草船借箭
Borrowing arrows with straw boats
Name: ________________ Date: ________
周瑜想杀一个人，又不想让别人说他的不是。这个人就是诸葛亮。
那时候，曹操带着很多兵到了长江北边，周瑜和诸葛亮在南边，准备一起对付曹操。一天，周瑜请诸葛亮来商量：“在江上打仗，什么武器最重要？”诸葛亮说：“弓箭。”周瑜说：“我们正好缺箭。请先生十天之内造十万支箭，怎么样？”
十天造十万支箭，几乎不可能。没想到诸葛亮说：“曹操马上就要到了，等十天太晚了。三天就够。”他还在大家面前写下保证书：三天交不出箭，愿意受罚。
周瑜心里高兴极了。他偷偷告诉做箭的人：慢慢做，材料也不要全给他。到时候交不出箭，诸葛亮就没什么好说的了。
诸葛亮却去找鲁肃帮忙：“请借给我二十条船，每条船上三十个士兵，船上挂好青布，两边放满草。千万别让周瑜知道。”鲁肃不明白他要干什么，但还是悄悄准备好了。
第一天，诸葛亮什么也没做。第二天，还是什么也没做。到了第三天半夜，他才把鲁肃请到船上：“我们一起去拿箭。”“去哪儿拿？”“别问，去了就知道。”
那天夜里，江面上起了大雾，对面的人都看不见。二十条船连在一起，往北岸开过去。天快亮的时候，船离曹操已经很近了，诸葛亮让士兵们一起打鼓，大声喊叫。鲁肃吓坏了：“曹操的人要是冲出来，怎么办？”诸葛亮笑着说：“雾这么大，曹操一定不敢出来。我们喝酒吧，等雾散了就回去。”
曹操听到鼓声，果然不敢派船出去。他说：“什么都看不见，敌人又忽然来了，一定有埋伏。叫大家往江上射！”一万多个士兵一起射，箭像下雨一样，全都插在了船边的草上。过了一会儿，诸葛亮让船转过来，用另一边继续“收”。
太阳出来了，雾也散了，二十条船两边的草上插满了箭。诸葛亮让士兵们一起大喊：“谢谢曹丞相送箭！”曹操想追，已经来不及了。
回去数了数，一共十万多支箭。鲁肃问他怎么知道今天会有大雾。诸葛亮说：“带兵的人，不懂天气，不懂地形，就不是好将军。我三天前就已经算好了，今天有大雾。”周瑜听说以后，只好说：“诸葛亮神机妙算，我不如他！”
这是小说《三国演义》里最有名的故事之一。不过在历史上，用船“借”箭的是吴国的孙权。据说有一次，他坐着大船去看曹军，船的一边被射满了箭，快要翻了。孙权让船转过来，用另一边对着敌人，等两边的箭差不多一样多，船平了，他才回去。后来讲故事的人把这件事搬到了诸葛亮身上，又给故事加上了大雾。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 商量 | shāngliang | to discuss; to consult |
| 正好 | zhènghǎo | happen to; as it happens |
| 缺 | quē | to lack; to be short of |
| 够 | gòu | enough; sufficient |
| 材料 | cáiliào | material; stuff |
| 全 | quán | whole; all; entire; complete; completely; entirely |
| 挂 | guà | to hang; to put up |
| 满 | mǎn | full; filled |
| 千万 | qiānwàn | ten million |
| 亮 | liàng | bright; shiny; to shine; to light up |
| 造 | zào | to make; to build; to create |
| 支 | zhī | branch; offshoot (as in 支流) |
English (for the teacher)
Zhou Yu wanted to kill a man without anyone being able to say he had done wrong. That man was Zhuge Liang.
At the time, Cao Cao had brought a huge army to the north side of the Yangtze, and Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang were on the south side, getting ready to fight Cao Cao together. One day Zhou Yu invited Zhuge Liang over to talk: “When we fight on the river, which weapon matters most?” Zhuge Liang said, “Bows and arrows.” Zhou Yu said, “As it happens, we're short of arrows. Would you be so kind as to make a hundred thousand arrows within ten days?”
A hundred thousand arrows in ten days was close to impossible. To everyone's surprise, Zhuge Liang said, “Cao Cao will be here any moment; ten days is too late. Three days will do.” He even wrote out a pledge in front of everyone: if he couldn't hand over the arrows in three days, he would accept his punishment.
Zhou Yu was delighted. He quietly told the arrow makers to work slowly and not to hand over all the materials. When the time came and there were no arrows, Zhuge Liang would have nothing to say for himself.
Zhuge Liang, though, went to Lu Su for help: “Please lend me twenty boats, thirty soldiers on each, hang them with blue cloth, and pack straw all along both sides. Whatever you do, don't let Zhou Yu know.” Lu Su had no idea what he was up to, but he quietly got everything ready.
On the first day, Zhuge Liang did nothing at all. On the second day, still nothing. Only in the middle of the third night did he invite Lu Su onto a boat: “Let's go and get the arrows together.” “Get them where?” “Don't ask. You'll see when we get there.”
That night a thick fog came down over the river, so thick you couldn't see the person in front of you. The twenty boats were tied together and set off for the north bank. Just before dawn, when the boats were already close to Cao Cao, Zhuge Liang had the soldiers beat drums and shout at the top of their voices. Lu Su was terrified: “What if Cao Cao's men come charging out?” Zhuge Liang smiled: “In fog this thick, Cao Cao won't dare come out. Let's have a drink, and when the fog lifts we'll head back.”
When Cao Cao heard the drums, sure enough, he didn't dare send out any boats. He said, “We can't see a thing, and an enemy has turned up out of nowhere, so there must be an ambush. Tell everyone to shoot at the river!” More than ten thousand soldiers shot together, the arrows came down like rain, and every one of them stuck in the straw along the boats. After a while, Zhuge Liang had the boats turn around so the other side could go on “collecting”.
The sun came out, the fog lifted, and the straw on both sides of the twenty boats was bristling with arrows. Zhuge Liang had the soldiers shout together: “Thank you, Chancellor Cao, for the arrows!” Cao Cao wanted to give chase, but it was too late.
Back at camp they counted them: more than a hundred thousand arrows. Lu Su asked him how he had known there would be fog that day. Zhuge Liang said, “Anyone who leads soldiers and doesn't understand the weather or the lie of the land is no good as a general. I had it worked out three days ago: today there would be fog.” When Zhou Yu heard, all he could say was: “Zhuge Liang sees everything coming. I'm no match for him!”
This is one of the most famous stories in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In history, though, the man who “borrowed” arrows with a boat was Sun Quan of the state of Wu. The story goes that he once sailed out in a large boat to look at Cao Cao's army, and one side of the boat was shot so full of arrows it was about to tip over. Sun Quan had the boat turned around so the other side faced the enemy, and only when both sides held about the same number of arrows and the boat was level did he go back. Later storytellers moved the whole thing onto Zhuge Liang, and added a great fog to the story.