ARC Plus: Companion to Newsletter #210
Chatting about staying cool underground, and kindergarten closings
ARC Plus: on a Mission to Add More Colloquial Chinese to our Advanced Readings!
For all of July 2025 we’ll be sharing premium ARC dialogues and audio resources with all of our subscribers in the ARC Plus newsletter. This will be paid content in the future, but we hope you enjoy this sample, share it with your friends and Chinese teachers, and leave us thoughtful comments.
～Pete & John
Here are a couple of conversations inspired by this week’s excerpt, 成都高温持续 民众进入防空洞纳凉. The first dialogue involves making plans to cool off in an air-raid shelter. The second dialogue is about the historical context of these unusual structures.
We suggest listening once without reading the scripts below. On a second listen, you can follow with the text to catch any words you missed the first time.
Dialogue 1： 到防空洞去避暑
郭姐：哎呀，刘总，你热不热？我这两天简直快被烤化了。
刘总：热得很！昨天我在办公室里，空调都顶不住，整个人冒汗像是刚洗完澡一样。
郭姐：我家电风扇吹出来的风都像吹风机一样。中午出去买个菜，感觉自己像进了火炉。
刘总：你看今天新闻没？说人民公园的防空洞开放了，好多人都进去纳凉。
郭姐：我看到了！那地方我小时候去过一次，记得是七十年代修的。夏天的时候还真挺凉快的。
刘总：现在成都就开放了这么一个防空洞给市民避暑，其他地方都没得。你说我们要不要也去瞧一眼？
郭姐：我正想说呢。听说里面温度比外面低好几度，还有人带小板凳进去打牌、喝茶。
刘总：那地方应该还是免费的吧？
郭姐：当然免费，每年入伏前后就开始开放，市民随便进去。我看照片，里面还挺干净。
刘总：不过你说人多不多？要是太挤了，也没意思。
郭姐：多肯定是多，但也说明大家都热得不行了。你不去试试，怎么知道有没有位置呢？
刘总：说得对。那咱们走吧？我正好在人民公园附近，顺路。
郭姐：好，我带个蒲扇和瓶凉茶，咱们进去吹会儿风。说不定还能碰到熟人。
刘总：那就这么定了。我先过去给你占个位置，你晚点到也行。
郭姐：不行不行，我现在就去。你等我十分钟，我把家里的猫粮补一下就出门。
刘总：行，那我在公园门口等你，不见不散。
郭姐：好咧，今天总算能凉快一下了！
蒲扇 (púshàn) a fan made with reeds
Dialogue #2: 深挖洞
郭姐：老张，我昨天在人民公园的防空洞里坐了一下午，凉快得很。你对这个防空洞了解不？
老张：嘿，那我可是太了解了。当年这洞子，我也下去挖过。
郭姐：啊？你自己也挖过？真的假的？
老张：当然是真的。那是上世纪六十年代末，差不多是“文革”那阵子，全国都在搞“备战、备荒、为人民”。成都也不例外。
郭姐：是为了防空吗？
老张：对啊，主要是怕苏联。当时中苏关系闹僵了，大家都担心会打起来，特别是担心对方搞原子弹。所以各个城市都在建防空洞，怕到时候真打起来，老百姓有地方躲。
郭姐：哇，那你们是自愿去挖的吗？
老张：也不能说是“自愿”，反正那时候全民总动员，单位、学校、工厂都要派人。我那时候才二十出头，天天背着铁锹、洋镐下去干活。
郭姐：那多累啊！成都地底下那么多石头，不好挖吧？
老张：是啊，难得很，有时候还要打钻爆破。条件简陋，机器也少，基本靠人工。一天到晚搞得满头满脸是灰，但大家干劲十足。
郭姐：那时候为啥大家这么拼啊？
老张：一来是真担心战争，二来那时候宣传特别响，什么“深挖洞，广积粮，不称霸”，你听过没？
郭姐：听过是听过，就是没搞懂到底啥意思。
老张：这句是毛主席提的。意思就是：我们要做好防御（深挖洞），储备粮食（广积粮），但我们不搞称霸世界的事。就是说，我们不主动打别人，但别人要打我们，我们得有准备。
郭姐：现在听起来有点夸张，但那时候大家真的信这些？
老张：当然信，那是国家的大事嘛。而且说实话，这种全民参与的事，也让人有点自豪。现在回头看，虽然辛苦，但我觉得值。
文革 (wéngé) The Cultural Revolution, shortened from “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” (无产阶级文化大革命), a period of mass disorder and violence during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
苏联 (Sūlián) the Soviet Union (1922-1991)
闹僵了 (nàojiāngle) estranged, having a falling out
铁锹 (tiěqiāo) shovel
洋镐 (yánggǎo) pickaxe
夸张 (kuāzhāng) exaggerated, over the top
Mini Podcast: 中国幼儿园关停潮
The hosts are discussing this week’s article on kindergarten closings. They first discuss the causes and scale of this trend. Then, they add personal observations and experiences. They conclude with some thoughts on how a declining birth rate will affect society in the future.
The conversation uses a few terms not in the original article:
低生育率 (dīshēngyùlǜ) low birth/fertility rate
措手不及 (cuòshǒu bùjí) to be caught off guard
敏锐 (mǐnruì) astute, perceptive
宏观 (hóngguān) the macro perspective; the big picture
Please leave a comment and let us know about ARC Plus so far. Feel free to share your own suggestions and preferences. We are very open to new ideas. You can also send us emails at arc@allsetlearning.com
One thing we’re wondering: For the mini-podcast, do you prefer discussion of something you already understand, or do you prefer a discussion of something you’re not as clear about in order to seek clarification? We’ll be providing both, and you are welcome to chime in and let us know what resonates with you most!
Thanks for joining us for ARC Plus, and we’ll see you next week!
~ Pete and John
Disclaimer: The dialogues in this newsletter are original creations, developed through a combination of human ingenuity and AI tools. All AI tools were used in accordance with their commercial licenses.
The first two conversations are great for deepening retention after reading the original articles a few days back. I like the podcast format too, it's still relevant to the kindergarten closures article but is more challenging and represents a more natural conversation. Please keep it up!
What a great resource. High-quality audio combined with the readings are great. Having started learning Chinese through ChinesePod, it's cool to hear John.