Pinyora graded readers: 102 short texts, easiest first

old tea-horse road or southern Silk Road, dating back to 6th century, from Tibet and Sichuan through Yunnan and Southeast Asia, reaching to Bhutan, Sikkim, India and beyond

西藏Xīzàng

Tibet Autonomous Region, capital Lhasa 拉萨市 (LāsàShì) (short name 藏 (Zàng))

古老gǔlǎo

ancient; old; age-old

唐宋TángSòng

the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties

年间niánjiān

in the years of; during those years; period (of dynasty or decade)

马mǎ

horse; horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chess; knight in Western chess

路线lùxiàn

itinerary; route; political line (e.g. right revisionist road)

穿越chuānyuè

to traverse; to pass through; to cross

高山gāoshān

high mountain; alpine mountain

凶险xiōngxiǎn

dangerous; ruthless; treacherous

商shāng

commerce; merchant; dealer; to consult; 2nd note in pentatonic scale; quotient (as in 智商 (zhìshāng), intelligence quotient)

马帮mǎbāng

caravan of horses carrying goods

铃铛língdang

little bell

日夜rìyè

day and night; around the clock

作zuò

to do; to engage in; to write; to compose; to pretend; to feign; to regard as; to consider to be; to be; to act the part of; to feel (itchy, nauseous etc); writings; works

盐yán

salt

藏区Zàngqū

the Tibetan-inhabited areas of China

回程huíchéng

return trip

马匹mǎpǐ

horse

皮毛pímáo

fur; fur clothing; skin and hair; superficial; superficial knowledge

无人wúrén

unmanned; uninhabited

行走xíngzǒu

to walk

风fēng

wind; news; style; custom; manner

走过zǒuguò

to walk past; to pass by

听见tīngjiàn

to hear

首shǒu

head; chief; first (occasion, thing etc); classifier for poems, songs etc

传来chuánlái

(of a sound) to come through; to be heard; (of news) to arrive

沉郁chényù

melancholy; gloomy

锅guō

pot; pan; wok; cauldron; pot-shaped thing

壁bì

wall; rampart

百米bǎimǐ

hectometer

深谷shēngǔ

deep valley; ravine

马失前蹄mǎshīqiántí

lit. the horse loses its front hooves; fig. sudden failure through miscalculation or inattentiveness

发生fāshēng

to happen; to occur; to take place; to arise (e.g. 发生问题 (fāshēngwèntí) "a problem arises")

挡dǎng

to resist; to obstruct; to hinder; to keep off; to block (a blow); to get in the way of; cover; gear (e.g. in a car's transmission)

匹pǐ

(bound form) matching; comparable to; (bound form) alone; single; one of a pair; classifier for horses, mules etc (Taiwan pr. pī); classifier for cloth: bolt; horsepower

高原gāoyuán

plateau

必需品bìxūpǐn

necessity; essential (thing)

补充bǔchōng

to replenish; to supplement; to complement; additional; supplementary

二十世纪èrshíshìjì

20th century

公路gōnglù

highway; road

通tōng

to go through; to know well; (suffix) expert; to connect; to communicate; open; to clear; classifier for letters, telegrams, phone calls etc

圈地quāndì

staking a claim to territory; enclosure

绕rào

to wind; to coil (thread); to rotate around; to spiral; to move around; to go round (an obstacle); to by-pass; to make a detour; to confuse; to perplex

三峡Sānxiá

Three Gorges on the Chang Jiang or Yangtze, namely: Qutang Gorge 瞿塘峡 (QútángXiá), Wuxia Gorge 巫峡 (WūXiá) and Xiling Gorge 西陵峡 (XīlíngXiá); Sanxia or Sanhsia town in New Taipei City 新北市 (Xīnběishì), Taiwan

长江ChángJiāng

Yangtze River, or Chang Jiang

青藏高原QīngZànggāoyuán

Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

奔流bēnliú

to flow at great speed; to pour; racing current

西陵Xīlíng

Xiling, a district of Yichang City 宜昌市 (YíchāngShì), Hubei

巫峡WūXiá

Wuxia Gorge on the Changjiang or Yangtze, the middle of the Three Gorges 三峡 (SānXiá)

瞿qú

startled; Taiwan pr. jù

塘táng

dyke; embankment; pool or pond; hot-water bathing pool

群山qúnshān

mountains; a range of hills

夹jiā

to press from either side; to place in between; to sandwich; to carry sth under armpit; wedged between; between; to intersperse; to mix; to mingle; clip; …

水路shuǐlù

waterway

古人gǔrén

people of ancient times; the ancients; extinct human species such as Homo erectus or Homo neanderthalensis; (literary) deceased person

称之为chēngzhīwéi

to call it...; known as...

两岸liǎng'àn

bilateral; both shores; both sides; both coasts; Taiwan and mainland

悬崖xuányá

precipice; overhanging cliff

中间zhōngjiān

the middle; the inside; in the middle; within; between; among; during; in the meantime

挤出jǐchū

to squeeze out; to extrude; to drain; to find the time; to burst out

郦Lì

ancient place name

元Yuán

Yuan dynasty (1279–1368)

经jīng

classics; sacred book; scripture; to pass through; to undergo; to bear; to endure; warp (textile); longitude; menstruation; …

注zhù

(bound form) to pour into; to flow into; to inject; (bound form) to focus (one's spirit, gaze etc) on a single point; to concentrate; (bound form) stake (in gambling); classifier for stakes, sums of money, transactions or beams of light; to annotate; to provide explanatory notes on a written text; an annotation; an explanatory note; (bound form) to put on record; to register

岩yán

cliff; rock

叠dié

to pile up; (bound form) repeated; to fold; classifier: stack, pile (of thin objects); classifier for repeated sections in a musical composition

嶂zhàng

cliff; range of peaks

隐yǐn

(bound form) secret; hidden; concealed; crypto-

蔽bì

to cover; to shield; to screen; to conceal

唐朝Tángcháo

Tang dynasty (618-907)