Intermediate - Cold Will Kill You

This poor kid is scarred for life by his grandma. No clown could have put this much dread into him. This paid announcement funded by the Clown-Association-of-America.

听说研究显示冷天气不能造成感冒，可是我还觉得身体太冷帮助感冒。　可是怕冰水，空调，等　是完全不同的信念。 The dialog calls ice cream 冰激凌 but I learned it as 冰淇淋. 怎么对？

Maybe grandma taught 阿宝 to say 冰激凌 instead of 冰淇淋, since the former seems to literally mean "icy---catch a chill---insult. "

This lesson hits a little close to home. That header should read "Anyone who has passed a damp Shanghai winter in John's guest room...." Coldest night of my life.

bing1 qi2 lin2 / bing1 ji1 ling2 Both terms are used for "ice cream". Perhaps it relates to regional preferences as to which term is used ?

luobinzhenmei and PaulC, 冰激凌 (bīngjīlíng) 冰淇淋 (bīngqílín) are both acceptable terms for ice cream. It's a matter of personal preference, which one people use. But both are OK!

some more 感冒-related vocab : 生病 shēngbìng to fall ill 症状 zhèngzhuàng symptom 咳嗽 késou cough 鼻塞 bísè stuffy nose 嗓子疼 sǎngzi téng sore throat 打喷嚏 dǎ pēntì to sneeze 流鼻涕 liú bítì to run at the nose 体温 tǐwēn body temperature 打针 dǎzhēn to give/have an injection 吃药 chīyào to take medicine

Some possible, if boring reasons for grandma's beliefs: - traditionally, the only way it would be safe to drink water would be boiling it. 拉肚子 could easily result from germs in water of uncertain quality, not to mention the difficulty to make ice(cream) - hot drinks increases perspiration, which evaporates and facilitates homeostasis (regulation of body temperature) - cold drinks modify the chemical environment and probably mess up digestive enzymes - it's pretty obvious that hot drinks have a far more thirst-quenching, long-lasting effect than cold drinks - even the US CDC recommends to avoid very cold drinks in cold weather as they can cause stomach cramps! - we all know the impact of carbonated, sweet drinks on the health / weight of kids in the West, particularly in the US Anyway, I agree that warm, plain drinks are way better than cold, sweet drinks, even in summer.

"Some possible...reasons ..for grandma's beliefs" I studied acupuncture about 20 years ago and I recall that 'heat' and 'cold' and 'wind' were all causes of disease, and the diagnosis and treatment of such diseases was pretty well-established in traditional chinese medicine, suggesting ancient origins. Indonesians have similar beliefs common in their culture today, suggesting a common thread in Asian cultures perhaps?

Some people believe using too much AC can trigger Bell's palsy although that fact probably has about as much credibility as granny's ideas about water. Great lesson though.

hi i think its a good lesson because here in china (xian) we start to suffer from the cold thanks

Ah, Dave is referring to the "meat locker" guest room of my old apartment... My clever trap has been sprung on two current ChinesePod employees (the other is John B), but it never worked! I guess Dave's Canadian blood saved him. I'm not sure how John B escaped his icy doom.

Goulniky, "it's pretty obvious that hot drinks have a far more thirst-quenching, long-lasting effect than cold drinks" Huh??? If there's one thing I can't stand, it's being really thirsty and only having hot things to drink. They may hydrate me, but they don't have that immediate thirst-quenching effect that cool water does. As far as I know, professional sports trainers recommend cool (not cold) water to rehydrate in the summer. Maybe Clay has some experience with this...

In sport, I have never in all my days seen someone going for a hot glass of water. Likewise, if a trainer every tried to give a player some, they wouldnt have a job very long.

sure, who would do this today, but then where in the West would be be offered 热水? it's still very cultural, same with food taste, and so much dependent on advertising dollars nowadays, billions of them...

Yes, Chinese martial arts instructors/medical personal are a bit different too. The most striking difference is they won't put Ice or Cold on a swollen injury with the thinking that cooling it down will hamper the recovery.

