她叫汤圆Her Name Is Tangyuan

New words

• 属shǔ — to be born in the year of (属马)
• 命运mìngyùn — fate, destiny
• 文字wénzì — writing, written characters
• 将来jiānglái — the future; in the future
• 由yóu — by (由他决定); from
• 亲切qīnqiè — warm, kind, familiar

The story

小雨妈妈：医院的空调不太暖和，我给宝宝带了一个被子。The hospital air conditioning isn't very warm. I've brought the baby a quilt.

小雨妈妈：宝宝已经三天了，还没有名字！The baby's already three days old and she still hasn't got a name!

小雨妈妈：在我们家，大名由爷爷决定。这是传统。In our family, the formal name is decided by Grandpa. It's tradition.

小雨：那小名由我决定。小名要亲切一点儿。Then I'll decide the nickname. A nickname should be warm and friendly.

小雨爸爸：中国人起名字，很讲究文字。每个字的意思都要好。When Chinese people choose a name, they're very particular about the characters. Every character has to have a good meaning.

小雨爸爸：还要看她属什么。她是今年出生的，她属马。And we have to look at her zodiac sign. She was born this year, so she's a Horse.

乐乐：属马？跟楼下的马爷爷一样！A Horse? Just like Grandpa Ma downstairs!

乐乐：那包子属什么？So what's Baozi's sign?

Opening the lesson…