October 3, 2021 - Washington D.C. Taiwanese School Advanced Mandarin Conversation Class Note

Teacher Wu said, "How's everyone! Let us welcome our new student, Kevin Nguyen. He has advanced Mandarin level. He was in National Chengchi University for Chinese study for one semester. He has passed American Council on the teaching foreign languages (ACTFL) Intermediate level exam. His goal is to learn with us in the class to prepare for future application master degree in George Washington University." 吳老師說: "大家好! 讓我們歡迎我們的新學生 Kevin Nguyen (阮凱文)。他的華語程度很高。他在國立政治大學學習了一個學期的中文。他已通過美國外語教學委員會（ACTFL）中級考試。他的目標是在課堂上和我們一起學習，為未來申請喬治華盛頓大學的碩士學位做準備。" Wú lǎoshī shuō: "Dàjiā hǎo, Ràng wǒmen huānyíng wǒmen de xīn xuéshēng Kevin Nguyen(阮凱文) . Tā de huá yǔ chéngdù hěn gāo. Tā zài guólì zhèngzhì dàxué xuéxíle yīgè xuéqí de zhōngwén. Tā yǐ tōngguò měiguó wàiyǔ jiàoxué wěiyuánhuì (ACTFL) zhōngjí kǎoshì. Tā de mùbiāo shì zài kètáng shàng hé wǒmen yīqǐ xuéxí, wèi wèilái shēnqǐng qiáozhì huáshèngdùn dàxué de shuòshì xuéwèi zuò zhǔnbèi."
Kevin Nguyen (阮凱文) and Raymond(書宗):Please browse and study this mock test of "Test of Chinese as a Foreign language (TOCFL). You two did not have the opportunity to study them when I discussed about this test format last week. We will study and practice together to make sure we all are well-prepared before we can take the test next spring. I welcome you to ask me any questions.
Kevin Nguyen (阮凱文) and Raymond(書宗): 請瀏覽和研究這個 “華語文能力測驗"（TOCFL）” 的模擬考試。上週我討論這個考試形式時，你們兩個沒有機會學習它們。我們將一起學習和練習，以確保我們一切準備就緒，明年春天我們就可以參加考試了。有任何問題歡迎您來問我。
Kevin Nguyen (阮凱文) and Raymond(書宗):Qǐng liúlǎn hé yánjiū zhège “Huáyǔ wén nénglì cèyàn" (TOCFL)” de mónǐ kǎoshì. Shàng zhōu wǒ tǎolùn zhège kǎoshì xíngshì shí, nǐmen liǎng gè méiyǒu jīhuì xuéxí tāmen. Wǒmen jiāng yīqǐ xuéxí hé liànxí, yǐ quèbǎo wǒmen yīqiè zhǔnbèi jiùxù, míngnián chūntiān wǒmen jiù kěyǐ cānjiā kǎoshìle. Yǒu rènhé wèntí huānyíng nín lái wèn wǒ.
Teacher Wu said, "We are so happy to share Joseph and Steven's homework from last two weeks. "Cat king and campus life" - you two both please make up the homework when you have time. No pressure though." 吳老師說: "我們很高興分享Joseph (高靖和)和Steven (葛艾倫) 過去兩週的作業。《1. 為什麼貓王被稱為“貓王”？與2. 用 5 句話描述你就讀的大學的特點》— 你們兩個有空請補上作業。不過沒有壓力。" Wú lǎoshī shuō: "Wǒmen hěn gāoxìng fēnxiǎng Joseph (高靖和) hé Steven (葛艾倫) guòqù liǎng zhōu de zuòyè. 1.Wèishéme māo wáng bèi chēng wèi “māo wáng”?
yǔ 2. Yòng 5 jù huà miáoshù nǐ jiùdú de dàxué de tèdiǎn.”— nǐmen liǎng gè yǒu kòng qǐng bǔ shàng zuòyè. Bùguò méiyǒu yālì."
Teacher Wu said, "The following is Steven (葛艾倫) homework from last week and this week." 吳老師說: "以下是Steven (葛艾倫) 上週和本週的作業：" Wú lǎoshī shuō: "Yǐxià shì Steven (葛艾倫) shàng zhōu hé běn zhōu de zuòyè:"

Why was Elvis Presley called "Cat King?"

