In this wax-on, wax-off lesson, our narrator picks up the most important basic skill in Chinese cooking.
去年，我来到中国学做菜。我一直很喜欢中国菜，所以我很高兴。
第一天，老师没有让我们做菜。他给了我们每个人一把刀和很多菜，然后说：”今天，你们只学一件事——切菜。”
我有点失望。切菜？我以前在家也切过菜，这有什么难的？
但是我错了。老师切菜的时候，又快又好，每一块都一样大。我切的呢？大的大，小的小，还很慢。老师看了看我切的菜，笑着说：”你要多练习。”
从那天开始，我每天都在切菜。切土豆，切菜，切肉。我的手一开始很疼，后来慢慢好了。
一个月以后，我再看自己切的菜，每一块都差不多一样大了。老师走过来，看了看，点点头说：”好，现在你可以开始学做菜了。”
那一刻，我特别高兴。原来，做好一件小事，也不容易。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 学做菜 | xué zuò cài | to learn to cook |
| 失望 | shī wàng | disappointed |
| 切菜 | qiē cài | to cut vegetables |
| 练习 | liàn xí | to practice |
| 一样大 | yí yàng dà | the same size |
| 疼 | téng | to hurt; painful |
| 慢慢 | màn màn | slowly; gradually |
| 点点头 | diǎn diǎn tóu | to nod one’s head |
| 那一刻 | nà yí kè | at that moment |
| 不容易 | bù róng yì | not easy |
| 去年 | qù nián | last year |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 来 | lái | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3… |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoug… |
| 中国 | Zhōng guó | China |
| 一直 | yī zhí | straight (in a straight line); continuously; always; all the way through |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 喜欢 | xǐ huan | to like; to be fond of |
| 中国菜 | Zhōng guó cài | Chinese cuisine |
| 所以 | suǒ yǐ | therefore; as a result; so; the reason why |
| 高兴 | gāo xìng | happy; glad; willing (to do sth); in a cheerful mood |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed; (old) residence of a high… |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out … |
| 天 | tiān | day; sky; heaven |
| 老 | lǎo | prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity; old (of people); venerabl… |
| 师 | Shī | surname Shi |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 让 | ràng | to yield; to permit; to let sb do sth; to have sb do sth; to make sb (feel sad etc); by (indicates the agent in a passive clause, like 被[bei4]) |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 做 | zuò | to make; to produce; to write; to compose; to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc); (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, frien… |
| 菜 | cài | vegetable; greens (CL:棵[ke1]); dish (of food) (CL:樣|样[yang4],道[dao4],盤|盘[pan2]); (of one's skills etc) weak; poor; (coll.) (one's) type |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) |
| 给 | gěi | to; for; for the benefit of; to give; to allow; to do sth (for sb); (grammatical equivalent of 被); (grammatical equivalent of 把); (sentence intensifier) |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 每个人 | měi ge rén | everybody; everyone |
| 把 | bǎ | to hold; to grasp; to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate; handlebar; classifier: handful, bundle, bunch; classifier for things with handles; (used to put the ob… |
| 刀 | Dāo | surname Dao |
| 和 | hé | old variant of 和[he2]; surname He; (literary) harmonious (variant of 和[he2]) |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly- |
| 然 | rán | correct; right; so; thus; like this; -ly |
| 后 | Hòu | surname Hou; back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later; post- |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 今天 | jīn tiān | today; the present time; now |
| 你 | nǐ | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您[nin2]); you (Note: In Taiwan, 妳 is used to address females, but in mainland China, it is not commonly used. Instead, 你 is used to address both males and females.) |
| 只 | zhī | variant of 隻|只[zhi1]; variant of 只[zhi3]; grain that has begun to ripen; classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc |
| 学 | xué | to learn; to study; to imitate; science; -ology |
| 件 | jiàn | item; component; classifier for events, things, clothes etc |
| 事 | shì | matter; thing; item; work; affair; CL:件[jian4],樁|桩[zhuang1],回[hui2] |
| 有点 | yǒu diǎn | a little |
| 以前 | yǐ qián | before; formerly; previous; ago |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 家 | jiā | used in 傢伙|家伙[jia1 huo5] and 傢俱|家俱[jia1 ju4]; home; family; (polite) my (sister, uncle etc); classifier for families or businesses; refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China; noun suffix for a specialist in some act… |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 切 | qiē | to cut; to slice; to carve; (math.) tangential |
