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Current Events Science

jùfēng

jùfēng (jù·fēng cyclone; hurricane; typhoon · wind → [hurricane; typhoon] 飓风 颶風) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

During the week preceding the date of this post, Hurricane Ian hit the USA. As NBC News reported on the afternoon of Oct. 1, 2022:

The death toll from Hurricane Ian rose Saturday to more than 77 as one of strongest and costliest storms to ever hit the U.S. pushed northward from the Carolinas leaving in its wake a trifecta of misery—dangerous flooding, power outages and massive destruction.

At the time of this writing, jw.org was featuring the related article “Extreme Weather—Can the Bible Help You to Cope?”. The Mandarin version of this article uses this week’s MEotW, “jùfēng”, to translate the English word “hurricane”.

Note that while one who is familiar with the Mandarin expression “dàfēng” (literally, “big wind”) might assume that the first morpheme in “jùfēng” is the same as the first morpheme (meaning “huge; gigantic”) in “jùdà (jù·dà huge; gigantic · big 巨大)”, actually, the first morpheme in “jùfēng” is a different one that specifically means “cyclone; hurricane; typhoon”.

A Tropical Cyclone by Any Other Name…

The English jw.org article mentioned above also mentions hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones. The corresponding expressions used in the Mandarin version are, respectively, “jùfēng (jù·fēng hurricane · winds → [hurricanes] 飓风 颶風)”, “táifēng (tái·fēng typhoon · winds → [typhoons] 台风 颱風)”, and “qìxuán (qì·xuán air · circlings → [cyclones] 气旋 氣旋)”. What though, are the differences between hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones?

The US government’s National Ocean Service explains it like this:

The only difference between a hurricane and a typhoon is the location where the storm occurs.

Hurricanes and typhoons are the same weather phenomenon: tropical cyclones. A tropical cyclone is a generic term used by meteorologists to describe a rotating, organized system of clouds and thunderstorms that originates over tropical or subtropical waters and has closed, low-level circulation.

The weakest tropical cyclones are called tropical depressions. If a depression intensifies such that its maximum sustained winds reach 39 miles per hour, the tropical cyclone becomes a tropical storm. Once a tropical cyclone reaches maximum sustained winds of 74 miles per hour or higher, it is then classified as a hurricane, typhoon, or tropical cyclone, depending upon where the storm originates in the world. In the North Atlantic, central North Pacific, and eastern North Pacific, the term hurricane is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a typhoon. Meanwhile, in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean, the generic term tropical cyclone is used, regardless of the strength of the wind associated with the weather system.

Structure

Some might also find the following information interesting, on the structure and behaviour of tropical cyclones like hurricanes, etc.:

The main parts of a tropical cyclone are the rainbands, the eye, and the eyewall. Air spirals in toward the center in a counter-clockwise pattern in the northern hemisphere (clockwise in the southern hemisphere), and out the top in the opposite direction.

In the very center of the storm, air sinks, forming an “eye” that is mostly cloud-free.

Supercharged by Climate Change

Regarding hurricanes and similar storms, one thing that may be worthwhile to bring up in the field is that they are being made more destructive and difficult to predict by human-caused climate change.

An article on NASA’s website summarizes the situation and explains the basic mechanism:

Due to global warming, global climate models predict hurricanes will likely cause more intense rainfall and have an increased coastal flood risk due to higher storm surge caused by rising seas. Additionally, the global frequency of storms may decrease or remain unchanged, but hurricanes that form are more likely to become intense.

As surface temperatures rise, more liquid water evaporates from the land and ocean. Evaporation adds moisture to the air. How much water vapor the air can hold is based on its temperature. Warmer air temperatures can hold more water vapor. The increased moisture in the air leads to more intense rainfall, especially during extreme events.

In a hurricane, spiraling winds draw moist air toward the center, fueling the towering thunderstorms that surround it. As the air continues to warm due to climate change, hurricanes can hold more water vapor, producing more intense rainfall rates in a storm.

Moreover, …most models show that climate change brings a slight increase in hurricane wind intensity. This change is likely related to warming ocean temperatures and more moisture in the air, both of which fuel hurricanes.

Another article, on the Yale Climate Connections website, discusses a phenomenon called rapid intensification:

Rapid intensification, defined as an increase of wind speed of at least 35 mph in 24 hours, has recently garnered a lot of attention…

…human-caused warming significantly increases extreme tropical cyclone intensification rates…

Rapid intensification is one of the least well-predicted tropical cyclone processes and also one of the most dangerous, because storms that intensify quickly tend to catch people off guard.

By the way, the Mandarin expression currently used on jw.org to translate “climate change” is “qìhòu biànhuà”.

Categories
Culture Experiences Theocratic

rénwù shēngpíng

rénwù shēngpíng ((rén·wù person · thing → [personage] 人物) (shēng·píng life · {(being) level} → [whole life] 生平) [life story]) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

The new format of the Enjoy Life Forever! book, which incorporates post-paper technologies like video, enables the inclusion of a type of content that past publications used for Bible studies could not include—life stories. For example, the video for Lesson 04, point 5 of the Enjoy Life Forever! book, entitled My Search for the True God, contains the life story of Soten Yoeun, who endured many hardships but eventually found the true God Jehovah.

In the Mandarin version of this video, the expression “rénwù shēngpíng” is used to correspond with the expression “life story” that is used in the English version of the video. (A Pīnyīn Plus transcript for the Mandarin version of this video is available here.)

