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Unit 16
DIALOGUE I
Going Metric
A: As a Westerner studying Chinese literature, I often get confused with your traditional weights and measures. I refer to dictionaries, only to find the explanations more confusing.
B: I sometimes get confused too.
A: The way you measure weights and capacity puzzles me. For example, in Chinese novels I often come across these words: hao, qian, liang, jin, sheng, dou, shi, dan (毫、钱、两、斤、升、斗、石、担) ... They baffle me.
B: Most young people in China get confused, too. The problem arises because of the parallel use of both the traditional and the newer metric system in many places.
A: In my country we also use the more traditional system to measure certain things. For example, when measuring liquids, we have pints, quarts and gallons. By the way, do you use the metric system in the piecegoods shops?
B: Yes. For length measurements, the traditional system and the metric system are used side by side. We use chi (尺) as well as the metre. One chi is a third of a metre or a little longer than a foot.
A: We have inches, feet, yards and miles. Everybody in my country learns the measurements by heart, such as "twelve inches equal one foot", "three feet equal one yard", and "one thousand seven hundred and sixty yards equal one mile".
B: That's complicated, too.
A: Yes, especially for people from other countries who are not used to such a system.
B: Thanks to the metric reform, we don't have trouble in measuring weights any more.
A: But your jin is not metrical.
B: It is, too. One jin is 500 grammes, that is, half a kilo. There are ten liang in one jin, and 50 grammes in one liang. Your traditional weight measures are much more confusing than ours.
A: Yes, oh yes. The smallest unit is the ounce. It takes 16 ounces to make a pound, 14 pounds to make a stone, 8 stone to make a hundredweight, and 20 hundredweight to make a ton. One sack of potatoes or coal usually weighs one hundredweight.
B: The other day we got on the scale. I remember you weighed 76 kilos. That's about 167 pounds. So you weighed one hundredweight, 3 stone and 13 pounds. That's very complicated.
A: No, no! Hundredweight is not used to measure human weight. It's used only for potatoes and coal. For people, we just use stone and pounds. So I weighed 11 stone 13 pounds.
B: I'm certainly baffled by this system of weights and measures.
A: I agree. It's high time we went metric. As matter of fact, the British government has already set up a Metrication Board to speed up the process of metrication.
B: Our government has done a pretty good job in unifying the measurement systems. We've almost gone completely metric. I hope your reform will keep pace with ours.
A: Considering all the money spent on our "going metric" campaign, it would be a shame to lag behind. We'll catch up. And it won't be long before all the nations of the world go completely metric.
DIALOGUE II
Dialogue:
A and B were good friends 20 years ago. They meet accidentally on a train. They are greatly surprised.
A: Excuse me, do you happen to know ... Oh, I know you! It's Archie, isn't it?
B: David! Fancy meeting you here!
A: Incredible! After all these years...
B: You're the last person I expected to meet out here. What are you doing here, anyway?
A: Oh, I've come to this out-of-the-way place to interview a man whose ... wait a minute ... Of course! Archie Lee! The very man I want!
B: How amazing! Who'd have thought that we'd meet again like this!
A: I'm astounded to find that you're the expert I want to talk to. By the way, I don't want to be inquisitive, but is the hotel still going?
B: Hotel? Oh, that. Oh, I haven't got that any more.
A: You mean you sold it.
B: Er ... yes. I did, actually.
A: What, you can't have done that!
B: But I did.
A: Mm. That's a pity. You left school just to take it over from your uncle, didn't you? Why did you sell it?
B: Well, as a matter of fact, I had to.
A: Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Of course, it might've been too expensive to run it.
B: Er ... not exactly, no.
A: And now you're a millionaire! I wonder how you switched from hotel owner to expert on farm products.
B: Well, it's a long story...
READING I
When China was in the process of changing to the metric system of weights and measures -- metrication, Britain was engaged in a similar change, as the following two passages indicate.
Going Metric -- Progress Report
You've probably noticed how more and more things in the shops these days have changed over to metric. Here is the latest news on what is happening.
In the middle of this advertisement you'll see a list of just some of the everyday things that are being sold in metric already. For instance, you may have bought some fabrics in metric yourself. Most clothes are marked in centimetres these days as well as in inches.
Cans and drums of oil and grease have been changing to metric sizes. There are no immediate plans to sell petrol by the litre, and for the time being milk and beer stay as they are. Sugar starts to go metric in the shops from July 1976. And more and more you'll see weight markings on confectionery in grammes as well as ounces.
Some everyday items now being sold in metric
Beds Cider Ice-cream
Blankets Nails Cooking oils
Carpets Rugs Medical supplies
Detergents Cement Dress fabrics
Soft drinks Wine Garden supplies
Toothpastes Biscuits Furniture polish
Shampoo Timber Household paints
To help you remember the main metric measures here are three short rhymes:
"A metre measures three foot three
It's longer than a yard, you see."
(One metre is approximately 39.37 ins.)
"A litre of water's
A pint and three quarters."
(One litre is approximately 1.76 pints.)
"Two and a quarter pounds of jam
Weigh about a kilogramme."
(One kilogramme is approximately 2.204 pounds.)
READING II
How Far Have You Got?
Perhaps you haven't noticed -- but Britain is in the middle of an exciting new revolution! Make no mistake- metrication is going to change all our lives in ways most of you can't even imagine!
We at the Metrication Board have been working away around the clock for years -- making sure that metrication when it comes will be just as easy and painless as possible. But, you know, soon life's going to get pretty difficult for those of you who don't or won't play the metrication game.
"Just remember, a metre
Is not the same as a litre"
-- says Mr. Metrication.
SIMPLE, ISN'T IT?
For example, it won't be any good you going into a shop and asking for "half a pound of butter". Most likely the shop assistant will just look blankly at you -- while fellow customers will fall about laughing. Or again, it won't be much use stopping your car and asking "how many miles to the nearest pub, where I can buy a pint?" You'll probably get run in!
"Acres into hectares?
That's just fine!
You multiply by 0.339"
-- says, Mr. Metrication.
SIMPLE, ISN'T IT?
Don't misunderstand us. We can't force you to go metric in the privacy of your own home. But, you know, if you insist on talking about feet and yards, you'll soon find the neighbours are beginning to talk!
Very soon your best friends will be avoiding you. Your family will cease to look up to you. Your hair will begin to fall out. You will go blind. Bulldozers will mysteriously destroy your house during the night hours.
"A half-pound of jam
Is 0.56732 of a kilogramme!"
-- says Mr. Metrication.
SIMPLE, ISN'T IT?
We must emphasize that metrication is entirely voluntary. But unless we all join in, there's no point, is there?
That's why we're hoping that from 1 June 1976 it will be a criminal offence to use non-metric measures in public, even in conversation. This offence will be punishable by imprisonment or a fine of ￡1000 or both.
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