听说西洋人会一种法术
“[Danan Telegraph Office] I heard Westerners practice a kind of sorcery.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
这电报局 是西洋人驿报局的叫法吗
“Is a "telegraph office" what Westerners would call a post office? [Danan Telegraph Office]”
听说 西洋人会一种法术
“[Danan Telegraph Office] I heard Westerners practice a kind of sorcery.”
把死人的魂从坟地里勾出来 替他们传信
“They can summon the souls of the dead from their graves and make them deliver messages.”
Direct spoken expression in this communicative setting.
During the late 19th century in China, unfamiliar Western inventions like telegraph lines and photography were often met with superstitious fear and rumored to involve witchcraft or stealing souls.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
heard that / reportedly
A very common conversational opener to introduce secondhand information or rumors without taking personal responsibility for the truth.
Westerners / foreigners from the West
A historical term used predominantly in late imperial and early modern China to refer to people from Europe or the Americas.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“I didn't know any magic at all.”
“That master's techniques were extraordinary”
“But it only works on”
“Relying on their superior powers,”
“there is a technique called Descent,”
“that she had been practicing.”