HSK 4Lesson 18
What people eat in a day says a lot about them. You will share a big breakfast at a friend's home, plan a dinner for visiting parents, be told off for living on snacks, and choose tea as a gift.
You will learn the names of everyday meals, snacks and drinks, and talk about what people eat and drink through the day.
Part 1 · 12 new words
Contains 5 words
breakfast
dinner; supper
food
steamed bun
rich; plentiful
Contains 4 words
biscuit; cracker
snack
Contains 3 words
tea leaves
baijiu; Chinese liquor
Part 2 · 8 phrases
早餐我常吃面包，晚餐一般吃米饭和菜。
I usually have bread for breakfast and rice and dishes for dinner.
有的食物对身体好，有的不好。
Some foods are good for you and some aren't.
我的书包里总有一点儿零食，比如饼干。
There's always a bit of snack food in my bag, such as crackers.
北方人早上常吃馒头，晚上常吃面。
In the north people often eat steamed buns in the morning and noodles in the evening.
我爷爷爱喝绿茶，我奶奶爱喝红茶。
My grandfather likes green tea and my grandmother likes black tea.
白酒很辣，葡萄酒比较甜。
Baijiu is strong and burning; wine is sweeter.
Part 3 · 4 conversations
Anne stays over at Liu Xiaoxue's home and is surprised by the family breakfast, which is much bigger than her own.
安妮Anne
啊，你们家的早餐真丰富！有馒头，有面，还有鸡蛋和牛奶。
Wow, what a big breakfast your family has! Steamed buns, noodles, and eggs and milk too.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
我爸爸爱吃馒头，我妈妈爱吃面，所以两种都做。
My dad loves steamed buns and my mom loves noodles, so they make both.
Part 4 · 1 point
一A一B
Use 一yī + A + 一yī + B, with two one-syllable words that form a pair, to say one of each, as in 一大一小yí dà yì xiǎo, or that two actions go together in turn, as in 一来一回yì lái yì huí, there and back.
Describe a pair
Put 一yī before each of two one-syllable words that form a pair.
chocolate
soda; fizzy drink
wine
过年的时候，我们家的饭菜特别丰富。
At New Year, the food at our house is especially abundant.
汽水喝多了不好，你还是喝水吧。
Too much soda isn't good for you. You'd better drink water.
安妮Anne
我在家早上只喝一杯咖啡，吃一块面包。
At home I only have a cup of coffee and a piece of bread in the morning.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
那太少了吧？上午有四节课，你不饿吗？
Isn't that too little? You have four classes in the morning; don't you get hungry?
安妮Anne
十点就饿了，所以我常常在上课的时候吃零食。
I'm hungry by ten, so I often eat snacks in class.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
来，先吃一个馒头，再吃一碗面，今天上午你就不会饿了。
Here, have a steamed bun first and then a bowl of noodles, and you won't be hungry this morning.
Liu Ming's parents are visiting Beijing and coming for dinner, and he and Li Wen plan the dishes and the drinks.
刘明Liu Ming
我爸妈来北京看我，今天晚上来我们这儿吃饭，晚餐做什么好？
My parents are in Beijing to see me and are coming over for dinner tonight. What should we make?
李文Li Wen
你爸爸喜欢吃什么？
What does your dad like to eat?
刘明Liu Ming
他爱吃肉，还要喝点儿白酒。可是我妈不喝白酒，她说太辣了。
He loves meat and will want a little baijiu. But my mom doesn't drink baijiu; she says it's too strong.
李文Li Wen
那给你妈妈买一瓶葡萄酒吧，不太甜的那种。
Then buy a bottle of wine for your mom, a not-too-sweet one.
刘明Liu Ming
好主意。菜呢？做四个菜行吗？
Good idea. And the food? Will four dishes do?
李文Li Wen
一个鱼，一个肉，两个菜，再来一个汤，就很丰富了。
A fish, a meat dish, two green vegetables and a soup; that'll be a proper spread.
刘明Liu Ming
那我去超市买菜和酒，你在家先做米饭。
Then I'll go to the supermarket for the food and drinks, and you start the rice at home.
At lunchtime Teacher Wang finds Bai Jiayue in the classroom instead of the canteen, full of snacks, and talks her into eating properly.
王老师Teacher Wang
家月，十二点半了，你怎么还不去吃午饭？
Jiayue, it's half past twelve. Why haven't you gone for lunch?
