Tag: Short Links

Categories
Culture Language Learning Science Technology Theocratic

guāngyīn

guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰) ← 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.]

Rather than dismissively thinking to ourselves that the songs produced by the organization are “just songs”, we should remember that the slave class takes seriously its responsibility to provide spiritual food to God’s people, and so it is going to make sure that the lyrics in its songs are spiritually correct, while also being emotionally moving.—Ezekiel 33:32; Matthew 24:45.

Light and Shade

This week’s MEotW, “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)”, comes from the second verse of song 56, which is entitled “Make the Truth Your Own” in English and “Jiāng (Take 将 將) Zhēnlǐ (Zhēn·lǐ True · Reasoning → [the Truth] 真理) Zhēncáng (Zhēn·cáng {to Be Treasured} · {to Be Stored Up} 珍藏) zài (in 在) Xīnli (Xīn·li Heart · Inside 心里 心裡/裏)” in Mandarin:

English:

The effort you make and the time you are spending
In service to God and his Kingdom

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Nǐ (you 你) bù (not 不)‐cí ({do take your leave from} → [do shrink from] 辞 辭/辤)‐xīnláo (xīn·láo {pungently → [labouriously]} · working 辛劳 辛勞), jìn ({expend to the limit} 尽 盡) quánlì (quán·lì whole · strength 全力) shànyòng (shàn·yòng {(for) good} · {to be using} 善用) guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time available] 光阴 光陰),
Nǔlì (Nǔ·lì exert · strength 努力) xuānyáng (xuān·yáng {to declare} · {to raise → [to make known]} 宣扬 宣揚) Wángguó (Wáng·guó King’s · Nation → [Kingdom] 王国 王國) hǎo (good 好) xiāoxi (xiāo·xi disappearing · news → [news] 消息).

Yin and Yang

While “guāng (light | {[is] bare}; {[is] naked} | {[is] used up} | only 光)” is a well-known Mandarin expression that means “light”, the situation with the other morpheme in this week’s MEotW is a little more complicated. “Yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” is now used to effectively mean such common, everyday things as “overcast”, “shade”, or “negative (electric charge, etc.)”, but the meaning of “yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” originally comes from Chinese philosophy—it’s the “yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” in “yīnyáng (yīn·yáng {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [yin and yang; opposites]] 阴阳 陰陽)” (Wikipedia article).

The “yáng ({positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [sun | solar | open; overt | belonging to this world | positive (electric charge) | male]] 阳 陽)” in “yīnyáng (yīn·yáng {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [yin and yang; opposites]] 阴阳 陰陽)” also appears in “tàiyáng (tài·yáng highest · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} → [sun] 太阳 太陽)”, the Mandarin word for “sun”. The examples of this week’s MEotW and of “tàiyáng (tài·yáng highest · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} → [sun] 太阳 太陽)” show us how much Chinese philosophy is woven through the Chinese languages like Mandarin, to the extent that it may be practically impossible to completely avoid using in everyday speech words with allusions to Chinese philosophy. Of course, we know that Chinese philosophy as a whole, having originated with mere humans, is inevitably going to clash at least in some ways with God’s truth, but in this linguistic situation, in which people in general hardly ever think of the connections to Chinese philosophy that some everyday Mandarin words have, the organization has decided that it’s acceptable, or at least tolerable, to use a word like “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)” in the lyrics of one of its songs.

A Distracting “Easter Egg”

In one of those cute “easter egg”-type indulgences connecting visual design with meaning that many seem to enjoy, the Simplified characters for “yīnyáng (yīn·yáng {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} · {positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [yin and yang; opposites]] 阴阳 陰陽)”, “阴阳”, employ the radicals/character components representing the moon (月) and the sun (日) respectively. This relates to “yīn ({female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [the moon | covert; concealed; hidden; secret | implicit | negative (electric charge) | [is] overcast; dull; gloomy | shade | [is] sinister; treacherous | of the netherworld | genitalia] 阴 陰/隂)” literally meaning “female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)” and sometimes being used to mean “moon”, and “yáng ({positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)} [→ [sun | solar | open; overt | belonging to this world | positive (electric charge) | male]] 阳 陽)” literally meaning “positive/active/male principle in nature (Chinese philosophy)” and sometimes being used to mean “sun”.

