Modern Mandarin Chinese Modern Mandarin Chinese is a two-year undergraduate course for students with no prior background in Chinese study. Designed to build a strong foundation in both the spoken and written language, it develops all the basic skills such as pronunciation, character writing, word use, and structures, while placing a strong emphasis on the development of communication skills. Each level of the course consists of a textbook and workbook in simplified characters. A free companion website provides all the audio for the course with a broad range of interactive exercises and additional resources for students’ self-study, along with a comprehensive instructor’s guide with teaching tips, assessment and homework material, and a full answer key. Key changes to this new edition: ▪ This revised edition of level 2 introduces over 200 characters and over 400 new vocabulary items. ▪ Additional exercises in the workbooks and online support the expanded number of words and characters incorporated into the textbooks. ▪ New cross-references between the textbooks, workbooks, and companion website facilitate using all the resources in an integrated manner. ▪ The website has been redesigned and greatly enhanced. Retaining its focus on communicative skills and the long-term retention of characters, the text is presented in simplified characters and pinyin with a gradual and phased removal of pinyin as specific characters are introduced and learned. This approach allows students to focus on the pronunciation and meaning of new words before the corresponding characters are introduced, ensuring they are guided and supported towards reading only in characters. Claudia Ross is Professor Emerita of Chinese at the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts, USA. Her publications include Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (2014), co-authored with Jing-heng Sheng Ma; Outline of Chinese Grammar (2004); and Traditional Chinese Tales: A Course in Intermediate Chinese (2001). Baozhang He is Associate Professor Emeritus of Chinese at the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts, USA. His publications include Difficult Grammar Knots Unravelled (2015), co-authored with Nansong Huang and Wenzi Hu and Elementary Chinese (2006), co-authored with Pei-Chia Chen. Pei-Chia Chen is Lecturer and Academic Coordinator of the Chinese program at UC San Diego, USA. Her publications include Elementary Chinese (2006), co-authored with Baozhang He. Meng Yeh is Teaching Professor in the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication at Rice University, USA. Her publications include Chaoyue: Advancing in Chinese (2010) and Communicating in Chinese: An Interactive Approach to Beginning Chinese, Student Lab Workbook (1999). Modern Mandarin Chinese The Routledge Course Workbook Level 2 Second edition Claudia Ross, Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen, and Meng Yeh Second edition published 2022 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Claudia Ross, Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen, and Meng Yeh The right of Claudia Ross, Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen, and Meng Yeh to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. First edition published by Routledge 2012 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Ross, Claudia, author. | He, Baozhang, 1955– author. | Chen, Pei-Chia, author. | Ye, Meng, 1950– author. Title: Modern Mandarin Chinese : the Routledge course workbook level 2 / Claudia Ross, Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen, and Meng Yeh. Other titles: Routledge course in modern Mandarin Chinese. Workbook level 2 : Simplified characters Description: 2nd edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020048668 (print) | LCCN 2020048669 (ebook) | ISBN 9781138101166 (paperback) | ISBN 9781315657165 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Chinese language—Textbook for foreign speakers—English. | Mandarin dialects. Classification: LCC PL1129.E5 R682 2021 (print) | LCC PL1129.E5 (ebook) | DDC 495.182/421—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048668 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020048669 ISBN: 978-1-138-10116-6 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-65716-5 (ebk) Typeset in Scala by Apex CoVantage, LLC Access the companion website: www.routledge.com/cw/ross Contents How to use the resources in this course to learn Chinese vii Lesson 17 Xuǎn 课 Selecting courses 1 Focus on literacy 1 Focus on structure 6 Focus on communication 10 Lesson 18 选 zhuānyè Selecting a major 16 Focus on literacy 16 Focus on structure 20 Focus on communication 27 Lesson 19 Shōushi 房间 Straightening up the room 33 Focus on literacy 33 Focus on structure 37 Focus on communication 42 Lesson 20 看 bìng Getting sick and seeing a doctor 47 Focus on literacy 47 Focus on structure 52 Focus on communication 56 Lesson 21 天气和气候变化 Weather and climate change 62 Focus on literacy 62 Focus on structure 66 Focus on communication 72 Lesson 22 Duànliàn 身体 Working out 78 Focus on literacy 78 Focus on structure 83 Focus on communication 91 vi Modern Mandarin Chinese Lesson 23 Guàng jiē Going shopping 99 Focus on literacy 99 Focus on structure 103 Focus on communication 106 Lesson 24 Jiˇan 价，打折 Discounts and bargains 113 Focus on literacy 113 Focus on structure 117 Focus on communication 121 Lesson 25 过春节 Celebrating the New Year festival 127 Focus on literacy 127 Focus on structure 131 Focus on communication 136 How to use the resources in this course to learn Chinese This course consists of a textbook, workbook, and website with a wealth