A Mandarin Personage

Rénwù”, which literally means “person thing”, can mean “character; personage; figure”. For example, “Shèngjīng rénwù” has been used to correspond with “Bible character”, that is, a person depicted in the Bible. For example, “A Letter From the Governing Body” in the Mandarin version of the Learn From the Bible book uses this expression in this way.

What, though, shall we make of “shēngpíng”? While “shēng” can mean many different things, here it obviously means “life”, that is, a life or lifetime. It’s less obvious, though, how “píng” fits into this expression.

On the Level

The “píng” in question literally means “[is] flat; level; even”. What, though, does that have to do with one’s rénwù shēngpíng, one’s life story?

Perhaps we can get some clues by considering how “píng” is used in other expressions. For example, another expression that contains “píng” is “tiānpíng (tiān·píng heaven’s · {(being) level} → [balance; scales (to weigh things)] 天平)”, which means a balance or a set of scales used to weigh things.

Yet another expression with “píng” in it, that may help us understand how “píng” functions in “shēngpíng”, is “shuǐpíng (shuǐ·píng water · {(being) level} → [standard; level; proficiency] 水平)”. This word is used to refer to a standard or level (of quality, achievement, etc.).

Considering the above examples, it seems that “shēngpíng” is used to mean the “level” achieved over the entire course of a life. From a negative point of view, this could involve passing judgment or competitively comparing achievements as if life were but a game. However, from a more positive and charitable point of view, considering one’s “shēngpíng” could involve recognition of what one was able to accomplish over the course of one’s life.

(By the way, it may also be worth noting that the “píng” in “rénwù shēngpíng” is also used in “píng’ān” and in “hépíng”. These expressions were discussed in the MEotW post on “hémù”.)


For convenience:

The direct link for the current generation Pīnyīn Plus resource for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the Enjoy Life Forever! book is:

More Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn Plus web material based on the Mandarin Enjoy Life Forever! book will be made available in the Pīnyīn Plus web resource as time allows.

Categories
Current Events Theocratic

kèchéng

kèchéng (kè·chéng lessons · procedure → [course; curriculum] 课程 課程) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn 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.]

As covered in the recent MEotW post on “āijiā‐āihù ((āi·jiā {one after another} · households 挨家)‐(āi·hù {one after another} · doors 挨户 挨戶) [door[-/ ]to[-/ ]door; house[-/ ]to[-/ ]house])”, on September 1, we Jehovah’s Witnesses resumed house-to-house preaching. It is appropriate, then, that as of this writing, jw.org is featuring the article “What Is the Bible Study Course Offered by Jehovah’s Witnesses?”. The Mandarin version of this article makes use of the expression “kèchéng”, perhaps preceded by “Shèngjīng (Shèng·jīng Holy · Scriptures → [Bible] 圣经 聖經)”, to correspond with the English expressions “Bible study course”, “Bible study program”, “Bible study”, “study”, “course”, “Bible course”, “Bible lessons” (from the title of the referenced Enjoy Life Forever!—Introductory Bible Lessons brochure), “study course”, “Bible study lessons”, and “lessons”.

Interestingly, “[Shèngjīng] yánjiū”, an expression that has long been used in the past to mean “[Bible] study”, does not appear at all in the above-mentioned article.

Related Expressions

The “ (subject; course; class | lesson)” in “kèchéng” may be familiar to those who have used the Mandarin versions of publications like the Good News brochure and the Enjoy Life Forever! brochure/book, since that is the Mandarin word used to correspond with the English word “lesson”. For example, “Lesson 10” is “Dì‐10 (Lesson)”.

Besides “kèchéng”, another word that “” appears in is “kèběn (kè·běn {course | lessons} · {root or stem → [mw for books, etc.]} → [textbook; coursebook] 课本 課本)”, which the above-mentioned article uses in reference to the Enjoy Life Forever! book that is now officially recommended for use on Bible studies. (Interestingly, the English version of the article does not use the word “textbook”, which is the main dictionary definition for “kèběn”. It does, though, refer to the Enjoy Life Forever! book as an “interactive Bible course”. So, “coursebook” may be a better match for “kèběn” in this case.)

As for the second morpheme in “kèchéng”, it is also used, perhaps unexpectedly, in “gōngchéng (gōng·chéng work · {procedure → [journey]} → [engineering | [engineering/work] project] 工程)” and in “gōngchéngshī (gōng·chéng·shī {work · {procedures → [journeys]} → [engineering]} · {master → [skilled person; expert; specialist]} → [engineer] 工程师 工程師)”.

Usage Examples

Here are a couple of examples of “kèchéng” in use, taken from the above-mentioned article:

English:

Our Bible study program can help you to:

  • Have a happy life
  • Become God’s friend
  • Learn what the Bible promises for the future

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Wǒmen de Shèngjīng kèchéng kěyǐ bāngzhù :

  • 📖 📄 📘 Guò kuàilè de shēnghuó
  • 📖 📄 📘 Gēn Shàngdì jiànlì yǒuyì (yǒu·yì friendly · friendship → [friendship] 友谊 友誼)
  • 📖 📄 📘 Liǎojiě (Liǎo·jiě {to understand} · {to untie → [to solve]} → [to understand] 了解 了/瞭解) Shèngjīng gěi rén de xīwàng

English:

These interactive lessons answer some of life’s most important questions.

Mandarin:

📖 📄 📘 Zhèige hùdòng (hù·dòng {each other} · moving → [interactive] 互动 互動) shì Shèngjīng kèchéng huì huídá yìxiē zhòngyào wèntí.

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