梁山伯与祝英台
The Butterfly Lovers
Name: ________________ Date: ________
在中国，有一个爱情故事，几乎每个人都知道。人们常常叫它“中国的《罗密欧与朱丽叶》”。不过，这个故事的结尾很不一样：最后，两个年轻人都变成了蝴蝶。
故事发生在一千六百多年前。那时候，女孩子是不能去学校读书的。可是有一个叫祝英台的小姐特别爱学习，她想出了一个办法：穿上男人的衣服，把自己打扮成一个男孩子，去杭州上学。
在去杭州的路上，她认识了一个年轻的读书人，叫梁山伯。两个人一见面就聊得很开心，还结拜成了兄弟。
在学校里，他们一起读书，一起吃饭，一起爬山，整整三年。梁山伯一直把祝英台当成好兄弟，从来没有怀疑过她是女孩子。可是祝英台的心里，早就爱上了这个老实的“哥哥”。
三年后，家里来信，让祝英台马上回家。梁山伯舍不得她，陪她走了一段又一段，一共送了十八里路。
一路上，祝英台不停地暗示他。她指着水里的一对鸳鸯说：“你看，它们多像我们两个。”梁山伯却笑着说：“它们是一男一女，我们两个都是男的，怎么会像呢？”
祝英台没有办法，只好说：“我家里有一个妹妹，长得跟我一模一样。你早些来我家提亲吧！”其实，这个“妹妹”就是她自己。
可是梁山伯晚了一步。等他到了祝家，才知道原来祝英台是个女孩子。更让他伤心的是，祝英台的父母已经决定把她嫁给一个有钱人家的儿子。
两个人哭着告别。梁山伯回去以后，一天比一天瘦，不久就病死了。
祝英台出嫁那天，大家送她去新郎家，路上正好经过梁山伯的坟。突然，天上刮起了大风，下起了大雨，大家只好停了下来，没法再往前走。祝英台穿着一身红衣服，走到坟前，大哭起来。
这时候，天上突然打雷了，坟一下子就裂了。祝英台没有犹豫，跳了进去。然后，坟马上又合上了。
风停了，雨也停了。人们看见，从那里飞出了两只美丽的蝴蝶。它们在花中间飞来飞去，再也不分开了。
一九五九年，两位年轻的作曲家把这个故事写成了小提琴协奏曲《梁祝》。直到今天，很多中国人一听到这首曲子，就会想起那两只蝴蝶。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 故事 | gùshi | story; tale |
| 常常 | chángcháng | often; frequently |
| 一样 | yíyàng | same; alike |
| 爱情 | àiqíng | romantic love |
| 兄弟 | xiōngdì | brother; bro (friendly address among men) |
| 陪 | péi | to accompany; to keep someone company |
| 指 | zhǐ | to mean; to refer to |
| 只好 | zhíhǎo | to have no choice but to; to be forced to |
| 步 | bù | step; pace |
| 伤心 | shāngxīn | sad; heartbroken |
| 父母 | fùmǔ | parents; father and mother |
| 正好 | zhènghǎo | happen to; as it happens |
English (for the teacher)
In China there is a love story that almost everyone knows. People often call it “China’s Romeo and Juliet”. But its ending is very different: in the end, the two young people both turn into butterflies.
The story takes place more than sixteen hundred years ago. In those days girls were not allowed to go to school. But a young lady named Zhu Yingtai loved learning so much that she came up with a plan: she put on men’s clothes, dressed herself up as a boy and went to study in Hangzhou.
On the road to Hangzhou she met a young scholar named Liang Shanbo. The two hit it off the moment they met, and even swore to be brothers.
At school they studied together, ate together and climbed the hills together for three whole years. Liang Shanbo always treated Zhu Yingtai as a good brother and never once suspected she was a girl. But in her heart Zhu Yingtai had long since fallen in love with this honest, simple “big brother”.
Three years later a letter came from home telling Zhu Yingtai to come back at once. Liang Shanbo couldn’t bear to part with her and walked her one stretch after another, eighteen li in all.
All the way, Zhu Yingtai kept dropping hints. She pointed at a pair of mandarin ducks on the water and said: “Look, aren’t they just like the two of us?” But Liang Shanbo laughed: “They’re a male and a female, and we’re both men. How could they be like us?”
Zhu Yingtai had no choice but to say: “I have a little sister at home who looks exactly like me. Come to my house early and ask for her hand!” In fact, this “sister” was herself.
But Liang Shanbo was one step too late. When he reached the Zhu house, he finally learned that Zhu Yingtai was a girl. What hurt him even more was that her parents had already decided to marry her to the son of a rich family.
The two said goodbye in tears. After Liang Shanbo went home he grew thinner day by day, and before long he fell ill and died.
On the day Zhu Yingtai was married off, everyone escorted her to the groom’s house, and the road happened to pass Liang Shanbo’s grave. Suddenly a great wind blew up and heavy rain began to fall, and everyone had to stop, unable to go any further. Zhu Yingtai, dressed all in red, walked up to the grave and burst into tears.
At that moment thunder suddenly crashed, and the grave split open at a stroke. Without a moment’s hesitation, Zhu Yingtai jumped in. Then the grave closed again at once.
The wind stopped, and so did the rain. People saw two beautiful butterflies fly out of it. They flew back and forth among the flowers, and they were never parted again.
In 1959 two young composers turned the story into the violin concerto The Butterfly Lovers. To this day, many Chinese people think of those two butterflies the moment they hear it.