hélí

hélí (hé·lí river · {raccoon dog} → [beaver] 河狸) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

At the time of this writing, jw.org had recently featured the article “The Beaver’s Construction Ability”. The Mandarin version of this article uses this week’s MEotW, “hélí (hé·lí river · {raccoon dog} → [beaver] 河狸),” as the Mandarin word for “beaver”.

“River Raccoon Dog”

In “hélí (hé·lí river · {raccoon dog} → [beaver] 河狸),” “hé (river; stream 河)” means “river” or “stream”, and “lí ({raccoon dog | leopard cat} 狸)” probably means “raccoon dog”.

Readers who did not grow up in Asia or Europe are probably wondering what a raccoon dog is, so here is a picture of one from Wikipedia:

 Ryzhkov Sergey [source]

“Ecosystem Engineers”

Reading the description of beaver dams and looking at the picture of one in the above-mentioned jw.org article, one may well be struck by how complex and involved these structures are. As the article says:

English:

In one study, researchers concluded that “beaver dams resemble engineered structures.” In fact, researchers have built many imitation beaver dams in North America. For good reason, beavers are often called ecosystem engineers.

…

What do you think? Did the beaver’s construction ability evolve? Or was it designed?

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Yí (one 一) xiàng ({item of} 项 項) yánjiū (yán·jiū {grinding → [studying]} · investigating → [study] 研究) tídào (tí·dào {carries (hanging down from the hand) → [raises} · {arriving at} → [mentions] 提到), hélí (hé·lí river · {raccoon dogs} → [beavers] 河狸) jiànzào (build 建造) de (’s 的) shuǐbà (shuǐ·bà water · dams → [dams] 水坝 水壩) jiù (exactly 就) xiàng ({are like} 像/象) shì (were (by) 是) gōngchéng‐shī ((gōng·chéng work · {journeys → [procedures]} → [engineering] 工程)‐(shī masters → [specialists] 师 師) → [engineers]) shèjì (shè·jì {set up} · planned → [designed] 设计 設計) de ({’s (things)} 的) yíyàng (yí·yàng {(of) one} · {pattern → [way]} → [the same] 一样 一樣). Dàn (but 但) qíshí (qí·shí its · {being solid → [actuality]} → [actually] 其实 其實), zài (in 在) Běi‐Měizhōu ((Běi North 北)‐(Měi·zhōu American · continent (abbr. for Yàměilìjiā Zhōu) 美洲) → [North America]), hěn (very 很) duō (many 多) shuǐbà (shuǐ·bà water · dams → [dams] 水坝 水壩) dōu (even 都) shì (are 是) rénlèi (rén·lèi human·kind 人类 人類) mófǎng (mó·fǎng {having imitated} · {having copied} 模仿) hélí (hé·lí river · {raccoon dogs} → [beavers] 河狸) de (’ 的) fāngfǎ (fāng·fǎ directions · methods 方法) jiànzào ({to build} 建造) ér (thus 而) chéng ({came to be} 成) de ({’s (dams)} 的). Nánguài (Nán·guài {(it) is difficult} · {(to find it) strange that} → [it’s understandable that] 难怪 難怪) hélí (hé·lí river · {raccoon dogs} → [beavers] 河狸) chángcháng (cháng·cháng often · often 常常) bèi ([passive signifier] → [are] 被) chēngwéi (chēng·wéi called · as 称为 稱為) “shēngtài xìtǒng ((shēng·tài {living (things’)} · condition → [ecological] 生态 生態) (xì·tǒng {tied (things) → [system]} · {gathered together (things) → [interconnected system]} → [system] 系统 系統) → [ecosystem]) gōngchéng‐shī ((gōng·chéng work · {journeys → [procedures]} → [engineering] 工程)‐(shī masters → [specialists] 师 師) → [engineers])”.

…

📖 📄 📘 Nǐ (you 你) rènwéi (rèn·wéi identify · {(it) to be} 认为 認為) ne ([? ptcl] 呢)? Hélí (Hé·lí river · {raccoon dog} → [the beaver] 河狸) jiànzào ({to build} 建造) shuǐbà (shuǐ·bà water · dams → [dams] 水坝 水壩) de (’ 的) nénglì (néng·lì ability · power 能力) shì (is 是) jìnhuà (jìn·huà {to advance} · {having transformed} → [having evolved] 进化 進化) (yǎnhuà (yǎn·huà {having performed} · transforming → [having evolved] 演化)) ér (thus 而) lái ({came to be} 来 來) de ({’s (thing)} 的), háishi (hái·shi {still more → [or]} · is 还是 還是) jīngguò (jīng·guò {having passed through} · {having passed} → [having undergone] 经过 經過) shèjì (shè·jì {setting up} · planning → [design] 设计 設計) de ({’s (thing)} 的) ne ([? ptcl] 呢)?

We may find it beneficial to share the above comments with interested ones in the Mandarin field. Maybe the impressive industriousness and construction ability (and yes, cuteness) of “river raccoon dogs” will help bypass the prejudice that some may have towards the idea that life was created.

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By the way, I came across this video on YouTube about what effects beavers can have on the ecosystem: