One Chinese Sentence Every Day(5)

[William Jia]

萝卜白菜，各有所爱。
Luóbo báicài , gè yǒu suǒ ài.
Everyone has his own preference.

 

用法说明

       这句话是用饮食偏好来比喻人生的一个道理。前半部分列举了两种常见的蔬菜“萝卜”和“白菜”，后半句中“各”指代每个不同的人，“所爱”是运用了一个“所”字结构，省去了动词“爱”的宾语，结合前半部分，补充完整的表达应该是“所喜爱的蔬菜”。那全句表面上的意思就是对于萝卜和白菜这两种不同的蔬菜，有的人喜欢萝卜，有的人喜欢白菜。引申每个人都有自己的喜好，因此建议不要强人所难。用法上这句话一般单独用。

It uses an analogy between the individual taste on food and the individual favor. The former part provides two most common vegetables: Carrots and cabbages. And the latter part says that some people like carrots, but some other like cabbages. That means it is natural that each person has his own individual taste on food or on any other things. So shouldn’t force others to change their favorites or hobbies. This phrase is always used alone.

 

例句

1、甲：你怎么这么喜欢玩电脑游戏呢？我觉得这一点儿意思都没有。
Jiǎ ： Nǐ zěnme zhème xǐhuan wán diànnǎo yóuxì ne ? Wǒ juéde zhè yìdiǎnr yìsi dōu méiyou.
A: Why do you like computer games so much? I can’t find it interesting at all.

乙：萝卜白菜，各有所爱嘛。我还觉得踢足球没意思呢。
Yǐ ： Luóbo báicài , gè yǒu suǒ ài mɑ. Wǒ hái juéde tī zúqiú méi yìsī ne.
B: Everyone has his own preference. I can’t find any fun in playing football.

 

2、有人喜欢在大公司工作，有人喜欢去小公司，其实是萝卜白菜，各有所爱，每个人都有适合自己的工作环境。
Yǒu rén xǐhuān zài dà gōngsī gōngzuò, yǒu rén xǐhuān qù xiǎo gōngsī, qíshí shì luóbo báicài, gè yǒu suǒ ài, měi gè rén dōu yǒu shìhé zìjǐ de gōngzuò huánjìng.
Some people prefer working in a big company, while others prefer a small one. Actually, everyone has his own preference. We can choose the most suitable working environment for ourselves.

 

Mandarin Garden. Better Chinese, Better Life.