I think they are mostly old wives tales, in my whole life back in oz I never got sick from any of these things, and i would often do these things. Since being in China I would have friendly arguments about these things with my friends tough some of these just weird me out, such as.... -after giving birth the woman cant bathe or touch water for a month or she will be doomed with arthritis! -the wind at night will turn your skin black! just to name a few. I heard these from different sources from various parts of China so it couldn't be just a Jiangsu, Shanghai thing has anyone else heard these things or others?

Cooling slows.. So in that line of thought, cold drinks will slow the metabolism/digestion. But because in the West most are Big, hearty ppl so the effect is less noticeable.

"Cooling slows.. So in that line of thought, cold drinks will slow the metabolism/digestion. " 不一定 ： cold may actually induce the opposite effect, i.e. the body responding by producing more enzymes! I don't know, but metabolic pathways and feedback regulation are quite complex, and sometimes counter-intuitive, ask AZERDocMom

I've heard somewhere that drinking cold drinks can actually be useful for losing weight because the body needs to expend energy to warm up the liquid so it can be broken down and digested; so basically warming the water gives your stomach and body a little workout.

It depends... As we age our metabolism slows. Even the west agrees on this. So, eating a big meal as we did when we were younger takes longer to digest and also draws energy from other parts of the body to do it (feel like taking a big nap after that meal, did you feel that way when you were young?). So, add a big fat cold drink to the mix too. The idea is, and this is where Nei Gong or breathing exercises come in, is as we age to maintain the younger metabolism with exercise and breathing and avoiding things which cause a slowing of the metabolic rate. Instead of viewing the body as a bio-chemical factory (which it is... but), view it like a car engine. For an engine to work you need air, fuel, and a chamber to make it go round. If you want the engine to have more power (outside of adding cylinders) you increase fuel (4 barrel carb) and air to get that fire stoked. Just like an old steam engine. View the digestive process like a steam engine, place in it good quality fuel and air and it will be pumping on all cylinders, like a rocket. That's all it comes down to, really quite simple.

It's very, very rare, but I've had upset stomachs after drinking ice water after eating. Once I slept while the AC was blowing on me and I woke up with very stiff joints. Still, I don't think hearty people need to be so paranoid about the cold. When everyone was malnourished and living conditions were unhygenic, people got sick all the time and it often and led to more serious conditions and even death. I suspect it was the Grandmas who borrowed a page from the theory of Chinese medicine (maybe misrepresenting it, I don't know) and spread the "cold is evil" culture. As far as ice cream causing diarrhea, a lot of Chinese people used to be lactose intolerant (I don't know about now). When I workout at the gym I sometimes wonder if my desire for ice cold water is just a psychological habit.

My mom gave me cola when I had an upset stomach. So there! 如果我肚子有点不舒服我妈给我喝一杯可乐。 那怎么样！

Goulniky, John, don't get me started about the thirst-quenching effect of a nice hot cup of coffee. ;) Lantian, but *warm* cola.

Lantian, Our moms gave us warm milk with sugar. Mmmmm. We even got warm lemonade. But then, our moms may be older than yours. 刚跑步后在喝冰水一定害肚子疼。Right after running, drinking ice water (or Gatorade) does make my stomach hurt. Grandma isn't all wrong.

