The Official Chineseathome Blog

Every year before the spring festival, I have problems getting the train ticket back to home from Beijing. I had to go to the scalper or buy an air ticket, which would cost me extra 150-500 RMB. These things also happened to my friends and colleagues. The terrible experience of buying the ticket is the most distinctive features in China. Here are some useful Chinese words and expression about train tickets.

People would like to choose the fastest and the most comfortable train back to home.

动车组dòng chē zǔ (Multiple Unit)

特快列车tè kuài liè chē (Express train)

临时旅客列车lín shí lǚ kè liè chē (Makeshift passenger train)

The train tickets are divided into four classes: 硬座yìng zuò (hard seat), 软座ruǎn zuò (soft seat),  硬卧yìng wò (semi-cushioned berth), 软卧ruǎn wò (cushioned berth).

For most people they even feel lucky to buy a站票zhàn piào (standing-room ticket) to return home.

When you buy the sleeper ticket, you may choose the right berth for you: 上铺shàng pū (upper berth/ sleeper), 中铺zhōng pū (middle berth / sleeper), 下铺xià pū (lower berth /sleeper).

After you have choose the right train and the classes, you have to go to the 火车站huǒ chē zhàn (railway station) or 订票点dìng piào diǎn (tickets-booking agency/office) to buy your ticket. And the booking clerk may probably tell you that the tickets are sold out.

Then you may turn to the 票贩子piào fàn zǐ or 黄牛huáng niú (ticket scalper) for a more expensive one.

Yesterday when I woke up in the morning, looking out of my window, I found that everything was dressed with white snow. I haven’t seen such heavy snowfall for nearly ten years. The snowfall often cause bad traffic, which means I have to spend more on my way to work and home tomorrow. All of a sudden, I was excited about yesterday’s snow and retrieved something I lost.

Kids always love snow, because they can have a snowball fight or make a snowman, and more importantly, they do not have to go to school (Students in Beijing primary and high schools have one day off). Whenever it snowed, school authority organized us to clear the snow, which means we could have some fun after the work. I still remember my happiness when playing with snow though with the freezing hands and face. I liked stepping on the softening snow and left my footprints, while my mom always asked me to follow her. As I grown up, the snow is no longer that big, and I do not have the special fancy for it.

Here are some useful words, expressions and idioms concerning snow. Hope you enjoy it!

下雪了！xià xuě le
It is snowing!

这场雪很大。zhè chǎng xuě hěn dà
It snows heavily.

我喜欢下雪 wǒ xǐ huān xià xuě
I like snow.

雪花: snowflake
雪球: snowball
大雪: heavy snow
雪崩: avalanche
暴风雪: blizzard

Chinese Chengyu about snow:
雪上加霜 (xuě shàng jiā shuāng) to add frost to snow, which means one misfortunate after another.
雪中送炭 (xuě zhōng song tàn) to send charcoal in snowy weather which means to give timely assistance or help.

Football or Score is the most popular sports all over the world. It is written as 足球 zú qiú in Chinese.

I will introduce some basic Chinese words in Football and the Chinese names of the famous clubs in Europe.

Some useful expressions in Football 与足球相关的常用词语

half-time interval 中场休息
group round robin 小组循环赛
extra time 加时赛
elimination match 淘汰赛
injury time 伤停补时
one-sided game 一边倒的比赛
disqualification 取消比赛资格
match ban 禁赛命令
doping test 药检
draw / sortition 抽签
send a player off 判罚出场
red card 红牌
yellow card 黄牌
goal 球门，进球数
draw 平局
goal drought 进球荒
ranking 排名（名次）
(more…)