Welcome to Theme 2: Healthy and Unhealthy Living (健康与不健康的生活)

Hello! Welcome to your essential study notes for AQA GCSE Chinese (Spoken Mandarin) 8673. This topic belongs to Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest under the sub-topic Social issues: Healthy/unhealthy living.

Whether you are aiming for Foundation Tier or Higher Tier, mastering this topic is essential. It appears across all four exam papers, each worth 25% of your final GCSE:
• Paper 1: Listening (Comprehension and non-verbal/English answers)
• Paper 2: Speaking (Role-play, Photo card, and General conversation)
• Paper 3: Reading (Comprehension and translation from Chinese into English)
• Paper 4: Writing (Structured writing, open essays, and English-to-Chinese translation)

Don't worry if learning characters and grammar patterns feels tricky at first. We will break everything down step-by-step with clear vocabulary lists, key sentence patterns, memory tricks, and top examiner advice!

1. Core Vocabulary: Healthy vs. Unhealthy Lifestyle

To succeed in your exams, you need to recognize these characters in Reading/Listening and write or speak them in Writing/Speaking.

A. General Health & Body (健康与身体)

• 健康 (jiànkāng) = Health / Healthy
• 身体 (shēntǐ) = Body / Physical health (e.g. 身体好 = good health)
• 生活方式 (shēnghuó fāngshì) = Lifestyle
• 生活习惯 (shēnghuó xíguàn) = Living habits
• 胖 (pàng) = Fat / Overweight
• 瘦 (shòu) = Thin / Slim

B. Healthy Habits & Nutrition (健康习惯与营养)

• 运动 (yùndòng) = Sports / To exercise
• 锻炼身体 (duànliàn shēntǐ) = To work out / Exercise the body
• 蔬菜 (shūcài) = Vegetables
• 水果 (shuǐguǒ) = Fruit
• 多吃 (duō chī) = Eat more
• 少吃 (shǎo chī) = Eat less
• 睡觉 (shuìjiào) = To sleep
• 休息 (xiūxi) = To rest
• 早睡早起 (zǎo shuì zǎo qǐ) = Sleep early and wake up early

C. Unhealthy Habits & Addictions (不健康习惯)

• 抽烟 / 吸烟 (chōuyān / xīyān) = To smoke cigarettes
• 烟 (yān) = Cigarette / Smoke
• 喝酒 (hējiǔ) = To drink alcohol
• 醉 (zuì) = Drunk
• 毒品 (dúpǐn) = Drugs
• 垃圾食品 (lājī shípǐn) = Junk food
• 快餐 (kuàicān) = Fast food
• 熬夜 (áoyè) = To stay up late / Pull an all-nighter

D. Illness, Symptoms & Medical Care (生病与看病)

• 生病 (shēngbìng) = To fall ill / Get sick
• 疼 / 痛 (téng / tòng) = Ache / Pain (e.g. 头疼 tóuténg = headache; 肚子疼 dùziténg = stomach ache)
• 感冒 (gǎnmào) = To catch a cold
• 发烧 (fāshāo) = To have a fever
• 咳嗽 (késou) = To cough
• 压力 (yālì) = Stress / Pressure
• 累 (lèi) = Tired / Exhausted
• 看医生 / 看病 (kàn yīshēng / kàn bìng) = To see a doctor / Have a medical consultation
• 医院 (yīyuàn) = Hospital
• 药 (yào) = Medicine (吃药 chī yào = to take medicine)

Key Takeaway: Examiners look for clear contrasts between positive choices (锻炼身体, 多吃蔬菜) and negative habits (抽烟, 熬夜, 吃快餐).

2. High-Scoring Grammar Patterns & Expressive Structures

Using single words will only get you so far. Linking your ideas with these four core sentence patterns will elevate your Speaking and Writing grades.

Pattern 1: Expressing Benefit and Harm (对……有好处 / 坏处)

This is the single most important structure for this topic. Use it to explain why a habit is good or bad.

• Structure: [Action / Habit] + 对 + [Target/Health] + 有好处 / 有坏处 (有害)
• Example 1 (Benefit): 多吃蔬菜对身体有好处。 (Eating more vegetables is good for physical health.)
• Example 2 (Harm): 抽烟对健康有坏处。 / 抽烟对健康有害。 (Smoking is bad/harmful for health.)

Pattern 2: Giving Advice with "More" and "Less" (多 / 少 + Verb)

Notice the Mandarin word order: place 多 (more) or 少 (less) before the verb.

