这粮价要再涨下去 那还让人活不活了
“If grain prices keep rising, how are we supposed to survive?”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
那可怎么办
“What should we do then?”
这粮价要再涨 下去 那 还让人活不活 了
“If grain prices keep rising, how are we supposed to survive?”
“It doesn't matter if we survive or not.”
“We are going to starve to death if this continues!”
In historical and contemporary Chinese culture, grain price stability is considered the ultimate bedrock of social order and personal survival.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
continue to rise/increase
Used with the directional complement '下去' to indicate the ongoing continuation of an undesirable trend.
how can people even survive; making life impossible
A highly colloquial rhetorical complaint used when external pressures become overwhelming.
Marks an exasperated rhetorical question regarding an unbearable new state of affairs.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“that merchants be forbidden from inflating grain prices.”
“But if things go on, you'll be found out long before then.”
“Do you know how much effort I put into collecting this grain? I don't care.”
“like taking bribes, inflating grain prices,”
“gets to move to the city and live on state-supplied grain.”
“- Food! - Food! Hurry! Go look!”