Grammar

一⋯就⋯indicates two events happening in succession.

For example

一发货网站就会发电子邮件通知你｡

Yì fāhuò wǎngzhàn jiùhuì fā diànzǐyóujiàn tōngzhī nǐ.

The website will email you as soon as it dispatches the goods.

Exercise: Make the following phrases into a complex sentence using 一⋯就⋯

Example:

马克 下课 图书馆 去

Mǎkè xiàkè túshūguǎn qù

Mark finish class library go

马克一下课就去图书馆｡

Mǎkè yí xiàkè jiùqù túshūguǎn.

Mark goes to library as soon as he finishes class.

1. 请 转告 珍妮 回 电话 到家 给 妈妈

qǐng zhuǎngào Zhēnnī huí diànhuà dàojiā gěi māmā

please tell Jenny call back get home to her mother

2. 变冷 天气 结冰 湖水

biànlěng tiānqì jiébīng húshuǐ

turn cold weather freeze lake water

Chinese Idioms

拔苗助长

Bámiáozhùzhǎng

宋朝时有个农夫是个急性子｡ 每天他总是焦急地查看地里禾苗的长势｡令他失望的是,禾苗长得总不像他期望的那样快｡这个农夫想, 用什么办法能帮助禾苗长高呢?一天,他终于想出了一个好办法｡他赶到田里,把禾苗一棵一棵地往上拔高,从早晨一直干到太阳落山,累得精疲力尽｡他以为这样能够帮助禾苗生长,于是兴奋地告诉家人他所做的一切｡他的儿子马上跑到田里去看, 发现地里的禾苗全都枯萎了｡ "拔苗助长" 形容做事急于求成,反而会坏事｡

Sòngcháo shí yǒuge nóngfū shìge jíxìngzi. Měitiān tā zǒngshì jiāojíde chákàn dìlǐ hémiáo de zhǎngshì. Lìng tā shīwàng de shì, hémiáo zhǎngde zǒng búxiàng tā qīwàngde nàyàng kuài. Zhège nóngfū xiǎng, yòng shénme bànfǎ néng bāngzhù hémiáo zhǎnggāo ne? Yìtiān, tā zhōngyú xiǎngchūle yíge hǎobànfǎ. Tā gǎndào tiánlǐ, bǎ hémiáo yìkē yìkē de wàngshàng bágāo, cóng zǎochen yìzhí gàndào tàiyáng luòshān, lèide jīngpílìjìn. Tā yǐwéi zhèyàng nénggòu bāngzhù hémiáo shēngzhǎng, yúshì xīngfèn de gàosù jiārén tā suǒzuò de yíqiè. Tāde érzi mǎshàng pǎodào tiánlǐ qùkàn, fāxiàn dìlǐde hémiáo quándōu kūwěi le. "Bámiáozhùzhǎng" xíngróng zuòshì jíyú qiúchéng, fǎn'ér huì huàishì.

There lived during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) a farmer who was a very impatient man. Every day he would anxiously inspect his crops to see how much they had grown and be disappointed at what seemed to him their slow progress. After racking his brain trying to think of ways to get quicker results, he at last came up with a solution. He went to his field and pulled each of his seedlings a little further out of the soil, so making them appear taller. The farmer thus toiled from morning to sunset until exhausted. When he got home, he excitedly told his family what he had done. When his son went to the field he found that all of the crops had withered and died. This idiom is used to show how a venture or plan can be ruined due to the desire for instant results.