从“知青”(educated youth)、“铁饭碗”(iron rice bowl)到“包二奶”(keeping a mistress)，再到今天我们常说的“囧”，60年来的风风雨雨尽数包含在这些流行词汇中。在建国60周年到来之际，让我们一起来盘点60年来国内流行的口头语， 一起回顾伟大祖国过去60年来的点点滴滴……

20世纪50年代 1950s

好好学习，天天向上 study hard and move forward every day

Mao Zedong wrote to honor an 8-year-old boy, Chen Yongkang, who helped police catch a spy in Suzhou, in 1951. Mao asked all kids to study hard to do a better job for the country. Banners with this slogan could be seen in almost every classroom.

年轻人经常戏谑地说Good good study, day day up。它和"Long time no see"(好久不见)一样逐渐成为部分老外能明白的中式英语。但这样的直译只是博君一笑的特例。

粮票 food coupon

This allowed people to get certain food supplies under the planned economy. Low agricultural production meant insufficient food supplies and a quota system and the coupons were a means of distribution. The quota system lasted to the early 1990s. The tickets are now the stuff of collectors.

那时是国家统一定价(uniform pricing system), 后来经济发展了，市场上出现了国家供应粮之外的市场定价粮，通常高于国家牌价，叫做“议价粮”，可以解释为food that's outside the quota system（配额制，定额分配制）, which has a higher price。

20世纪60年代 1960s

毛主席语录 quotations from Chairman Mao

Practically everyone has heard of the Little Red Book. This collection of quotations from Mao Zedong's speeches and writings was published from 1964 until about 1976. The title Little Red Book was coined by Westerners because of the red cover and pocket-book size.

当年为了翻译《毛主席语录》，国家动用了强大的专家力量，因此据说英文版“红宝书”是学习翻译的好教材。

红卫兵 Red Guard

In primary schools, Little Red Guards replaced the Young Pioneers. The "Gang of Four" used Red Guards to challenge authority. They were a key cause of social disorder, but their reign ended in 1978.

红卫兵的主要手段是贴“大字报”(wall posters using large Chinese characters as a means of protest or propaganda)，以及全国“大串联”(red guards took public transportation for free across the country to exchange revolutionary ideas)。