1. Upper-Intermediate - Bad Service Restaurant (D0755)
A: 气死我了！
q`ı sˇı wˇo le!
I’m so stinking mad!
B: 不是去吃饭吗？怎么那么快就回来了？
b`ush`ı q`u ch¯ıf`an ma? zˇenme n`ame ku`ai ji`u hu´ılai le?
Didn’t you just go out to eat? How come your back so
quickly?
A: 别提了。还吃什么，气都气饱了。那个破饭店，
服务太差劲了。我这辈子再也不会去了！你也千
万别去。
bi´e t´ı le. h´ai ch¯ı sh´enme, q`ı d¯ou q`ı bˇao le. n`age p`o f`an-
di`an, f´uw`u t`ai ch`aj`ın le. wˇo zh`e b`eizi z`aiyˇeb`uhu`ı q`u le! nˇı yˇe
qi¯anw`an bi´eq`u.
Don’t ask. What could I eat, I was so mad I lost my appetite.
That lousy restaurant, the service is so terrible. I’ll never go
there again in my life. Don’t ever go there.
B: 到底什么事把你气成这样啊？
d`aodˇı sh´enme sh`ı bˇa nˇı q`ı ch´eng zh`ey`ang ¯a?
What in the world made you this angry?
A: 我点了一盘菜。服务员端出来的时候居然冲着里
面打了个喷嚏。
Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). c 2007 Praxis Language Ltd.

2. wˇo diˇan le y¯ı p´an c`ai. f´uw`uyu´an du¯an ch¯ulai de sh´ıhou j¯ur´an
ch`ong zhe lˇımi`an dˇa le ge p¯ent`ı.
I ordered a dish. Can you believe, that when the waitress
was bringing it over, she sneezed right into it.
B: 啊？冲着菜打？是有点恶心。
¯a? ch`ongzhe c`ai dˇa? sh`ı yˇoudiˇan ˇex¯ın.
Huh? Into the food? That’s a little gross.
A: 恶心的还在后头呢。我都看见她打了，你说我还
吃得下去吗？所以就叫她换一盘。没想到她不认
账！说根本没打。
ˇex¯ın de h´aiz`ai h`outou ne. wˇo d¯ou k`anji`an t¯a dˇa le, nˇı shu¯o
wˇo h´ai ch¯ı d´e xi`aqu ma? suˇoyˇı ji`u ji`ao t¯a hu`an y¯ıp´an. m´ei-
xiˇangd`ao t¯a b`u r`enzh`ang! shu¯o g¯enbˇen m´ei dˇa.
The gross part is still to come. I totally saw her do it, do you
think I could eat that? So I told her to bring me a new one.
I never imagined that she wouldn’t admit it. She completely
denied sneezing into it.
B: 怎么睁着眼睛说瞎话啊？那你怎么说？
zˇenme zh¯eng zhe yˇanjing shu¯o xi¯ahu`a ¯a? n`a nˇı zˇenme
shu¯o?
How could she look into your eyes and say such nonsense.
So, what did you say?
Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). c 2007 Praxis Language Ltd.

3. A: 我说我干吗要诬赖你。为了一盘十几块钱的菜，
我有必要浪费时间吗？
wˇo shu¯o wˇo g`anm´a y`ao w¯ul`ai nˇı. w´eile y¯ıp´an sh´ıjˇı ku`ai qi´an
de c`ai, wˇo yˇou b`ıy`ao l`angf`ei sh´ıji¯an ma?
I said why would I falsely accuse you. Over a 10 RMB or so
dish of food, I would feel the need to waste my time?
B: 那她什么反应？
n`a t¯a sh´enme fˇany`ıng?
So, how did she react?
A: 这就是让我气的地方。她竟然冲着我大叫，说我
有病。口气凶得不得了。
zh`e ji`ush`ı r`ang wˇo q`ı de d`ıfang. t¯a j`ıngr´an ch`ongzhe wˇo
d`aji`ao, shu¯o wˇo yˇoub`ıng. kˇouq`ı xi¯ong de b`ud´eliˇao.
That is what made me so angry. She shouted at me, saying
I was crazy. Her tone of voice was beyond fierce.
B: 怎么这样啊？你没叫经理？
zˇenme zh`ey`ang ¯a? nˇı m´ei ji`ao j¯ınglˇı?
How could she be like that? Didn’t you call the manager
over?
A: 叫了。他同意给我重新做一份。结果拿进去一
分钟就出来了。你说可能这么快吗？肯定还是那
份。
Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). c 2007 Praxis Language Ltd.