為什麼貓王被稱為“貓王”？

Wèishéme māo wáng bèi chēng wèi “māo wáng”?

Why is Elvis Presley called 'Mao Wang'?

Because:

-He dances like a cat.

-When he sings, he purrs like a cat.

-Like a cat, he is aloof.

為什麼貓王叫 “貓王？"

因為：

- 他像貓一樣跳舞。

- 當他唱歌時，他像貓一樣發出咕嚕聲。

-像一隻貓，他是超然。

Weishenma Elvis Presley jiao "Mao Wang"?

Inwei:

-ta xiang4 mao tiaowu

-dang1 ta changge shie, ta xiang4 mao yiyang fa1chu1 gu1lu1 sheng1

-ta xiang4 mao, ta shi chao1ran2

Teacher Wu said, "There is a little difference between detached and aloof." 吳老師說: "超然和冷漠有點不一樣。" Wú lǎoshī shuō: "Chāorán hé lěngmò yǒudiǎn bù yīyàng."

超然-Chāorán-aloof, detached, extraordinary taste
冷漠-lěngmò-impersonal, distant, apathy

write 5 sentences about the special features of your college where you attended.

用 5 句話描述你就讀的大學的特點。

Yòng 5 jù huà miáoshù nǐ jiùdú de dàxué de tèdiǎn.

My university, Harvard, has a statue of its founder. But it has "three lies".

It says 'John Harvard", but it's not John Harvard.

It says 'founder', but John Harvard was not the founder.

It has the wrong date [for when the university was founded].

我的大學，哈佛，有一尊它的創始人的雕像。但它有“三個謊言”。

上面寫著“約翰·哈佛”，但不是約翰·哈佛。

上面寫著“創始人”，但約翰·哈佛不是創始人。

它有錯誤的日期[大學成立的時間]。

Wǒ de dàxué, hāfó, yǒu yīzūn tā de chuàngshǐ rén de diāoxiàng. Dàn tā yǒu “sān gè huǎngyán”.

Shàngmiàn xiězhe “yuēhàn·hāfó”, dàn bùshì yuēhàn·hāfó.

Shàngmiàn xiězhe “chuàngshǐ rén”, dàn yuēhàn·hāfó bùshì chuàngshǐ rén.

Tā yǒu cuòwù de rìqí [dàxué chénglì de shíjiān].

Teacher Wu said, "The following is Joseph (高靖和) homework from this week." 吳老師說: "以下是Joseph (高靖和)本週的作業：" Wú lǎoshī shuō: "Yǐxià shì Joseph (高靖和) běn zhōu de zuòyè:"

write 5 sentences about the special features of your college where you attended.

用 5 句話描述你就讀的大學的特點。

Yòng 5 jù huà miáoshù nǐ jiùdú de dàxué de tèdiǎn.

My wife and I met in graduate school at Rice University.
The campus is beautiful; it has lots of trees and flowers.
In the spring, the redbuds are the first to bloom and the azaleas follow soon after.
The owl is the Rice University mascot. Many buildings have owl decorations and the campus has several owl statues.
Rice is a private school and one special thing is the bars on campus. Sometimes after a long day of experiments in the lab, my wife and I would go to the graduate student pub, Valhalla, to drink a beer.

我太太和我是在念萊斯大學研究所的時候認識的。

校園很美，有很多樹和花。
春天時，Redbud (紫荊花?)最先綻放，Azalea (而杜鵑花?)緊隨其後。
貓頭鷹是萊斯大學的吉祥物，學校建築物上有很多貓頭鷹裝飾，校園裡也有幾個貓頭鷹雕像。
萊斯大學是私立學校，一個特別的事情是學校裡面有酒吧，有時在實驗室進行了一整天的實驗後，我和太太會去研究生酒吧 Valhalla (瓦爾哈拉?)喝啤酒。

