Upper-Intermediate - Chinese Geography (D0483)

我最近看了好多地理方面的资料。现在，我对我们国家的地理情况一清二楚！
wǒ zuìjìn kàn le hǎo duō dìlǐ fāngmiàn de zīliào 。xiànzài ，wǒ duì wǒmen guójiā de dìlǐ qíngkuàng yīqīngèrchǔ ！
Lately I've read a lot of material about geography. Now, I am very clear about our country's geography!

真的还是假的？
zhēn de háishi jiǎ de ？
Is that really true, or are you making it up?

不信我说给你听呀！我们国家有四大高原、四大平原和三大盆地。
bù xìn wǒ shuō gěi nǐ tīng yā ！wǒmen guójiā yǒu sì dà gāoyuán 、sì dà píngyuán hé sān dà péndì 。
If you don't believe me I'll tell you about it. Our country has four main plateaus, four main plains, and three main basins.

等会儿、等会儿。第一句话就不对！应该是四大高原、三大平原和四大盆地。
děnghuìr5 、děnghuìr5 。dìyī jù huà jiù bù duì ！yīnggāi shì sì dà gāoyuán 、sān dà píngyuán hé sì dà péndi 。
Wait a second, wait a second. The first thing you said is already wrong. It should be four main plateaus, three main plains and four main basins.

你确定？
nǐ quèdìng ？
Are you sure?

当然咯。高考的时候，背这个就像背顺口溜。
dāngrán lo 。gāokǎo de shíhou ，bèi zhège jiù xiàng bēi shùnkǒuliū 。
Of course. When I was taking my university entrance exams, I memorized this just as if I was memorizing a jingle.

啊呀，反正三和四都差不多。你再听我说，中国是个多山的国家。青藏高原是世界上海拔最高的高原，平均海拔在8000米以上。
āyā ，fǎnzhèng sān hé sì dōu chà bu duō 。nǐ zài tīng wǒ shuō ，Zhōngguó shì ge duō shān de guójiā 。Qīngzàng gāoyuán shì shìjiè shàng hǎibá zuìgāo de gāoyuán ，píngjūn hǎibá zài bāqiān mǐ yǐshàng 。
Oh my, well anyways, three or four, it's more or less the same. Listen, I'll tell you more: China is a mountainous country. The Tibetan plateau is the plateau with the highest elevation in the world, with an average elevation of more than 8,000 meters.

什么？你听听，又错了。那是珠穆朗玛峰！去年国家重新测量了珠峰的高度，是8800多米。而青藏高原的平均海拔是4000米。
shénme ？nǐ tīngting ，yòu cuò le 。nà shì Zhūmùlǎngmǎ fēng ！qùnián guójiā chóngxīn cèliáng le Zhū fēng de gāodù ，shì bāqiān bābǎi duō mǐ 。ér Qīngzàng gāoyuán de píngjūn hǎibá shì sìqiān mǐ 。
What? Listen, you're wrong again. That is Mount Everest! Last year the government measured the altitude of Mount Everest again--it's over 8,800 meters. Furthermore, the average elevation of the Tibetan plateau is 4,000 meters.

是吗？你怎么样样都知道？
shì ma ？nǐ zěnme yàngyàng dōu zhīdào ？
Is it? How do you know all of this?

去年青藏铁路通车，媒体上天天都是这些消息。
qùnián Qīngzàng tiělù tōngchē ，méitǐ shàng tiāntiān dōu shì zhèxiē xiāoxi 。
Last year when the Tibetan Railway opened for service, this kind of information was in the media every day.

你哪来那么多闲工夫看报纸？哎，你再听我说下一句。这句话绝对没错：新疆是沙漠最集中的地区。
nǐ nǎ lái nàme duō xián gōngfu kàn bàozhǐ ？āi ，nǐ zài tīng wǒ shuō xià yī jù 。zhè jù huà juéduì méicuò ：Xīnjiāng shì shāmò zuì jízhōng de dìqū 。
How do you find so much free time to read the newspaper? Hey, listen to something else I can tell you. This is definitely not incorrect: Xinjiang is the region with the most desert.

嗯，这句倒是没什么问题。
ng4 ，zhè jù dàoshì méi shénme wèntí 。
Uh-huh. There is nothing wrong with that statement.

还有，黄河是中国最长的河流。中国......。
háiyǒu ，Huánghé shì Zhōngguó zuìcháng de héliú 。Zhōngguó ......。
Also, the Yellow River is China's longest river. China...

停！最长的应该是长江吧。你怎么连这个都说错？
tíng ！zuìcháng de yīnggāi shì Chángjiāng ba 。nǐ zěnme lián zhège dōu shuō cuò ？
Stop! The longest must be the Yangtze River. How can you get even that wrong?

哎，我这是口误。你别老插嘴，行不行？中国东部沿海的人口比较多。上海、北京、重庆和广州是拥有千万人口的超大型城市，其中上海的人口最多……。
āi ，wǒ zhè shì kǒuwù 。nǐ bié lǎo chāzuǐ ，xíng bu xíng ？Zhōngguó dōngbù yánhǎi de rénkǒu bǐjiào duō 。Shànghǎi 、Běijīng 、Chóngqìng hé Guǎngzhōu shì yōngyǒu qiānwàn rénkǒu de chāo dàxíng chéngshì ，qízhōng Shànghǎi de rénkǒu zuìduō ......。
Hey, that was a slip of the tongue. Don't keep on interrupting me, all right? The population of the eastern coast of China is comparatively higher. Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou are super-sized cities with populations in the tens of millions. Amongst them, Shanghai's population is the largest...

重庆最多。行了、行了，一大堆错误。你看的是什么资料？
Chóngqìng zuìduō 。xíng le 、xíng le ，yīdàduī cuòwù 。nǐ kàn de shì shénme zīliào ？
Chongqing is the largest. All right already! A huge pile of mistakes. What material did you look at?

都是网上找的。这网络还真是坑人，害得我脸都丢大了！
dōu shì wǎngshàng zhǎo de 。zhè wǎngluò hái zhēnshì kēngrén ，hài de wǒ liǎn dōu diū dà le ！
I found it all on the internet. The internet is really misleading. It's made me lose a lot of face!

Vocabulary

一清二楚	yīqīngèrchǔ	very clearly
顺口溜	shùnkǒuliū	jingle
海拔	hǎibá	elevation
通车	tōngchē	to be open for traffic
口误	kǒuwù	slip of the tongue
插嘴	chāzuǐ	to interrupt
坑人	kēngrén	to mislead people; to scam
丘陵	qiūlíng	hilly terrain
沼泽	zhǎozé	marsh, swamp, bog
热带雨林	rèdàiyǔlín	tropical rain forest
植被	zhíbèi	vegetation
岛屿	dǎoyǔ	island
海岸线	hǎi'ànxiàn	coastline
国界	guójiè	border; national boundary
热带	rèdài	the tropics
亚热带	yàrèdài	the subtropics
温带	wēndài	temperate zone
寒带	hándài	frigid zone