中文挑战

A situation puzzle revolves around a story whose details are hazy or only partially specified. To solve the puzzle, you must ask yes/no questions until the full story becomes clear. Technically there can be multiple answers but the only correct one is the one that the host specifically has in mind.

Read the following puzzle and ask questions (in Chinese) until you arrive at the solution.

一位男人住在十二楼的公寓。他每天早上出发的时候会坐电梯下楼。晚上回家的时候也会坐电梯，可是晚上的行为与早上略有不同。如果他一个人坐电梯上楼，他只会坐到十楼，然后剩下的两层走楼梯。如果有别人陪他坐电梯或者那天下了雨，他会坐电梯直接到十二楼。这到底是怎么回事儿？

NOTE: Please put proposed solutions inside the spoiler tag. If you don't know how to use the spoiler tag, send me a personal message. If you happen to already know the answer, you can participate but please refrain from asking questions that are too leading.

Here's a 综合填空 (cloze) passage taken from a grade 10 Higher Chinese practice book from Singapore. Can you pick the best word for each blank? Native speakers are welcome to take part!

Instructions:

1. Answer any number of questions in the passage. Simply post your answers as [spoilers] in this blog, and optionally give a quick reason why you chose each answer (in English or Chinese). If you want, say whether you used a dictionary or researched the questions. (Note: This passage was apparently modified from material on the web, so be careful in your searching, else you might spoil your practice.)

2. I'll then send you your score and list the questions you got wrong.

3. After 3 days, I'll post the model answers given in the book. You can then decide and discuss whether the book's answers are right. (They may not be: see the thread that spawned this challenge for an example.)

The passage may look long, but it's really not that difficult. Feel free to answer just a few questions here and there - I'll let you know how you did on those.

Here's the scanned passage. It's a simple one this time, about 台北的小吃. I've also OCRed the passage and edited it, so you can do all the e-dictionary looking up you want. Typos may still be present, so watch out. Here it is:

填空，GO！

(This is the first time we're doing this, so feedback on the 挑战 is welcome.)

Here's an audio clip (1:34) from the opening of the kung-fu classic The Five Venoms 《五毒》. There is a ton of good kung-fu vocab in this one, so it might be a bit tough if you do not spend some time in the 江湖. The characters involved are a student named 杨德 and his 师父. See if you can answer these questions without looking at the transcript (below and embedded as lyrics in mp3).

Five Venoms v2.mp3

1. How long has 杨德 been an apprentice?

2. What would happen if he spoke about 五毒门 to the outside world?

3. What is the first thing the previous five 师兄 did after their training?

4. Before sending him on a mission, what does 杨德's 师父 want to tell him?

Transcript

Some links: 《五毒》 on tudou. A thread on Shaw Bros. movies.

Use Chinese to describe how the bunny meets its maker.

Source: The Book of Bunny Suicides

This music comprehension 挑战 will test your 听力 and 翻译 abilities. The answers to questions #1-9 are all in Chinese and directly taken from the song so you don't need to make anything up, just listen and write down what you hear. The number of characters are in the parentheses next to each question and the out-of-order characters are also provided below. There are no extra characters. The answer to question #10 is your own English translation.

challenge-43.mp3

If the lyrics are hard to figure out, here's a youtube link (without subtitles) of Mickey He singing that is more clear:

1. In the second verse, what is she not begging for? (4)

2. What's drifting in the sea of bitterness? (5)

3. Why does she "cut a piece of candle light?" (5)

4. Holding her hands in supplication, she ... (6)

5. What does she hope that he stops doing? (5)

6. What does she hope to do under the Bodhi [Tree]? (5)

7. In the first verse, what is she not begging for? (4)

8. What happens before she quietly sings? (7)

9. What does she devote to provide for him? (4)

10. Turning back, she realizes ... (Answer in English)

Out of order characters for the answers:

亲爱的你怎么不在身边.mp3

Put the following lyrics back into their proper order. Note that these are the English translations of the original Chinese lyrics.

But darling why aren't you by my side?

The latte here doesn't taste like water

Because of you, I really want to be a little happier

To a solitary person, the passing of one day feels like the passing of a year

Ever sweeter phone calls and ever more consoling faxes

The nightscape here is breathtaking

In the horizon that measures 10,000 feet

How much time do we have to squander?

The other side of the ocean, dark clouds that cover the sky

In the noisy wee hours of the morning around three or four

The snacks here are very special

The air here is very fresh

My darling why aren't you by my side?