To try to be the adult in the room, though, here I need to remind everyone that the way Jehovah created us, the primary focus of human language involves using invisible speech—not visible visual elements—to directly represent meaning. As linguists hold, speech is primary, and writing is secondary. Cute “easter egg”-type indulgences involving the visual designs of some characters may be delightful to some on a mental, “that’s clever” level, but unfortunately, they can and do distract people from the basic linguistic truth that speech is primary, similarly to how visible idols distract people from the basic truth that God is actually a powerful but invisible Spirit, not a physical statue or image.—1 Corinthians 14:8–11.

The Time Available

Anyway, on one level of literalness, “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)” means “light-shade”. This apparently refers to the alternating lightenings and darkenings of the skies as each day—along with its time—passes. The result is that “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)” is used to effectively mean “time”, or “time available”. (This may be an echo of the truth spoken of at Genesis 1:14, that God set up “luminaries in the expanse of the heavens” to “serve as signs for seasons and for days and years”.) Regardless of the origin of part of “guāngyīn (guāng·yīn light · {female/passive/negative principle in nature (Chinese philosophy) → [shade]} → [time [available]] 光阴 光陰)”, let us be determined to spend well in God’s service whatever time we have available to us. We should especially be careful to do so, since, as dedicated ones, our limited time belongs, not just to ourselves, but to Jehovah.—1 Corinthians 10:31.

In this regard, one thing that we should especially keep in mind as Mandarin field language learners is that the unnecessary, self-indulgent complexities and vagaries of Chinese characters can use up much of our precious available time—which, for us dedicated ones, belongs to Jehovah—if we allow them to. With the above-mentioned linguistic and scriptural information in mind, make sure to only spend whatever time is necessary to spend on Chinese characters, which originated with mere humans and which are imposed merely by tradition. (Hebrews 12:1) Let us focus instead on cultivating God’s gift of speech in the Mandarin field, perhaps with the assistance of the modern, elegant, and efficient Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) writing system.

SVG Technology and Lyrics Links

“guāngyīn” _Pīnyīn_ Plus info, Song 56 (music+_Pīnyīn_), on iPhone 13 mini (landscape orientation)

In the unofficial “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web) language-learning resource, some songs now use SVG technology to enable links (rendered in blue) in the musical notation’s Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) lyrics. When tapped/clicked, these will display Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus “flashcards”. For example, as shown above, this resource’s rendition of song 56, from which this week’s MEotW comes, uses this technology. More such links will gradually be added as time allows.

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin “Sing Out Joyfully” book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.

Categories
Culture Experiences Science Theocratic

Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán

Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body] 团 團/糰) → [Governing Body]) ← 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.]

A few years back, I wrote up a brief web page listing reasons for producing Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), etc. material for the Imitate (ia) book. Some, especially some who grew up in the West, may have felt that this book is made up of “just stories”, and ones that they were already quite familiar with, at that. However, we must remember that Chinese Bible students may often have a different perspective regarding the Bible accounts that are made to come to life in the Imitate book. As that web page said:

  • Many Chinese people in the world have not been exposed to Bible accounts the way many Westerners have.
  • Also, I have heard that some, perhaps many, Chinese Bible students tend to approach their Bible studies like intellectual exercises for accumulating chōuxiàng (abstract) head knowledge as if for a school exam, rather than as training for their hearts for their own real lives.

Later, the web page touches on how some of the real-world benefits of good storytelling like that found in the Imitate book involve empathy:

  • …
    • The actress Natalie Portman once said, “I love acting. I think it’s the most amazing thing to be able to do. Your job is practicing empathy. You walk down the street imagining every person’s life.”
  • The Imitate book helps build Bible students’ empathy towards Bible characters, which in turn helps Bible students realize that others would feel empathy towards them as well if they imitated these Bible characters—not everyone will just think they’re crazy, like many worldly friends or family members might think.

