而是看他坏的时候能有多坏
“but how bad they can be in bad times.”
THE DIALOGUE REEL
“you should not look at how good they are in good times,”
而 是 看他坏 的时候 能 有多 坏
“but how bad they can be in bad times.”
你几经沉沦
“You have fallen again and again.”
Direct spoken expression in this communicative setting.
In Chinese relationship philosophy, a person's worth is measured by their moral baseline during stressful or worst-case scenarios, rather than their best behavior during smooth times.
LEARNING CHUNKS & PARTICLES
rather, look at / pay attention to
Used in the '不是...而是...' (not A, but B) pattern to correct a misconception and emphasize the true criterion.
how bad someone can get
A rhetorical phrase used to describe the baseline or extreme limit of someone's negative behavior.
VOCABULARY & EXPRESSIONS
Parallel Spoken Cinema Scenes (语义近邻切片)
“Because this guy is really bad.”
“you should not look at how good they are in good times,”
“his conduct became completely unacceptable, even criminal:”
“Judging by his looks, he doesn't seem like a bad person.”
“I can tell good people from bad.”
“While bad people go unpunished and swagger around?”