Lesson 149 I’ve Got A New Computer.

M: Péngyoumen, nǐmen hǎo! Huānyíng shōutīng Xiànzài xuéhànyǔ, wǒshì ML.

S: Dàjiāhǎo! Wǒshì Stuart. ML, jīntiān wǒmen xuéshénme?

M: Hey, Stuart, you'd never guess – my parents gave me a computer as birthday present! Wǒde fùmǔ sònggěiwǒ yìtái diànnǎo zuòwéi shēngrì lǐwù.

S: That's great!

M: Yeah! And these days, I am really into surfing the web. Zhèjǐtiān, wǒ míshàngle shàngwǎng. 这几天，我迷上了上网。

S: So what do you do?

M: I send emails, visit different websites, and chat quite often. Wǒ fā diànzǐ yóujiàn, fǎngwèn bùtóngde wǎngzhàn, hái jīngcháng liáotiān.

S: Ok, now let's look at the new stuff.

M: I said, 我的父母送给我一台电脑作为生日礼物。父母，FU MU, fùmǔ, fourth tone third tone, parents. Here fù means father, and mǔ is mother. Put them together, and you get ‘parents'.

S: Yìtái diànnǎo. Diànnǎo, DIAN NAO, fourth tone third tone, means computer. We've already learnt that ‘diàn' means electric, electricity. And out of interest, the ‘nǎo' means brain. So ‘electric brain' computer, diànnǎo.

M: And did you notice the measure word for computer? Duìle, it's ‘tái', TAI, tái, second tone, which is the most commonly used measure word for electric home appliances and machines.

S: So if TV is diànshìjī, ‘electric visual machine', 电视机，how do we say ‘I have a TV set' in Chinese?

M: Wánquán zhèngquè. Wǒyǒu yìtái diànshìjī. Say it with me. 我有一台电视机。

S: Now one more. If ‘washing machine' is xǐyījī, a ‘wash-clothes machine', how to say ‘I want to buy a washing machine'?

M: Did you say ‘wǒxiǎng mǎi yìtái xǐyījī'? 我想买一台洗衣机。You did? Gōngxǐgōngxǐ, your Chinese is wonderful!

S: Now the last new word in this sentence – zuòwéi, ZUO WEI, 作为, fourth tone second tone, means ‘as', or ‘to serve as'.

M: So the whole sentence, 我的父母送给我一台电脑作为生日礼物。My parents gave me a computer as a birthday present. As a birthday present, zuòwéi shēngrì lǐwù.

S: So, guess we need a break!

S: Good! Now let's continue explaining the new stuff.

M: I told Stuart, zhèjǐtiān, wǒ míshàngle shàngwǎng.

S: Zhèjǐtiān, literally, ‘these several days'. And of course it means ‘these days'.

M: Míshang, MI SHANG, 迷上，can mean fascinated by, engrossed in, crazy about, or infatuated with.

S: And shàngwǎng, SHANG WANG, fourth tone third tone, 上网，means to go on, or surf, the web. Wǎng is web or net.

M: So ‘我迷上了上网' is ‘I'm crazy about surfing the web'. Wǒ míshàngle shàngwǎng.

S: What do you do then?

M: I send emails, visit different websites, and chat quite often. 我发电子邮件，访问不同的网站，还经常聊天 Wǒ fā diànzǐ yóujiàn, fǎngwèn bùtóngde wǎngzhàn, hái jīngcháng liáotiān.

S: But we don't have time to explain the new words in this sentence. So we'll continue next time.

M: And don't forget to review what we've learnt in this lesson. That's your homework. Zàijiàn!

S: Zàijiàn.