| 过 | Guō | surname Guo |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 难 | nán | difficult (to...); problem; difficulty; difficult; not good |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 错 | Cuò | surname Cuo |
| 时 | shí | old variant of 時|时[shi2]; surname Shi |
| 候 | hòu | to wait; to inquire after; to watch; season; climate; (old) period of five days |
| 又 | yòu | (once) again; also; both... and...; and yet; (used for emphasis) anyway |
| 快 | kuài | rapid; quick; speed; rate; soon; almost; to make haste; clever; sharp (of knives or wits); forthright; plainspoken; gratified; pleased; pleasant |
| 好 | hǎo | good; appropriate; proper; all right!; (before a verb) easy to; (before a verb) good to; (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so; (verb complement indicating completion); (… |
| 每 | měi | each; every |
| 一块 | yī kuài | a piece; a chunk; (fig.) (coll.) (typically preceded by a specifier such as 這|这[zhe4]) aspect; area; dimension (Example: 情感這一塊|情感这一块[qing2 gan3 zhe4 yi1 kuai4] "the emotional aspec… |
| 都 | Dū | surname Du |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?"); (sentence-final particle) indicating that a state or situation… |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother) |
| 小的 | xiǎo de | (coll.) young child; the little one(s) of the family; (old) (humble) I; me; my (used by a commoner when speaking to an official) |
| 小 | xiǎo | small; tiny; few; young |
| 还 | Huán | surname Huan |
| 慢 | màn | slow |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 笑 | xiào | old variant of 笑[xiao4]; to laugh; to smile; to laugh at |
| 着 | zhāo | variant of 著|着[zhao1]; a move in chess (Taiwan pr. [zhuo2]); trick; tactic; (dialect) okay; all right; (dialect) to put in; to add |
| 要 | yāo | (bound form) to demand; to coerce |
| 从 | cóng | variant of 從|从[cong2]; surname Cong |
| 那天 | nà tiān | that day; the other day |
| 开始 | kāi shǐ | to begin; to start; beginning; start |
| 每天 | měi tiān | every day |
| 土豆 | tǔ dòu | potato; (Tw) peanut (CL:顆|颗[ke1]) |
| 肉 | ròu | meat; flesh; pulp (of a fruit); (coll.) (of a fruit) squashy; (of a person) flabby; irresolute; Kangxi radical 130 |
| 手 | shǒu | hand; (formal) to hold; person engaged in certain types of work; person skilled in certain types of work; personal(ly); convenient; classifier for skill; CL:雙|双[shuang1],隻|只[zhi1] |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 月 | yuè | moon; month; monthly; CL:個|个[ge4],輪|轮[lun2] |
| 以 | yǐ | old variant of 以[yi3]; abbr. for Israel 以色列[Yi3 se4 lie4] |
| 再 | zài | again; once more; re-; further; beyond this point of time; (before an adjective) more; then (after sth, and not until then); no matter how ... (followed by an adjective or verb, an… |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 差不多 | chà bu duō | almost; nearly; more or less; about the same; good enough; not bad |
| 走过 | zǒu guò | to walk past; to pass by |
| 现 | xiàn | to appear; present; now; existing; current |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good |
| 特别 | tè bié | unusual; special; very; especially; particularly; expressly; for a specific purpose; (often followed by 是[shi4]) in particular |
| 原 | Yuán | surname Yuan; (Japanese surname) Hara |
| 小事 | xiǎo shì | trifle; trivial matter; CL:點|点[dian3] |
Last year, I came to China to learn how to cook. I have always loved Chinese food, so I was very happy.
On the first day, the teacher didn’t let us cook. He gave each of us a knife and a lot of vegetables, then said: ‘Today, you will only learn one thing—how to cut vegetables.’
I was a little disappointed. Cutting vegetables? I had cut vegetables at home before, what’s so hard about that?
But I was wrong. When the teacher cut vegetables, he was both fast and skilled, and every piece was the same size. And mine? The big ones were big, the small ones were small, and I was very slow. The teacher looked at the vegetables I had cut, smiled, and said: ‘You need to practice more.’
From that day on, I cut vegetables every day. Cutting potatoes, cutting vegetables, cutting meat. At first my hand hurt a lot, but later it slowly got better.
A month later, when I looked again at the vegetables I had cut, every piece was almost the same size. The teacher walked over, took a look, nodded and said: ‘Good, now you can start learning to cook.’
At that moment, I was especially happy. It turns out that doing a small thing well isn’t easy either.