This podcast made me chuckle because of the familiarity with the old wives’ tales I grew up with : ) Yes, I too have been chided for sitting in front of the AC as recent as this summer by my 72 year old mom who disregarded still to this day that I am an adult, have my own kids, and most of all, am a physician. Haha, what can you do? Moms will always be moms with their ingrained (albeit mistaken) advice. As for the interesting discussion in this thread, it’s fun to hear peoples' anecdotal experiences because each one of us is slightly different from one another. One, however, cannot make conclusions from anecdotes; they are merely observations. I’ll take a stab at the ice on the injury issue. An acute musculoskeletal injury initiates a host of metabolic cascades that result in the swelling you typically see e.g. sprained ankle. But, these same processes can cause tissue damage and prolong recovery. Applying ice reduces these metabolic reactions (as goulniky correctly supposed) and swelling. This then reduces local tissue injury at the microscopic level and thus hasten recovery. (Phew that’s a mouthful!) Heat does the opposite to an injury. The other easy explanation has to do with catching a "cold" from being exposed to the cold. That’s been shown over and over again not to be true. It’s well established that a “cold” is a viral infection, these viruses being ubiquitous all around us. We think we catch it from cold exposure mostly because there is an increased exposure to these viruses during the winter months (from touching, hugging, sneezing, shaking hands.) Now that I’ve bored most of you, my best advice for avoiding a cold is this: wash your hands constantly, and do not touch public surfaces. The idea is to avoid completely placing an unwashed hand to your face or nose area. Avoid being sneezed or coughed on. There is also some decent data showing increasing daily vitamin C intake prevents and shortens colds.

If I´m ill I drink my special green tea mix (green tea + peppermint tea + lemon tea) and sleep as long as I can. BTW haven´t been ill for years :-)

Thanks for that Doc, actually I find it incredibly interesting. Disclamer to previous comments: "I am not a doctor nor do I play one on tv :-)"

Interesting information here on heat/cold sprains: http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec22/ch336/ch336e.html

*celebration* thanks chinesepod! i loved this pod so much! it was the first intermediate where i really felt i understood it and it was incredibly helpful. at last, i am leaving elementary behind! ^_^ quite fitting with the topic too, because i am very prone to colds. my current one has been around for about 4 weeks. at least i don't have any scary grannies telling me i'll die though... ;)

后来我会怕感冒了：）

Exaggeration is the greatest weapon adults use. My mom used to wake me up at 6:30 by telling me it was nearly 7:00. She 'd always say 'I rounded it up.'

"wake me up at 6:30 by telling me it was nearly 7:00" LOL! That's hilarious, Jenny! I should try that on my kids...NOT!

Jenny, how do you say "to round up" in Mandarin?

Good lesson - though one of the easier recent ones. Good reinforcement of vocabulary I'd half forgotten as I don't go to China that often. Even extension exercises not too difficult. Good cultural background - more about Chinese grandmas than Chinese medicine...

If we're on about strange old wives tales involving air conditioning, has anyone else heard the one about not *sleeping* beneath an electric fan (电扇)? I've only heard this a few times in China (its not nearly as pervasive as the universal horror one faces braving a light drizzle sans umbrella), but some of my Korean friends claim they get it all the time. @clay - I'll get my Ayi to whip up a nice batch of warm Tang for our next office football match. 38.7 degrees of pure refreshment on a hot summer's day.

I've got nothing useful to add here, I just wanted to note the fact that this is my first foray into an Intermediate lesson and there were no casualties. That is all. As you were. :-D

"there were no casualties" But didn't you hear that the kid eating ice cream in front of the air conditioner is going to die?

theo nly thing tht kept me warm in a "Teachers flat" in Yangshuo was a (forbidden, taking too much electricity) electric blanket. Also being 医生I totally agree with colleque Azerdotcom (;-)

shan 医生, 謝謝您。 请问您是那种医生？ shan yi1sheng1, xie4xie4 ning2. qin3wen4 ning2shi4 na2zhong3 yi1sheng4?

I never got diarrhea by eating ice cream, perhaps my tonsils got sorrow, that was what mom used to tell me, anyway. I heard a Chinese woman say she could not drink soda because one should avoid cold drinks during the period. Where I live it is never cold, but traditional food here is hot spicy shrimp soup. When I eat it I sweat like pig, but no problem. Ironically people here have a issue with my hot tea. I like drinking hot tea in a warm day. I think the tea's extra hydration enables you to endure long hot day.

