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H1N1 Vaccine Posted by on Dec 9, 2009 in Vocabulary

Hi All,

Since returning to my hometown in Massachusetts, I have encountered some situations that would be very unlikely to occur in China.  The other day I went to get the H1N1 疫苗 (vaccine) in order to 预防 (prevent) the spread of the virus.  The vaccine was being distributed for free as part of a large public trial of the vaccine.  Everyone present had to 排队 (get on line) outside my old 学校 (school).  The line snaked around the building, and various interest groups took advantage of the line’s length to spread their message; some of these groups included people promoting a candidate and who wanted people on line to 投票 (vote) for him in the upcoming 参议会 (senate) elections.  Another group present at the event was a public interest group distributing 传单 (fliers) made to look like the information sheets being passed out by the doctors.  One of the vaccine administration volunteers took the sheet away, prompting one person to ask what gave them the  权利 (right) to be able to do that, given that the sheets were not their own and that they were volunteers without authority to do such things.  The volunteer promptly took the sheet and 扔掉 (threw [it ]away), which only led the person in line to inquire why she didn’t use it for 回收 (recycling).  I missed my hometown.

疫苗 yi2miao4 – vaccine
预防 yu4fang3 – prevent
排队 pai2dui4 – line up, form a queue
学校 xue2xiao4 – school
投票 tou2piao4 – vote
参议会 can1yi4hui4 – senate
传单 chuan2dan1 – flier
权利 quan2li4 – right
扔掉 reng1diao4 – to throw out
回收 hui2shou1 – recycle

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Comments:

  1. caimeiju:

    Andrew,

    We are interested in learning how to connect with bloggers who can write well in Simplified Chinese.

    How can we contact you directly to discuss in further detail?

  2. Peter Simon:

    Sorry, a very confusing text. Where did it happen? Your hometown? Boston? They were trying to inform citizens of your hometown, so probably. Then why did you miss your hometown at the end? What volunteer? Volunteer is a kind of worker for free, or for an experiment, other than that, perhaps you mean those who wanted to be vaccinated. Yeah, some medical experts say the vaccines haven’t been properly tested, so you all volunteered for an experiment. The doctors passed out …? So soon? Passed around sheets to people in the queue, one took the sheet=a sheet? What’s the problem? Why was he asked “what gave you the right to take it?” He was given the sheet. The right to be able to??? These are opposing concepts, can’t be used in connection with each other here, he was obviously able to take it, though why he didn’t have the right to do so is hazy. But then why did he take it again? Hope you can clarify the story a bit more. Thanks for the Chinese though. Cheers!

  3. eman:

    heyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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