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🇨🇳 Mandarin Chinese · Fluency Level 3

PART 1 · LESSON 8 OF 30 · 30 MINUTES

A Hundred Plants

Hear Teacher Song tell the legend of tea at dinner: be asked where tea comes from, guess Hangzhou, hear that legend has it Shennong tasted a hundred plants, ask why, hear that he was poisoned seventy-two times in one day, ask how he did not die, hear that a leaf fell into the water, ask whether it was a tea leaf, and hear that from then on there was tea.

Audio instruction: English

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THE STORY

The round table in Master Chen's main room in Longjing village on a March evening, Teacher Song in the seat of honour with his chopsticks raised, the dishes half eaten.

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Words and phrases

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欧文， 茶 是 从 哪里 来 的？ōuwén, chá shì cóng nǎlǐ lái deOwen, where does tea come from?
从 杭州 来 的 吧？cóng hángzhōu lái de baFrom Hangzhou, I suppose?
这 只 是 传说。zhè zhǐ shì chuánshuōIt's only a legend.
尝 百 草。cháng bǎi cǎotasted a hundred plants, word for word taste hundred grasses
传说 神农 尝 百 草。chuánshuō shénnóng cháng bǎi cǎoLegend has it Shennong tasted a hundred plants.
尝 百 草？ 为什么？cháng bǎi cǎo? wèishénmeTasted a hundred plants? Why?
中 了 七十二 次 毒。zhòng le qīshí'èr cì dúwas poisoned seventy-two times, word for word hit seventy-two times poison
他 一 天 中 了 七十二 次 毒。tā yì tiān zhòng le qīshí'èr cì dúHe was poisoned seventy-two times in one day.
那 他 怎么 没 死？nà tā zěnme méi sǐThen how come he didn't die?
掉 进 水 里。diào jìn shuǐ lǐfell into the water

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