Chinese Studio 汉语对话 Lesson 029 Weather (1)

Yajie: 早上好，everyone. Thanks for joining us again on Chinese Studio. I'm Yajie.
Cam: 大家早上好(dàjiā zǎoshang hǎo), I’m Cam. As summer comes it's becoming hotter and hotter here in Beijing. And sometimes we even get a mid-summer rainfall. So it's quite important to learn some key words about weather.
Yajie:  Right. Let's listen to our Key Words of the Day.

************Key words of the day
Today we’ll learn expressions about weather. 今天的天气预报你听了吗？今天最高气温多少度？最低气温多少度？All in today’s Chinese Studio.　
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Yajie: 今天的天气预报你听了吗？Did you hear today's weather report?
Cam: 今天的天气预报你听了吗？(jīntiān de tiānqì yùbào nǐ tīng le ma?)
Yajie: 今天 means today. J-i-n, 今, the first tone; t-i-a-n, 天, also the first tone. Together it's 今天.jīntiān.
Cam: 今天jīntiān. And tomorrow is 明天, right?
Yajie: Yes. 天气 means weather. T-i-an, the first tone, 气, qi, the fourth tone. 天气
Cam: 天气 (tiānqì).
Yajie: 预报, forecast. 预, y-u, the fourth tone; and 报, b-a-o, also the fourth tone. 预报.
Cam: 预报(yùbào).
Yajie: 听, t-i-n-g, the first tone. 听.
Cam: 听(tīng).
Yajie: As we mentioned before, 了 suggests the completion of an action and 吗 is a question mark. The answer to the question could be yes or no. If it's positive, you could say 听了.
Cam: 听了.
Yajie: If it's negative, you could say没听.
Cam: 没听(mei ting).

Conversations

Yajie: As you heard “今天最高气温三十度。” which means, "Today's high temperature is 30 degrees."
Cam: 今天最高气温三十度。(jīntiān zuìgāo qìwèn sānshí dù.)
Yajie: 今天, today. 最高, the highest.
Cam: 最高(zuìgāo).
Yajie: 最, z-u-i, , meaning the most.
Cam: 最 (zuì).
Yajie: 高, g-a-o , meaning high.
Cam: 高 (gāo).
Yajie: 最高(zuìgāo).
Cam: 最高(zuìgāo). Then what is the low in Chinese?
Yajie: It's最低(zuìdī).
Cam: 最低(zuìdī).
Yajie: 低, d-i, the first tone.
Cam: 低(dī).
Yajie: 度 means degree, as a measure word. 度, du, the fourth tone.
Cam: 度 (dù).

Conversations

Yajie: When you answer the question “今天最高气温多少?”, you can just answer with today's forecast high. In this case, you can just say “三十度”.
Cam: Ok. That's easy for me. 三十度

**********Key words reminder
Today we’ll learn expressions about weather. 今天的天气预报你听了吗？Did you hear today's weather report? 今天最高气温多少度？What's today's high temperature? 最低气温多少度？And what's the low?
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Cam: Well, in the West people often start their topics by talking about the weather. What's the situation here in China?
Yajie: Here people would start their talks by asking "ni chi le ma？Have you eaten?"
Cam: Right!  I remember that from an earlier lesson.  That wraps up today's show. Congratulations to the lucky listener Rick Schatzman from America. You've won a CRI gift. And if you want a chance to win – just like Rick - here's your chance.  Yajie, what is today's question?
Yajie: In Chinese, how do you say “Today's high temperature is 30 degrees.”? Send your answer to [email protected].
Cam: You can also send questions or comments to that same E-mail address.  Again, it is [email protected]. Or you can visit us on our website at en.chinabroadcast.cn. Click “Learn Chinese”, where you can enjoy other free Chinese-learning programs.
Yajie: Well class is over. 再见!
Cam: 明天见(mingtian jian)!