Our advanced listening test for today is entirely spontaneous: something we caught on tape almost accidentally when Apple and Kang were fooling around in the studio. While the vocabulary itself is not terribly demanding, the recording is fast-paced and somewhat unforgiving. There's a lot here: if you can keep up try paying attention to the way emotions are expressed, especially exasperation.

There are a few things worth noting grammatically, such as the repeated, instinctive reliance on 然后 when stringing together complex sentences. Also the phrasing for expressing insistence in the first sentence. As with our other listening tests, we recommend listening to the recording once through before taking our quiz. Once you know what you've missed you can listen again while reading our annotated transcript for instant enlightenment.
 said on
March 10, 2009
I quite like this recording, but can't put my finger on why. It isn't really a joke that she's telling, even though she sets it up that way. Just a story that ends up a bit sad.

Good catch.
 said on
March 10, 2009
像我们的一首歌里唱的:走吧,走吧,人总要长大...

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 11, 2009
我非常喜欢这段对话,因为它非常亲切,非常自然。。。

(*^__^*) 这才是汉语(*^__^*)
 said on
August 30, 2011
Why is it sad?
 said on
August 31, 2011
@linying818,

About getting old? :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
February 12, 2012
这对话这么快!那个transcript真的帮我了解一些句。 还有一问,这对话里的第二局,Apple说:“他非让我们买花儿,。。。” 这“非”有什么意思?我知道“非”是负面的但我还不懂。 我以为意思是,"He didn't allow us to buy flowers."
 said on
February 13, 2012
@grizzlybair87,

“非”在口语里有“一定”的意思,一般用的时候都是在“要,得,让”这样的动词前面,比如,他非要去(他一定要去);我想去,他非不让(我想去,他一定不让我去)。

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
February 13, 2012
Worth mentioning on the 非 front - premium subscribers who want this sort of extra detail should enable the "notes" field in their popups on this page:

http://popupchinese.com/account/customize

We can't really provide this level of detail in the PDFs, but when there are some otherwise inexplicable usages like this, we try to flag them.