Learn Chinese Through Easy Story #7 - A Clever Crow 聪明的乌鸦 (cōng ming de wū yā)

Learn Chinese with Chinese poems

Lesson Transcript

Hey, guys! Welcome back. I’m Kate.

Today, we’re going to learn a very interesting Chinese story, 聪明的乌鸦 (cōng ming de wū yā), 聪明的乌鸦 (cōng ming de wū yā) “A Clever Crow,” A Clever Crow.

Let’s just get started.

大森林里, 生活着许多小动物。

(dà sēn lín lǐ, shēng huó zhe xǔ duō xiǎo dòng wù)

“In the big forest, there were many small animals.”

大森林 (dà sēn lín) means “big forest.”

动物 (dòng wù) means “animals.”

动物 (dòng wù)

其中一只小乌鸦非常聪明, 大家都很喜欢它。

(qí zhōng yī zhǐ xiǎo wū yā fēi cháng cōng míng dà jiā dōu hěn xǐ huān tā)

“A little crow among them was very clever. And everyone liked her.”

小乌鸦 (xiǎo wū yā) means “little crow.”

小乌鸦 (xiǎo wū yā)

聪明 (cōng míng) means “clever.”

聪明 (cōng míng)

喜欢 (xǐ huān) means “like.”

喜欢 (xǐ huān)

一天 , 小乌鸦回家的途中口渴的要命。

(yī tiān xiǎo wū yā huí jiā de tú zhōng kǒu kě de yào mìng)

“One day, the little crow was very thirsty on her way home.”

口渴 (kǒu kě)

口渴 (kǒu kě) in here means “thirsty.”

口渴 (kǒu kě)

回家的途中 (huí jiā de tú zhōng) “on her way home.”

回家的途中 (huí jiā de tú zhōng)

她飞到一只大水罐旁。

(tā fēi dào yī zhǐ dà shuǐ guàn páng)

“She flew beside a big pitcher.”

大水罐 (dà shuǐ guàn)

大水罐 (dà shuǐ guàn) in here means “big pitcher.”

见水罐里有水, 很高兴。

(jiàn shuǐ guàn lĭ yǒu shuǐ hěn gāo xìng)

“She found water in it and she was very happy.”

高兴 (gāo xìng) in here means “happy.”

可是水不多, 她喝不到。

(kě shì shuǐ bù duō, tā hē bù dào)

“But there was so little water that she couldn’t reach it.”

她用尽全力想把罐推倒, 倒出水来。

(tā yòng jìn quán lì xiǎng bǎ guàn tuī dào, dào chū shuǐ lái)

“She tried to push the pitcher down with all her strength.”

用尽全力 (yòng jìn quán lì)

用尽全力 (yòng jìn quán lì) in here means “all her strength.”

推倒 (tuī dào) means “push,” push, push down.

推倒 (tuī dào)

可大水罐纹丝不动。

(kě dà shuǐ guàn wén sī bù dòng)

“But the pitcher didn’t move.”

纹丝不动 (wén sī bù dòng) “didn’t move”

怎么办呢?

(zěn me bàn ne)

“What should she do?”

小乌鸦想了又想, 围着水管转了又转,

(xiǎo wūyā xiǎng le yòu xiǎng, wéi zhe shuǐ guǎn zhuǎn le yòu zhuǎn)

“The little crow thought over, and turned around the pitcher,”

小乌鸦想 (xiǎo wūyā xiǎng) “thought over”

转了又转 (zhuǎn le yòu zhuǎn) “turned around”

可是仍然想不出好办法。

(kě shì réng rán xiǎng bù chū hǎo bàn fǎ)

“But she still couldn’t think of a good idea.”

好办法 (hǎo bàn fǎ) “a good idea.”

忽然, 她发现地上有很多小石子。

(hū rán tā fā xiàn dì shàng yǒu hěn duō xiǎo shí zi)

“Suddenly, she found many pebbles on the ground.”

小石子 (xiǎo shí zi) “pebbles.”

小石子 (xiǎo shí zi)

哎, 有办法了!

(āi, yǒu bàn fǎ le!)

“Oh, she had an idea.”

有办法了 (yǒu bàn fǎ le)

小乌鸦叼着小石子, 一颗一颗地往水罐里丢。

(xiǎo wū yā diāo zhe xiǎo shí zǐ yī kē yī kē de wǎng shuǐ guàn lǐ diū)

“The little crow dropped many pebbles, one by one, into the pitcher.”

一颗一颗地 (yī kē yī kē de) “one by one”

一颗一颗地 (yī kē yī kē de)

随着石子的增多, 罐里的水也逐渐长高了。

(suí zhe shí zi de zēng duō guàn lǐ de shuǐ yě zhú jiàn zhǎng gāo le)

“With the pebbles increasing, the water in the pitcher rose gradually.”

长高了 (zhǎng gāo le)

长高了 (zhǎng gāo le) “rose gradually”

最后, 水终于长到罐口了。

(zuì hòu shuǐ zhōng yú zhǎng dào guàn kǒu le)

“At last, the water rose to the brim.”

罐口 (guàn kǒu) “brim”

罐口 (guàn kǒu)

小乌鸦高兴地喝着水, 笑了。

(xiǎo wū yā gāo xìng de hē zhe shuǐ, xiào le)

“The little crow drank water happily and smiled.”

高兴 (gāo xìng)

高兴 (gāo xìng) here means “happily.”

高兴地 (gāo xìng de) “happily”

笑了 (xiào le) means “smiled.”

All right, so that is the story. Now, let’s try to tell the whole story again.

聪明的乌鸦

(cōng ming de wū yā)