Auntie Wang has just turned sixty-five. At the station office she asks for her pass and learns how it works.
Auntie Wang
你好，我想办一张老年卡。
Nǐhǎo, wǒ xiǎng bàn yī Zhāng lǎo nián kǎ.
Hello, I would like to get a senior pass.
The station attendant
阿姨，您满六十五了吗？
Āyí, nín mǎn liùshíwǔ le ma ?
Madam, have you turned sixty-five?
Auntie Wang
上个月刚满。身份证在这儿。
Shàng gè yuè gāng mǎn. Shēnfènzhèng zài zhèr.
Last month. Here is my identity card.
The station attendant
好。办卡免费，卡上先存二十块。
Hǎo. Bàn kǎ miǎnfèi, kǎ shàng xiān cún èrshí kuài.
Very good. The pass is free, you just load twenty yuan onto it to start.
Auntie Wang
坐公交车也能用吗？
Zuò gōngjiāochē yě néng yòng ma ?
Does it work on buses too?
The station attendant
能。公交和地铁都能刷。
Néng. Gōngjiāo hé dìtiě dōu néng shuā.
It does. Buses and metro, you can tap it on both.
Auntie Wang
那换乘的时候还要再刷一次吗？
Nà huàn chéng de shíhou hái yào zài shuā yī cì ma ?
And when you change lines, do you have to tap again?
The station attendant
要。不过一个小时以内换乘，第二次便宜一半。
Yào. Bùguò yī gè xiǎoshí yǐnèi huàn chéng, dì'èr cì piányi yībàn.
You do. But if you change within the hour, the second leg is half price.
Auntie Wang
早上七点到九点，人太多了。
Zǎoshang qī diǎn dào jiǔ diǎn, rén tài duō le.
Between seven and nine in the morning there are far too many people.
The station attendant
那是高峰。您要是不着急，九点以后再出门。
Nà shì gāo fēng. Nín yàoshi bù zháojí, jiǔ diǎn yǐhòu zài chūmén.
That is the rush hour. If you are not in a hurry, go out after nine.
Auntie Wang
除了高峰以外，别的时间都有座位吗？
Chúle gāo fēng yǐwài, bié de shíjiān dōu yǒu zuòwèi ma ?
Apart from the rush hour, are there always seats?
The station attendant
一般有。而且车上的人也会给您让座。
Yībān yǒu. Érqiě chē shàng de rén yě huì gěi nín ràng zuò.
Usually. And people on board will give up their seat for you.
Auntie Wang
谢谢你，那我就办这一张。
Xièxie nǐ, nà wǒ jiù bàn zhè yī Zhāng.
Thank you, I will take this one then.
您满六十五了吗: have you turned sixty-five? 满 means the count is full, the threshold reached and not merely approached. It holds for age, length of service and quotas: 满三年, 满六次, seen in lesson 5 with 刷满六次. Without it, the question would be about approximate age and not about an entitlement.
给您让座: to give up a seat for you. 让 means to yield, 座 is the seat, and the whole works as a single verb to which the beneficiary is added by 给. You do not say 让您的座. The same frame gives 帮忙, 见面, 结婚: a verb with its object already attached, which can take no other.
Large Chinese cities offer older people free travel or a large reduction, from sixty or sixty-five depending on the city. The pass is issued on presentation of an identity card, at a station office and not on a phone: it is one of the few procedures that still escapes the digital entirely.
