Level 6 · Lesson 20

我的中国故事
My China story

先说总结，然后说内容，最后说感受。

The capstone of Arc A: three connected minutes built from paired connectives, one 成语 and one 把 sentence.

听 · Listen

三分钟
 王老师 —  安娜，明天你要说三分钟。内容想好了吗？ 
Anna, tomorrow you speak for three minutes. Have you worked out what to say?  
 安娜 —  想好了。我想说说我的中国故事。 
Yes. I want to tell my China story.  
 王老师 —  好。先说一句总结，然后说三件事，最后说说你的感受。 
Good. One sentence of summary first, then three things, and your feelings at the end.  
 安娜 —  我的总结是：学汉语很难，但是很有意思。 
My summary is: learning Chinese is hard, but it's fascinating.  
 王老师 —  很好。里面有一个成语吗？ 
Very good. Is there a 成语 in it?  
 安娜 —  有。老师说过，熟能生巧。第一年我什么都听不懂，后来我每天听半个小时，现在能表达我的意思了。 
There is. You told us 熟能生巧. In the first year I couldn't understand a thing; then I listened half an hour a day, and now I can say what I mean.  
 王老师 —  好极了。最后再说一句：你把这几年的经验总结一下。 
Excellent. One more line at the end: sum up what these years have taught you.  
 安娜 —  我的感受是：只要每天说一点儿，汉语就会慢慢变成你的习惯。 
How I feel about it: as long as you speak a little every day, Chinese slowly turns into a habit.  

讲解 · Explanation

先说总结，然后说内容，最后说感受。

Three minutes is long enough to get lost in, so give it a shape before you open your mouth — the very shape you learned in l06-06. One sentence of 总结 tells the listener where you are going. The 内容 is three things, no more, each one a 复句 with both halves of its pair. The 感受 is one sentence at the end saying what it meant to you. A talk with this shape sounds finished even when your grammar wobbles; a talk without it does not.

因为……，所以……；虽然……，但是……；如果……，就……；不但……，而且……；只要……，就……

These five pairs are the whole of what level 6 added to your sentences, and both halves are always kept — that is the one thing English speakers most often get wrong in Chinese. Build each of your three items on one pair, and the talk holds together on its own: 因为想去中国工作，所以我开始学汉语。虽然第一年很难，但是我没有停。只要每天听半个小时，就会有变化。

我把这几年的经验总结一下。汉语变成了我的习惯。

Two more things belong in the talk. One 成语 — 熟能生巧 or 一举两得 or 入乡随俗 — dropped inside an ordinary sentence, never explained; four characters do the work of a paragraph. And one 把 sentence from l05-13: 把 fronts a definite thing so the verb can carry a result, so 把经验总结一下 works and 总结经验一下 does not. 总结 is verb and noun both, like 发展 and 变化; 感受 is normally a noun (我的感受是……), and 表达 takes 意思 or 感受 as its object, not a whole clause.

生词 · Vocabulary

词	Meaning	注 · Note
总结	to sum up; a summary	我的总结是……; 把经验总结一下
内容	content, what is in it	信的内容; 内容很多
表达	to express	表达我的意思 / 我的感受
感受	how you felt about something	我的感受是……; a noun

练习 · Practice

三分钟怎么说？ In what order should the three minutes go?

______我每天听半个小时，______我现在能听懂了。 Which pair fills the two gaps?

我把这几年的经验______了一下。 Fill in 'summed up'.

排一排。 Arrange the words: 'I got all the new words by heart.'

总结、内容、表达、感受、熟能生巧 Match each word to its meaning.

用一用 · Use it

说三分钟：一句总结，三件事，一个成语，一句有把的话，最后说你的感受。

This is the last thing you do in Arc A, so do it out loud and do it whole. One sentence of summary. Three things that happened, each built on one connective pair. One 成语 slipped in without explanation. One 把 sentence. One sentence of 感受 at the end. Do not write it down first — say it, stumble, and say it again. Six levels ago you had 你好; you can now hold the floor for three minutes.