Summer break is just around corner! What do you plan to do for your summer break? Maybe a summer vacation to somewhere that is as mysterious and intriguing as Shangri-La or as common as those countless bowling alleys? No matter where you will go, wish you fun!
Learn Mandarin Chinese – How to say- Once in a blue moon, I go bowling on my busy summer break.
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/listen-to-recording.mp3|titles=listen to recording]
在我忙碌的暑假中，我偶尔去打保龄球。zài Wǒ mángliù de shǔjià zhōng , Wǒ ǒuěr qù dǎ bǎolíngqiú。 zài (在 preposition, on or during) Wǒ (我 is 我的 wǒ de for short, possessive pronoun, my) mángliù (忙碌 adjective phrase, busy) de (的 particle to connect the attributive and the noun it modifies) shǔjià (暑假 noun, summer break) zhōng (中 preposition, within) , Wǒ (我 pronoun, I) ǒuěr (偶尔 adverb, sometimes) qù (去 verb, go) dǎ (打 verb, play) bǎolíngqiú (球 qiú means ball, 保龄球 bǎolíngqiú means bowling) 。
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/listen-to-recording1.mp3|titles=listen to recording]
Shangri-La 香格里拉 Xiāng gé lǐ lā is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon 失去的地平线 shīqù de dìpíngxiàn by British author James Hilton. Lost Horizon is the story of a group of people who survive an airplane crash in Tibet and find shelter at a mysterious monastery…
Read the classic: Lost Horizon by James Hilton
Lost Horizon (Hardback)
Watch the unforgettable movie of Lost Horizon –Liv Ullmann (Actor), Peter Finch (Actor), Charles Jarrott (Director)
Lost Horizon (1973)
In the book, Shangri-La is described as a mystical, harmonious valley, located in the western part of the Kunlun Mountains 崑崙山 Kūn lún shān. Afterwards, Shangri-La has become the synonym of any earthly paradise or utopia — a forever happy land, isolated from the cruel, practical outside world. According to Lost Horizon, most people who live at Shangri-La are immortal, living long years beyond normal human lifespan, just like those vampires in the Twilight series.
In Chinese literature, a place similar to Shangri-La is described in one of Tao Yuanming’s 陶淵明 (晋 Jin Dynasty 265-420) masterworks – “The Tale of the Peach Blossom Spring” (桃花源记 Táohuā Yuán Jì). The story line goes:
Once upon a time, there was a fisherman lived in 五陵 Wuling. One day when he was out at fishing, he came across a beautiful peach grove, and he discovered a secluded utopia with happy and content people who lived harmoniously on their own in that secure, unknown world since the 秦 Qin Dynasty (221–207 BCE).
Next, let’s tackle this question — what does the idiom/slang/phrase “once in a blue moon” mean? Does it have something to do with moon at all? Is it like one of the moon phenomenons, such as eclipse? Or anything to do with blue cheese?
Some say this phrase might have to do with the lunar event: We know that the moon cycle is a regular length but the calendar months aren’t regular. So, every few years we get a calendar month that has two full moons in it. Normally there’s only one full moon in a month. The second full moon is called the ‘blue moon’.
If we go further and check, then we found out that the earliest usage of the phrase can be found in one of treatises of William Barlos, Bishop of Chichester of English (16th century):
“Yf they saye the mone is belewe, We must believe that it is true.”
If we translate this line to modern English, then it is:
“If they say the moon is blue, We must believe that it is true.”
Saying the moon was blue is like saying the moon was made of blue cheese, so it indicated an obvious absurdity. So, the early usage of once in a blue moon means absolutely never. However, the usage developed as time went by; the phrase, once in a blue moon today means “every now and then” or “rarely”. Thus, once in a blue moon is a phrase often used to indicate a rare occurrence of something.
In Chinese, we have an idiom that means once in a blue moon:
千载难逢 qiān zǎi nán féng which comes from the story about 韩愈 Hán Yù ( 768–824, a precursor of Neo-Confucianism as well as an essayist and poet of the Tang dynasty).
For Chinese version of the story see: http://idiom.wlps.kl.edu.tw/index.php?inpage=story&id=7992
载 zǎi is a classic word for year 年 nián , 逢 féng is a verb means to encounter or to meet. Thus, literally 千载难逢 means “hard to meet in a thousand years” or once in a blue moon:)
How to use this idiom? For example, if your favorite singer Mayday, JJ Lin, Bruno Mars， Ｕsher， David Guetta, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Shakira or whoever is coming to your town to have a concert, then you can say:
[audio:http://www.chinesetolearn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/listen-to-recording2.mp3|titles=listen to recording]
五月天,下个月要来我住的城市开演唱会. 我一定要去听，不能错过这千载难逢的好机会！
Wǔyuè tiān xià ge yuè yào lái Wǒ zhù de chéngshì kāiyǎn chàng huì , Wǒ yīdìng yào qù tīng , bù néng cuòguò zhè qiānzǎinánféng de hǎojīhuì !
Next month, Mayday will come to the city I live to have a concert. I must go to listen; can’t miss this once in a blue moon opportunity!
娃娃 – 香格里拉
《香格里拉》 第01集