Lesson 143 You Look Better Today

M: Dàjiāhǎo! Huānyíng nǐmen dào xiànzài xuéhànyǔ, wǒshì ML.

S: Nǐmen hǎo! Wǒshì Stuart.
M: Hey, Stuart, you look much better today! Stuart, 你今天看起来好多了!

S: That's because I followed the doctor's advice. I took medicine on time, drank a lot of water every day, and had a very good rest for a couple of days. Wǒ ànshí chīyào, měitiān hē hěnduō shuǐ, bìngqiě hǎohǎo xīuxi le jǐtiān. Wǒ ànshí chīyào, měitiān hē hěnduō shuǐ, bìngqiě hǎohǎo xīuxi le jǐtiān.

M: That's good.

S: And the doctor also advised me to do more exercises. Yīshēng hái jiànyìwǒ duōzuò duànliàn. He said, walking, jogging, and playing tennis are all suitable sports for me. Tāshuō, zǒulù, pǎobù, hé dǎwǎngqíu dōushì shìhé wǒde yùndòng. Tāshuō, zǒulù, pǎobù, hé dǎwǎngqíu dōushì shìhé wǒde yùndòng.

M: Hmm, great doctor! I think he's absolutely right. You DO need to lose weight! Nǐ shì xūyào jiǎnféi le.

S: Hèng!

S: Wow, that's a lot of new stuff! Let's look at it.

M: I said, ‘Stuart, you look much better today!' Stuart, 你今天看起来好多了！

S: ‘Hǎoduōle' means ‘much better'. We've learnt in previous lessons about how to make comparison. And here ‘hǎoduōle' is one of the ways to express that one thing is far… than another.

M: And kànqǐlái, KAN QI LAI, kànqǐlái, means look, as in look well, look awkward, look ill, or whatever. Kànqǐlái. It's a fixed pattern in Chinese. So the whole sentence is, Stuart, 你今天看起来好多了！你今天看起来好多了！

S: Because I followed the doctor's advice, 建议 JIAN YI jiànyì, advice, suggestion. I took medicine punctually/on time wǒ ànshí chīyào, drank a lot of water every day měitiān hē hěn duō shuǐ, and had a very good rest for a couple of days. bìngqiě hǎohǎo xīuxi le jǐtiān.

M: Wǒ ànshí chīyào. 按时，AN SHI, fourth tone second tone, 按时, means on time, punctually. And xīuxi, XIU XI, to rest, xīuxi. 好好休息，to have a good rest, 好好休息。

S: And we've learnt that chīyào means to take medicine, and to drink water is 喝水。So now you guys at home, repeat the whole sentence with ML again.

M: Wǒ ànshí chīyào, měitiān hē hěnduō shuǐ, bìngqiě hǎohǎo xīuxi le jǐtiān. Wǒ ànshí chīyào, měitiān hē hěnduō shuǐ, bìngqiě hǎohǎo xīuxi le jǐtiān.

M: 建议remember, is ‘advise'. So now say, The doctor gave Stuart some more advice, which was?

S: Méicuò. Yīshēng hái jiànyìwǒ duōzuò duànliàn. Yīshēng hái jiànyìwǒ duōzuò duànliàn.

M: The doctor also asked Stuart to do more exercise, 多做锻炼. 锻炼，DUAN LIAN, both in fourth tone, mean ‘exercise'. He said, walking, jogging, and playing tennis are all suitable sports for Stuart. Tāshuō, zǒulù, pǎobù, hé dǎwǎngqíu dōushì shìhé Stuart de yùndòng.

S: What does all that mean? Let's find out next lesson. Don't forget to review what we learnt today, and try to read out loud everything, very important. Míngtiānjiàn!

M: Zàijiàn!