The somnolent corpse twitched as the first jolts of electricity seared through its head, trunk and prostrate limbs until wreaths of blue flame arced up and down the leg braces as the voltage faded and the laboratory returned to silence, a silence filled with only the smell of charred flesh and the unspoken question that reached between the two observers, asking if this might finally be the time for the legend to rise again?Our Chinese podcast for today is all about speed, and is filled with some hot-swappable expressions you can use when things start happening faster than you expect. But before you get started with the madness that is today's lesson, if you haven't heard our previous show titled "They Called Me Mad, The Fools" you might want to give it a listen first, since our story picks up where its predecessor left off.
Jesse
said on May 9, 2012
It's such a great feeling when you learn a phrase and then hear it in the wild. The first sentence of this dialogue is almost exactly the same as the first sentence in the fifth para here: http://www.wangxiaofeng.net/?p=8544Just wanted to share the cool feeling. I guess this could also be proof of how useful the Popup dialogues are. Way to go guys.
etbaccata
said on September 10, 2012
愣 is written as leng3. Shouldn't it be leng4?
Intermediate
said on September 10, 2012
@etbaccata,Thanks! It's fixed :)--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
donalthurley
said on March 16, 2014
It was the first time I came across the word 'gongfu'. Can it be used as a synonym of shijian?
Grace Qi
said on March 16, 2014
@donalthurley，“工夫” or "功夫" can both mean "the time and energy you spend":In the dialogue"我一转头的工夫 or 功夫" means "a short period of time".In daily conversation though, if you say"我没工夫" that means"时间shi2jian1"- but 工夫 implies a bit negative meanings or feelings. 时间 is more neutral.Of course, the most common usage of the the word"功夫gong1fu" is when it's used as "skill or ability" or just Kung Fu.
donalthurley
said on March 17, 2014
Thanks for the explanation Grace.One other question on the dialogue.The second line says 'liang ge renwu' and then he lists three tasks rather than two. Could this use of 'liang' mean a few tasks or is this just the speaker being a little confused?
trevelyan
said on March 18, 2014
@donalthurley,We were just having fun in the studio. :)--david
toronado282
said on August 22, 2015
One of the things that consistently throws me with my listening skills is exampled here in this dialogue during the part where the guy is talking “我给你两个任务。。。” His meter for speaking is missing normal pauses. It's almost like a run-on sentence. But Chinese people sometimes actually speak like that... so strange.
Joshua S.
said on August 23, 2015
@tornado282I feel your pain. I am at a similar stage, and rhythm that is unnatural to me is much harder to understand. 加油!
