A guided visit. Chen Hao came two years ago, when the pagoda was still being restored.
The guide
大家跟着我，别走丢了。
Dàjiā gēn zhe wǒ, bié zǒu diū le.
Everyone follow me, do not get lost.
Chen Hao
请问，这个塔有多少年了？
Qǐngwèn, zhè gè tǎ yǒu duōshao nián le ?
Excuse me, how old is this pagoda?
The guide
一千三百多年，比这座城市还老。
Yīqiān sānbǎi duō nián, bǐ zhè zuò chéngshì hái lǎo.
More than thirteen hundred years, older than the city itself.
Xiaoyu
可以上去吗？
Kěyǐ shàngqù ma ?
Can we go up?
The guide
可以，上面有七层，爬上去大概二十分钟。
Kěyǐ, shàngmian yǒu qī céng, pá shàngqù dàgài èrshí fēnzhōng.
You can, there are seven storeys, and the climb takes about twenty minutes.
Chen Hao
我去年来过一次，那时候还在修。
Wǒ qùnián lái guò yī cì, nà shíhou hái zài xiū.
I came once last year, it was still being restored then.
The guide
修了两年，今年三月才开。
Xiū le liǎng nián, jīnnián sān yuè cái kāi.
The work took two years, it only reopened this March.
Xiaoyu
我们在这儿停多长时间？
Wǒmen zài zhèr tíng duō cháng shíjiān ?
How long are we stopping here?
The guide
一个小时。十一点在门口见。
Yī gè xiǎoshí. Shíyī diǎn zài ménkǒu jiàn.
An hour. Meet at the gate at eleven.
Chen Hao
小雨，我们先上去，下来再拍照片。
Xiǎoyǔ, wǒmen xiān shàngqù, xiàlai zài pāi zhàopiàn.
Xiaoyu, let us go up first and take the photographs on the way down.
Xiaoyu
好，我跟着你。
Hǎo, wǒ gēn zhe nǐ.
Right, I am behind you.
多 slips in after the number and before the thing counted when the number is round: 一千三百多年, more than thirteen hundred years; 二十多个人, twenty-odd people. It does not go in front, and 多一千三百年 would mean something quite different. For the age of a monument it is the normal form: nobody counts the years one by one.
跟 on its own means "with": 跟我去, come with me. 跟着 means "following": 跟着我, walk behind me. The 着 adds the continuity of the movement, which is why a guide uses it. The same difference lies between 看 and 看着, to look and to keep your eyes on.
座 counts what is planted in the ground: a pagoda, a bridge, a city. 层 counts levels stacked one on another: 七层, seven storeys, but also a layer of dust or of paint. One and the same building is therefore 一座楼 and has 七层, and the two words often turn up in the same sentence without getting in each other's way.