Don't make up for the distance that prevents us from embracing

In the room with the harbor view

In the shops where one can haggle

Source: 亲爱的你怎么不在身边, by 江美琪

关于情境猜谜游戏（situation puzzle），其规则如下：

1、若揭开谜底需要其它信息，猜谜人可以追问出谜人，但只有是非题能收到明确答案；如果不是是非题，出谜人可以透露所问问题是否与谜底密切相关。

2、猜谜人提交谜底必须用spoiler标签，但也可用论坛的私信把谜底发送给出谜人。

3、出谜人可以随时给出提示或对猜谜过程作一小结。

4、有人猜出谜底后，出谜人必须承认，但这并不代表游戏结束，其他人还可以继续追问。

This word puzzle is a variation on 7 Little Words. You are given 7 hints which correspond to 7 words/phrases that you must figure out. Each hint contains a bit of text and the number of characters in the given phrase. You are also given a pool of characters from which you must assemble all your answers. Each word in the pool can only be used once, and they must all be used to completely solve the puzzle. Can you deduce all 7 phrases? 加油!

Hints

Cooked dish (2 characters)

An order of dumplings (4 characters)

Numbing spicy soup (3 characters)

Imitation meat (2 characters)

Cook who prepares ingredients (2 characters)

Hot and sour soup (3 characters)

Fast food shop (3 characters)

Pool of Characters

肉 二 快 辣 餐

店 辣 子 一 肴

酸 厨 麻 份 烫

素 汤 菜 饺

Use Chinese to devise a caption for each comic panel.

Source: Shanna the She-Devil, by Frank Cho

Read the two comic pages and answer the following questions. See if you can answer the questions without having to look at the transcript.

1. What crime has occurred?
2. How was the crime committed?
3. How does the "正是如此" Indian arrive at his conclusion?

Transcript:

Source: Indian Summer, by Milo Manara & Hugo Pratt

Solve the riddle. You can ask yes/no questions (in Chinese) to narrow down the answer.

Source: 百佳谜语 (discontinued iOS app)

Point out the errors in the translation.

Mark: AWESOME night. Dry spell = broken.

Mark：这天棒透了。干旱期结束了。

Karen likes this.

Karen觉得这挺赞的。

Mark: MOM WTF

Mark：娘你发疯了吗

Karen: Oops. How do I unclick?

Karen：是故意的。玩得很开心吗？

Melissa: HAHAHAHAHAHA

Melissa：呼呼呼呼呼呼

Source: Awkward Moments in Facebook Likes

Welcome to the first Chinese Food Geography 挑战. Attached is a picture of 11 Chinese food items (mostly 小吃) and below is a list of 5 cities where these food items are well known. Please list the food items under the city that it is related to or famous for.

Provide your answers in Chinese for A thru K. The number of characters for each food item is shown in parentheses ( # of characters ). Answers for C / D are interchangeable and E / F / G are also interchangeable because they have similar number of characters.

北京:

A (5)

B (4)

上海:

C (3)

D (3)

香港:

E (2)

F (2)

G (2)

台北:

H (3)

I (2)

澳门:

J (4)

K (3)

Bonus #1: What is the more specific name for the food item on the second row, third from the left? If you had to order this at a Chinese restaurant, how would you order this type shown in the picture? (5 characters)

Bonus #2: Where does the famous types of the item on the second row, second from the left originate from? (3 characters)

Bonus #3: Traditionally, what are those red and yellow balls in the item on the third row, fourth from the left? (2 characters)

Can you answer these questions without looking at the spoiler tag? When you provide your answers, please mention if you looked at the spoiler tag or not. Also, have you gone to these cities and tried these foods? Which do you like and dislike?

Have fun!

In the spoiler tag are the out of order characters for items A thru K. There are extra characters that are not used and the answers to the bonus questions are not in there.

If I Was a Bunny

Unscramble the characters in the following translation.

If I was a bunny

是子假我只兔设

I would get stuff for free just because of my cuteness

为可西我东多因收的会很到免费我的爱

And become a P.E.T.A. activist

子而组且动善待会成活的跃为物织分

I would use the most expensive shampoo to keep my fluffiness

毛洗我蓬柔软的最松露持昂的用发贵我保会

And have a ton of carrots all over my house

到放也许的萝我多胡在要家里处卜

I'd marry a rich young widow with a fixation for bunnies

妇特的结婚兔年喜子寡和会我欢轻

And drive a convertible everywhere

敞着车辆篷以及方去所的一开有地

Then I'd start my own company

己创公自来下接司会我立的

But spend all my money in strip clubs

脱花总夜是舞在会会所有的但钱光衣

Source: Stuff No One Told Me (but I learned anyway)

1. What does JJ mean?

2. What does 咪咪 mean?

3. What Chinese word does JJ stand for?

Source: 一日一囧四格漫画

Peter Vs The Giant Chicken

This is another 7句话 word puzzle.

Hints

These hints are taken from things that happened in the video.

公鸡从****货运卡车上 (4 characters)

彼得用***不停地砸公鸡的脑袋 (3 characters)

卡车掉到**上，立刻爆炸了 (2 characters)

这场暴行都是为了一张过期的*** (3 characters)

看样子公鸡死了，可他突然****，竟然还活着 (4 characters)

***正好飞过来，就被公鸡抓住了 (3 characters)

公鸡不光会脚踢和拳打，他还会用自己的***对手的头 (3 characters)

Pool of Characters

There are some extra characters in this pool.