白家月Bai Jiayue
我不饿，王老师。上午吃了饼干、巧克力，还吃了一个冰激凌。
I'm not hungry, Teacher Wang. This morning I had biscuits, chocolate and an ice cream.
王老师Teacher Wang
零食吃多了，到了吃饭的时候就不想吃了。只吃零食可不行。
Eat too many snacks and you won't want a proper meal. You can't live on snacks alone.
白家月Bai Jiayue
可是食堂的菜没什么味道。
But the canteen food doesn't taste of much.
王老师Teacher Wang
那也要吃。人要吃很多种食物，天天吃饼干、喝汽水，对身体不好。
You still need to eat. People need to eat many kinds of food; living on biscuits and soda every day is bad for you.
白家月Bai Jiayue
好吧。我以后一天只吃一块巧克力，汽水也少喝。
All right. From now on I'll have just one piece of chocolate a day and drink less soda.
王老师Teacher Wang
这样就对了。快去吧，食堂一点就关门了。
That's more like it. Off you go; the canteen closes at one.
Liu Xiaoxue buys tea for her father, and the shop assistant helps her choose between black and green tea.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
我想买一点儿茶叶，送给我爸爸。
I'd like to buy some tea as a present for my dad.
售货员Shop assistant
您父亲爱喝红茶还是绿茶？
Does your father prefer black tea or green tea?
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
他夏天爱喝绿茶，冬天爱喝红茶。买哪种好呢？
He likes green tea in summer and black tea in winter. Which should I buy?
售货员Shop assistant
那就买两盒吧，一大一小。大的是绿茶，小的是红茶。
Then buy two boxes, one big and one small. The big one is green tea, the small one black tea.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
好，两盒一共多少钱？
Good. How much are the two boxes altogether?
售货员Shop assistant
绿茶是今年的新茶，八十；红茶六十，一共一百四。
The green tea is this year's new tea, eighty; the black tea is sixty, so one hundred forty in all.
刘小雪Liu Xiaoxue
好，我付现金。麻烦您帮我装好，我今天就带回家给他。
Fine, I'll pay cash. Could you wrap them up for me? I'm taking them home to him today.
一大一小yí dà yì xiǎo means one big and one small; the nouns are already clear from the context.
In sentences
One of each size
那就买两盒吧，一大一小。大的是绿茶，小的是红茶。
Then buy two boxes, one big and one small. The big one is green tea, the small one black tea.
Two sizes stand for two kinds of tea.
One cold, one hot
两杯茶一冷一热，你喝热的吧。
Of the two cups of tea, one is cold and one is hot; you have the hot one.
Opposite adjectives.
One behind the other
他们一前一后走进了食堂。
They walked into the canteen one behind the other.
Before a verb, it says how the action is done.
There and back
从我家到学校，一来一回要两个小时。
From my home to school and back takes two hours.
Two verbs that go together in turn.
A：你买了几个杯子？ B：两个，一大一小，你喜欢哪个？
A: How many cups did you buy? B: Two, one big and one small. Which do you like?
刘明请爸妈吃饭，点了两个菜，一冷一热，他们都很喜欢。
Liu Ming took his parents out for a meal and ordered two dishes, one cold and one hot, which they both liked.
一A一B (yī A yī B) is a compact four-syllable pattern. A and B are two one-syllable words that belong together, usually opposites or a natural pair. With adjectives and direction words it says that of two things, one is A and the other is B: 两盒茶叶，一大一小liǎng hé cháyè, yí dà yì xiǎo, two boxes of tea, one big and one small; 一冷一热yì lěng yí rè, one cold and one hot; 一前一后yì qián yí hòu, one in front and one behind. With verbs it describes two actions that go together in turn: 一来一回yì lái yì huí, going and coming back. The pattern usually follows the thing it describes, or stands before a verb to say how something is done: 他们一前一后走进食堂tāmen yì qián yí hòu zǒujìn shítáng. It sounds neat and a little lively, and it is common in speech and writing. Watch the tone of 一yī: it is yí before a fourth tone, as in 一大yí dà and 一后yí hòu, and yì before the other tones, as in 一前yì qián. A common mistake is to put two-syllable words or measure words into the slots: say 一大一小yí dà yì xiǎo, not 一大盒一小盒yí dà hé yì xiǎo hé; if you need the full nouns, say 一盒大的，一盒小的yì hé dà de, yì hé xiǎo de.