While even fictional stories can have the benefits described in the links and the quote above, true stories from the Bible can have even greater benefits, including spiritual ones.

Besides the Imitate book, another book from Jehovah’s organization that relates Bible accounts is the Learn From the Bible (lfb) book. The letter from the Governing Body in this book says that, similarly to the Imitate book, the Learn From the Bible book also “brings the Bible accounts to life and captures the feelings of those depicted”, while, unlike the Imitate book, it “tells the story of the human family from creation onward”. While the Learn From the Bible book is especially suitable for children, the letter from the Governing Body in this book says that “it can also be used to help adults who desire to learn more about the Bible”. So, it would be good to consider on this blog some of the expressions used in the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book.

You Have Mail!

This week’s MEotW, “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body] 团 團/糰) → [Governing Body])”, appears near the beginning of the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book:

English:

A Letter From the Governing Body

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body] 团 團/糰) → [Governing Body]) de (’s 的) Xìn (Letter 信)

We can see from the above that “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body] 团 團/糰) → [Governing Body])” is the official Mandarin expression used to translate “Governing Body”. What morphemes and words are used to make up this Mandarin expression? What do they mean? How do they work together to make up the whole expression?

Central, But Not Necessarily in the Central Kingdom

Both the morphemes in “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央)” mean “centre” or “central”. Years ago, a sister expressed to me that she doubted that the organization would use the expression “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央)”, since it was such a mainland China-coded expression that’s often used by the current central government there. In fact, Pleco’s built-in dictionary says that it can be an abbreviation for “Zhōngguó Gòngchǎn‐Dǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuán‐Huì ((Zhōng·guó Central · Nation → [Chinese] 中国 中國) (Gòng·chǎn {Commonly Possessing} · {Produced (Things) → [Property]} → [Communist] 共产 共產)‐(Dǎng Party 党 黨/党) (Zhōngyāng Central 中央) {(Wěi·yuán Entrusted · Members 委员 委員)‐(Huì Gathering 会 會) → [Committee]} → [Central Committee of the Communist Party of China])” (“Central Committee of the Communist Party of China”). Another example is “Zhōngguó Zhōngyāng Diànshì‐Tái ((Zhōng·guó Central · Nation → [China] 中国 中國) (Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Diàn·shì Electric · {Looking At} → [Television] 电视 電視)‐(Tái Platform → [Station] 台 台/臺) → [China Central Television (CCTV)])” (“China Central Television (CCTV)”), the national television broadcaster of China. However, mitigating against the concern that “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央)” is overly connected to mainland China is that it’s used in “Zhōngyāng Qíngbào‐Jú ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Qíng·bào Situation; Circumstances · Reporting → [Intelligence] 情报 情報)‐(Jú Bureau; Office → [Agency] 局) → [Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)])”, the Mandarin expression referring to the US’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Anyway, the organization has decided that it’s not a problem to use “zhōngyāng (centre | central 中央)” in the official Mandarin expression referring to the Governing Body.

Old (Man/Men)

“Zhǎnglǎo (Zhǎng·lǎo {grown → [elder]} · old (men) → [elders] 长老 長老)” literally just means “grown old”, without any explicit reference to any man or men. However, it’s used such that it has an effective meaning of “elder (man/men)”, and it’s used by the organization to refer to the elders within the organization. There are many Mandarin expressions that follow this pattern of explicitly meaning a description, while only implicitly meaning that this description applies to a person, or to persons. Another example is “jìsī (jì·sī {offering sacrifices} · {taking charge [of]}; {attending [to]}; managing (person) → [priest] 祭司)”, which literally just means “offering sacrifices, attending to”, but which effectively means “priest[s]”, an implied person, or implied persons, to whom the literal description applies.

