Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – She decided not to euthanize her dying cat because she thought her little daughter could not bear it.
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她决定不给她生命垂危的猫安乐死，因为她想她的小女儿会承受不了。
tā juédìng bù gěi tā shēngmìng chuí wēi de māo ānlèsǐ , yīnwèi tā xiǎng tā de xiǎo nǚér huì chéngshòu bùliǎo .
tā (她 pronoun, she) juédìng (决定 verb, decide) bù (不 negate word, not) gěi (给 verb, give) tā (她 tā here is tā de 她的 for short, possessive pronoun, her) shēngmìng (生命noun, life) chuí wēi (垂危 adjective, close to death) de (的 particle to connect the attributive and the noun it modifies) māo (猫 noun, cat) ānlèsǐ ( 安乐死 noun, euthanasia) , yīnwèi (因为 conjunction, because) tā (她 pronoun, she) xiǎng (想 verb, think) tā de (她的 possessive pronoun, her) xiǎo (小 adjective, little) nǚér (女儿 noun, daughter) huì (会 auxiliary verb, will) chéngshòu (承受 verb, endure) bùliǎo (不了unable to).
Lifespan in Chinese, we call it 寿命 shòumìng. How long a person will live depends on many things and varies greatly. It depends on the genes of the person, the health of the person, the job of the person, and most important, how’s the person’s attitude about life itself.
Winston Churchill said: “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” In our life, we all have rainy and sunny days. When it is a sunny day, we can be glad that it is a blue sky day or we can be picky and complain about the scorching sun. When it is a rainy day, we can listen to the rhythm of raindrops or be grumpy about no outside playing time today. It is all in your mind – happy or not happy, content or not.
I like these three quotes about life:
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The purpose of life is not to be happy – but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all. ~Leo Rosten
生命的目的并不是在於快乐 – 而是在於要紧有影响，富有成效，有用，因为你的存在而使这个世界有些不同。
shēngmìng de mùdì bìng bù shì zàiyú kuàilè – érshì zàiyú yàojǐn yǒu yǐngxiǎng , fùyǒu chéngxiào , yǒuyòng , yīnwèi nǐ de cúnzài ér shǐ zhè ge shìjiè yǒu xiē bù tóng .
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. ~Nelson Henderson
生命的真正意义是去种树，而且你并不指望要坐在那些你种的树的树荫下。
shēngmìng de zhēnzhèng yìyì shì qù zhǒng shù , érqiě nǐ bìng bù zhǐwàng yào zuò zài nàxiē nǐ zhǒng de shù de shù yīn xià
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
~William Shakespeare
那根小蜡烛的光芒照得多远！
因此，在一个顽皮的世界照出一件好事。
nà gēn xiǎo làzhú de guāngmáng zhào de duō yuǎn ! yīncǐ , zài yī ge wánpí de shìjiè zhào chū yī jiàn hǎoshì.
Chinese grammar, how to use 不了 bùliǎo (unable to).
Most Chinese learners know that 了 le is a very common Chinese particle which expresses the completion of an action or a past tense marker. However, when 了 is pronounced as liǎo it is used as a verb.
不 bù is Chinese negate word which means not, and 了 liǎo is a verb which means finish. So, together, these two words literally means not finished, not done， and hence refers to unable to. These phrase usually is used after a verb.
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Example sentences of the usage of 不了.
1 水果太多，我吃不了。
水果[shuǐ guǒ] 太多[tài duō] ，我[wǒ] 吃[chī] 不了[bù liǎo] 。
There is too much fruit, and I am not able to finish it.
2 压力太大，我受不了。
压力[yā lì] 太[tài] 大[dà] ，我[wǒ] 受[shòu] 不了[bù liǎo] 。
There is too much pressure, and I am not able to endure it.
3 他对我的期望太高，我到达不了。
他[tā] 对[duì] 我的[wǒ de] 期望[qī wàng] 太[tài] 高[gāo] ，我[wǒ] 到达[dào dá] 不了[bù liǎo] 。
His expectation on me is too high, and I will not be able to reach it.
There is a Chinese idiom called 不了了之 bù liǎo liǎo zhī which means:
settle a matter by leaving it unsettled.
不了了之 bù (negate word, not) liǎo (verb, finish) liǎo (verb, finish) zhī (classic pronoun, it). The idiom means that something that got ended by the way of not finishing it. For example, two people were arguing and each has his or her opinions. They argued and argued， reached no conclusion or consensus, and the argument got settled by leaving it unsettled.
他们两个人对这件事的看法不同，吵来吵去，最后不了了之， 也没达成任何共识。
tā men liǎng gè rén duì zhè jiàn shì de kàn fǎ bù tóng， chǎo lái chǎo qù zuì hòu bù liǎo liǎo zhī， yě méi dá chéng rèn hé gòng shì。
Both of them had different opinions toward this matter. They quarreled a lot. They finally settled this matter by leaving it unsettled, and did not reach any consensus.
冰淇 不了了之
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