三顾茅庐
Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage
Name: ________________ Date: ________
没过几天，刘备就带着关羽、张飞，去隆中找诸葛亮。他们来到山里的一个草房子前，一个孩子开了门。刘备说：“汉朝左将军、皇帝的叔叔刘备，来见先生。”孩子说：“这么长的名字，我记不住。”刘备就说：“你就说，刘备来了。”孩子说：“先生今天早上出去了。”“什么时候回来？”“不知道。可能三五天，可能十几天。”
几天以后，已经是冬天了。外面下着大雪，风也很大。张飞说：“这么冷的天，还去见一个没用的人？我们回家吧！”刘备说：“我是想让孔明知道我的心。你怕冷，就先回去。”张飞说：“我死都不怕，还怕冷吗？我只是怕大哥又见不到他！”
到了那里，他们看见一个年轻人坐在火边唱歌。刘备高兴极了，可是那个人说：“我是孔明的弟弟。我哥哥又出去了。”刘备写了一封信，在大雪里回家了。
第二年春天，刘备又要去。关羽说：“大哥已经去了两次了。我看，这个诸葛亮不怎么样，所以不敢见你。”张飞说：“这次大哥别去了！他要是不来，我用一根绳子把他绑来！”刘备生气了：“你们两个，不要再说了！”
第三次到了那里，孩子说：“先生在家，可是正在睡觉。”刘备说：“别叫他。”他自己站在房子前面等着。等了很久，孔明还在睡。张飞生气了：“大哥在外面站着，他还睡！我去房子后面放一把火，看他起不起来！”关羽拉住了他。后来，孔明翻了个身，又睡着了。
又过了很久，孔明终于醒了。他听说刘备一直在等，马上出来请他进去。刘备问他：“现在这么乱，我该怎么办？”
孔明拿出一张地图，说：“曹操人多，皇帝又在他手里，你现在不能和他打。孙权在东边，那里的人都听他的，你可以和他做朋友。荆州和益州，你应该先拿下。这样，天下就像一个鼎。”鼎，就是以前一种三条腿的大锅。孔明说：“北边是曹操，东边是孙权，西边是你，三条腿一起站着。以后，再去打曹操。”
刘备听了，觉得天一下子亮了。他请孔明出山，帮他做事。孔明不想去，刘备就哭了起来，哭得衣服都湿了。孔明终于说：“好，我跟你走。”这一年，孔明才二十七岁。
从这以后，刘备每天都和孔明在一起，一起吃饭，一起说话。关羽和张飞很不高兴。刘备对他们说：“我有了孔明，就像鱼有了水。”这就是成语“如鱼得水”。
可是，没过多久，就有人跑来说：曹操的大军，往南边来了！
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 带 | dài | to bring; to take; to carry |
| 山 | shān | mountain; hill |
| 草 | cǎo | grass; straw |
| 房子 | fángzi | house; building |
| 叔叔 | shūshu | uncle (father's younger brother) |
| 以后 | yǐhòu | later; afterwards; in the future |
| 冬天 | dōngtiān | winter |
| 风 | fēng | wind |
| 先 | xiān | first; in advance |
| 只是 | zhǐshì | merely; just; only |
| 怕 | pà | to fear; to be afraid of |
| 又 | yòu | again (it already happened again); and also |
Lesson plan: 45 minutes (for the teacher)
HSK 3 · Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage. By the end, students can read it aloud, say what it is about and use 带 and 山 in sentences of their own.
Warm-up 5 min
Write 三顾茅庐 on the board. Ask what the class thinks it is about, then give the English: “Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage”.
Key words 10 min
Teach 带 (dài, to bring; to take; to carry), 山 (shān, mountain; hill), 草 (cǎo, grass; straw), 房子 (fángzi, house; building), 叔叔 (shūshu, uncle (father's younger brother)), 以后 (yǐhòu, later; afterwards; in the future). Say each one, the class says it back, then ask for its meaning with the word covered. The rest are in the handout’s table.
Listen 10 min
Play it read aloud from mandarinthewild.com/library/read/three-visits-to-the-thatched-cottage-three-kingdoms-easy-chinese-8: once with the text face down, once reading along. Students tap any word there for its meaning.
Read and check 10 min
Students read it alone, then tell a partner in two sentences of Chinese what it says.
Use it 10 min
In pairs, each student writes two sentences of their own, one with 带 and one with 山, and reads one to the class.
Homework. Students read it again at home and Review its words. Put it in a free class (mandarinthewild.com/teachers/class) and you see who read it.
English (for the teacher)
Within a few days, Liu Bei took Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to Longzhong to find Zhuge Liang. They came to a thatched cottage in the hills, and a boy opened the door. Liu Bei said: "General of the Left of the Han, uncle of the emperor, Liu Bei, has come to see the master." The boy said: "That name's too long. I can't remember it." So Liu Bei said: "Just say Liu Bei is here." The boy said: "The master went out this morning." "When will he be back?" "I don't know. Maybe three or five days, maybe ten or more."
A few days later it was already winter. Outside, heavy snow was falling, and the wind was strong. Zhang Fei said: "In weather this cold, we're going to see some good-for-nothing? Let's go home!" Liu Bei said: "I want Kongming to know how sincere I am. If you're afraid of the cold, go back first." Zhang Fei said: "I'm not even afraid of dying, so why would I be afraid of the cold? I'm just afraid you won't get to see him again!"
When they got there, they saw a young man sitting by the fire, singing. Liu Bei was overjoyed, but the man said: "I'm Kongming's younger brother. My brother has gone out again." Liu Bei wrote a letter and rode home through the heavy snow.
In the spring of the next year, Liu Bei wanted to go again. Guan Yu said: "You've already gone twice, brother. If you ask me, this Zhuge Liang is nothing special, and that's why he doesn't dare to see you." Zhang Fei said: "This time you needn't go, brother! If he won't come, I'll tie him up with a rope and bring him!" Liu Bei was angry: "Enough, both of you!"
The third time they got there, the boy said: "The master is at home, but he's asleep." Liu Bei said: "Don't wake him." He stood in front of the cottage himself and waited. After a long wait, Kongming was still asleep. Zhang Fei was furious: "Our brother is standing outside and he's still asleep! I'm going round the back to set the place on fire, and we'll see if he gets up then!" Guan Yu held him back. Later, Kongming turned over and fell asleep again.
After another long while, Kongming finally woke. When he heard that Liu Bei had been waiting all this time, he came out at once and invited him in. Liu Bei asked him: "The world is in such chaos now. What should I do?"
Kongming brought out a map and said: "Cao Cao has many men, and he holds the emperor in his hands; you can't fight him now. Sun Quan is in the east, and the people there all follow him, so you can make him your friend. Jing Province and Yi Province you should take first. Then the land will be like a ding." A ding was a great bronze cauldron of the old days, with three legs. Kongming said: "Cao Cao in the north, Sun Quan in the east, you in the west: three legs standing together. After that, you can go and fight Cao Cao."
As Liu Bei listened, he felt as if the sky had suddenly cleared. He asked Kongming to leave the hills and serve him. Kongming did not want to go, so Liu Bei began to weep, until his clothes were wet with tears. At last Kongming said: "Very well, I'll go with you." That year Kongming was only twenty-seven.
From then on Liu Bei spent every day with Kongming, eating together and talking together. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were not happy. Liu Bei said to them: "Having Kongming is like a fish having water." That is where the idiom "like a fish in water" comes from.
But before long, someone came running with news: Cao Cao's great army was heading south!