Towards a Clearer Style

In the rendering “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body] 团 團/糰) → [Governing Body])”, following after “Zhǎnglǎo (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)” is a hyphen. This is not a typical Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) rendering, if anything is typical about Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) in this characters-dominated world—typically, one would encounter “Zhǎnglǎotuán (Zhǎng·lǎo·tuán {{Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders]} · {{Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body]} 长老团 長老團/糰)”, rendered as a single, uninterrupted word. However, I have been leaning towards the view that such relatively long, uninterrupted words are relatively difficult to parse, or mentally break down into meaningful components. So, I have been adopting the practice of inserting hyphens in expressions that are typically rendered as long, uninterrupted words, between expressions like “zhǎnglǎo (zhǎng·lǎo {grown → [elder]} · old (men) → [elders] 长老 長老)” and “tuán ({roll sth. into a ball} → [unite; assemble | sth. roundish; lump | group; society; organization | round; circular | [mw for roundish things]] 团 團/糰)” that can stand alone as words. This makes it easier for readers to mentally come to grips with how multi-word expressions are constructed, with how they mean what they mean.

Even with the English writing system, which has been around for centuries and is very widely used, there remain similarly differing opinions on word separation and hyphenation, as well as differing opinions on things like the Oxford (serial) comma, British and American spellings, capitalization, etc. Different organizations, in fact, have different style guides regarding how to use the English writing system. It should not be surprising, then, that a relatively “young” writing system like Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), which additionally faces cultural prejudices unfairly limiting its use, has some aspects regarding which differing opinions still exist, which may get hammered out to an extent with time and greater usage by many different people.

Having a Ball

Coming to the final morpheme of this week’s MEotW, note that while “tuán ({roll sth. into a ball} → [unite; assemble | sth. roundish; lump | group; society; organization | round; circular | [mw for roundish things]] 团 團/糰)” effectively means “group” or “body”, it literally means “roll something into a ball”, and can also mean “roundish mass; lump”! So, “zhǎnglǎo (zhǎng·lǎo {grown → [elder]} · old (men) → [elders] 长老 長老)‐tuán ({rolled into a ball} → [group] → [body] 团 團/糰)” suggests the mental image of a number of elders rolled into a ball or roundish mass, so that they become a body of elders. Hopefully, elders in the Mandarin field will be able to find this Mandarin wording amusing rather than be offended by it!

Anyway, the morphemes in “Zhōngyāng Zhǎnglǎo‐Tuán ((Zhōngyāng Central 中央) (Zhǎng·lǎo {Grown → [Elder]} · Old (Men) → [Elders] 长老 長老)‐(Tuán {Rolled into a Ball} → [Group] → [Body] 团 團/糰) → [Governing Body])” on a certain level of literalness come together to mean “Central Body of Elders”, which matches nicely with the English expression “Governing Body”. In their letter near the beginning of the Learn From the Bible book, the Governing Body introduces this book and expresses their hopes for how it will be able to benefit people who make good use of it. May we do our part to help people in the Mandarin field to do so. Perhaps, we can start by showing them the letter from the Governing Body that’s contained in the Learn From the Bible book.

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Learn From the Bible book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Learn From the Bible book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Learn From the Bible book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.

Categories
Science Technology Theocratic

miǎománg

miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [distant; indistinct; vague | tiny; insignificant]} · {vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct} → [distant and indistinct; remote and vague | uncertain] 渺茫 渺/淼茫) ← 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.]

The Shēngmìng Láizì Chuàngzào Ma? ((Shēngmìng Life 生命) (Lái·zì Came · From 来自 來自) (Chuàng·zào Initiating · {Making, Creating} → [Creating] 创造 創造) (Ma [? ptcl for “yes/no” questions] 吗 嗎)? → [Was Life Created? (lc)]) (Was Life Created? (lc)) brochure and the Shēngmìng de Qǐyuán—Zhíde Sīkǎo de Wǔ Ge Wèntí ((Shēngmìng Life 生命) (de ’s 的) (Qǐ·yuán {Rising → [Starting]} · Source → [Origin] 起源/原)—(Zhí·de Worth · Getting → [Worth] 值得) (Sī·kǎo {Thinking About} · Examining 思考) (de ’s 的) (Wǔ Five 五) (Ge [mw] 个 個/个) (Wèn·tí Asking · Subjects → [Questions] 问题 問題) → [The Origin of Life—Five Questions Worth Asking (lf)]) (The Origin of Life—Five Questions Worth Asking (lf)) brochure were originally published back in 2010, but relatively recently, the English version of the Was Life Created? brochure was updated to the December 2022 Printing, and the Mandarin version of it was updated to the February 2023 Printing. Also, the Was Life Created? brochure and the Origin of Life brochure are now in the Teaching Toolbox section in the JW Library app. So, it would be good to consider some of the expressions used in the Mandarin versions of these publications that can be so helpful when discussing whether life was created.

