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Sudoku

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IN THIS LESSON
ID: 0575 Upper Intermediate
There is a rage sweeping the number geeks of the nation, and it's called Sudoku. ChinesePod, confident that all Chinese-learners are mental gymnasts by nature, brings you enlightenment on this popular mind-puzzle. Now, for those amongst us who are not number-crunchers, think of this podcast as your one chance to learn how to talk about columns, grids, and rows with fluency in Mandarin. And for those amongst us that are number-crunchers, please come and do my taxes next year.
Fri Jul 13 2007 | Jenny, John
Awesome Materials
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Detailed Vocabulary
Each lesson has it's unique vocabulary and will provide you with definitions and recordings so you can practice the pronunciation. You will also be able to grasp the core material of a lesson at a glance. Here we're showing you the Simplified Chinese version.
SIMPLIFIED PINYIN ENGLISH  
数独 shùdú sudoku
动脑筋 dòng nǎojīn to put one's mind to something
推理 tuīlǐ reasoning
方格 fānggé grid
你又在玩数独。这到底是什么东西？让你这么着迷。
nǐ yòu zài wán shùdú 。zhè dàodǐ shì shénme dōngxi ？ràng nǐ zhème zháomí 。
You're doing sudoku yet again. What exactly is it, anyway? It has you so entranced.
它是一种需要动脑筋的数字推理游戏。在九乘九的方格里面，有三乘三的小方格，叫“区”。在这些格子里，填入一到九的数字。每个数字在每一行、每一列和每一区里都只能出现一次。不可以重复。所以叫“数独”。
tā shì yī zhǒng xūyào dòng nǎojīn de shùzì tuīlǐ yóuxì 。zài jiǔ chéng jiǔ de fānggé lǐmiàn ，yǒu sān chéng sān de xiǎo fānggé ，jiào “qū ”。zài zhèxiē gézi lǐ ，tiánrù yī dào jiǔ de shùzì 。měige shùzì zài měiyī háng 、měiyī liè hé měiyī qū lǐ dōu zhǐnéng chūxiàn yīcì 。bù kěyǐ chóngfù 。suǒyǐ jiào “shùdú ”。
It's a kind of numerical reasoning game that requires mental effort. In a 9 by 9 grid there are 3 by 3 smaller grids called ``blocks." In these squares, you fill in the numbers 1 to 9. Each number can only appear once in each row, each column, and each block. You can't repeat them. That's why it's called ``sudoku" [``numerical solitude"].
这么复杂？听说是日本人发明的。
zhème fùzá ？tīngshuō shì Rìběnrén fāmíng de 。
It's that complicated? I heard the Japanese that invented it.
据说发明这个游戏的是瑞士人。不过一直都没有引起人们的注意。八十年代日本杂志出版商把它引入日本，增加了游戏难度，当然也起了个日文名字，就是“sudoku” 数独。后来这个游戏就在日本和美国走红了。
jùshuō fāmíng zhège yóuxì de shì Ruìshìrén 。bùguò yīzhí dōu méiyǒu yǐnqǐ rénmen de zhùyì 。bāshí niándài Rìběn zázhì chūbǎnshāng bǎ tā yǐnrù Rìběn ，zēngjiā le yóuxì nándù ，dāngrán yě qǐ le ge rìwén míngzi ，jiùshì “sudoku” shùdú 。hòulái zhège yóuxì jiù zài Rìběn hé Měiguó zǒuhóng le 。
They say it was a Swiss person that invented the game, but it never attracted any attention. In the 80's a Japanese magazine publisher imported it to Japan, increased the difficulty of the game, and of course gave it a Japanese name: ``sudoku." Later the game got popular in Japan and the United States.
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