MAR 01, 2023 | $8.24
The Mimir Magazine EASY-TO-READ MANDARIN CHINESE
芒果怎么变成花？
约会在硅谷
龙的传说
How to Make a Mango Flower | 25
Dating in Silicon Valley | 19
The Legend of the Dragon | 10
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Editor's Note This issue will take you on a trip from the north of China, where you can enjoy the famous Peking duck, to the south, where you can try the unique “cross-bridge” noodles. If you are a foodie and like reading about the stories behind the food, definitely start from the two articles in the beginning, Peking Duck and Do Rice Noodles Go Cross the Bridge? In Asia culture, especially Chinese culture, one thing that you must know is the dragon. Since dragon has a special meaning for the Chinese, you can see dragon patterns in ancient architecture, elegant clothes, and beautiful objects. You may also find the word “dragon” in people’s names. In the article The Legend of the Dragon, you will learn more about Chinese dragons. Coming to the modern times, if you want to read about something contemporary, check out How do Chinese Do Selfies? and Dating in Silicon Valley. You probably have already noticed that people from different places take selfies differently. How about Chinese people? If you are curious to find out, How do Chinese Do Selfies? will tell you the answers. There are also many Chinese people living and working in other countries; how’s their life going? There’s a girl working in Silicon Valley, and her dating experience is not very good. She has insights into the inequality between men and women. Dating in Silicon Valley will be an exciting piece if you are interested in extensive reading and open to listening to some opinions, not only facts. Light readings are How to Make a Mango Flower? and Penguins Drink “Water.” You will learn a lot of helpful action/description-related words that you can use to show off in daily life. At the end of the article about penguins, there’s also a multiple-choice question. I’m curious to see what your answer is. At the very end, you will learn two Chinese idioms in the One Heart vs. Three Hearts article. The two words are easy to remember. They look similar but have different meanings. They are super helpful, as the four characters contain a rich implication beyond words. When I add those idioms to my conversations, I sound more like an expert in Chinese. I hope you enjoy this issue with an open heart and a cup of coffee. Cheers!
Katherine Green English Editor of TMM Mar 01, 2023
TMM | 01
TRENDS
中国人自拍的方法很特别吗？ Dating in Silicon Valley 约会在硅谷 How do Chinese Do Selfies?
15 19
FOOD IS EVERYTHING Peking Duck
北京烤鸭️
Do Rice Noodles Go Cross the Bridge?
04
米线也可以过桥吗？
07
ASIAN CULTURE
龙的传说 10 One Heart vs. Three Hearts 一个心和三个心，意思大不同！ 32 The Legend of the Dragon
LIFE & SCIENCE
？ 芒果怎么变成花？ Penguins Drink “Water” 企鹅喝水 How to Make a Mango Flower
Click here to listen to audio recordings of this issue on YouTube
TMM | 02
25 28
DARE TO BE A NERD JOIN THE MIMIR TMM | 03
RECIPES FOOD IS EVERYTHING
In my impression, most Chinese restaurants don’t really pay attention to presentation. But this doesn’t apply to the dish Peking duck. When you order a Peking duck, the chef will bring out the juicy well-roasted duck and present that in front of you. Then they will slice the duck into pieces. They will be laid out beautifully on a duck-shaped plate. I love to eat the crispy skin first! That image makes me hungry already. Anyways, I love Peking duck. Who doesn’t? Besides, I didn’t know that Peking duck was not originally from Beijing until I read the article. As we Yield: One 12-inch Pizza know, most famous Chinese stories are related to Prep Time: 2 hr 15 min emperors. So which emperor invented the Peking duck Total Time: 2 hr 30 min now?
