Group A Group B

188 Appendix D: RTT sentences 1 Base sentences for translation

1.1 Group A

1. He killed a pig and made oil from its fat. There was enough oil to last him one month. 2. Her maternal aunt fell ill, but after taking a little herbal medicine she got better and she could go and work in the fields again. 3. He took the cattle out to pasture. While he was not paying attention, an ox encroached on someone else’s land and ate their crops. The owner saw what happened and asked him to pay compensation. 4. She didn’t know how to swim so she couldn’t go to the other side of the river and play with her friends there. 5. When he was walking down the road he saw a snake. He was about to strike it, but the snake bit him first. 6. She went to the pool and caught lots of fish. Then she picked lots of chives. She brought it all home and made fish stuffed with chives. 1 7. He buried the treasure in the ground thinking that it would be safe. In the end, though, a thief came along and stole it. 8. That old man’s son is the cleverest person in our village. He was the first person in our village to go to university. 9. When he was chopping firewood he chopped his foot by accident. It needed four people to lift him up and take him to hospital to get treated. 10. When we were roasting sweet potatoes, we burnt them and most of them couldn’t be eaten. The adults all complained that we had wasted so many sweet potatoes. 11. She didn’t like salty, sour or spicy food, she would only eat sweet things, so in the end all of her teeth fell out. 12. I heard that tomorrow it will rain. When you go out you must take your umbrella, otherwise you’ll get soaked and catch a cold. 13. Before I had met my wife, I would go to a far off place every year to do migrant work with my friends. 14. If you want to go up onto the roof, there is a long staircase on the left-hand side of the house; you can go up from there.

1.2 Group B

15. The winter was very cold. Everyone wore very thick clothes and stayed at home, keeping warm by the fire. No one went anywhere. 16. He once ate seven bowls of rice in one go and he got a terrible stomach ache. He hugged his tummy and cried 17. There was no water left in that well and no one knew where to go and get water. They were all extremely anxious. 18. He picked some vegetables from the fields and took them to sell in the market.. He wanted to get some money to go and buy some salt. 19. My grandfather sold the goat for a very good price. He was so happy that he went and bought me a new hat. 1 Fish stuffed with chives is a dish traditionally served at Dwa festival, the Sui New Year. 20. My neighbour hung up the meat because he wanted to dry it. But it all went mouldy and he had no choice but to throw it all away. 21. While she was cutting vegetables she cut off her fingernail. There was a lot of blood, and her elder sister helped her to bandage up the wound. 22. The night before yesterday, a strong wind blew open the door. Everyone thought it was a ghost and went and hid. 23. She hadn’t done anything wrong but she was scolded by her mother-in-law. She was very angry and didn’t say a single word all afternoon. 24. Two children walked into a cave to look for bats, but they went too far in and got lost. The adults finally found them after searching for two days. 25. That boy wearing the yellow clothes is taking a fat monkey for a walk up and down the street. 26. I remember when I was young my grandmother was always saying that I was too skinny, so at that time I ate an awful lot of rice every dinner. 27. In three weeks’ time I am getting married. You must all come and join in my wedding celebrations. 28. I had thought that the ground here would be very easy to till. It turned out that it was really hard and quite exhausting because it is really rocky.

1.3 Group C