过, 了, and a Mixed Review of Beijing
A reading passage in a HSK 2 practice book is a short message:
我下个月要去上海。我以前去过北京，但是没去过上海。去年我去北京玩了五天，拍了很多照片。我觉得北京很漂亮，可是人太多了。这次去上海，我想坐火车，因为飞机票太贵了。
The questions are: 1) 她去过上海吗？ 2) 她觉得北京怎么样？ 3) 她为什么想坐火车去上海？ Student Zhao Min answers: 1) 去过，因为句子里有“去过”； 2) 她不喜欢北京，因为“人太多了”； 3) 因为火车比飞机便宜。 The teacher marks 1 and 2 wrong. Zhao Min argues that 去过 appears in the passage and that 可是 makes the second clause stronger. She also says “火车便宜” is obvious because 飞机票太贵. The passage is at HSK 2 level and contains no unknown grammar beyond 过 and 了.
1. Correct Zhao Min's answers 1 and 2, and explain the cue that decides each.
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1) 她没去过上海. The 过 in 去过北京 is positive experience about Beijing; the same sentence has 但是没去过上海, where 没 negates 去过. The presence of 过 alone is not enough; the negative 没 must be attached. 2) 她觉得北京很漂亮，但是人太多. The 可是/但是 contrast does not erase the first clause; it adds a drawback. “不喜欢” is too strong and is not stated. The correct HSK 2 reading move is to keep both clauses: positive + 可是 + negative = mixed evaluation, not a negative evaluation.
2. Why is “因为火车比飞机便宜” an acceptable paraphrase of the last sentence, even though the word 便宜 does not appear?
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The text says 因为飞机票太贵了. 太贵了 means the plane ticket is too expensive; the implied comparison is that the train is cheaper. 便宜 is the opposite of 贵, so the inference is safe. However, the exact wording in the text is 飞机票太贵, not 火车便宜; a careful answer keeps the original: 因为飞机票太贵了. For HSK 2, paraphrase is allowed when the meaning is directly implied by an antonym pair, but the answer should not add new facts such as 火车更快 or 火车更方便, which the text does not support.
3. What does 了 do in 去年我去北京玩了五天, and why can it not be replaced by 过 in this sentence?
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了 in 玩了五天 marks a completed event with a specific duration and past time (去年). It presents the trip as a bounded whole. 过 marks experience - 'have ever done' - and does not combine naturally with a specific five-day duration: 我去过北京 is fine, but 我去过北京五天 is odd because 过 does not frame the five days as a completed period. The time word 去年 and the duration 五天 both pull toward 了. HSK 2 contrasts 过 (experience) with 了 (completion), and the presence of a specific duration is a strong clue for 了.