Compounding Improbabilities

This week’s MEotW, “miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [distant and indistinct; vague | tiny; insignificant]} · {vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct} → [distant and indistinct; remote and vague | uncertain] 渺茫 渺/淼茫)”, occurs a couple of times in the QUESTION 1 section of the Origin of Life brochure, entitled, in English, “How Did Life Begin?”. For example, it occurs in the final Fact: item mentioned in the box at the end of the section:

English:

Fact: Protein and RNA molecules must work together for a cell to survive. Scientists admit that it is highly unlikely that RNA formed by chance. The odds against even one protein forming by chance are astronomical. It is exceedingly improbable that RNA and proteins should form by chance in the same place at the same time and be able to work together.

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Shìshí (Shì·shí Matter · {Being Solid} → [Fact] 事实 事實): Xìbāo (Xì·bāo tiny · womb → [cell] 细胞 細胞) yào (if 要) néng ({is to be able} 能) cúnhuó (cún·huó {to survive} · {to live} → [to survive] 存活), dànbái‐zhì ((dàn·bái egg · white → [protein] 蛋白)‐(zhì substance 质 質) → [protein]) hé ({(together) with} → [and] 和 和/龢) RNA fēnzǐ (fēn·zǐ {divided (off)} · {small and hard things} → [molecules] 分子) bìxū (must 必须 必須) hézuò (hé·zuò {closing → [joining]} · do → [work together] 合作). Kēxué‐jiā ((Kē·xué {branches of study} · learning → [science] 科学 科學)‐(jiā -ists 家) → [scientists]) chéngrèn (chéng·rèn undertake · {to recognize} → [admit] 承认 承認) RNA shì (is 是) jí (extremely 极 極) bù (not 不) kěnéng (kě·néng maybe · {being able} → [possibly] 可能) pèngqiǎo (pèng·qiǎo {having bumped into} · {being coincidental} → [by chance] 碰巧) chǎnshēng (chǎn·shēng {given birth to → [produced]} · {given birth to → [caused to exist]} → [brought into being] 产生 產生) de ({’s (thing)} 的), yí (one 一) ge ([mw] 个 個/个) dànbái‐zhì ((dàn·bái egg · white → [protein] 蛋白)‐(zhì substance 质 質) → [protein]) pèngqiǎo (pèng·qiǎo {having bumped into} · {being coincidental} → [by chance] 碰巧) chǎnshēng (chǎn·shēng {being given birth to → [being produced]} · {being given birth to → [being caused to exist]} → [being brought into being] 产生 產生) de (’s 的) kěnéng‐xìng ((kě·néng {being able} · {to be able to be} → [being probable] 可能)‐(xìng nature → [property] 性) → [probability]) yě (also 也) wēihū‐qí‐wēi ((wēi·hū {is tiny} · {with regard to} 微乎)‐(qí its 其)‐(wēi {being tiny} 微) → [is the tiniest of tiny]), ér (and 而) RNA hé ({(together) with} → [and] 和 和/龢) dànbái‐zhì ((dàn·bái egg · white → [protein] 蛋白)‐(zhì substances 质 質) → [proteins]) yào ({being supposed} 要) tóngshí (tóng·shí {(at the) same} · {(particular) time} 同时 同時) tóngdì (tóng·dì {(at the) same} · {ground → [place]} 同地) chǎnshēng (chǎn·shēng {to be given birth to → [to be produced]} · {to be given birth to → [to be caused to exist]} → [to be brought into being] 产生 產生) bìngqiě (bìng·qiě equally · also 并且 並且) néng ({to be able} 能) hùxiāng ({with each other} 互相) hézuò (hé·zuò {closing → [joining]} · {to do} → [to work together] 合作), jīhuì (opportunity → [chance] 机会 機會) jiù (then 就) gèngjiā (gèng·jiā {even more} · {adding → [additionally]} 更加) miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(is as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [is distant and indistinct]} · {is borderless (as an expanse of water)} → [is remote and vague] 渺茫 渺/淼茫).

