# 一片片



## yuechu

大家好！

I was recently reading the following sentence on a website:
出家门不远，只见一片片，一排排新建的居民小区从车窗两侧掠过。
What does 一片片 and 一排排 mean here? Also, 片 is pronounced piàn here, right?

Thanks!


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## fyl

一片，一片，又一片，many 片s, one 片 and another
The same for 排(row).
Yes it's pian4


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## yuechu

Thanks again, fyl! I think I understand 排 (row) but I'm still not sure what 片 means in this context. Is it like 一栋?


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## fyl

It's like "area".. My English is not good enough to think of a word.
If we think 排 as one-dimensional, then 片 is two-dimensional. 一大片楼房 is a big piece (on the map) full of buildings.


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## NewAmerica

A small residential community would be called 一片居民小区, which is more or less like a street block. Well, I will further describe what 一片片 is like and you can decide which accurate English word can depict it.

Have you ever seen rice paddies or paddy fields?  Paddy fields are described in Chinese as 一片片稻田， exactly like 一片片居民小区.   







Now tell us how to describe 一片片 in English.


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## NewAmerica

yuechu said:


> Thanks again, fyl! I think I understand 排 (row) but I'm still not sure what 片 means in this context. Is it like 一栋?



No. It usually has more than 九栋 （9 or more) houses. Together they possess a piece of land with its borders (lanes) and this land is called 片.


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## Skatinginbc

yuechu said:


> 只见一片片，一排排新建的居民小区从车窗两侧掠过。


車窗兩側掠過 indicates that the car is moving, and what one sees is 一片又一片 (patch after patch, one patch after another), and 一排又一排 (row after row, one row after another) 的 new condos and townhouses.

If it descibes a standstill image, I would interpret 一片片 as "patch upon patch" and 一排排 as "row upon row".  That is to say, one sees many patches or rows at once.

Note: "Patch" (a small area that is different in some way from the area that surrounds it) is employed to closely reflect my understanding of 片 in "一片片、一排排的新屋".  Had it been "一排排、一片片的新屋"，I would have said "block after block (of new houses)" instead.  The word order has a consequence in my interpretation of its scale.


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## NewAmerica

The following picture is what "一片房子” means in Chinese:






  It is a group of houses with clear borders (lanes or roads)! Right?  So I guess "一片片房子“ can be described in English as "groups of houses."

   The original Chinese text is: 一片片……居民小区（residential community). A group of houses like that in the picture above can constitute a small RC. A larger RC would include several groups of houses (families).


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## NewAmerica

一片片，一排排新建的居民小区:

Groups and groups, rows and rows of newly built residential communities:


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## Skatinginbc

若是如圖那樣一大片相同模式的房子，我會說「一排排、一片片」而不是「一片片、一排排」. 我習慣的次序是由小而大，由少而多，由簡而繁，由輕而重...總之，前者得輕於後者，或得各有千秋，旗鼓相當,  否則是頭重腳輕，虎頭蛇尾.

那麼一大片同樣的東西聚在一起，從宏觀而言，可說只有一片，要是能把各小片漆成不同顏色，突顯片與片的差距，會更有一片片的感覺.


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## NewAmerica

台湾的，就描述“一排排、一片片”，我也觉得这样更自然贴切，跟国际潮流无缝接轨。
大陆的，就描述“一片片、一排排”，试图给人一种胸怀全局不忘细节的印象，容易本末倒置。


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## yuechu

Thank you all for your replies! Perhaps 片 does indeed mean "(street) block" then!


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## Skatinginbc

NewAmerica said:


> 台湾的，就描述“一排排、一片片”，我也觉得这样更自然贴切，跟国际潮流无缝接轨。
> 大陆的，就描述“一片片、一排排”，试图给人一种胸怀全局不忘细节的印象，容易本末倒置。


想確定是地區差異，故在此多問：
一隻隻、一雙雙的蝴蝶
一朵朵、一串串的鮮花
一盒盒、一條條、一箱箱的卷烟
大陸習慣的次序是顛倒過來的嗎？


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## NewAmerica

Skatinginbc said:


> 想確定是地區差異，故在此多問：
> 一隻隻、一雙雙的蝴蝶
> 一朵朵、一串串的鮮花
> 一盒盒、一條條、一箱箱的卷烟
> 大陸習慣的次序是顛倒過來的嗎？



不然，在这种细节次序问题上的文字处理方式台湾跟大陆是一致的！ 均根植于源远流长的中华文化传统。
那你会问：这不是自相矛盾吗？
不矛盾，问题在于层次方面。
看下原文：“一片片……新建的居民小区”。这说明建筑规模极为宏大，新建的小区都是一片片看不到边，对经历过文化浩劫或深受浩劫余波影响的大陆人，其思维倾向于先看到“大局”这个层次（国家大事），然后是细节这一层面（小家“碧玉”──个人）。前者赤色，后者传统。文化浩劫其间与前后十年左右这一赤色时期是大陆人与源远流长的中华文化文明割裂的动荡年代。

但是改革开放以来中华文明传统逐渐回归，这种思维倾向将会越来越少见。


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## Skatinginbc

NewAmerica said:


> 看下原文：“一片片……新建的居民小区”。这说明建筑规模极为宏大，新建的小区都是一片片看不到边


「居民小區」必須是規模宏大，看不到邊嗎？ 我對那詞不熟，猜測相當於英文的 residential complex, 也就是常常起名為 xx court, xx garden, xx manor, xx villa 之類的 multi-family housing.  「一片片，一排排」這個次序讓我覺得二者各有千秋.  彷彿前者描述 bungalow court 或 low rise complex, 後者 mid rise 或 high rise complex.  一片片平房，一排排高樓，一扁平一高立的詮釋行不通嗎？ 一片片雪花，一片片落葉不也是扁平而非宏大之物嗎？


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## NewAmerica

我引述的是"一片片……新建的居民小区", 指的是所有新建小区加起来的总貌，你改成“「居民小區」必須是規模宏大”，暗指一个居民小区规模宏大，当然就显得荒唐了。

“一片片的稻田（一眼望不到边）”是大陆课本上曾经常见的描述，作者不过稍加变动用来描述诸多居民小区总貌而已。


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## fyl

如果一片是由一排排组成的，那我也觉得应先说一排排再说一片片。
原文中的"一片片、一排排"有两种可能：一是"一片片"与"一排排"独立，即有的房子是一片一片的，有的则是一排一排的，一排不是一片的组成部分；另一种可能是作者并未斟酌词句。


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