of material designed to help you to learn to speak Mandarin and read and write in Chinese. The fol- lowing is an overview of the resources, with suggestions to help you do your best work. Textbook. The textbook presents new material and explanations. • Stroke order flow charts show you how to write each new character, stroke by stroke. The Narrative and Dialogue illustrate the use of words and structures, as well as the cultural conventions of communication associated with each topic. • Use and Structure notes explain how new structures function and how structures and phrases are used. • Sentence Pyramids show you how words and phrases are grouped into sentences and help you to understand Chinese word order. • Narrative Structure explanations show you how to organize information into cohesive essays for different communicative functions. • Language FAQs and Notes on Chinese Culture provide additional information about language use and Chinese culture related to the topic of the lesson. Workbook. The workbook provides exercises that you can do as homework or in class to practice the words, structures, and themes introduced in each lesson. These include: • Focus on Literacy • Focus on Structure • Focus on Communication Website. Resources include: • Listening for Information (Listening Comprehension) exercises • Structure Drills to help you strengthen spoken production and oral comprehension of new structures and vocabulary. • Audio recordings of vocabulary introduced in each lesson. • Audio recordings of the Sentence Pyramids. • Downloadable Character Practice Sheets • Focus on Radicals files for each lesson, with the characters sorted by radical. viii Modern Mandarin Chinese Study Tips: • Learn vocabulary and characters for each section of the text before your classroom lesson and before you begin working on the workbook exercises. If you don’t know the words in a lesson, you can’t participate in class and you cannot do the homework. Vocabulary and characters are organized by narrative and dialogue part, making it easier for you to focus on the new words and characters for each section of text. Regularly review vocabulary and characters from earlier lessons. Use the resources provided with this course to help you study. Download the character practice sheets from the course website to practice writing characters. Pay attention to the stroke order presented on the practice sheets so that you learn to write characters correctly. Using the same stroke order each time you write a character helps you to remember the character. Conversely, if you write a character differently each time you write it, your brain will have a hard time remembering it. Listen to the vocabulary audio files on the website to help you review vocabulary. Quiz yourself by using the files as dictation, and aim to write each word you hear with accurate pinyin and tones. • Learn the structures. Focus on Structure exercises in the workbook are cross-referenced to specific Use and Structure notes. Read each Use and Structure note before you do each exercise, and follow the model sentences in each note as you complete your work. Work through the Sentence Pyramids in the textbook to see how phrases are built up into sentences in Chinese. Use the Sentence Pyramids in the textbook and website to test yourself, translating the Chinese column into English and checking your answers, and then translating the English column into Chinese. Listen to the Sentence Pyramids on the website and use them as dictation practice, testing your ability to accurately write and interpret what you hear. Work through the Structure Drills on the website to practice new structures on your own. • Use the Listening for Information exercises to develop your listening comprehension skills. Do not expect to understand listening files on your first try. Be prepared to listen to the same passage multiple times in order to train your brain to understand what it hears. Use the pause button as you listen to help you to focus on shorter segments of a longer passage. Help your brain to focus on information by reading the instructions and the answer choices before you listen. The Structure Drills provided on the website will also help you to develop your listening skills along with your control of new structures and vocabulary. • The Focus on Communication exercises will guide you to read and write longer passages in Chinese. The Focus on Literacy section of the workbook also includes reading passages that challenge you to read around characters that you do not know, and to make inferences based on the text. While reading, identify the sentence structures in each passage so that you know how words and phrases in the text are related. Identify word boundaries so that you group characters correctly, and look for connecting words that tell you if the text is presenting a sequence, or a description, or an explanation, etc. Before you write, think of what you want to say, and jot down the Chinese structures that you can use to express your meaning. Think of how you want to organize your ideas, and make a list of the connecting words or structures you need for the organization you are planning. After you write, proofread your work to make sure that How to use the resources in this course to learn Chinese ix the characters you have written or typed are correct and are the ones that you intended. When reading or writing, if you cannot remember a character or a vocabulary item, use this as an opportunity to review. If you spend the time you need to prepare and review, you will have a successful and satisfying Chinese learning experience. Good luck in your studies!