village ‘Director Ju’, a villager who is leveraged to say nice things about Director Ju ‘Sun Erlengzi’ and an undercover official ‘Section Chief Gao’

1.

Sūn èrlèngzi: nǐ méigěiwǒ cíer zěnme chuī?
孙二愣子：你没给我词儿怎么吹？
Sun: How can I talk you up if you do not provide me a script?

小品是一种幽默的短剧，是春节联欢晚会的常驻节目。每年春晚的小品节目都给家家户户带来极大的欢乐，时不时引起哄堂大笑。
“xiǎopǐn” is a type of humorous skit. It is a resident programme on the Spring Festival Gala. Every year, Xiaopin can bring tremendous joy to households, bring out a good laugh from time to time.

如果你还是汉语入门者，你有可能不理解它的笑点，在别人乐不自禁的时候感到格格不入。
If you are a beginner in Mandarin, you may not be able to understand the laughing point and feel like an outsider when others are laughing.

没关系！我们来看一下今年的一些金句。
Do not worry! Let’s look at some of the golden sentences in this year’s gala.

Keywords:

“除夕”，因为是农历中一年的最后一天（十二月三十号），所以又叫做“大年三十”。
‘chúxī’, is the last day of a year according to the Agricultural Calendar(Dec 30th), so it is also referred to as ‘dàniánsānshí’.

还记得除夕要做什么吗？
Do you still remember what we need to do on Chuxi?

1. 贴春联，贴“福”字。
Pasting ‘chūnlián’, the Spring Festival Couplets, as well as ‘fú’ character, which represents prosperity.

2. 把家中的破损旧物都扔掉，大扫除。
Throw away any items which are broken or too old and do a thorough cleaning.

3. 穿红衣服！
Wear red!

1. 诸事如意（zhūshìrúyì），诸事顺利（shùnlì），诸事顺心（zhūshìshùnxīn）

“诸”谐音“猪”，有着“所有”的意思。“诸事”便代表所有的事情。
The Chinese characters for ‘all’ and ‘pig’ are both pronounced ‘zhū’. ‘zhūshì’ represents everything.

这三个成语祝福大家，所有的事情都要：
These three idioms wish everyone that everything will be:

- 如意（rúyì）go according to wishes
- 顺利（shùnlì）smooth, successful
- 顺心（shùnxīn）go after one’s heart

2. 青春永驻（qīngchūnyǒngzhù），朱颜鹤发（zhūyánhèfà）

“驻”谐音“猪”，有着停留的意思。
‘Stay’, zhù, sounds like ‘pig’, zhū.

自1月28日以来，美国中西部受到北极寒流影响，气温骤降，气温低至零下18摄氏度。
Since 28th Jan, Midwest region of the US has experienced ‘polar vortex’ which results in a significant drop in temperature to as low as -18 Celsius degree.

在这样的温度下，在室外待几分钟都有可能冻伤。
In this kind of temperature, staying outdoors for even a few minutes could result in frostbites.

受低温影响，学校关门了，飞机停飞了，取暖中心也建起来了。
Due to the low temperature, schools have closed, flights have been cancelled, sheltered have been set up.