ChinesePod

1 lit. would rather be a chicken's head than a phoenix's tail (idiom)
2 fig. to prefer to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond

宁左勿右

nìng zuǒ wù yòu

1 (of one's political views) to prefer left rather than right (idiom during the Cultural Revolution)

宁拆十座庙，不毁一桩婚

níng chāi shí zuò miào , bù huì yī zhuāng hūn

1 rather destroy ten temples than a single marriage (idiom)

宁死不屈

nìng sǐ bù qū

1 rather die than submit (idiom)

宁为玉碎，不为瓦全

nìng wéi yù suì , bù wéi wǎ quán

1 Better broken jade than intact tile.
2 Death is preferable to dishonor. (idiom)

Sample Sentences

宁做蚂蚁腿，不学麻雀嘴。

nìngzuòmǎyǐtuǐ,bùxuémǎquèzuǐ 。

One would rather be an ant's leg than a sparrow's mouth.

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宁做蚂蚁腿，不学麻雀嘴。你早点做完，就可以早点下班。赶快认真做事吧！

nìngzuòmǎyǐtuǐ,bùxuémǎquèzuǐ 。nǐ zǎodiǎn zuò wán ，jiù kěyǐ zǎodiǎn xiàbān 。gǎnkuài rènzhēn zuòshì ba ！

Do more and talk less. If you can finish the work earlier, you can go home earlier. Hurry up and work hard!

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我的同学总是一直抱怨书读不完。宁做蚂蚁腿，不学麻雀嘴。一直说话不读书，当然读不完啦。

wǒ de tóngxué zǒngshì yīzhí bàoyuàn shū dú bù wán 。nìngzuòmǎyǐtuǐ,bùxuémǎquèzuǐ 。yīzhí shuōhuà bù dúshū ，dāngrán dú bù wán la 。

My classmate always complains there is too much to study. Do more and talk less. If you keep talking instead of studying, then of course you can't finish studying.

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目前，欧洲多数高校采用录播、直播课程以及教学课件相结合的方式。英国伦敦大学教授宁陆涛说，几十年前，英国就已经开展网络教学，但多是线上和线下互相补充的混合授课。现在全面改为网络教学，还没有遇到很大的技术障碍，学生整体反馈比较好。

mùqián ，Ōuzhōu duōshù gāoxiào cǎiyòng lùbō 、zhíbō kèchéng yǐjí jiàoxué kèjiàn xiāng jiéhé de fāngshì 。Yīngguó Lúndūn dàxué jiàoshòu nínglùtāo shuō ，jǐ shínián qián ，Yīngguó jiù yǐjīng kāizhǎn Wǎngluò jiàoxué ，dàn duō shì xiànshàng hé xiànxià hùxiāng bǔchōng de hùnhéshòukè 。xiànzài quánmiàn gǎiwéi Wǎngluò jiàoxué ，hái méiyǒu yùdào hěn dà de jìshù zhàngài ，xuésheng zhěngtǐ fǎnkuì bǐjiào hǎo 。

Currently, most of the European universities are adopting the method of combining pre-recorded lessons, livestream lessons, and coursewares. Professor Ning Lu-Tao from University of London said that the UK launched online teaching several decades ago, but most of those mixed courses are complementary in terms of online and offline teaching. Now they have changed entirely to online teaching without facing severe technical challenges, and received better overall feedback from the students.

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如果学校已经变得和灵魂教育无关，只是个培训技术控的地方，那咱把孩子送学校“控”去了，那我宁愿让孩子当个食材控，也不想让她当个写套路作文控。

rúguǒ xuéxiào yǐjīng biànde hé línghún jiàoyù wúguān ，zhǐshì ge péixùn jìshù kòng de dìfang ，nà zán bǎ háizi sòng xuéxiào “kòng ”qù le ，nà wǒ nìngyuàn ràng háizi dāng ge shí cái kòng ，yě bùxiǎng ràng tā dāng ge xiě tàolù zuòwén kòng 。

If school is becoming unrelated to the education of the soul, but only a place for mastering technology, then our child would be mastered by technology instead. In that case, I would rather my child to master cuisine, than to master boring essays.

