ChinesePod

1 before the first wave subsides, a new wave rises (idiom); a new problem arises before the old is solved
2 many twists and turns to a story
3 one thing after another

一病不起

yī bìng bù qǐ

1 to fall gravely ill, never to recover (idiom)

久仰大名

jiǔ yǎng dà míng

1 I have been looking forward to meeting you for a long time (idiom)

久慕盛名

jiǔ mù shèng míng

1 I've admired your reputation for a long time (idiom); I've been looking forward to meeting you.
2 It's an honor to meet you at last.

事不关己，高高挂起

shì bù guān jǐ , gāo gāo guà qǐ

1 to feel unconcerned and let matters rest (idiom)

Sample Sentences

最近接到不少听众朋友打电话来咨询给二胎宝宝起名字的问题。今天栏目中，我们就来简单聊一聊取名字的那些事儿。

zuìjìn jiēdào bùshǎo tīngzhòng péngyou dǎ diànhuà lái zīxún gěi èrtāi bǎobao qǐ míngzì de wèntí 。jīntiān lánmù zhōng ，wǒmen jiù lái jiǎndān liáoyīliáo qǔ míngzi de nàxiē shìr 。

Recently I've received a lot of calls from listeners asking about how to name their 2 kids. In this column let's have a simple discussion of naming issues.

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其实不管是不是二胎宝宝，按照起名字的传统，我们一般都遵循几个简单易行的规则。

qíshí bùguǎn shìbushì èrtāi bǎobao ，ànzhào qǐ míngzì de chuántǒng ，wǒmen yībān dōu zūnxún jǐ ge jiǎndān yìxíng de guīzé 。

Actually, whether or not it is two kids, according the naming tradition, we normally follow a few simple, straight-forward rules.

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比如五行缺水，起名为淼”；五行缺土，起名为“垚”；五行缺金，起名为“鑫”；五行缺木，起名为“森”；五行缺火，起名为“炎”。

bǐrú wǔxíng quēshuǐ ，qǐmíng wèi miǎo ”；wǔxíng quē tǔ ，qǐmíng wèi “yáo ”；wǔxíng quē jīn ，qǐmíng wèi “xīn ”；wǔxíng quē mù ，qǐmíng wèi “sēn ”；wǔxíng quē huǒ ，qǐmíng wèi “yán ”。

For example, if, among the five phases, there's a lack of water, you can use the character "淼", meaning "flood" in the name, as it is composed of three water radicals; if, among the five phases, earth is lacking, you can use the character "垚" meaning "embankment", as it is composed of three earth radicals; if, among the five phases, metal is lacking, you can use the character "鑫" meaning "prosperity", as it is composed of three metal radicals; if, among the five phases, wood is lacking, you can use the character "森" meaning "forest", as it is composed of three wood radicals; if, among the five phases, fire is lacking, you can use the character "炎" meaning "flame", as it is composed of two fire radicals.

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我们常常在起名时营造符合生肖的生活环境，借此预示宝宝生活舒适，顺风顺水。比如生肖为兔、马、羊、牛的这些生肖，则起名用“茵”“草”“荫”等和草地相关的字。

wǒmen chángcháng zài qǐmíng shí yíngzào fúhé shēngxiào de shēnghuó huánjìng ，jiècǐ yùshì bǎobao shēnghuó shūshì ，shùnfēng shùnshuǐ 。bǐrú shēngxiào wèi tù 、mǎ 、yáng 、niú de zhèxiē shēngxiào ，zé qǐmíng yòng “yīn ”“cǎo ”“yìn ”děng hé cǎodì xiāngguān de zì 。

When choosing a name we often use a character that fits with the habitat of the animals of the zodiac, which is used to predict that the baby will have a comfortable life and that things will go well for him or her. For example, with zodiac animals like the rabbit, the horse, the goat and the ox, you get names with characters with the grass radical on the top, like "茵", meaning "mattress", "草", meaning "grass" and "荫" meaning "shade".

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其次按照生肖来起名，十二生肖为，鼠牛虎兔龙蛇马羊猴鸡狗猪，里面有生活在森林草地的动物，有生活在山岩峭壁的动物。

qícì ànzhào shēngxiào lái qǐmíng ，shí èr shēngxiào wèi ，shǔ niú hǔ tù lóng shé mǎ yáng hóu jī gǒu zhū ，lǐmiàn yǒu shēnghuó zài sēnlín cǎodì de dòngwù ，yǒu shēnghuó zài shānyán qiàobì de dòngwù 。

Then you name them using the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. The twelve animals are, the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig. Among them all there are those that live in the forest, those that live in the meadows and those that live in among the mountains.

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根据国家的最新规定，现在给孩子起名可以用父母双姓，比如爸爸姓王，妈妈姓陈，孩子可以姓“王陈”，父母再也不必为了决定到底用谁的姓大动干戈了。

gēnjù guójiā de zuìxīn guīdìng ，xiànzài gěi háizi qǐmíng kěyǐ yòng fùmǔ shuāng xìng ，bǐrú bàba xìng Wáng ，māma xìng Chén ，háizi kěyǐ xìng “Wáng Chén ”，fùmǔ zàiyě búbì wèile juédìng dàodǐ yòng shéi de xìng dàdònggāngē le 。

According to the most recent national regulations, now when you're naming a child you can use the surname of both parents, for example, if your dad's surname is Wang and your mum's surname is Chen, the child can take the surname Wang Chen, therefore parents don't need to have arguments over deciding whose surname the child will take.