Looking at the morphemes in “miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [distant and indistinct; vague | tiny; insignificant]} · {vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct} → [distant and indistinct; remote and vague | uncertain] 渺茫 渺/淼茫)”, the first one seems to literally mean “vast expanse (of water)”, with an implied meaning of “as if lost on or in a vast expanse of water”. This can lead to effective meanings such as “distant and indistinct; vague” and “tiny; insignificant”. As for the second morpheme, it means “vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct”—again, an expanse of water is implied. Taken together, the morphemes in “miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [distant and indistinct; vague | tiny; insignificant]} · {vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct} → [distant and indistinct; remote and vague | uncertain] 渺茫 渺/淼茫)” on a certain level of literalness mean “as if lost on or in a vast, borderless expanse of water”, and effectively mean “distant and indistinct; remote and vague” or “uncertain”.

Isn’t It Ironic?

So, while at first glance, “miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [distant and indistinct; vague | tiny; insignificant]} · {vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct} → [distant and indistinct; remote and vague | uncertain] 渺茫 渺/淼茫)” may seem to directly mean something like “vast (and obvious) like an expanse of water”, it’s actually used to mean just about the opposite. Rather than being like, “Look! I found this great, big ocean! Easy!”, it’s more like, “Oh, no! I have to find a specific thing, but it’s somewhere on/in this vast, boundless ocean! Is that really even possible?”

Similarly, sort of, the English word “inflammable” may seem at first to mean “not catching fire easily”, but it actually means the opposite. Also, while “infinitesimal” may have come from the same Latin word that “infinite” came from, “infinitesimal” and “infinite” have almost opposite meanings.

Accuarate, and Also Illustrative

While the wording of “exceedingly improbable” in the above-quoted section of the English Origin of Life brochure is technically correct, the morphemes in “miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [distant and indistinct; vague | tiny; insignificant]} · {vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct} → [distant and indistinct; remote and vague | uncertain] 渺茫 渺/淼茫)” additionally provide an illustration that can help us comprehend the reality, the scale, of what is being discussed.

NASA photo of the Pacific Ocean, as seen from space

NASA photo of the Pacific Ocean, as seen from space (Talk about vast—the Pacific Ocean takes up about a third of the earth’s surface! It’s also the deepest of the earth’s oceans.)

Imagine if you had to find a particular drop of water in the Pacific Ocean. Or, imagine if even something as “big” as your iPhone or other smartphone fell out of a plane that was crossing the Pacific Ocean. How big is the likelihood that you could find it the way evolution supposedly functions—completely by chance, without the application of any intelligence? While it’s theoretically not totally impossible that you could do so, would you bet your life on it? Would you use that vague, insignificant possibility as “just” the basis of your whole way of thinking about life and the world? The use of “miǎománg (miǎo·máng {(as if lost on or in a) vast expanse (of water) → [distant and indistinct; vague | tiny; insignificant]} · {vast; borderless (as an expanse of water); indistinct} → [distant and indistinct; remote and vague | uncertain] 渺茫 渺/淼茫)” in the above-quoted section of the Mandarin Origin of Life brochure expresses to us that that is in effect what those who believe in evolution are doing.—John 3:36; 17:3; Proverbs 9:10.

For convenience:

The direct link for the current-generation Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the Origin of Life brochure is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Origin of Life brochure is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin Origin of Life brochure will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.