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真是狗嘴里吐不出象牙来啊，也难怪优雅的仙女儿成了前任，不过你说的美联航那事儿也确实让人大跌眼镜，空乘人员怎么能对乘客施行暴力呢？我宁可没桃花也不希望坐飞机遇到这种倒霉事儿。

zhēnshi gǒuzuǐ lǐ tǔ bù chū xiàngyá lái ā ，yě nánguài yōuyǎ de xiānnǚr chéng le qiánrèn ，bùguò nǐ shuō de Měiliánháng nà shìr yě quèshí ràng rén dà diēyǎnjìng ，kōngchéng rényuán zěnme néng duì chéngkè shīxíng bàolì ne ？wǒ nìngkě méi táohuā yě bù xīwàng zuò fēijī yùdào zhèzhǒng dǎoméi shìr 。

Tut tut, I suppose you can’t expect wise words from a scoundrel. No wonder the elegant goddess is now an ex, but the incident with United Airlines you brought up really was quite shocking. How can airline staff be violent with passengers? I’d rather have no one who likes me, than to come upon bad luck like that while flying.

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酒泉、敦煌、吐鲁番、喀什、撒马尔罕、巴格达、君士坦丁堡等古城，宁波、泉州、广州、北海、科伦坡、吉达、亚历山大等地的古港就是记载这段历史的“活化石”。历史告诉我们：文明在开放中发展，民族在融合中共存。

Jiǔquán 、Dūnhuáng 、Tǔlǔfān 、Kāshí 、Sǎmǎěrhǎn 、Bāgédá 、Jūnshìtǎndīngbǎo děng gǔchéng ，Níngbō 、Quánzhōu 、Guǎngzhōu 、Běihǎi 、Kēlúnpō 、Jídá 、Yàlìshāndà děng de de gǔ gǎng jiùshì jìzǎi zhè duàn lìshǐ de “huóhuàshí ”。lìshǐ gàosu wǒmen ：wénmíng zài kāifàng zhōng fāzhǎn ，mínzú zài rónghé zhōng gòngcún 。

Ancient ports, such as Jiuquan, Dunhuang, Turpan, Kashgar, Samarkand, Baghdad, Constantinople, Ningbo, Quanzhou, Guangzhou, Beijing, Colombo, Jeddah and Alexandria are living fossils which carry this era within them. History tells us, civilisation develops with openness, peoples coexist in melting pots.

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历史是最好的老师。这段历史表明，无论相隔多远，只要我们勇敢迈出第一步，坚持相向而行就能走出一条相遇相知、共同发展之路，走向幸福安宁和谐美好的远方。

lìshǐ shì zuìhǎo de lǎoshī 。zhè duàn lìshǐ biǎomíng ，wúlùn xiānggé duō yuǎn ，zhǐyào wǒmen yǒnggǎn màichū dìyībù ，jiānchí xiāngxiàng ér xíng jiù néng zǒuchū yī tiáo xiāngyùxiāngzhī 、gòngtóng fāzhǎn zhī Lù ，zǒuxiàng xìngfú Ānníng héxié měihǎo de yuǎnfāng 。

History is the best teacher. This period of history shows clearly that, no matter how far apart we are, we only need to be brave enough to make the first step and resolve to continue walking towards one another, and we can walk a road on which we can encounter and get to know one another and engage in joint development, leading towards a happy, peaceful, harmonious, though distant beautiful place.

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花同样的价钱，我宁愿吃桌餐。上次去吃自助餐，冷冷清清的，每人发个盘子，排着队去拿东西，搞得像要饭的一样。

huā tóngyàng de jiàqian ，wǒ nìngyuàn chī zhuōcān 。shàngcì qù chī zìzhùcān ，lěnglěngqīngqīng de ，měirén fā ge pánzi ，pái zhe duì qù ná dōngxi ，gǎo de xiàng yàofàn de yīyàng 。

On the same budget I rather have a table meal. The last time I went lonely. Queuing up with a plate to take the food felt like begging.

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我知道，但我宁愿卷铺盖走人，也不想跟他们周旋。

wǒ zhīdào ，dàn wǒ nìngyuàn juǎnpūgàizǒurén ，yě bùxiǎng gēn tāmen zhōuxuán 。

I know, but I'd rather pack up and leave than to deal with them.

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