夸父追日
Kuafu chases the sun
Name: ________________ Date: ________
如果太阳每天都要落下去，那么它到底去了哪里？几千年前，有一个巨人也想知道这个问题的答案。他的名字叫夸父。
传说这个巨人住在北方的大山里，个子高得像山一样，力气大得惊人。他每天看着太阳从东边升起，又从西边落下，心里总是不服气：“它凭什么想走就走？我要追上它，把它抓住，让它永远挂在天上。”
有一天早上，太阳刚刚出来，巨人就拿起一根木杖，迈开大步出发了。他一步就能跨过一座小山，一会儿就走出了几百里。太阳往西走，他也往西追，翻过一座又一座高山，走过了大片大片的原野。
太阳越来越近，巨人也越来越热。离太阳近的地方，空气热得像火一样，他浑身是汗，嗓子疼得厉害。他终于追到了太阳落下去的地方，马上就要碰到它了。可是这时候，他口渴极了，一点力气也没有了。
他趴在黄河边上，大口大口地喝水，没过多久，竟然把黄河的水全喝光了。他还是觉得渴，又赶到渭河，把渭河的水也喝光了。可是这两条大河的水加起来，也不够他喝。
他想起北方有一个很大很大的湖，站在岸边根本看不到对面，于是毫不犹豫地向北走去。可是那个湖实在太远了。还没走到，巨人就倒在了半路上，再也没有起来。
据说，在他倒下以前，他把手里的木杖扔了出去。木杖掉在地上，竟然变成了一大片桃林，树上长满了又红又甜的桃子。后来路过这里的人又累又渴的时候，就可以停下来，摘几个桃子吃。
这个故事最早记载在《山海经》里，只有短短的三十几个字。后来，“夸父追日”成了一个成语。有人用它说一个人不知道自己有多大的能力，去做根本做不到的事。也有人说，这个巨人知道很难，却坚持到了最后，这正是一种了不起的勇气。
你觉得他是傻，还是勇敢呢？
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 答案 | dá’àn | answer; solution |
| 力气 | lìqi | strength; effort |
| 永远 | yóngyuǎn | forever; always; eternally |
| 挂 | guà | to hang; to put up |
| 步 | bù | step; pace |
| 座 | zuò | constellation; zodiac sign (as in 巨蟹座) |
| 空气 | kōngqì | air |
| 火 | huǒ | fire |
| 汗 | hàn | speechless; embarrassed (internet reaction) |
| 全 | quán | whole; all; entire; complete; completely; entirely |
| 光 | guāng | light; ray |
| 不够 | búgòu | not enough; insufficient |
English (for the teacher)
If the sun has to set every day, where on earth does it go? Thousands of years ago, a giant wanted to know the answer too. His name was Kuafu.
Legend says this giant lived in the great mountains of the north; he was as tall as a mountain and astonishingly strong. Every day he watched the sun rise in the east and set in the west, and it always annoyed him: “What gives it the right to leave whenever it likes? I’m going to catch it, grab it, and keep it hanging in the sky forever.”
One morning, just as the sun came up, the giant picked up a wooden staff and set off with huge strides. One step took him over a hill, and in no time he had covered hundreds of li. The sun went west and he chased it west, over mountain after mountain and across vast open plains.
The closer the sun came, the hotter the giant got. Near the sun the air was as hot as fire; he was dripping with sweat and his throat hurt badly. At last he reached the place where the sun goes down, and he was about to touch it. But at that moment he was so thirsty he had no strength left at all.
He lay down on the bank of the Yellow River and drank in great gulps, and before long, unbelievably, he had drunk the whole river dry. He was still thirsty, so he hurried to the Wei River and drank that dry too. But the water of both great rivers together was not enough for him.
He remembered a huge lake in the north, so big you couldn’t see the far shore, and without a moment’s hesitation he headed north. But the lake was simply too far away. Before he got there, the giant collapsed halfway and never got up again.
It is said that before he fell, he threw away the staff in his hand. Where it landed, it turned into a great peach forest, its trees heavy with sweet red peaches. Ever since, travellers passing by tired and thirsty can stop and pick a few peaches to eat.
The story first appears in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, in just over thirty characters. Later, “Kuafu chases the sun” became an idiom. Some people use it for someone who doesn’t know his own limits and tries to do the impossible. Others say the giant knew how hard it was and kept going to the end, and that is a remarkable kind of courage.
Do you think he was foolish, or brave?