The Chinese Rural Environment

[thedaffodils]

Hi! Could you please proofread the text below? It is a translation exercise and is not involved with my viewpoint. Thank you!



Comparing with the past decades, nowadays Chinese peasants’ living standard has been improved noticeably. White steamed buns unaffordable for poor peasants in the old days are on the their daily menu; Electric fans, telephones, TV sets, washing machines, even air conditioners are easily accessible for Chinese peasant households; Old rundown cottages have been replaced with solid brick houses. However China pays for these at a price. Once fresh air, clean waters and green mountains of which rural folks were proud do not exist any more. The burgeoning economy is developing at the expense of rural resources and ecological environment. The main environmental changes during recent around 30 years are as below:

[Soup]

In comparison with past decades, the living standards of Chinese peasants has improved noticeably. White steamed buns while unaffordable for Chinese peasants in the old days are now a part of their daily menu; Electric fans, telephones, TV sets, washing machines, even air conditioners are easily accessible for Chinese peasant households; Old rundown cottages have been replaced with solid brick houses; however, China pays for these at a price: the fresh air, clean water and green mountains of which rural folks were once proud do not exist anymore. The burgeoning economy is developing at the expense of rural resources and the environment. Within the past 30 years the following environmental changes have occured:

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AUE: "anymore" and "any more"

[tzfujimino]

Hi, thedaffodils!
I'm not confident enough...but please let me try.
Below are some adjustments I would make.
(I'm not sure how to use semi-colons properly...)

Comparing with the past decades, nowadays Chinese peasants’ living standard has been improving noticeably. White steamed buns(Steamed white buns? White bread?) unaffordable for poor peasants in the old days are on the their daily menu; Electric fans, telephones, TV sets, washing machines, even air conditioners are easily available for Chinese peasant households; Old run-down cottages have been replaced with solid brick houses. However China is going to have to pay for these. Fresh air, clean waters and green mountains of which rural folks were once proud do not exist any more. The burgeoning economy is developing at the expense of rural resources and ecological environment. The main environmental changes occurred for the past 30 years are as below:

[tzfujimino]

Soup's correction is much better!!
She was much faster!! Please ignore mine!

[thedaffodils]

Hi Soup & tzfujimino:

Thank you very much for your help. And soup, I'm glad to learn differences between "any more" and "anymore".

I have two questions about your corrections:

Q1: Why should the verb -"improve" which serves as the predicate for "living standards" be passive voice?

I think we say " we improve our living standard", right? So living standard is improved.

Q2: Soup, I notice that you use "plural form" for "living standard". If I refer to the living standard of the whole Chinese peasant class rather than any individual, is it okay to write it in singular?

I look forward to your kind help again. Thank you!

[ohmyrichard]

Hi! Could you please proofread the text below? It is a translation exercise and is not involved with my viewpoint. Thank you!



Comparing with the past decades, nowadays Chinese peasants’ living standard has been improved noticeably. White steamed buns unaffordable for poor peasants in the old days are on the their daily menu; Electric fans, telephones, TV sets, washing machines, even air conditioners are easily accessible for Chinese peasant households; Old rundown cottages have been replaced with solid brick houses. However China pays for these at a price. Once fresh air, clean waters and green mountains of which rural folks were proud do not exist any more. The burgeoning economy is developing at the expense of rural resources and ecological environment. The main environmental changes during recent around 30 years are as below:

Over the past three decades, Chinese villagers’ living standard has been improved noticeably.Steamed buns unaffordable for them in the old days are now on the their daily menu; electric fans, telephones, TV sets, washing machines, even air conditioners are easily accessible for ordinary rural households; old rundown cottages have been replaced by solid brick houses. However, China pays for all these gains at a dear price. Fresh air, clean water and green mountains, of which rural folks were proud, do not exist any more. The burgeoning economy is developing at the expense of rural resources and ecological environment. The main environmental changes during the past 30 or so years are as follows:

[thedaffodils]

Hi tzfujimino,

You are doing well. How could I ignore your kind attempt to help me out? Thank you very much!!

Here's a picture of steamed buns. It is one of popular staple food for the people in the north China. I am from the south. We don't eat that much.

However China is going to have to pay for these.

By the way, China has paid for the consequences. It is bitter.

[tzfujimino]

Hi tzfujimino,

You are doing well. How could I ignore your kind attempt to help me out? Thank you very much!!

Here's a picture of steamed buns. It is one of popular staple food for the people in the north China. I am from the south. We don't eat that much.



By the way, China has paid for the consequences. It is bitter.

Thank you.
Oh....I got it(white steamed buns)!!
Yes! I love them! They are easily available at convenience stores in Japan!(Sorry for the digression..)

[ohmyrichard]

In my opinion, we usually use "compared to / with" rather than "comparing with" unless the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action of comparing. And "white steamed buns" may confuse native speakers and it is a literal translation of the Chinese words. As for "improve", I think either the passive or the active will do. I see no big difference between the two.And I'm afraid "living standards" is a mistake. Besides, we don't need to capitalize the word after the semi-colon.

[Soup]

Q1: Why should the verb -"improve" which serves as the predicate for "living standards" be passive voice?

I think we say " we improve our living standard", right? So living standard is improved.

Q2: Soup, I notice that you use "plural form" for "living standard". If I refer to the living standard of the whole Chinese peasant class rather than any individual, is it okay to write it in singular?

1. Use passive voice if the subject is unknown;e.g., The universe was created [by?].

2. Right. It's usually singular. Sorry. Let's change it: the standard of living in rural areas ...

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I eat white steamed buns every day.