五十年前，電視、電腦這種東西簡直是天方夜譚。

Such things as television and computers could not have been dreamed of fifty years ago.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

1 五十 wǔshí fifty
2 年前 niánqián
  1. by the end of the year
  2. at the end of the year; shortly before New Year
3 電視 diànshì television; TV

classifiers: 臺, 部
4 電腦 diànnǎo computer

classifier: 臺
5 這種 zhèzhǒng this kind of
=6 東西 dōngxī east and west
=6 東西 dōngxi
  1. thing
  2. stuff
  3. person

classifiers: 個, 件
7 簡直 jiǎnzhí simply; really
=8 是 shì
  1. to be (followed by substantives only)
  2. correct; right; true
  3. (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well
  4. (adverb for emphatic assertion)
=8 是 shì variant of 是 shì
=9 天方夜譚 Tiānfāng Yètán The Arabian Nights (classic story)
=9 天方夜譚 tiānfāngyètán fantasy story