HSK 4Lesson 42
Exam week brings plans and worries. You will plan a review for the mid-term, compare answers after the written exam, ask how scores and the college entrance exam work, and go through your mistakes with a teacher.
You will learn to talk about exams: mid-terms, finals and written tests, exam questions and answers, scores and passing, and how to learn from your mistakes.
Part 1 · 14 new words
Contains 4 words
mid-term
end of term
written exam
national college entrance exam
Contains 5 words
exam question
answer (to a question)
Contains 2 words
mistake; error
correct
Contains 3 words
accurate; precise
to sum up; summary
Part 2 · 8 phrases
明天考汉语，我今天得早点儿睡。
I have a Chinese exam tomorrow, so I need to sleep early today.
期中考得不好没关系，期末还有机会。
Doing badly on the mid-term is OK; there's still the final.
这次的试题不难，可是时间有点儿少。
This test's questions aren't hard, but time is a bit short.
你把答案写在最后一页，不要写在试题上。
Write the answers on the last page, not on the question sheet.
六十分合格，我考了五十八，还差两分。
The pass mark is sixty and I got fifty-eight, two points short.
这个句子有一个错误，你能找出来吗？
This sentence has one mistake. Can you find it?
Part 3 · 4 conversations
A week before the mid-term, Bai Jiayue asks her classmate Wang Yixue how her review is going and finds out she has not started.
白家月Bai Jiayue
下周就要期中考试了，你复习得怎么样了？
The mid-term is next week. How is your review going?
王一雪Wang Yixue
还没开始呢。听说这次只有笔试，没有口语考试。
I haven't started yet. I heard there's only a written exam this time, no speaking test.
Part 4 · 1 point
紧缩复句 无标记 / 不……也……
Spoken Chinese often packs a condition and a result into one short sentence with no comma and no 如果rúguǒ or 虽然suīrán. In 不……也…… (bù……yě……), a verb after 不bù and a result after 也yě mean even without doing it, the result still holds.
Even without it, still
Use 不……也…… (bù……yě……) to say that the result holds even without the first action.
to answer
up to standard; passing
score; mark
accurate; exact
她说汉语不但流利，而且很准确。
She speaks Chinese not only fluently but also accurately.
期末以后，我写了一份学习总结。
After the final I wrote a summary of my study.
白家月Bai Jiayue
笔试考什么？
What does the written exam cover?
王一雪Wang Yixue
语法、阅读和作文。语法我学得不错，不复习也能合格。
Grammar, reading and composition. I'm good at grammar; I can pass even without reviewing.
白家月Bai Jiayue
别这么想，期末成绩里也有期中的分数。
Don't think like that. The mid-term score is part of the end-of-term grade too.
王一雪Wang Yixue
真的吗？那我得认真准备了。这个周末我们一起复习吧。
Really? Then I'd better prepare properly. Let's review together this weekend.
Right after the written exam, Li Wen and Liu Ming talk about the questions and find they chose different answers.
李文Li Wen
考完了！今天的试题你觉得难不难？
It's over! Did you find today's questions hard?
刘明Liu Ming
前面的不难，最后一道题我不会答。
The first ones weren't, but I couldn't answer the last question.
李文Li Wen
我也不太会。可是不会也得写几句，不写一分都没有。
I wasn't sure either. But even if you can't, you have to write a few sentences; if you write nothing, you get zero.
刘明Liu Ming
对了，第三题你选的是哪个？
By the way, which one did you choose for question three?
李文Li Wen
我选的是第二个。
I chose the second one.
刘明Liu Ming
我选的是第一个。不知道谁的答案正确。
I chose the first one. I wonder whose answer is correct.
李文Li Wen
老师说今天晚上把答案放到网上，到时候对一下就知道了。
The teacher said she'll put the answers online tonight. We'll know when we check them.
Anne asks Liu Ming what counts as a pass at a Chinese school and how the college entrance exam is scored.
安妮Anne
刘明，你们中学的考试，多少分合格？
Liu Ming, in your secondary school exams, what score was a pass?
刘明Liu Ming
一般一百分的考试，六十分就合格了。
Usually, on a hundred-point test, sixty is a pass.
安妮Anne
那高考也是这样吗？
Is the college entrance exam the same?
刘明Liu Ming
高考不一样，没有合格不合格，只看分数。分数越高，能上的大学越好。
It's different: there's no pass or fail, only the score. The higher your score, the better the university you can go to.
