荆轲刺秦王
Jing Ke tries to kill the King of Qin
Name: ________________ Date: ________
两千两百多年前，中国还分成好几个国家。其中最强大的是秦国，秦王一个接一个地打败了别的国家。北方的燕国比较弱，看起来下一个就要轮到自己了。燕国的太子决定做一件非常危险的事：派人去刺杀秦王。
他找到的人叫荆轲。荆轲爱读书，也爱练剑，而且很勇敢。可是秦王身边的人那么多，一个陌生人根本不可能走到他面前。怎样才能见到秦王呢？
荆轲想出了两件“礼物”。第一件是燕国最好的一块土地的地图，表示燕国愿意把这片土地送给秦国。第二件更可怕：一个从秦国逃到燕国的将军的人头。秦王恨这个人恨了很多年，一直想抓住他。据《史记》记载，这位将军知道了荆轲的计划以后，竟然毫不犹豫地自杀了，把自己的头交给了荆轲。
太子又给他准备了匕首，一种很短的刀，上面还有毒。他们把匕首卷在地图里面。只要地图完全打开，刀就在荆轲手边。
出发那天，太子和朋友们都穿着白衣服，一直把他送到了一条大河边。大家心里都明白，荆轲这一去，大概再也回不来了。荆轲唱起了一首悲伤的歌，歌里唱的是：风很冷，河水很凉，勇士这一次离开，就再也不会回到这里了。唱完，他上了车，一次也没有回头。
到了秦国，秦王听说燕国送来了人头和地图，非常高兴，马上在宫里见他们。荆轲带去的助手本来是一个有名的勇士，可是一见到秦王，就吓得脸色都变了。秦国的大臣们都觉得奇怪。荆轲笑着说：“乡下孩子，没见过这么大的场面，所以害怕。”
秦王让荆轲把地图拿上来。荆轲慢慢打开地图，地图打开到最后，匕首露了出来。荆轲左手一把抓住秦王的袖子，右手拿起刀就刺。秦王吓了一跳，用力向后一拉，袖子断了。
秦王想拔剑，可是剑很长，怎么也拔不出来，只好绕着柱子躲。按照秦国的规定，大臣们在秦王身边不能带武器，所以大家只能在旁边干着急。这时候，一位医生把手里的药袋向荆轲扔了过去。有人大喊：“快把剑推到背后！”秦王这才拔出剑，一剑刺伤了荆轲。
荆轲倒在地上，用最后的力气把刀扔向秦王，却没有打中秦王，只打在了柱子上。荆轲失败了，随后就被杀死了。
几年后，燕国还是被秦国消灭了。不久，秦王统一了中国，成了秦始皇。今天，人们用“图穷匕见”这个成语，说事情到了最后，真正的目的终于露了出来。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 强大 | qiángdà | powerful; mighty; strong |
| 弱 | ruò | weak; feeble |
| 派 | pài | to send; to dispatch |
| 土地 | tǔdì | land; soil; territory |
| 可怕 | kěpà | terrible; frightening; awful |
| 据 | jù | according to; based on |
| 记载 | jìzǎi | to record; to write down; record; account |
| 白 | bái | white |
| 用力 | yònglì | to exert oneself; to put effort into |
| 断 | duàn | to break; to snap |
| 背后 | bèihòu | behind; at the back |
| 随后 | suíhòu | soon after; subsequently |
English (for the teacher)
More than 2,200 years ago, China was still split into several states. The strongest was Qin, and the King of Qin was defeating the others one after another. In the north, the state of Yan was weak, and it looked as if it would be next. The crown prince of Yan decided to do something extremely dangerous: send someone to assassinate the King of Qin.
The man he found was called Jing Ke. Jing Ke loved books, practised the sword, and was brave. But the King of Qin had so many people around him that a stranger could never get anywhere near him. How could anyone get to see the king?
Jing Ke came up with two “gifts”. The first was a map of Yan’s best land, to show that Yan was willing to hand that land over to Qin. The second was more gruesome: the head of a general who had fled from Qin to Yan. The King of Qin had hated this man for years and had long wanted to catch him. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, when the general heard Jing Ke’s plan he killed himself without a moment’s hesitation and gave Jing Ke his head.
The prince also gave him a dagger, a very short blade, and it was poisoned. They rolled the dagger up inside the map. Once the map was fully opened, the blade would be right at Jing Ke’s hand.
On the day he left, the prince and his friends all wore white and saw him all the way to the bank of a great river. Everyone knew in their hearts that Jing Ke would probably never come back. Jing Ke sang a sad song: the wind is cold, the river is cold, and the hero who leaves now will never return here. When the song was done he got into the carriage and never once looked back.
When they reached Qin, the king heard that Yan had sent the head and the map; delighted, he received them in the palace at once. Jing Ke’s helper had been a famous fighter, but the moment he saw the King of Qin he went pale with fear. The Qin ministers all thought it strange. Jing Ke laughed and said: “He’s a country boy who has never seen anything this grand, so he’s scared.”
The king told Jing Ke to bring the map up to him. Jing Ke slowly unrolled the map, and at the very end of it the dagger came into view. Jing Ke seized the king’s sleeve with his left hand, grabbed the blade with his right and stabbed. The king jumped in fright and pulled back hard, and the sleeve tore off.
He tried to draw his sword, but it was so long he couldn’t get it out, and he had to dodge around a pillar. Under Qin law, ministers could not carry weapons near the king, so all they could do was stand by in helpless panic. Just then a doctor threw the bag of medicine in his hands at Jing Ke. Someone shouted: “Quick, push the sword onto your back!” Only then did the king get his sword out, and with one stroke he wounded Jing Ke.
Jing Ke fell to the ground and, with the last of his strength, threw the blade at the king, but missed, and it only struck the pillar. Jing Ke had failed, and he was killed soon after.
A few years later, Yan was wiped out by Qin all the same. Before long, the King of Qin unified China and became Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor. Today people use the idiom “the map unrolled, the dagger revealed” for the moment when someone’s true purpose finally comes out.