Level 6 Archives - CloverChinese

成语故事：《望梅止渴》 Idiom Story: “Looking at Plums to Quench Thirst”

clover Tao — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 02:11:10 +0000

“望梅止渴” (Looking at plums to quench thirst) 是一个由中国寓言故事演化而来的成语。现在，这个词比喻人们在愿望无法实现后，用空想安慰自己的情况。

望梅止渴 Looking at plums to quench thirst

东汉末年，曹操带兵去攻打张绣，一路行军，走得非常辛苦。时值盛夏，太阳火辣辣地挂在空中，散发着巨大的热量，大地都快被烤焦了。曹操的军队已经走了很多天了，十分疲乏。这一路上又都是荒山秃岭，没有人烟，方圆数十里都没有水源。将士们想尽了办法，始终都弄不到一滴水喝。头顶烈日，战士们一个个被晒得头昏眼花，大汗淋淋，可是又找不到水喝，大家都口干舌燥，感觉喉咙里好像着了火，许多人的嘴唇都干裂得不成样子，鲜血直淌。每走几里路，就有人倒下中暑死去，就是身体强壮的士兵，也渐渐地快支持不住了。

曹操目睹这样的情景，心里非常焦急。他策马奔向旁边一个山岗，在山岗上极目远眺，想找个有水的地方。可是他失望地发现，龟裂的土地一望无际，干旱的地区大得很。再回头看看士兵，一个个东倒西歪，早就渴得受不了，看上去怕是难得再走多远了。

曹操是个聪明的人，他在心里盘算道：这一下可糟糕了，找不到水，这么耗下去，不但会贻误战机，还会有不少的人马要损失在这里，想个什么办法来鼓舞士气，激励大家走出干旱地带呢？

曹操想了又想，突然灵机一动，脑子里蹦出个好点子。他就在山岗上，抽出令旗指向前方，大声喊道：“前面不远的地方有一大片梅林，结满了又大又酸又甜的梅子，大家再坚持一下，走到那里吃到梅子就能解渴了！”

战士们听了曹操的话，想起梅子的酸味，就好像真的吃到了梅子一样，口里顿时生出了不少口水，精神也振作起来，鼓足力气加紧向前赶去。就这样，曹操终于率领军队走到了有水的地方。

“Looking at plums to quench thirst” is an idiom derived from a Chinese fable. Now, the term is used to describe the situation in which a person comforts himself or herself with false hopes when his or her wishes are not fulfilled.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, the founder of the Cao Wei regime during the Three Kingdoms Period, led his army to attack Zhang Xiu. It was the height of summer, and the sun was burning in the sky, giving off so much heat that the earth was almost scorched.

Cao Cao’s army had been walking for many days and was very tired. All along the road, there were no people and no water for dozens of miles around. The soldiers did their best but could not get a drop of water to drink. Under the hot sun, the soldiers were dizzy and sweaty, but they could not find water to drink. Their mouths were parched, and their throats felt as if they were on fire. Many of their lips were cracked and bloody. Every few miles, some men fell and died of heatstroke. Even the strong soldiers were beginning to wear out.

Cao Cao was very anxious when he saw this. He galloped to a nearby hill and looked as far as he could for some water. But he was disappointed to find that the parched land stretched as far as the eye could see, and the dry areas were vast. Looking back at the soldiers, he found that they tottered about, so thirsty that they seemed unlikely to go much further.

Cao Cao was a wise man. He thought to himself, “It would be too bad to find water. If we go on wasting our time, we would not only miss the battle but also lose a lot of our troops. What can be done to boost morale and motivate soldiers to get out of the dry zone?”

Cao Cao thought over and over again, and on a sudden inspiration, a good idea popped out of his mind. On the hill, he pulled out his flag and pointed to the front, shouting, “There is a large forest of plums not far ahead. They are covered with big, sour, and sweet plums. Hold on a bit longer, and you can quench your thirst if you go there and eat the plums!”

