Swallow a Date without Chewing

Characters:

Pronunciation: hu(2) lun(2) tun(1) zao(3)
Explanation: A metaphor for someone who does not have an intense understanding of his own knowledge, or someone who justs learns things vaguely.

Tone: Neutral

The Story: A doctor once told people: "Pears are good for people's teeth, but bad for their spleens; while dates are good for people's spleens but bad for their teeth." A man who thought himself very clever said to the doctor: "I have an idea that can avoid the disadvantage of them."
"What's that?" the doctor asked.
"When I eat pears, I just chew them without swallowing; and when I eat dates, I swallow them without chewing." The man answered.
When others heard this, they laughed and asked him: "How about your stomach? Can it bear the whole dates?"

Usage Example (Pinyin): hu(2) lun(2) tun(1) zao(3) shi(4) de du(2) shu(1), ni(3) shen(3) mo dou(1) xue(2) bu(3) dao(4).

Usage Example (English translation): If you read books like swallowing a date without chewing, you will learn nothing.

Note: The spoken Chinese Mandarin language has 4 spoken tones. We have attempted to re-create those above where after each syllable we tell you (1), (2), (3), or (4) as they correspond to each of the 4 tones. We encourage you to complement your Xianzai.com Chinese Idioms newsletter with a good offline study program.