• Structure: [Subject] + 应该 / 必须 / 最好 + 多 / 少 + [Verb] + [Noun]
• Example: 为了健康，我们应该少喝甜饮料，多做运动。 (For the sake of health, we should drink fewer sugary drinks and do more exercise.)

Pattern 3: Shifting Across Three Time Frames (Past, Present, Future)

To reach top marks in Speaking (General Conversation) and Higher Writing, you must show you can communicate across time frames:

• Past Habit (过去): 我过去常常吃快餐…… (In the past, I often ate fast food...)
• Present Routine (现在): 现在我每天都去跑步，生活很健康。 (Now, I go running every day and live very healthily.)
• Future Intention (将来 / 打算): 将来我打算少熬夜，多吃水果。 (In the future, I plan to stay up late less and eat more fruit.)

Pattern 4: Cause, Effect & Contrast Connectors

• 因为……所以…… (Because... therefore...):
Example: 因为工作压力大，所以他经常失眠。 (Because work pressure is high, he often suffers from insomnia.)
• 虽然……但是…… (Although... but...):
Example: 虽然快餐很好吃，但是对身体没有好处。 (Although fast food is delicious, it is not good for the body.)

Key Takeaway: Combine 对……有好处 with 因为……所以…… and past/present/future time frames to secure top marks in writing and speaking.

3. Common Pitfalls & Examiner Warnings

Learn from the mistakes of past candidates so you don't lose easy marks!

Pitfall 1: Word Order for "Eat More / Eat Less"

• Incorrect: *吃多苹果 (Chī duō píngguǒ - directly copying English "eat more")
• Correct: 多吃苹果 (Duō chī píngguǒ - "More eat apples")

Pitfall 2: Character Confusion (Look-alikes & Sound-alikes)

• 药 (yào - medicine) vs. 要 (yào - to want / must): Make sure you write 吃药 (take medicine) with the grass radical 艹 on top, not *吃要.
• 喝 (hē - to drink) vs. 渴 (kě - thirsty): Remember that 喝 has the mouth radical (口) because you drink with your mouth, while 渴 has the water radical (氵) because when you are thirsty, you need water!

Pitfall 3: Don't Confuse "Healthy Living" with "Free-Time Sports"

Theme 1 covers sports as a hobby (e.g. "I play football with my friends on Saturdays because it is fun"). However, when answering questions in Theme 2 Social Issues, you must frame exercise around health, routine, stress relief, and physical wellbeing (e.g. "I exercise every day to stay healthy and reduce exam stress").

Pitfall 4: Forgetting Opinions and Justifications

Never write just a dry list of facts. Always include how you feel using phrases like:
• 我觉得 (wǒ juéde - I feel / I think)
• 我认为 (wǒ rènwéi - In my opinion / I consider)
• ……因为…… (...because...)

4. Step-by-Step Exam Application: Putting It All Together

Here is how a model response looks when combining our core vocabulary, grammar patterns, and time frames:

Sample Response: "谈谈你的生活习惯" (Talk about your living habits)

我过去的生活习惯不太好，因为学习压力很大，我常常熬夜，也喜欢吃快餐。去年我经常感冒、头疼，身体很累。
现在，我觉得健康最重要。为了锻炼身体，我每天早睡早起，多吃蔬菜和水果，少吃垃圾食品。多做运动对身体很有好处。
将来，我打算和家人一起去跑步，并且不抽烟、不喝酒，保持健康的生活方式。

English Translation Breakdown:

In the past, my living habits were not very good. Because study stress was huge, I often stayed up late and liked eating fast food. Last year I often caught colds and had headaches, and my body was exhausted.
Now, I think health is the most important thing. In order to exercise my body, I sleep early and wake early every day, eat more vegetables and fruit, and eat less junk food. Doing more exercise is very good for the body.
In the future, I plan to run with my family, and never smoke or drink alcohol, maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

5. Quick Review Checklist

Before sitting your exam, check that you can:

• [ ] Say and write 3 healthy habits (e.g. 锻炼身体, 多吃蔬菜, 早睡早起)
• [ ] Say and write 3 unhealthy habits (e.g. 抽烟, 喝酒, 熬夜, 吃垃圾食品)
• [ ] Describe symptoms of illness (e.g. 头疼, 感冒, 发烧, 肚子疼)
• [ ] Form a sentence using 对……有好处 / 坏处
• [ ] Place 多 and 少 correctly before the verb (多吃 / 少喝)
• [ ] Express past habits (过去常常……) and future health intentions (将来打算……)