那莫非圣上 是故意输给太后和大长公主的
“Could it be that His Majesty deliberately loses to the Empress Dowager and Grand Princess?”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
这几本启蒙之作 足以令圣上在世间罕有敌手了
“These beginner's books have helped His Majesty become nearly unbeatable.”
那 莫非 圣上 是 故意 输给太后和大长 公主 的
“Could it be that His Majesty deliberately loses to the Empress Dowager and Grand Princess?”
“It must be due to His Majesty's filial piety.”
“The Emperor must have thrown the game on purpose to appease his elders.”
In imperial China, an emperor often had to defer publicly to elder female matriarchs like the Empress Dowager to showcase filial virtue, even if superior in skill.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
deliberately / on purpose
Standard adverb placed directly before verbs to describe intentional conduct.
to lose to
Common collocation where the target of the loss follows the preposition '给'.
Part of the '是...的' construction used to emphasize the deliberate nature and manner of the action.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“(Could it be that she really doesn't have it?)”
“(Hid her identity?) (Was she trying to hide something?)”
“you asked for…”
“A man, 40 or 50, dark-skinned,”
“Could he possibly be plotting rebellion?”
“Could she have been kidnapped?”