Wǒ tàitài hé wǒ shì zài niàn lái sī dàxué yánjiū suǒ de shíhòu rènshí de.
Xiàoyuán hěn měi, yǒu hěnduō shù hé huā.
Chūntiān shí, Redbud (zǐjīng huā?) Zuì xiān zhànfàng, Azalea (ér dùjuān huā?) Jǐn suí qí hòu.
Māotóuyīng shì lái sī dàxué de jíxiáng wù, xuéxiào jiànzhú wù shàng yǒu hěnduō māotóuyīng zhuāngshì, xiàoyuán lǐ yěyǒu jǐ gè māotóuyīng diāoxiàng.
Lái sī dàxué shì sīlì xuéxiào, yīgè tèbié de shìqíng shì xuéxiào lǐmiàn yǒu jiǔbā, yǒu shí zài shíyàn shì jìnxíngle yī zhěng tiān de shíyàn hòu, wǒ hé tàitài huì qù yánjiūshēng jiǔbā Valhalla (wǎ'ěr hā lā?) Hē píjiǔ.

Teacher Wu said, "TThanks for Joseph's homework to share:"

吳老師說: "感謝 Joseph (高靖和) 分享的作業."

Wú lǎoshī shuō: "Gǎnxiè Joseph (高靖和) fēnxiǎng de zuòyè:"

這是我這週的功課：

先……....然後

1. 皓真你得先刷牙然後睡覺。
Hào zhēn nǐ dé xiān shuāyá ránhòu shuìjiào.
Elliott, you have to brush your teeth first and then go to bed.

2. 因為我們沒有製作蛋糕的所有原料，所以我們得先去商店買材料，然後才能開始烘培。
Yīnwèi wǒmen méiyǒu zhìzuò dàngāo de suǒyǒu yuánliào, suǒyǐ wǒmen dé xiān qù shāngdiàn mǎi cáiliào, ránhòu cáinéng kāishǐ hōng péi.
Because we don’t have all of the ingredients to make the cake, we need to go to the store to buy ingredients before we can start baking.

3. 我們先等疫情好轉再帶皓真去台灣探望家人。
Wǒmen xiān děng yìqíng hǎozhuǎn zài dài hào zhēn qù táiwān tànwàng jiārén.
We will wait for the pandemic to improve first and then take Elliott to visit his family in Taiwan.

不是........就是.....

1. 皓真喜歡卡通，每天放學以後不是看Bluey，就是看Octonauts.
Hào zhēn xǐhuān kǎtōng, měitiān fàngxué yǐhòu bùshì kàn Bluey, jiùshì kàn Octonauts.
Elliott likes cartoons, when he’s not watching Bluey, he’s watching octonauts.

2. 每天早餐，我們不是吃優格，就是吃貝果
Měitiān zǎocān, wǒmen bùshì chī yōu gé, jiùshì chī bèi guǒ
Every day for breakfast, we either eat yogurt or bagels.

3. 我不喜歡含糖飲料，我不是喝茶，就是喝水。
Wǒ bù xǐhuān hán táng yǐnliào, wǒ bùshì hē chá, jiùshì hē shuǐ.
I don’t like sugary drinks. I either drink tea or water.

Teacher Wu said, "Thanks, previous principal, Chen Guiling, who made a visit of our "advanced Mandarin Conversation Class" and gave each of us a gift of "White Radish". It's a winter staple food and a symbolic meaning of "Good Luck" from its sound of Taiwanese Language - "Tsai Tao." - a Homonym" 吳老師說: "謝謝，前校長，陳桂玲的贈送及訪問，我們高級會話班！白蘿蔔：每年冬季為白蘿蔔盛產的季節，閩南話稱其為「菜頭」，象徵著「好彩頭」（吉兆）。" Wú lǎoshī shuō: "Xièxiè, qián xiàozhǎng, chénguìlíng de zèngsòng jí fǎngwèn, wǒmen gāojí huìhuà bān! Bái luóbo: Měinián dōngjì wèi bái luóbo shèngchǎn de jìjié, mǐnnán huà chēng qí wèi `cài tóu', xiàngzhēngzhe `hǎo cǎitóu'(jízhào)."