安妮Anne
你当时考得怎么样？
How did you do back then?
刘明Liu Ming
考得一般，还好上了自己喜欢的大学。
Just average, but luckily I got into a university I liked.
Teacher Wang goes through the mistakes in Anne's mid-term Chinese composition and tells her how to avoid them next time.
王老师Teacher Wang
安妮，你期中考试的作文我看了，有几个错误，我们一起看看。
Anne, I've read your mid-term composition. There are a few mistakes; let's look at them together.
安妮Anne
是语法错误吗？
Are they grammar mistakes?
王老师Teacher Wang
语法没什么问题，主要是有的词用得不太准。你看这句：“我很知道北京。”
The grammar is mostly fine; the main thing is that some words aren't used quite accurately. Look at this sentence: 我很知道北京 (wǒ hěn zhīdào Běijīng).
安妮Anne
那正确的说法是什么？
Then what is the correct way to say it?
王老师Teacher Wang
应该说“我很了解北京”。“知道”前面一般不用“很”。
You should say 我很了解北京 (wǒ hěn liǎojiě Běijīng), I know Beijing well. 知道 (zhīdào) does not usually take 很 (hěn).
安妮Anne
我明白了。这样的错误我以前也有过。
I see. I've made this kind of mistake before.
王老师Teacher Wang
所以你要把这些错误总结一下，记在本子上。
So you should sum up these mistakes and write them down in a notebook.
安妮Anne
好，我把它们整理到一张表格里，期末考试的时候就能写得更准确了。
Okay, I'll put them into a table, so I can write more accurately in the final exam.
不复习也能合格bú fùxí yě néng hégé: even without reviewing, I can pass.
Two subjects
With two subjects, 也yě goes after the second subject.
Say 你不说我也知道nǐ bù shuō wǒ yě zhīdào, never 你不说也我知道nǐ bù shuō yě wǒ zhīdào.
No linking word
Two parts side by side: the first is a condition, the second its result.
不写一分都没有bù xiě yì fēn dōu méiyǒu means 如果不写，一分都没有rúguǒ bù xiě, yì fēn dōu méiyǒu.
In sentences
Even without A
这个菜很简单，不学也会做。
This dish is very simple; you can make it even without being taught.
不……也…… (bù……yě……): the result holds anyway.
Still have to
这个会很重要，你不想去也得去。
This meeting is very important; even if you don't want to go, you have to.
Here 也yě goes with 得děi: you still must.
Two subjects
你不说我也知道。
Even if you don't tell me, I know.
也yě follows the second subject 我wǒ.
No linking word
课文这么长，不预习上课听不懂。
The text is so long that if you don't prepare, you won't understand in class.
The first part is the condition, with no 如果rúguǒ.
A：语法你不复习也能合格吗？ B：能，可是阅读我不看就写不出来。
A: Can you pass grammar even without reviewing? B: Yes, but if I don't read the passage I can't write the answers.
白家月不预习上课就听不懂，所以她每天晚上都去自习。
If Bai Jiayue doesn't prepare, she can't follow in class, so she studies on her own every evening.
A condensed sentence joins two clauses into one breath: no comma, no linking word such as 如果rúguǒ or 虽然suīrán, and the meaning comes from the word order and an adverb such as 也yě, 都dōu or 就jiù in the second part. You already know a marked type, 一……就…… (yī……jiù……). The most common type at this level is 不……也…… (bù……yě……): 不bù + verb, then 也yě + result, 'even without doing this, still that': 不复习也能合格bú fùxí yě néng hégé, I can pass even without reviewing; 不会也得写几句bú huì yě děi xiě jǐ jù, even if you can't answer, you still have to write a few sentences. With no marker at all, the first part is understood as a condition and the second as its result: 不写一分都没有bù xiě yì fēn dōu méiyǒu, if you write nothing, you get no points at all. These sentences are spoken and short; in careful writing, a full sentence with 如果rúguǒ is clearer. When the two parts have different subjects, each subject stays in front of its own part and the adverb comes after the second subject: 你不说我也知道nǐ bù shuō wǒ yě zhīdào. A common error is to put 也yě before that subject, as in 你不说也我知道nǐ bù shuō yě wǒ zhīdào; 也yě is an adverb and must follow the subject.
