业余爱好

Yèyú àihào

Spare-time Hobbies

Pattern 1

谈不上…… / ……谈不上

tán bu shàng... / ...tán bu shàng

Meaning:far from being / cannot really be called...

Indicates that something has far from reached a certain level or degree ('cannot be called', 'nowhere near'). Used for modesty or mild disagreement.

Examples

爱看谈不上，闲着没事的时候也看看。

Àikàn tán bu shàng, xiánzhe méi shì de shíhou yě kànkan.

I wouldn't say I'm fond of watching it; I just watch a bit when I'm idle with nothing to do.

天才谈不上，他就是脑子比较快。

Tiāncái tán bu shàng, tā jiùshì nǎozi bǐjiào kuài.

He's far from a genius; he just has a relatively quick mind.

Pattern 2

从……起，S……

Cóng... qǐ, S...

Meaning:Starting from... / Ever since...

Marks a starting time or location from which an action or state began and continued.

Examples

从那时起，我就开始集邮了。

Cóng nà shí qǐ, wǒ jiù kāishǐ jí yóu le.

From that moment on, I started collecting stamps.

从明天起，李钟文要锻炼身体了。

Cóng míngtiān qǐ, Lǐ Zhōngwén yào duànliàn shēntǐ le.

Starting tomorrow, Li Zhongwen is going to work out.

Pattern 3

由于……，(因此/所以)…… / 是由于……

Yóuyú..., (yīncǐ/suǒyǐ)... / shì yóuyú...

Meaning:Owing to / Because of..., therefore... / is due to...

Expresses causal relationship ('owing to', 'because of', 'due to').

Examples

主要是由于集邮能让人心情愉快。

Zhǔyào shì yóuyú jí yóu néng ràng rén xīnqíng yúkuài.

It is mainly because stamp collecting makes one feel joyful.

由于得到了专家的帮助，所以我们的研究工作进行得很顺利。

Yóuyú dédào le zhuānjiā de bāngzhù, suǒyǐ wǒmen de yánjiū gōngzuò jìnxíng de hěn shùnlì.

Because we received expert help, our research work proceeded very smoothly.

Pattern 4

除了 A 还是 A

chúle A háishi A

Meaning:nothing but A / entirely and endlessly A

Expresses that only A exists without any variation or change, indicating extreme monotony or repetition.

Examples

跟别人聊天儿的时候，除了电视剧还是电视剧。

Gēn biérén liáotiānr de shíhou, chúle diànshìjù háishi diànshìjù.

When chatting with others, it's nothing but TV dramas, over and over.

一天到晚除了学习还是学习，你也不出去玩儿玩儿？

Yì tiān dào wǎn chúle xuéxí háishi xuéxí, nǐ yě bù chūqu wánrwanr?

From morning till night it's study, study and only study—won't you go out and have some fun?