千金買鄰 (Qiān jīn mǎi lín)
Literally: One thousand gold taels to buy a neighbor.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, there was a man named Lu Sengzhen (呂僧珍) who had lived in the Guangling (廣陵) area for several generations. As he was upright, intelligent and courageous, he was known far and wide, and was respected and loved by everyone. Lu Sengzhen’s family lived in the northern district of the city, [and as] his house was not spacious, it appeared to be even smaller with the coming and going of many people. Because of this, he was advised to buy a more spacious house, [to which] he replied: “It’s big enough for me, there’s no need to expand my living area.” Because of Lu Sengzhen’s noble character, everyone wanted to approach and talk to him. There was a certain someone who bought a house next door to Lu Sengzhen’s. When someone else asked: “How much did you pay for this house?”, he replied “One thousand one hundred taels [of gold / silver]”. The other person then asked: “Why is it so expensive?” The first man then laughed and said: “The one hundred taels were used to buy the house, and the one thousand taels were used to buy the neighbor.”
—– VOCABULARY —–
僧 sēng – monk; Sangha, the Buddhist monastic order [[tăng: sư nam, người đàn ông tu theo đạo Phật]]
珍 zhēn – precious thing; treasure; culinary delicacy; rare; valuable; to value highly [[trân: báu, quý, hiếm có; quý trọng, coi trọng; vật báu, vật hiếm lạ; đồ ăn ngon; quý trọng]]
世代 shì dài – for many generations; generation; era; age
愛戴 ài dài – to love and respect; love and respect
戴 dài – to put on or wear (glasses, hat, gloves, etc); to respect; to bear; to support [[đái: đội, đeo; tôn kính, quý trọng]]
聞名 wén míng – well-known; famous; renowned; eminent
寬敞 kuān chang – spacious; wide
寬 kuān – lenient; wide; broad [[khoan: rộng, lớn; độ lượng, không nghiêm khắc; ung dung, thư thái; thừa thãi, dư dả, sung túc; bề rộng, chiều rộng; cởi, nới; kéo dài, nới rộng, thả lỏng; khoan dung, tha thứ]]
敞 chǎng – open to the view of all; spacious; to open wide; to disclose [[xưởng: rộng rãi, sáng sủa, không bị che lấp; mở rộng]]
顯得 xiǎn de – to seem; to look; to appear
套 tào – to cover; to encase; cover; sheath; to overlap; to interleave; to model after; to copy; formula; harness; loop of rope; (fig.) to fish for; to obtain slyly; classifier for sets, collections; bend (of a river or mountain range, in place names) [[sáo: bao, bọc, túi; dây thắng (xe, ngựa, v.v.); kiểu, thói, cách; khuôn khổ, lề lối có sẵn; chỗ đất hay sông uốn cong; lượng từ – bộ, tổ, hồi; trùm, mặc ngoài; lồng, nối ghép; mô phỏng, bắt chước; lôi kéo; nhử, lừa, đưa vào tròng; buộc, đóng (xe, ngựa, v.v.); trùm ngoài, bọc thêm bên ngoài]]
擴大 kuò dà – to expand; to enlarge; to broaden one’s scope [[khuếch đại, làm to ra, mở rộng]]
擴 kuò – enlarge [[khoách: mở rộng]]
積 jī – to amass; to accumulate; to store; measured quantity (such as area of volume); product (the result of multiplication); to integrate (math.); to solve (or integrate) an ordinary differential equation (math.); old; long-standing [[tích: chứa, trữ, gom góp; chồng chất, đọng; nghẽn tắc, trở ngại không thông; lâu ngày, lâu đời; kết quả của phép tính nhân, số nhân được]]
隔壁 gé bì – next door; neighbor
隔 gé – to separate; to partition; to stand or lie between; at a distance from; after or at an interval of [[cách: ngăn trở, ngăn che (làm cho không thông suốt); phân biệt, không tương hợp; xa, cách xa; biệt li; sửa đổi, đổi khác, biến dịch; giới hạn]]
壁 bì – wall; rampart [[bích: bức vách; sườn núi dốc; lũy đắp trong trại quân]]
選擇 xuǎn zé – to select; to pick; choice; option; alternative
選 xuǎn – to choose; to pick; to select; to elect [[tuyển: biếm, phóng trục; chọn, lựa; vào, tiến nhập; sách gồm những tác phẩm chọn lọc; người tài giỏi đã được kén chọn, tuyển bạt; đức hạnh; bầu cử; một lát, khoảnh khắc; đã được chọn lựa kĩ; chỉnh tề; khắp, hết, tận]]
擇 zé – to select; to choose; to pick over; to pick out; to differentiate; to eliminate [[trạch: chọn, lựa; phân biệt, khác biệt]]
交往 jiāo wǎng – to associate (with); to have contact (with); to hang out (with); to date; (interpersonal) relationship; association; contact