A traditional doctor up here told me that everyone in the south drinks hot water throughout the summer to keep cool. His rationale was that increasing the body's temperature induces perspiration which opens up the pores and allows the body to breath. He also said that it's a bad idea to stand or sleep in front of a fan, as the cold air causes the pores to close up, keeping the skin from breathing. Not sure if there's any truth to these theories (facts?), but it at least sounds good.

marcosbento, It's interesting, a French women also told me she doesn't drink cold drinks during her period. She got that from her mother and grandmother.

you can get all kinds of diseases when your immune system is weak and in summer time, it's easier to get sick. Whether it's airconditioning, icecream or whatever, it could get you sick depending on your body condition and the amount of exposure to them. And, it's true that when you are overly exposed to heat, it's very dangerous to drink cold water because as cold water is absorbed in the body, it locks the heat inside the body and make you very sick. My friend living in Taiwan has experienced it herself!! Anyway, let keep in good heath, bodies!!

Of course, when you're thirsty and hot,as long as it's not sunstroke, just drink cool~ water and you will regain vogor!! ^^

This lesson reminds me of the time when I started to learn Chinese. We had these great text books from 北京语言学院(Beijing Foreign Language Institute). The phrases we learned in the first few lessons were 你忙吗? (Ni mang ma? Are you busy?) and 马丽感冒了 (Mali ganmao le. Mary got a cold). We would walk around practising these two very crucial sentences. The message definitely was driven home by our teachers, that 感冒was a serious affair.

John must have inspired this lesson - I've heard him rant about 'cold' issues before : ) I'd have to say the cold/hot stuff has something to do with habits and what one's used to. My wife does get stomach aches after drinking really cold stuff that never phases me. Her stomach can't handle the temperature difference I guess. They can eat flaming hot and spicy foods but not stand a little cold water. Yet every person I know back home would order cold drinks with ice summer or winter. The wife also constantly tells me to wear more (though less than her parents, who I shocked about a month ago by wearing shorts and sandals when it was 'only' 25 degrees out). Many Chinese people still seem to believe that cold air causes illness, and don't accept the idea of viruses. I don't know how many times I've seen people cough, sneeze or yawn without covering their mouths... even people pushing baby carriages - right into the baby's face. There doesn't seem to be concern that they're spreading germs. On the other hand, wearing 3 sweaters and two layers of long underwear to stay extra warm is taken as perfectly normal. Ever seen babies dressed that way, even in the summer? They must get some serious rashes. Am I the only one who likes drinking slurpees in the winter when it's -30 in Canada (when I'm there)?

If Shangai winters are anything like Chengdu winters, then two to three layers of long underwear is called for. ACs - to warm your apartment - are a new development here. I remember the days when we wore scarves and gloves to class and went out for a stroll to warm our stiff bones, because it tends to be colder inside the house then outside in winter. And it's not even below zero! The cold, humid air kills. Ganmao is a very important subject of conversation for winters in Chengdu

Nice lesson, not too difficult, good stuff for my level. The discussion about 'cold' is interesting too, though not based on solid research, I fear. I remember a discussion on cold drinks in Spain, some 25 years ago, when the habit of drinking ice in your coke was also developing there. One of the consequences: an increase in stomach diseases, including cancer. Drinking ice is not something our body was designed for and the Chinese used to understand this. The young want to have Western diseases and it seems they are being successful!

I suspect that getting sick from drinking coke with ice has more to do with dirty ice machines than the drink being cold. You would be amazed how many germs there can be in an ice cube sometimes.

'You would be amazed how many germs there can be in an ice cube sometimes.' Isn't that a part of why Chinese don't like ice in their drinks?

I always think it's a little funny when people buy bottled water and then pour it over non-purified ice. That's like throwing the airbag off the building after the stuntman has hit the ground. :-D

I think worrying too much about your health is bad for your health.

Nice lesson. The last couple of Intermediates I've listened to have been pitched at a good level for the move up from Elementary. As to the debate over cold. Its not about viruses as such, surely, but weakening the body's defense mechanisms, which then allow viruses to do their work.

