Ditch the Parachute Pants: Part Three

This post is part of a series titled, "Ditch the Parachute Pants."  If you haven't already, you may want to begin by reading the first post in this series.


Vocabulary previously introduced:
kù 裤  - pants/trousers
wèntí 问题 - problem
tā 她 - she

Now that Helen had done her best to rid her mother of those horrible kù (裤 ) in the most humane ways tā (她) knew, with little success, tā (她) decided to up the ante a bit.  Perhaps if her mother's pink kù (裤 ) "disappeared" for a few days tā (她) would be forced to wear something else for a while, and perhaps if tā (她) got used to wearing something else, tā (她) would finally be able to part with the grotesque parachute kù (裤 ).  Helen decided tā (她) would hide the pink kù (裤 ) in her mother's linen closet.  Her mother would certainly find them come laundry day, but with any luck, by that time tā (她) would realize tā (她) could be happy without them.

Helen did feel a little guilty about her plan to deprive her mother of her favorite kù (裤 ), but tā (她) had come to think of her quest as a sort of benevolent rescue.  Besides, her mother had other kù (裤 ) to wear - kù (裤 ) that were less nauseating, and much less likely to cause small children to run in terror.  In addition to the new khaki kù (裤 ), Helen's mother also had a nice pair of black yoga kù (裤 ) (to have = yǒu 有 [pronounced like the "yo" in "yoga"].  Used to express possession.) which tā (她) wore to aerobics class and were actually rather stylish.  Helen had complemented her mother profusely each time tā (她) wore the yoga kù (裤 ), but her mother hadn't ever taken the hint - or maybe tā (她) just didn't care because tā (她) yǒu (有) such a nice pair of hot pink parachute kù (裤 ) to wear instead.  Tā (她) also yǒu (有) a pair of yellow yoga kù (裤 ) (also = yě 也 [yě is pronounced like the "ye" in "yellow"]).  Much like the pink parachute kù (裤 ), the yellow yoga kù (裤 ) were yě (也) hideous and unflattering, but Helen knew that if tā (她) was to have any measure of success in improving her mother's fashion sense, tā (她) would have to pick her battles.

Helen heard her mother pulling into the driveway.  Tā (她) tossed the ugly kù (裤 ) into the back of the linen closet, and quickly made herself comfortable on the couch doing everything tā (她) could possibly think of to make it look as though tā (她) had been sitting there lazily for hours. Tā (她) kicked her shoes off and shoved them under the couch.  Tā (她) yě (也) turned on the TV, popped open a bag of potato chips (this was for a good cause after all), and prayed that her plan would work - not only for her mother's sake, but for the sake of the kù (裤 ).  If her efforts failed this time, tā (她) was certain her only remaining option would be to make a bonfire.


Did you enjoy this post?  Then you might also enjoy Mnemonics Made Me Do It: Animal Words In Chinese Via Visual Memory Cues. Also, be sure to visit this week's word list on Memrise.com for great mnemonics to help you learn the characters for this week's vocabulary.