海誓山盟 - hai shi shan meng - vow eternal love (to the mountains and the sea). Goes together with 花前月下 - hua qian yue xia - "the ideal setting for a couple in love." See also 一日夫妻，白日恩 - yi ri fu qi, bai ri en - "one day of married life fastens enduring affection." I have no idea how we got on this topic in class!
画龙点睛 - hua long dian jing - "add eyes when drawing a dragon" - to put the finishing touch on something. Not to be confused with 画蛇添足 - hua she tian zu - "add legs when drawing a snake" - go one step too far, be superfluous.
崛起 - jue qi - "to rise". As in, “中国的崛起对美国是不是一种威胁？”The answer to this, of course, is "维持现状！" - wei chi xian zhuang - "maintain the status quo!"
霸权国家 - ba quan guo jia - a hegemon. What the United States is, to the Chinese (at least in the opinion of my teacher).
烫手山芋 - tang shou shan yu - a very troubling problem. Literal translation: "burning your hand with a hot sweet potato."
鹿死谁手 - lu si shui shou - "at whose hand will the deer die?" meaning: "who will emerge victorious?"
蓝精灵 - lan jing ling - the Smurfs. Someone keeps walking past our classroom whistling the Smurfs theme song. I have no idea why. The State Department is a very strange place...
礼轻仁义重 - li qing ren yi zhong - the gift is small, but given with love.
逆来顺受 - ni lai shun shou - submit to adversity meekly. What the central labor union in China is NOT doing any more, since it started challenging Wal-Mart.
固定的形势 - gu ding de xing shi - stereotypes. Goes along with 杜撰 - du zhuan - "fabricate, make up."
杯弓蛇影 - bei gong she ying - another snake one. "See the shadow of a snake in the handle of your mug" - think that everything is dangerous.
望梅止渴 - wang mei zhi ke - when you are very thirsty, thinking of a plum tree will make you salivate, and this ease your thirst. Unfortunately, I learned this totally out of context, and it's one of the more obscure ones!
洪水猛兽 - hong shui meng shou. Very scary things, like tests, exams, and going to China for the first time. Literally: "fierce floods and savage beasts."
天真烂漫 - tian zhen lan man - (said of childhood) - innocent, simple and unaffected. The days before I started learning Chinese...!
才华横溢 - cai hua heng yi - used to describe a person who is literally brimming with talent. In class, used by my teacher to describe Jackie Chan. Not to be confused with 才华干涸 - cai hua gan he - "no talent". Used by my teacher to describe my classmate and I. I think she was kidding...
狗胆包天 - gou dan bao tian - "be monstrously audacious." Lots of good insulting Chinese phrases start with 狗 (dog).
胆小如鼠 - dan xiao ru shu - timid as a mouse. Mice also get their share of phrases in Chinese, as does 胆 (gallbladder - where courage is thought to be contained).
崇洋媚外 - chong yang mei wai - worship foreign things and foreign powers - think that everything overseas is better.
微不足道 - wei bu zu dao - too insignificant or inconsequential to mention.
小脑小解决，大脑达解决 - xiao nao xiao jiejue, da nao da jiejue - small brains make small decisions, large brains make large decisions. Used by some in China as a reason why peasants either don't need or wouldn't understand a democratic system.
恐龙 - "fearsome dragon" = dinosaur. Shows up in my notes in between 丰收 (fengshou - “bountiful harvest“) and 欣赏 (xinshang - "admire"). Also on the same page are 闹鬼 (naogui - "to be haunted") and 资产阶级 (zichanjieji - bourgeoisie). I have NO idea what we were talking about in class that day...
肆意妄为 - si yi wang wei - do whatever you want, boldly and wilfully. What the extremists are currently doing in Iraq.
挨门挨户 - ai men ai hu - go door to door.
TBC - am hungry, and need lunch. will probably get back to this later on this afternoon. I had no idea I had so much written down in my notes - we cover so much in class, so quickly, that it's almost impossible to keep up with everything. hopefully this will help!
