VIP Class Notes (Nick) [S]

Next Class Focus

Review “n” vs. “l”; “w” vs. “v”
Correct the speaking section below.
Work on agreements in tense and number.

Homework

Write a little about Tang Bohu. Do you have a favorite story?

Vocabulary

Profile – a story about someone for a newspaper or magazine; your personal description and home page
e.g. I have a profile on Twitter, and also on Facebook.

Atheism – someone who believes that there are no gods
Agnostic – someone who doesn’t believe in gods, but doesn’t believe that there aren’t gods either; someone who says “I don’t know”

Confucius – 孔夫子 (adjective is “Confucian”)

Warring States Period – 战国

Emperor – controlling an empire, which includes many individual countries
e.g. In there Warring States Period, there was an Emperor, but the Emperor could not control all the Kings.

Thatch – when you use grass to make a roof
e.g. Thatched roofs were very common in Ancient China as well as Ancient Europe.

Fiction – a story which is not true
Historical Romance – a story that uses historical characters to tell a fictional story
e.g. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is based upon historical events, but the writer makes it more interesting.

Decorate – to buy furniture or give something style; usually for rooms, houses, art projects for kids
e.g. We decorated the kids’ room in blue.

Embellish – to add details to something to make it more interesting or beautiful
e.g. By the third time he told the story, he had embellished it so much that it didn’t even seem like the same one.
e.g. The events of the Three Kingdoms Romance happened, but the writer greatly embellished them (they added many more details to make it more interesting).

Ceiling – the top part of a room, like a wall above your head

Grammar

Many many of Chinese – Many many Chinese (people)
— Here, “Chinese” is a sort of measure word, so you don’t need “of”

In the ancient times of China – In ancient China

They had the power – the power to / they had enough power

When you use “each” or “every,” the next word doesn’t need to be plural
e.g. Every King; each person; etc.

Speaking exercise

Tang Bohu was a xiucai. It’s just like students in high school. They wanted to apply a university, but in Ancient China, every students had to attend some exam which were organized by government. So if you passed the primary exam, we called it is shangsi. You would be a xiucai. In final, if you want to be a officer or to be a admister, someone who works for government, you have to pass the exam of the Emperor organized. This exam we call dianshi. Dian means the palace, shi means exam. But Tang Bohu cheated in his diansi. He was a very interesting person. This guy was very very handsome. He looked very beautiful. So a lot of romantic stories about him.


Tang Bohu was a xiucai. It’s just like students in high school. They wanted to apply a university, but in Ancient China, every students had to attend some exam which were organized by government. So if you passed the primary exam, we called it is shangsi. You would be a xiucai. In final, if you want to be a officer or to be a admister, someone who works for government, you have to pass the exam of the Emperor organized. This exam we call dianshi. Dian means the palace, shi means exam. But Tang Bohu cheated in his diansi. He was a very interesting person. This guy was very very handsome. He looked very beautiful. So a lot of romantic stories about him.

Pronunciation

Atheism – ay – thee – izm
— the “th” is putting your tongue between your teeth

Need vs. Lead
— with “n,” you use the end of your tongue to stop the air so that it goes through nose instead
— with “l,” you leave space on the sides for air to pass

Visit vs. Wisit
— “V” is putting your top teeth on your bottom lip and using your voice
— “W” is an opening of your lips