愚公移山
The foolish old man who moved the mountains
Name: ________________ Date: ________
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 久 | jiǔ | long (time) |
| 以前 | yǐqián | before; previously; formerly |
| 山 | shān | mountain; hill |
| 老人 | lǎorén | old person; the elderly |
| 相信 | xiāngxìn | to believe; to trust |
| 搬 | bān | to move; to carry (something heavy) |
| 放 | fàng | to put; to place |
| 邻居 | línjū | neighbor |
| 冬天 | dōngtiān | winter |
| 夏天 | xiàtiān | summer |
| 聪明 | cōngming | clever; smart; intelligent |
| 草 | cǎo | grass; straw |
English (for the teacher)
A long, long time ago, there were two great mountains, one called Mount Taihang and one called Mount Wangwu. They were both huge and high.
North of the mountains lived an old man whom everyone called Yugong, which means “the foolish old man”. Yugong was nearly ninety, and his front gate looked straight out at the two mountains. Every time he went out, he had to go a very, very long way round.
One day Yugong called the whole family together and said, “Let’s move these two mountains out of the way together. What do you say?” The family all said, “Yes!”
Only his old wife wasn’t so sure: “You can’t even move a little hill of earth. How are you going to move mountains this big? And where will you put all the earth and stones you dig out?” Everyone said, “On the shore of the Bohai Sea!”
And so Yugong set to digging the mountain with his sons and grandsons. A boy of seven or eight from next door came skipping along happily to help too. From winter to summer, they only got home once.
By the river lived a clever old man called Zhisou, “the wise old man”. He laughed and said to Yugong, “You really are a fool! At your age you couldn’t even shift one blade of grass on that mountain, and you want to move the mountain?”
Yugong said, “If you ask me, you’re the fool! When I die, I’ll still have sons; my sons will have grandsons, and the grandsons will have sons… Sons and grandsons, on and on, with no end. But the mountains won’t get any taller. Why couldn’t we finish moving them?”
Zhisou couldn’t say a single word.
When the god of the mountains heard about this, he got a bit worried: this family really will keep digging forever! He hurried off to tell the Lord of Heaven. The Lord of Heaven was so moved that he sent two enormously strong gods to carry the two mountains away on their backs. From then on, there were no more mountains outside Yugong’s door.
Today 愚公移山, “the foolish old man moves the mountains”, means that as long as you don’t give up, even the hardest thing can be done. For example: “Learning Chinese is a bit like the foolish old man moving mountains. Learn a little every day, and one day you’ll get there.”