Glad to hear the level of difficulty was so comfortable for so many of you. We actually revised this lesson several times to make it more accessible. And FRANK -- the "Newbie blogger" -- is starting to tune in to Intermediate lessons as well! Awesome. Onward and upward, Frank. Great to hear I have you as a listener now.

haha!! I thought this was funny because this really is how it was when I spent a year in China! Even nowadays...parents and grandparents are still like this! It was very strange for me, since colds and fevers are not thought of as very severe in the U.S. And to make matters worse for me, I lived in Harbin!! COLD CITY! So this was lesson was very familiar to me...A great lesson to learn for all of you who are planning on going to China and have friends or family there!

Oh...but one thing to point out... Chinese people (or people in Harbin) rarely ever add ice to their drinks. There were no ice trays in my house...and drinks are normally bottled and put in the refrigerator...or simply drinken warm (or hot if it's tea, milk or water)

to wildyaks: Yah! I had friends who lived in Chengdu, and they would always tell me how cold is was INSIDE their houses rather than outside! So they'd where their winter jackets inside the house all the time! I was glad to have indoor heating... but I still had to where extra THICK pajamas around the house so that I wouldn't catch a cold! I was normally HOT rather than cold when I was at home! >.<

Here's a Chinese expression for you guys... 狗拿耗子，多管闲事. It conveys the message "mind your own business" and that's what I say to anyone who tells me what to drink or how to use my aircon or heater!

Inspired by Frank I took a serious stab at this lesson as well and had one of those little moments where I felt very good about how much I've actually learned since I joined Cpod at the end of June. Of course I still can't say much but I'll get there some day. :-) Nothing in it was too difficult for me to handle with a little patience and time except for one of those pesky little particles Chinese is so full of: 着 As there's nothing in grammar section about it yet, I hope one of you would do me the pleasure of explaining how it's used.

Lunetta, I'm thrilled to hear that my little post on the subject inspired you to take a stab at this with me! Yay! And John, you guys did a GREAT job making this lesson more accessible than previous Intermediate lessons. I'll definitely keep tuning in. I have to say that my favorite part of the episode was explaining the difference between 死 and 死掉, and how the latter was "more final." As opposed to... say... the temporary death which wears off after a few days? LOL "No, no... this one will kill you MORE." Hehe.

I've found the last 10-15 or so intermediate lessons to be way more accessible than the earlier ones because John takes more time to explain things in English.

What I want to know is how do you order a glass of water in a Chinese restaurant. In other words, no ice, not hot, and not bottled water? Is this possible in China?

In Sichuan in many places that's possible. They now all have those hot and cold water dispensers. It's just not done. You can always get 开水(kai shui - boiled water) and let it cool down. Or try to order "leng shui, bu yao bing - 来一杯冷水，不要冰" That might do the trick.

I would be a guinea pig and sit in front of my air conditioner with an ice cream and a glass of chilled water but it's too frigging cold here now....

shutup what you write here have you gone mad.

Ha! Ignore the advice of pedantic old Chinese ladies at your own peril! I and Chinese partner were warned by nainai not to consume cold things after fried/spicy food. Partner said: 'Ho-ho, we have iron stomachs from our eating habits in Europe.' Then, in Shanghai we ate too many of those dreaded deep-fried dough sticks and *I* drank cold soy milk (he had warm soy milk). A few hours later I had indigestion so bad I got a fever and was in bed til next day. I didn't recover fully for more than a week (hiccuping).

Wow, this is quite a discussion. For some strange reason this lesson made me crave a luke warm Coke ... and a hot spicy boil of cilantro noodles like I used to get in Beijing. Never could get a cold soda in China, but no problem getting a cold beer, which was fine. Somehow I can't believe the luke warm soda was health related though.

In the expansion exercise sentence 大人不能骗小孩儿 the translation was something like 'Adults shouldn't deceive children.' I'm assuming you could use 应该 in this sentence, but would it sound less 'fluent'? ie 大人不应该骗小孩儿。 Thanks.

I concur with the other "elementarys" that this was a good lesson... Perhaps because I'm already familiar with much of the vocabulary... and am currently suffering from gan mao le. I live in the same neighborhood as many elderly people who sit around all day commenting on when the foreigner leaves on her light when she's not home or runs her AC too often. I quickly learned what annoys them.... though, word must get back around to me because I don't understand anything they say... seeing as how none of them speak Putong Hua.

