Lessons 4, 7, 8, 10, 11: Adverbials of manner: 偷偷, 偶然, 不约而同, 尽量

Explanation

Structure

1. 1
   偷偷+V / Adj

   Doing something without letting others know.

   • 他看大家不注意，就偷偷离开了。

     Tā kàn dàjiā bú zhùyì, jiù tōutōu líkāi le.

     Seeing that nobody was paying attention, he slipped away.

   • 他觉得自己再也混不下去了，就偷偷地溜走了。

     Tā juéde zìjǐ zài yě hùn bu xiàqu le, jiù tōutōu de liūzǒu le.

     Feeling he could no longer get by there, he sneaked away.

   • 一天，她偷偷把一封信放在了我的书包里。

     Yì tiān, tā tōutōu bǎ yì fēng xìn fàng zài le wǒ de shūbāo li.

     One day she secretly slipped a letter into my schoolbag.

   • 有一段时间我常常一个人偷偷地哭，有时哭着哭着就睡着了。

     Yǒu yí duàn shíjiān wǒ chángcháng yí ge rén tōutōu de kū, yǒushí kūzhe kūzhe jiù shuìzháo le.

     For a while I often cried secretly by myself, sometimes crying until I fell asleep.

2. 2
   偶然+V / 偶然的+N / S+很偶然

   偶然 (by chance): can be an adverbial, attributive or predicate.

   • 我偶然想起了他。

     Wǒ ǒurán xiǎngqǐ le tā.

     I happened to think of him.

   • 一个偶然的机会，我去了一趟新疆。

     Yí ge ǒurán de jīhuì, wǒ qù le yí tàng Xīnjiāng.

     On a chance occasion, I made a trip to Xinjiang.

   • 事故的发生很偶然。

     Shìgù de fāshēng hěn ǒurán.

     The accident happened quite by chance.

   • 这是一个偶然事件。

     Zhè shì yí ge ǒurán shìjiàn.

     This is a chance event.

   • 这件东西是我打扫房间时偶然发现的。

     Zhè jiàn dōngxi shì wǒ dǎsǎo fángjiān shí ǒurán fāxiàn de.

     I found this item by chance while tidying the room.

   • 一年之后，那位朋友偶然遇到他，就说：“你现在大概都学会了，可以准备辞职不干了吧？”

     Yì nián zhīhòu, nà wèi péngyou ǒurán yùdào tā, jiù shuō: "Nǐ xiànzài dàgài dōu xuéhuì le, kěyǐ zhǔnbèi cízhí bú gàn le ba?"

     A year later, that friend happened to run into him and said, "By now you've probably learned everything. Are you getting ready to quit?"

3. 3
   不约而同地+Vverb

   Without prior arrangement; used as an adverbial.

   • 一出来我们便惊呆了，大家不约而同地叫了一声“飞碟！”

     Yì chūlai wǒmen biàn jīngdāi le, dàjiā bù yuē ér tóng de jiào le yì shēng "fēidié!"

     As soon as we stepped outside we were stunned, and everyone exclaimed in unison, "A flying saucer!"

   • 老师一问，同学们不约而同地举起手来要求回答。

     Lǎoshī yí wèn, tóngxuémen bù yuē ér tóng de jǔqǐ shǒu lái yāoqiú huídá.

     As soon as the teacher asked, the students all raised their hands to answer, as if on cue.

   • 我们不约而同地说：“同意。”

     Wǒmen bù yuē ér tóng de shuō: "Tóngyì."

     We said in unison, "Agreed."

   • 她们俩不约而同地报名参加了太极拳学习班。

     Tāmen liǎ bù yuē ér tóng de bàomíng cānjiā le tàijíquán xuéxíbān.

     The two of them, quite independently, both signed up for the tai chi class.

4. 4
   尽量+Vverb

   To try as hard as possible.

   • 看着自己心爱的女孩儿跟自己的好朋友有说有笑，我心里有一种说不出的滋味，所以我总是尽量不跟他们在一起。

     Kànzhe zìjǐ xīn'ài de nǚháir gēn zìjǐ de hǎo péngyou yǒu shuō yǒu xiào, wǒ xīnli yǒu yì zhǒng shuō bu chū de zīwèi, suǒyǐ wǒ zǒngshì jǐnliàng bù gēn tāmen zài yìqǐ.

     Watching the girl I loved laugh and chat with my best friend, I felt something hard to put into words, so I always tried my best not to be around them.

   • 你放心吧，只要我能做到的，我会尽量帮忙。

     Nǐ fàngxīn ba, zhǐyào wǒ néng zuòdào de, wǒ huì jǐnliàng bāngmáng.

     Don't worry, as long as I can do it, I'll help as much as I can.

   • 在课堂上，要尽量多说、多问，这样才能提高听说能力。

     Zài kètáng shang, yào jǐnliàng duō shuō, duō wèn, zhèyàng cái néng tígāo tīngshuō nénglì.

     In class you should try to speak a lot and ask a lot of questions; only then can you improve your listening and speaking.

   • 明天希望大家尽量早点儿来。

     Míngtiān xīwàng dàjiā jǐnliàng zǎo diǎnr lái.

     Tomorrow, please try to come a little earlier, everyone.