Riddle story -Why I can’t “ask”?
Jack is both intelligent and handsome, and he is a student in our elementary online Chinese class. He is one of the best students among his peers;has only then learn Chinese online with us for three months, and could speak few Chinese words, phrases and/or sentences.
One day, he went shopping in China Town and was lost. He saw a young Asian girl walking by, he said ‘hello!” in Chinese to her. The girl responded: “hello!” in Chinese as well. Jack wanted to practice his Chinese and continued speaking Chinese to her “Could I ask you…” Before he could finish his sentence, the girl’s face turned red, left in a hurry and talking back to him as she passed him, “no, no, you cannot, it is not right….”
Jack was puzzled and thought:Why can’t I ask her for the direction?
Dear friends, could you explain to Jack what happened here?
Answer: Jake spoke in the third tone in Chinese “wen” became “kiss”, and “ask” is in fourth tone. He said to the girl “Could I kiss you?”, instead of “could I ask you?” in Chinese.
谜语故事
我怎么就不能“问”呢?
杰克既聪明又英俊,在我们中文初级班,他的学习成绩名列前茅;
才学了三个来月,就能结结巴巴地跟中国人交谈了。
一天,他到市中心的步行街去买东西,走着走着,就迷了路。这时对面走过来一位年青姑娘,他急忙上前问路。杰克先打招呼:“您好!”那个姑娘也回应说:“您好!”杰克很有礼貌地问:“我能不能问您一下儿?”没想到,那位姑娘一下子脸涨得通红,急忙说:“不行,不行!这不合我们中国人的习俗!”说完,她就慌慌张张地跑开了。
杰克迷惑不解地想:我怎么就不能问她一下呢?
亲爱的朋友,你能解答杰克的疑问吗?
谜底:杰克把第四声的“问”说成第三声的“吻”了。
