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In this story, a gentleman named Buzi (卜子 – bǔ zi) asks his wife (卜妻 – bǔ qī) to make him a new pair of pants (褲子 – kù zi), but he doesn’t give her very clear instructions. HSK 3-4.
Some language stuff
First, a note on the use of 為 in the title 《卜妻為褲》. 為 has so many meanings in Chinese, in this case the definition used is 「to make」.
A couple key words that will inform your understanding of the story:
講究 jiǎng jiu – You may have learned this one already, but if you don’t know it, it’s crucial to understanding the plot. 講究 means to be meticulous or fastidious about something. The phrased used here is 不講究穿著 – 「to not be fastidious about what one is wearing」.
破爛 pò làn – This means ragged, ripped or torn. 破, by itself, usually means 「broken」, in this story, it is used to mean 「tattered」.
照 zhào – We usually first learn this character in the word 照片, 「photograph」, and 照 is also present in a lot of words that have to do with light, like 照亮 zhào liàng, to illuminate or shine upon. But that is not the definition of 照 being used here. In this case, 照 is short for 按照 àn zhào, to be based on, or 仿照 fǎng zhào, to imitate or follow.
《卜妻為褲》
從前，住著一個名叫卜子的人。
他平時很不講究穿著，經常是穿著一身破爛的衣服就出去了。
有一天，他還是和平時一樣穿著一條又髒又破的褲子出去了，走到街上，很多人都在看他的破褲子，他自己覺得很難堪，就買一塊布頭，回到家叫妻子給他做一條新褲子。
卜妻量量尺寸，問他：「這條褲子做成什麼式樣啊?」
卜子隨口回答：「照老樣子做吧！」
妻子以為丈夫喜歡那種又髒又破衣服的款式，就想：他是不是覺得穿這種褲子很舒服，而且這一條褲子不夠穿，所以叫我再做一條？
卜妻就認認真真地仿照老褲子的模樣，這裡戳幾個破洞，那裡抹一攤油，弄得皺皺巴巴、破破爛爛的。花費了不少工夫，總算完成了。
她把褲子放到卜子面前，得意地說：「滿意吧?同老褲子一樣的樣式。」
說話一定要說清楚，尤其是大事情。
Long ago, there lived a man named Buzi.
He typically wasn’t meticulous about what he wore, and often went out wearing ragged clothes.
One day, same as usual he went out wearing a pair of dirty, torn pants, but when he walked onto the street, many people were looking at his torn pants, and he felt quite embarrassed, so be bought a piece of cloth, and went back home to ask his wife to make him a new pair of pants.
Buzi’s wife took measurements, asking him: 「In what kind of style should the pants be made?」
Buzi casually answered, 「Base them on the old style!」
[His] wife thought her husband like that kind of dirty, tattered style, so she thought: Does he feel that wearing this kind of pants is comfortable, and feel that one pair isn’t enough, so he asked me to make another?
Buzi’s wife diligently followed the old style, poking a few holes here, smearing some oil there, making them wrinkled and tattered. [After] expending no small amount of effort, they were finally done.
She put the pants in front of Buzi, and pleased with herself said: 「Satisfied? The same style as your old pants.」
When speaking you must speak clearly, especially in important matters.
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