故事 Story

有一家食品店的老板，没有读过多少书，很多字都不会写。
中秋节那天，店里做了月饼，于是他写了一个很大的招牌放在门外："中秋日饼"。
有一个顾客好心地对他说："您招牌上'月饼'的'月'字，是个白字！"
老板说："你少骗我，你以为我不知道吗？'白'字的上面还有一撇呢！"

The owner of a food shop had a little schooling, so he did not know how to write some words.
On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, he made a lot of moon cakes. He then placed an advertisement board outside the shop with the words as follows: "中秋日饼(zhōngqiūrìbǐng)".
A kind customer told him, " the character '月(yuè)' of '月饼(yuèbǐng)' on your board is wrongly written. It is a "白字(báizì)!"
The owner replied, "You'd better not cheat me. I know how to write '白'. There is a "撇(piě)"(stroke) on its head!"

词语注释 Note

食品店 ：(shípǐndiàn) n.  grocery store
中秋节：(zhōngqiūjié) n.  the Mid-autumn Festival
月饼：(yuèbǐng) n.  moon cake
好心：(hǎoxīn) adv.  kindly,with good intention
招牌：(zhāopai) n.  signboard
白字：(báizì) n.  wrongly written or pronouncedcharacter
撇 ：(piě) n.  a stroke of Chinese character

语言点Language Point

1.白字 : Wrongly Written or Mispronounced Character
In Chinese, "白字(báizì)" means the characters wrongly written or pronounced. We can say:

他写的文章经常出现白字。
tāxiědewénzhāngjīngchángchūxiànbáizì.
We can always find some "白字" (wrongly written characters) in his articles.

你刚才念了一个白字。
nǐgāngcáiniànleyígèbáizì.
You said a "白字" (mispronounced a word) just now.

The shop owner in the story misunderstood the customer and thought he referred to the character "白" by saying "白字(báizì)". That was why he made a fool of himself.

2.汉字的笔画 Strokes of Chinese Characters

The shop owner in the story said, "There is an extra "撇(piě)"(stroke) on its head". The "撇(piě)" here is one kind of strokes in writing Chinese. Strokes are the smallest units to form a Chinese character. At the top are the five kinds of basic stokes, based on which the Wubi Chinese input method works, so does some Chinese input methods installed in mobile phones. In addition to the five kinds of basic strokes, there are many other stroke variations. Learning them well, you can find any new words you come across in a dictionary by counting their strokes.
横 一 héng
竖 丨 shù
撇 丿 piě
捺 乀 nà
折 ┐ zhé

• customer [´kʌstəmə]   n.顾客，买主，主顾   (初中英语单词)
• character [´kæriktə]   n.特性；性质；人物；字   (初中英语单词)
• intention [in´tenʃən]   n.意图；打算；意义   (初中英语单词)
• writing [´raitiŋ]   n.书写；写作；书法   (初中英语单词)
• addition [ə´diʃən]   n.加；加法；附加物   (初中英语单词)
• learning [´lə:niŋ]   n.学习；学问；知识   (初中英语单词)
• festival [´festivəl]   n.节日；庆祝；欢庆   (高中英语单词)
• advertisement [əd´və:tismənt]   n.(做)广告；宣传   (高中英语单词)
• grocery [´grəusəri]   n.食品杂货店   (高中英语单词)
• pronounced [prə´naunst]   a.发出音的；显著的   (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ]   n.言语；言论；格言   (高中英语单词)