Think It Over Again and Again
| Characters: |
 |
Pronunciation:
fan(3) fu(4) tui(1) qiao(1)
Explanation:
To
describe someone who insists on using proper
words and sentences. Or someone who thinks
something over and over.
Tone:
Positive
The
Story: In the Tang Dynasty, there was
a poet named Jia Dao. One year he went to
the capital on a donkey for a national exam.
The beautiful scenery on the way inspired
him. He composed a poet off the cuff: "A
bird rested on the tree near the pond, a monk
knocked at the door in moonlight".
After
finishing this, Jia Dao was not sure about
using 'knocked' or 'pushed' for the second
sentence. While he rode on the donkey, he
recited the poem again and again while using
the two words 'push' and 'knock'. Just at
that moment, he met the famous poet Han Yu,
and Jia Dao shared his problems of writing
great poetry with Han Yu. Han recited it several
times and suggested using 'knock'. Later the
2 poets became very good friends.
Usage
Example (Pinyin): Jue(2) ding(4) qian(2)
wo(3) xu(1) yao(4) fan(3) fu(4) tui(1) qiao(1)
Usage
Example (English translation): I need
to think it over again and again before making
a decision.
Note:
The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4
spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create
those above where after each syllable we tell
you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond
to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to
complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms
newsletter with a good offline study program.