呵呵，阿姨好像讲了骗子话，反正其他的也有： 有感冒的时候就要鼻屎地出来了。

Kettle, Yeah, you could swap out 不应该 for 不能 and have the same meaning. In this case 大人不能骗小孩儿, it translates better as "shouldn't" (不应该). bùnéng technically means "not able", but an adult is of course capable, they just shouldn't.

Might also be worth mentioning that not only is ice cold water bad for a cold, but apparently HOT water is a great cure for sickness in China. When I was sick last winter (I know, the cold/flu season is coming quickly) my Chinese friends would always respond to my cough and sniffles with a remedy of "drink more hot water". I know there are many differences when it comes to east and west in terms of medicine and remedy. Also, as a side note is China at all similar to Korea in their fear of "fan death". Might be nice to have a lesson on Chinese urban legends!

In the Supplementary Vocabulary section in the pdf, the pinyin for 電風扇 is given as diànfēngshàn (4th tone for 扇). I looked up that character, and my dictionary gives the meaning for that word as "(a measure word for doors, windows, etc.)"; however, as a first tone, it gives the meaning as "to fan", which seems more appropriate for this meaning. So I'm confused. Should it be fourth tone?

Someone up there mentioned the tradition of pregnant women not being allowed to bathe for a month I have also heard this 1 from Chinese friends. And they also must meet 20 eggs a day (can you imagine the smell from the eggs and the not bathing???) So I will NEVER get pregnant in China! Also the fan thing, my b.f. and I were in the hospital in Dalian following a nasty traffic accident in July when it was 38 degrees with 100% humidity and the dr.'s would come in and shut the fan off. They said our recovery would be slowed down by the cold! Anyway as soon as they left we turned it back on. As it turns out they couldn't believe

they couldn't believe how quickly we both recovered!! Strong Canadian bodies I guess!haha

Someone up there mentioned the tradition of pregnant women not being allowed to bathe for a month I have also heard this 1 from Chinese friends. And they also must meet 20 eggs a day (can you imagine the smell from the eggs and the not bathing???) So I will NEVER get pregnant in China! Also the fan thing, my b.f. and I were in the hospital in Dalian following a nasty traffic accident in July when it was 38 degrees with 100% humidity and the dr.'s would come in and shut the fan off. They said our recovery would be slowed down by the cold! Anyway as soon as they left we turned it back on. As it turns ou

天干 The Heavenly stems 甲 the first of the ten Heavenly stems 乙the second of the ten Heavenly stems 丙the third of the ten Heavenly stems 丁the fourth of the ten Heavenly stems 戊the fifth of the ten Heavenly stems 己the sixth of the ten Heavenly stems 庚the seventh of the ten Heavenly stems 辛the eighth of the ten Heavenly stems 壬the ninth of the ten Heavenly stems 癸the last of the ten Heavenly stems

The Grandma sounds familiar.

how weird!!!!!!!!!!

Words I checked (no guarantee):

• 宝贝 bao3 bei4  darling / baby
• 夸张 kua1 zhang1 to exaggerate / overstated / 
• 表现 biao3 xian4 to show / to show off
• 顺序 shun4 xu4 sequence / order
• 变化 bian4 hua4 change / variation
• 癌症 ai2 zheng4 cancer
• 外婆 wai4 po2 (informal) mother's mother; maternal grandmother
• 犯人 fan4 ren2 convict / prisoner

 

 

 

 

When my wife and I were getting sick in Beijing earlier this year, the hotel shuttle bus driver told us: 喝白开水，不要喝茶！he1 bai2 kai1 shui3, bu4 yao4 he1 cha2!

That is good advice.  But "cold" in China is always a fun topic.

Minor corrections: in the expansion it says 你怎么会不认识她？

How is it possible that you don't know him? (should be her).

In exercise 3, the correct answer for sentence 1 appeared to be missing.

咖啡喝多了不容易睡觉。Only 弄不好 was available.