北京烤鸭
谁把烤鸭从南京带到了北京？为什么？ Q: 2. 北京烤鸭怎么吃？ Q: 1.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL READING TIME 2 MIN
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如果你去北京，你的中国朋友一定会带你吃北京烤鸭。但是，你知道吗？第一只烤鸭，其实不 是在北京做出来的。 年以前，皇帝朱元璋把首都建在南京。他很爱吃鸭子，所以他的厨师用炭火烤鸭子。朱元 璋吃了以后，觉得非常好吃。后来，北京变成了首都，烤鸭也跟着皇帝，来到了北京。 1500
做烤鸭很不容易，所以一般来说，爸爸妈妈不会在家里做烤鸭，而是去外面买。烤好的鸭子， 看起来红红的，味道非常非常香。 北京烤鸭怎么吃？ 在客人面前，厨师会把烤好的鸭子，切成108片，然后，客人要把鸭肉放在很薄的饼里，放一点 葱、甜面酱、黄瓜条，卷起来，看起来比较像小小的卷饼。鸭骨头，会被做成汤，或者炒一下，放在 盘子里。 写到这里，我已经觉得饿了。如果你也喜欢吃鸭子，快去北京尝一下吧！ TMM | 04
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编辑：豆子)
VOCAB!
烤
kǎo to roast / to bake / to broil
其实
qí shí actually / in fact / really
皇帝
huáng dì emperor
厨师
chú shī cook / chef
变成 这篇文章分为四个部分，开头、故 事、做法吃法、结尾。阅读和学习的时 候，可以把四个部分分开读。最后，把 故事拿出来，用自己的话重新讲一次。 读了吃北京烤鸭的方法以后，想象一 下吃北京烤鸭的过程，或者动手演示给 自己的朋友。(铅笔是葱、钢笔是黄瓜、 橡皮是鸭肉、纸是薄饼、用铅笔在纸上 涂出一片黑色当做面酱） This article is divided into four parts, the beginning, the story, how to eat, and the end. When reading and studying, you can read the four parts separately. Finally, you may take the story out and retell it in your own words. When reading how to eat Peking duck, imagine the process of eating Peking duck, or demonstrate it to your friends. (You may use the pencil as onion, the pen as cucumber, the rubber as a piece of duck meat, the paper as the wrap, and use the pencil to paint a big black spot on the paper as sauce)
biàn chéng to change into / to turn into / to become
一般
yī bān same / ordinary / so-so / common / general / generally / in general
味道
wèi dao flavor / smell / hint of
客人
kè rén visitor / guest / customer / client
薄
báo thin / cold in manner / indifferent / weak / light / infertile
卷
juǎn to roll up / roll / classifier for small rolled things (wad of paper money, movie reel etc)
骨头
gǔ tou bone
炒
chǎo to sauté / to stir-fry / to speculate / to hype / to fire (sb)
TMM | 05
r e m m gra ew br 语法：一般来说
一般来说” generally speaking。在中文里，人们在讲到一个比较适用于大多数情况、比较普遍的事 物之前，会用到一般来说，用法和英文里的generally speaking基本一样。In Chinese, people usually use 一般来说 before saying something very common or something that applies to most situations. “
The way to use this is very similar to “generally speaking” in English. Structure:
一般来说，+ a sentence that describes something common Example: a. Gerenally speaking, people go to work at 9 am and get off at 5 pm.
一般来说，人们每天早上九点上班，下午五点下班。 一般来说，大城市的人都很忙，没时间陪家人。
b. Gerenally speaking, people in big cities are very busy, and don’t have time to be with families.
一般”的意思是general, ordinary, common, 加上“来说”，就是generally speaking，所以你可以看出 来，“来说”是***speaking。“来说”不可以单独使用。一般 means general, ordinary, common. When followed by 来说，it means generally speaking. So you can tell that 来说 is speaking. But you can’t use 来说 by itself. 但是，“来说”除了用在“一般”后面，还可以用在“对sb.”后面，表示对某人来说的意思。But, 来说 can “
also be used behind sb. It means to sb. speaking/in sb.’s opinion. Structure: To sb. +
来说
Example:
对我来说，他是最帅的。 To me (in my opinion), he is the most handsome one. 对他来说，玩手机比读书更重要。
To him (in his mind), playing on his phone is more important than reading books.
TMM | 06