桥 复 上 眼 摔 脚 睁

夫 券 物 功 三 猫 机

戳 升 直 拖 机 船 购

到 睛 喙 鸟 开 印

Source: Family Guy

Below is a combo of five different audio clips from Toy Story in Chinese. The challenge is to name the character in each clip without looking at the transcript. Include a quick reason for each guess. If you don’t know all their names (I don’t), just say “the piggy bank” or whatever. If you’ve never seen Toy Story, then look at the picture above and do your best to guess. Good luck, partner.

Toy Story Characters.mp3

Transcript

Links: Toy Story 1, 2, & 3 in Chinese on yesasia.

jing-guo.mp3

This song called 经过 by 陈楚生 & 何洁 is from the TV series 夫妻那些事. Personally, I think this song (after listening to it a few times) is more catchy than the TV show (I'm currently on chapter 7). Anyways, these lyrics are all messed up and out of order. Please fix them.

种怕我那害坚持

的止无休声

过何流纵泪又眼如

样子原看来看它的一

不说都么什

过经的有曾么怎不都换

式我若你的爱方

开不已始同

折每你幸为运伴有个挫多

觉落散却来从都发没

曾过谁怀不离疑过过相过信待等开

穿被浪月滴漫水石岁

能们我得懂

未你想的我起象和的永是有一来远

命果这如生一如段同程旅

如不我换们下变置位

走整总后要才完过

你默的呀沉

值都过得有

雨一直下.mp3

Below are the translated lyrics, except the lines and words within each line are out of order. Fix them.

dreams instant, your in that crumbled

maybe and hate also him

loved resent because deeply you so you him

you deeply so with put his ways you because loved up

you forgotten from innumerable received you wounds have the loving him?

stupid why so the outset? at were you

him thinking leaving you're just about when

words pointless spouting

or if who happy not cares he's

much so of you've your wasted youth

more should no with concern you affairs his yourself

no you him for should fight more

less the harmonious mood than is

feel slowly your you heart changing

today, does he or love who starting worry doesn't about don't

love him you

you're facing with escape a way of precipice no

the same under roof living

so to marry determined him? and

flowers somehow shows with he up

should leave even bear can't you if you it,

falling the rain keeps

scene the awkward even making more

was it playmate to his just along all be

yet let brokenhearted, go you to have

right unbelievable,

You'll probably want to look at the original lyrics unless your listening skills are incredible:

Source: 雨一直下 by 张宇

Use Chinese to describe how the bunny buys the farm.

Source: The Book of Bunny Suicides

Watch the video and answer the following questions.

1. 他们正在播放什么样的音乐？

2. 小男孩在练什么？

3. 男孩手里握着什么东西？

Bonus

4. 男孩的五官稍微不舒服（从1:50到2:15）。是怎么啦？

5. 男孩对他不舒服的地方有什么反应？

6. 歌曲快结束的时候，发生了什么？

The following lines were taken out of the comic's speech bubbles. Put them back into their proper order. Remember that Japanese manga is read right to left.

还可以在天花板上走呢！

给我裤子吧！

不要再把新裤子弄脏了呦！

只要心里想到哪里，就可以到哪里去！

战车裤！

看看你做得好事！

倒是有条不太一样的裤子...

怎么搞的？已经没裤子穿了！

还有口袋，上厕所也没问题！

只要是裤子就可以了。

Source: Doraemon Color Collection, by Fujiko F. Fujio

Feed the Head

Play the Flash game and answer the following questions:

1. 按住耳垂有什么效果？

2. 悬停在眼珠上有什么效果？

3. 怎么能让摄像头出现？

Source: Feed the Head by Vector Park

Put the lines back into their proper order.

机器人在颤抖，发出了呼呼声。

科珀：“我啥也没碰！它自己走起来了，这个舵轮也并不能使用！”

科珀和佛瑞德往前瞪着眼睛（目惊口呆）。

科珀：“咱们进去调查一下吧。”

科珀：“佛瑞德！它自己在动呢！”

科珀：“我觉得它大概听不见你，佛瑞德。”佛瑞德：“你好。”

科珀：“好像没人在家。佛瑞德，去看看这里面是不是空的。”

牌子：“扩音器。”科珀：“做点什么！”

机器人的扩音器：“你好。”机器人撞上了一栋大楼。

哔哔声。

科珀和佛瑞德被惊醒了。科珀伸手，想把闹钟关掉。

牌子：“危险！前面有城市。”科珀：“快！”

科珀和佛瑞德站在大机器人的腿上。佛瑞德：“你好。”

科珀和佛瑞德爬到了入口。

科珀：“我想知道这玩意儿还能使吗。”

Source: Copper by Kazu Kibuishi