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最后起名字要遵守一些常识，第一，忌讳祖先和先贤的名字；其次，不用生冷字；再次，少用多音字；最后，忌不雅的谐音。

zuìhòu qǐ míngzì yào zūnshǒu yīxiē chángshí ，dì yī ，jìhuì zǔxiān hé xiānxián de míngzi ；qícì ，bùyòng shēnglěngzì ；zàicì ，shǎo yòng duōyīnzì ；zuìhòu ，jì bùyā de xiéyīn 。

Finally when figuring out a name you need to respect some common principles. First of all, avoid using taboo names, like those of your ancestors or distinguished sages from the past; secondly, don't use obscure characters; additionally, don't use characters with more than one pronunciation; and finally, avoid homophones of vulgar words.

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好了，今天关于起名字的话题就说到这儿，如果大家对此还有兴趣，请拨打我们的热线，期待我们在午夜的电波中再次相会。

hǎo le ，jīntiān guānyú qǐ míngzì de huàtí jiù shuō dàozhèr ，rúguǒ dàjiā duìcǐ háiyǒu xìngqù ，qǐng bōdǎ wǒmen de rèxiàn ，qīdài wǒmen zài wǔyè de diànbō zhōng zàicì xiānghuì 。

OK, I'll draw a line under today's topic of naming children. If anyone is interested in more on this topic, please dial our hotline. I hope that we can meet again at midnight on the airwaves.

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我不赞同你的看法。这些不一定是胡编乱造。就像西方的占星术的发展一样，中国的易经和八卦也是一门占卜的学问。起名，搬迁，红白喜事都是有凶吉的讲究的。当然不排除有些人并没有真正研究过周易，却混水摸鱼，到处骗人。

wǒ bù zàntóng nǐ de kànfǎ 。zhèxiē bùyīdìng shì húbiānluànzào 。jiùxiàng xīfāng de zhānxīngshù de fāzhǎn yīyàng ，Zhōngguó de Yìjīng hé bāguà yě shì yī mén zhānbǔ de xuéwèn 。qǐmíng ，bānqiān ，hóngbái xǐshì dōu shì yǒu xiōngjí de jiǎngjiu de 。dāngrán bù páichú yǒuxiē rén bìng méiyǒu zhēnzhèng yānjiū guo Zhōuyì ，què húnshuǐmōyú ，dàochù piànrén 。

I don't agree with your opinion. These things are not necessarily just pointless nonsense. It's like the development of astrology in the West. China's I Ching and hexagrams are parts of divination. Giving children meaningful names, moving, weddings and funerals: there is a lot of research that goes into these things. Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that some people who haven't really mastered the I Ching just make wild guesses, coming up with stories and scamming people.

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是的。中国的孩子通常都随父姓，只有极个别的随母姓，意为家族的香火通过名字和血缘都一脉相传下去，家族也就越来越大。听说古时候起名字是要按资排辈的。通常是依据家族流传下来的家谱，用姓加上表示辈分的字，再加上自己的名字。因而有可能整个家族里同一辈的孩子，名字的前两个字都一样，只有最后一个字不同。也有一些名字还体现了当时的时代特色。比如新中国刚成立的那段时间，建华，爱国，保田等名字特别流行，真是从根本上体现了爱国主义。

shìde 。Zhōngguó de háizi tōngcháng dōu suí fù xìng ，zhǐyǒu jí gèbié de suí mǔ xìng ，yì wéi jiāzú de xiānghuǒ tōngguò míngzi hé xuèyuán dōu yīmàixiāngchuán xiàqu ，jiāzú yě jiù yuèláiyuèdà 。tīngshuō gǔshíhou qǐ míngzì shì yào ànzīpáibèi de 。tōngcháng shì yījù jiāzú liúchuán xiàlai de jiāpǔ ，yòng xìng jiāshàng biǎoshì bèifèn de zì ，zài jiāshang zìjǐ de míngzi 。yīnér yǒu kěnéng zhěnggè jiāzú lǐ tóngyībèi de háizi ，míngzi de qián liǎng ge zì dōu yīyàng ，zhǐyǒu zuìhòu yī ge zì bùtóng 。yě yǒu yīxiē míngzi hái tǐxiàn le dāngshí de shídài tèsè 。bǐrú xīnzhōngguó gāng chénglì de nà duàn shíjiān ，Jiànhuá ，Àiguó ，Bǎotián děng míngzi tèbié liúxíng ，zhēnshì cōng gēnběn shàng tǐxiàn le àiguózhǔyì 。

Yeah. Chinese kids often get their father's surname. Only a few take their mother's surname. Because families' ancestral worship is passed on through surnames and blood ties, families get bigger all the time. I hear that in ancient times, names were given by seniority. It was usually done according to family trees passed down through families. You'd use the surname, plus a word to show the generation, and then a name. Because of this, there might be a full generation of kids in a family who share the first two characters of their name, with only the last word different. And there are some names that show characteristics of a particular era. For example, during the time just after the foundation of the People's Republic of China, names like ''Building China," ''Patriot," and ''Protecting the Land" were very popular. It really shows people's patriotism.

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