Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say – I just suddenly realized that life is but a dream.
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/idiom-story.mp3|titles=idiom story]
我刚刚才觉悟到人生如梦一场。Wǒ gānggāng cái juéwù dào rénshēng rú mèng yīchǎng. Wǒ （ 我 pronoun, I) gānggāng ( 刚刚 adverb, just recently, just a moment ago) cái (才 adverb, only then) juéwù dào ( 觉悟到, 觉悟 juéwù, verb, realize; 到 dào, verb, got something; 觉悟到 juéwù dào is a resultative complement structure, you realized something and got the understanding, the opposite is 觉悟不到 juéwù bù dào － wish to get the realization of something, but could not get it) rénshēng ( 人生 noun, life) rú (如 verb, like) mèng (梦 noun, dream) yī (一 number, one) chǎng (场 measure word for dream).
In Chinese, we have an idiom called 黄粱一梦 ( huáng liáng yī mèng ), the story goes like:
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/idiom-story1.mp3|titles=idiom story]
从前有一个穷困潦倒的书生卢生,
cóngqián yǒu yī ge qióngkūn lǎodǎo de shūshēng Lú Shēng ,
Once upon a time, there was a destitute and frustrated scholar, Scholar Lú.
在邯郸一个客店遇见道士吕翁。
zài hándān yī ge kèdiàn yùjiàn dàoshì Lǚ Wēng .
At an inn of hándān ( a prefecture-level city located in the southwestern part of 河北 Hebei Province of China), he met a Daoist priest, Old man Lǚ.
吕翁送他一个枕头，
Lǚ Wēng sòng tā yī ge zhěntou ,
Old man Lǚ gave him a pillow.
这时店主正开始做黄粱饭，
zhèshí diànzhǔ zhèng kāishǐ zuò HuángLiáng fàn ,
At this time, the owner of the inn started cooking yellow millet.
卢生小睡一会，
Lú Shēng xiǎo shuì yīhuì ,
Scholar Lú slept for a short while.
在梦中他中进士做宰相娶美妻，
zài mèngZhōng tā zhōng jìn shì zuò zǎixiàng qǔ Měi qī ,
In the dream, he became successful candidate in the highest imperial civil service examination, worked as prime minister, and married beautiful wife.
儿孙满堂，生活美满。
érsūn Mǎn táng , shēnghuó měimǎn .
His children and grandchildren were full of living room, and had a blissful life.
梦醒后，主人的黄粱饭都还没做熟.
mèng xǐng hòu , zhǔrén de HuángLiáng fàn dōu hái méi zuò shóu .
After he woke up from the dream, the host’s yellow millet meal had not yet fully cooked.
The idiom story came from 沈既济 shěn jì jǐ’s The Record Within Pillows (枕中记 zhěn zhōng jì) of 唐 Tang Dynasty.
A dream of golden millet 黄粱一梦 ( huáng liáng yī mèng ) also is called the beautiful dream of golden millet 黄粱美梦 ( huáng liáng mě mèng) or a dream of Hán Dān 邯郸一梦 (hándān yī mèng ). Thus, huáng liáng yī mèng refers to unrealistic fantasies vanishing like a dream. It is just like pipe dream in English: A pipe dream is a fantastic but vain hope, or something that could never come true although you would wish hard for it. The origin is an allusion to the fantasies that occur when smoking an opium pipe.
Later on this idiom also is used to refer to:
荣华富贵 ( róng Huá fùguì wealth and rank ) is like a dream, for it is all short and illusory. In the world, many beautiful things passed quickly and soon became nothing. When you realized the desire of your dreams suddenly vanished, either it was your ambition, your love, or your expectation, you can always lament your sentimental thought with this idiom and don’t forget to put on a long long sigh after it ….
Example usages:
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/idiom-story2.mp3|titles=idiom story]
1 他想成为全校成绩最好的学生，可是他整天打电动，他的梦想真是黄粱一梦啊。
tā xiǎng chéngwéi quán xiào chéngjì zuì hǎo de xuésheng , kěshì tā zhěngtiān dǎ diàndòng , tā de mèngxiǎng zhēnshì Huáng Liáng yī mèng ā .
He wants to become the student with best academic achievement in the school, but he plays video games all day; his dream is like a dream of golden millet.
2 富贵如浮云，世事犹如黄粱一梦 勿需在意。
fùguì rú fú yún , shì shì yóurú Huáng Liáng yī mèng wù xū zàiyì .
Wealth and rank are like floating clouds; things of the world are like a golden millet dream, thus, no need to care about.
3 他想成为公司的经理，可是因为经济不好，竟被裁员了。他不禁感叹人生就如黄粱一梦，终究成空。
tā xiǎng chéngwéi gōngsī de jīnglǐ , kěshì yīnwèi jīngjì bù lún zhī liàn , jìng bèi cáiyuán le . tā bù wán zhěng de gǎntàn rénshēng jiù rú Huáng Liáng yī mèng , zhōngjiū chéngkōng .
He wanted to become the company’s manager, but due to the bad economy, unexpectedly he got laid off. He can’t help but sigh that life is like a golden millet dream – in the end it will all become empty.
Nelly – Just a dream (Lyrics)
梦一场/那英 for the lyrics, pinyin and English translation, see http://www.chinesetolearn.com/?p=1317