4. ji`aole. t¯a t´ongy`ı gˇei wˇo ch´ongx¯ın zu`o y¯ı f`en. ji´eguˇo n´a j`ınq`u
y¯ıf¯enzh¯ong ji`u ch¯ulai le. nˇı shu¯o kˇen´eng zh`eme ku`ai ma?
kˇend`ıng h´aish`ı n`af`en.
I called him. He agreed to have another one made for me.
So he took it back, and one minute later come back out.
You tell me, is it possible to be done that quickly? It was
definitely the same dish.
B: 啊？实在太不像话了。
¯a? sh´ız`ai t`ai b`u xi`anghu`a le.
Huh? That is just too shocking.
A: 就是啊。我当然不能就这样算了。所以我就跟他
们吵了起来，结果他们还是不承认，说菜是新做
的。后来我在菜里发现了一根头发，那个服务员
居然用手把它拿出来，然后跟我说可以吃了。
ji`ush`ı ¯a. wˇo d¯angr´an b`un´eng ji`u zh`ey`ang su`anle. suˇoyˇı wˇo
ji`u g¯en t¯amen ch¯ao le qˇılai, ji´eguˇo t¯amen h´ai sh`ı b`u ch´eng-
r`en, shu¯o c`ai sh`ı x¯ın zu`o de. h`oul´ai wˇo z`ai c`ai lˇı f¯axi`an le y¯ı
g¯en t´oufa, n`age f´uw`uyu´an j¯ur´an y`ong shˇou bˇa t¯a n´a ch¯ul´ai,
r´anh`ou g¯en wˇo shu¯o kˇeyˇı ch¯ı le.
Yes, exactly. Of course I couldn’t just leave it at that. So then
I started arguing with them, and they still wouldn’t admit it–
were still saying that the dish was freshly made. After that,
I found a hair in the food, and if you can believe this, that
waitress used her hand to pull it out, and then said I could
eat it.
Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). c 2007 Praxis Language Ltd.

5. B: 天啊，太过分了。怎么世界上会有这么不讲道理
的人？
ti¯an ¯a, t`ai gu`of`en le. zˇenme sh`ıji`esh`ang hu`ı yˇou zh`eme b`u
jiˇangd`aolˇı de r´en?
Oh my goodness, that is too much! How could there be
such unreasonable people in the world?
A: 是啊！不行，我越说越气！我一定要去投诉他
们！下午不上班了，现在就去！
sh`ı ¯a! b`ux´ıng, wˇo yu`e shu¯o yu`e q`ı! wˇo y¯ıd`ıng y`ao q`u t´ous`u
t¯amen! xi`awˇu b`u sh`angb¯an le, xi`anz`ai ji`u q`u!
Exactly! This is no good. The more I talk the angrier I get.
I definitely am going to make a complaint. I’m not going to
work this afternoon, I’m going to go there right now.
Key Vocabulary
差劲 ch`aj`ın no good
端 du¯an to hold something
level
冲 ch`ong toward
打喷嚏 dˇa p¯ent`ı to sneeze
恶心 ˇex¯ın gross
认账 r`enzh`ang to admit fault
Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). c 2007 Praxis Language Ltd.

6. 睁着眼睛
说瞎话
zh¯eng zhe yˇan-
jing shu¯o xi¯ahu`a
to look one straight in
the eye and talk non-
sense
诬赖 w¯ul`ai to falsely accuse
反应 fˇany`ıng reaction
竟然 j`ıngr´an to ones surprise
像话 xi`anghu`a proper
过分 gu`of`en over the top
投诉 t´ous`u to file a complaint
Supplementary Vocabulary
服务态度 f´uw`u t`aidu quality of service
恶劣 `eli`e vile
蛮横无理 m´anh`engw´ulˇı rude, unreasonable
Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version). c 2007 Praxis Language Ltd.