我还要做工讨生活呢
“I still have work to do to earn my living.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
都封了十多天了
“It has been sealed off for over ten days already.”
我 还要做工讨生活呢
“I still have work to do to earn my living.”
“My father is still waiting at home for medicine.”
“If you keep me locked up, I won't have food to eat!”
Phrasing one's occupation as 'begging or scraping for a living' (讨生活) evokes the hardship of common working-class people seeking empathy.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
to make a living; to scrape by
Carries a modest or hard-working connotation, implying that earning one's livelihood requires strenuous effort.
to do manual work or odd jobs
Commonly used in spoken Chinese for working a wage-earning or labor-intensive job.
Highlights the unresolved problem and reinforces the speaker's tone of protest.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“(I have to find a job) (to support myself immediately.)”
“I have… work. I still need my job.”
“We're all craftsmen making a living.”
“making a living with your craft.”