Sunday, October 22, 2023

What does 餓鬼 (아귀) literally mean?

 ANSWER: hungry (餓) ghost (鬼)

Since it is getting close to Halloween, here is a short Chinese ghost story from the Chinese grammar book Schaum's Outlines: Chinese Grammar. I did, however, add the Korean pronunciations to the Chinese characters from the book.

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On the town’s west side 西邊 there is a 一所 house 房子. The house 房子 is both big and old. No one 沒有人 lives [there].

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Some people 有人 say that inside the house 房子裏 there are ghosts . [They] also say that if 如果 you
want to, with the ghosts , make friends 朋友, you must take food , go inside 進去, and give it to the ghosts to eat .

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Younger sister 妹妹 and I both had heard 聽說了 this 這個 story 故事 [and] wanted 想要 to see 看看 the ghosts

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We 我們 asked mom 媽媽, “Ghosts like to 喜歡 eat what 什麽?” She
said they 他們 like 喜歡 to eat rice 米飯 and also like to 喜歡 to eat dumplings 餃子 and tofu 豆腐.

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They他門 also like to 喜歡 eat noodles and also like to 喜歡 drink wine abd so cola 可樂.

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So所以, we 我們 made 做了 simmer-fried 紅燒 tofu 豆腐 and also 另外 wrapped 包了 a lot of 很多 dumplings 餃子.

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We我們 also bought 買了 wine and cola 可樂.

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Waiting until 等到 it became dark 天黑了, we 我們 then , to that house 到那所房子, went 去了.

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[We] entered 進了 the house 房子, [and] younger sister 妹妹 then asked , “Do you
think the ghosts today 今天 will drink the wine or 還是 drink the cola 可樂?”

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Suddenly忽然 we 我們 heard 聽見 a 一個 sound 聲音 as if 好像 someone 跟人 were saying 說話 this 一樣, “Wine or 還是 cola 可樂 both are good . We 我們 also like to 喜歡 drink water .”

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The dumplings餃子 and wine both fell to the ground 在地上.

我們出房子去了, 回家了.
We我們 ran out of the house 房子去了 and ran back home回家了.

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The next day第二天 [we] returned to look inside the house 房子裏一看.

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Behind the house在房子後頭 [we] found 找到了several 幾個 wine bottles酒甁, and they were all empty 全部是空的.

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On the ground地上 there was a letter 一封信 that said , “Thank you for 謝謝
giving us 我們 food and wine . We 我們 will see you later 以後再見.”


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