When the soldiers heard Cao Cao’s words, they remembered the sour taste of the plums and felt as if they had eaten them. Their mouths watered at once. They cheered up and hurried forward with all their strength. In this way, Cao Cao finally led his army to a place where there was water.

For more graded readers, please visit: http://nihaochinese.net

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描写秋天的成语大全 A collection of Chinese idioms describing autumn

clover Tao — Sun, 12 Sep 2021 11:27:34 +0000

Chinese idioms describing autumn

Read more: 金秋 Golden Autumn

Find more at: http://nihaochinese.net

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混合办公成新常态 The rise of hybrid working

clover Tao — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 07:11:45 +0000

The new norm of hybrid working

混合办公（hybrid working或hybrid-remote working）, 指个人、团队或组织一部分时间到工作单位、一部分时间以远程方式办公。也就是说，办公地点可以在办公室、家和第三空间之间切换。

在混合办公模式下，到办公室工作的员工数量减少。因此，企业可以缩减办公室面积，或者把办公室进行改装，增设共享工作空间（co-working space）和会议室，从而节约成本。同时，由于员工可以远程办公，企业的人才库可以大大扩充。从员工方面来讲，他们既可以根据个人喜好选择办公地点和方式，又可以因为地理位置不受限制而有更多的就业选择（job option）。

无论是远程办公（remote working）还是混合办公都得益于技术上的ABC——人工智能（AI）、大数据（Big Data）和云端（Cloud）。工作与生活、业务与娱乐、商业与消费、工作设备和个人设备之间的界限越来越模糊。人们越来越期望自己的工作具有跨时间（工作和生活的时间）、跨地点（工作的地点）和跨设备（手机电脑）的灵活性、自主性、可转移性。

混合办公方式由来已久，但因为新冠肺炎疫情和随之而来的远程办公试验而迅速推广，逐渐成为工作方式新常态。微软公司从2005年开始允许员工在任何时间、任何地点办公（work anytime and anywhere），只要按时完成任务就行。例如，今年4月，微软公司发布《Microsoft 2021工作趋势指数报告》，66%的受访在职人员希望公司保留远程办公选择。

与混合办公相关的一个新词是hybrid team（混合团队）。在这种新型工作结构中，团队有的成员远程办公，有的成员集中在办公室或别的某个地方工作。

当然，混合办公并非有利无弊。不是人人都有条件居家办公。因此，混合办公模式可能会伴随着社会经济和种族不平等（socioeconomic and racial inequality）。

Hybrid working, also known as hybrid-remote working, refers to individuals, teams, or organizations working on-site or remotely. In other words, the office locations switch between the office, the home, and the third space.

Thanks to hybrid-remote working, fewer employees come to the office. So companies can cut costs by downsizing or retrofitting offices with co-working spaces and meeting rooms. Meanwhile, employees can work remotely, so companies can significantly expand their talent pools. For employees, they can choose office locations and working styles according to their personal preferences. They also have more job options due to the unrestrained geographical location.

Both remote working and hybrid working benefit from the technology of ABC — artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, and Cloud. The boundaries between work and life, business and entertainment, business and consumption, and work devices and personal devices are increasingly blurred. And people increasingly expect their work to be flexible, autonomous, and transferable across time (work and life), location (workplaces), and devices (mobile phones and computers).

Mixed working has been around for a long time, but it has become widespread as the new normal with the outbreak of the COVID-19 and the accompanying telecommuting experiment. Since 2005, Microsoft has allowed employees to work anytime and anywhere as long as they complete tasks on time. For example, in Microsoft 2021 Work Trend Index released in April, 66 percent of employees surveyed said they wanted their company to keep telecommuting as an option.

A new word related to hybrid work is hybrid team. In the new work mode of a hybrid team, some team members work remotely, while others work together in an office or somewhere else.

Of course, hybrid working is not without its drawbacks. Not everyone can work from home. Therefore, mixed working patterns may result in socioeconomic and racial inequality.

For more interesting Chinese materials, visit www.gongfuchinese.com

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