ChinesePod

1 lit. one strong beat and one weak beats in a measure of music (two beats in the bar) (idiom); fig. follow a prescribed pattern to the letter
2 scrupulous attention to detail

一板三眼

yī bǎn sān yǎn

1 lit. one strong beat and three weak beats in a measure of music (four beats in the bar) (idiom); fig. scrupulous attention to detail

不到黄河心不死

bù dào Huáng Hé xīn bù sǐ

1 lit. not to stop until one reaches the Yellow River (idiom)
2 fig. to persevere until one reaches one's goal
3 to keep going while some hope is left

不是鱼死就是网破

bù shì yú sǐ jiù shì wǎng pò

1 lit. either the fish dies or the net gets torn (idiom)
2 fig. it's a life-and-death struggle
3 it's either him or me

不知死活

bù zhī sǐ huó

1 to act recklessly (idiom)

Sample Sentences

假使他把原诗写成了“我心里有猛虎雄踞在花旁”，那就会显得呆笨，死板，徒然加强了人性的内在矛盾。

jiǎshǐ tā bǎ yuán shī xiěchéng le “wǒ xīnli yǒu měng hǔ xióngjù zài huā páng ”，nā jiù huì xiǎnde dāibèn ，sǐbǎn ，túrán jiāqiáng le rénxìng de nèizài máodùn 。

If he'd written the line in the original poem as "In me the tiger towers proudly beside the rose", it would seem clumsy and stiff, emphasizing the internal conflict in humanity a little excessively.

Go to Lesson

他这个人就是这样死板，没办法和他沟通。

tā zhège rén jiùshì zhèyàng sǐbǎn ，méi bànfǎ hé tā gōutōng 。

This person is so rigid. There is no way to communicate with him.

Go to Lesson

死板

sǐbǎn

rigid

Go to Lesson

那是几年前的情况了。现在，好多大学都采用学分制，也开设了好多选修科目，鼓励学生多接触不同的知识。而且，换专业也比过去容易多了。总之，现在中国大学的制度和氛围早就不像以前那么死板了。

nà shì jǐnián qián de qíngkuàng le 。xiànzài ，hǎo duō dàxué dōu cǎiyòng xuéfēnzhì ，yě kāishè le hǎo duō xuǎnxiū kēmù ，gǔlì xuésheng duō jiēchù bùtóng de zhīshi 。érqiě ，huàn zhuānyè yě bǐ guòqù róngyì duō le 。zǒngzhī ，xiànzài Zhōngguó dàxué de zhìdù hé fēnwéi zǎo jiù bù xiàng yǐqián nàme sǐbǎn le 。

That's how things used to be in the past. Now, a lot of universities are credit-based, and they've started up a lot of elective courses. They encourage students to try out unfamiliar fields of knowledge. And changing your major is much easier today than it used to be. In sum, for a long time now modern Chinese universities' rules and atmosphere haven't been that rigid.

Go to Lesson

这次考的是整个学期的内容，但是重点在第五到第十章。大家要多花些心思。这次的内容不像期中考那么死板。所以，你们要真正了解学过的东西，并且灵活运用。

zhècì kǎo de shì zhěnggè xuéqī de nèiróng ，dànshì zhòngdiǎn zài dìwǔ dào dì shí zhāng 。dàjiā yào duō huā xiē xīnsi 。 zhècì de nèiróng bù xiàng qīzhōng kǎo nàme sǐbǎn 。suǒyǐ ，nǐmen yào zhēnzhèng liǎojiě xué guo de dōngxi ，bìngqiě línghuó yùnyòng 。

This exam is on the material from the entire semester, but it emphasis on Chapters 5 through 10. Everyone needs to put some extra thought into this exam. The content is not as rigid as the mid-term exam, so you all need to really understand the material that you have learned, and be able to apply it in a flexible way.

Go to Lesson