Taking a Taxi

Grammar

正在 is used to indicate an ongoing action.

For example:

我正在北京大学学习中文｡｡

Wǒ zhèngzài Běijīng Dàxué xuéxí Zhōngwén.

I'm studying Chinese at Peking University.

Exercises: rewrite the following sentences with 正在.

Example:

马克打篮球｡｡

Mǎkè dǎ lánqiú.

Mark plays basketball.

马克正在打篮球｡｡

Mǎkè zhèngzài dǎ lánqiú.

Mark is playing basketball.

1. 陈老师上课｡｡

Chénlǎoshī shàngkè

Mr. Chen has class.

2. 妈妈做饭｡｡

Māma zuòfàn

Mother cooks.

Chinese Idioms

掩耳盗铃

yăn'ěrdàolíng

从前有一个小偷,要偷一座钟｡可是钟又大又沉,很难扛走｡因此他想用锤子把钟敲成碎片,这样扛起来就容易多了｡可是,他敲了一下,那只钟发出巨大的响声｡他怕钟声被别人听到,于是他在用锤子敲钟前,堵住了自己的耳朵｡不过,即使他这样做,别人还是能听到钟声｡所以掩耳盗铃形容那些非常愚蠢的行为,如同把自己的头埋在沙子中,就以为不会被别人看到了｡｡

Cóngqián yǒu yíge xiǎotōu, yào tōu yízuò zhōng. Kěshì zhōng yòudà yòuchén, hěnnán kángzǒu. Yīncǐ tā xiǎng yòng chuízi bǎ zhōng qiāochéng suìpiàn, zhèyàng kángqǐlai jiù róngyì duōle. Kěshì, tā qiāole yíxià, nàzuò zhōng fāchū jùdàde xiǎngshēng. Tā pà zhōngshēng bèi biérén tīngdào, yúshì tā zài yòng chuízi qiāozhōng qián, dǔzhùle zìjǐ de ěrduo. Búguò, jíshǐ tā zhèyàng zuò, biérén háishi néng tīngdào zhōngshēng. Suǒyǐ yăn'ěrdàolíng xíngróng nàxiē fēicháng yúchǔn de xíngwéi, rútóng bǎ zìjǐde tóu máizài shāzi zhōng, jiù yǐwéi búhuì bèi biérén kàndàole.

Once upon a time, a thief wanted to steal a bell. The bell was too big and heavy to be carried away, so he decided to break it into pieces with a hammer to make it easier to carry. But when he hit the bell, it made a loud ringing sound. Afraid that someone might hear him breaking up the bell, he decided to plug his ears. Of course, plugging his ears didn't mean that other people couldn't hear the bell. A decision as foolish as this is perhaps analogous to the English idiom, "to bury one's head in the sand."