Have you ever felt like your home was too small for your dreams? A tiny fish once thought the same thing. But sometimes, the grass isn’t greener on the other side – especially when there’s no grass, only salty waves!.
从前，有一条小鱼住在一个小河里。小鱼每天都很快乐，因为河水很清，朋友很多。
有一天，一只鸟飞过来说：”小鱼，你为什么不去大海？大海比这里大一千倍！”小鱼听了很兴奋，它想：”我要去看看大海！”
小鱼游了很长时间，终于到了大海。大海真的很大很美！但是，海水太咸了，小鱼很不舒服。大海里的鱼都不认识它，没有朋友跟它说话。
小鱼很想家。它游回小河，看见了老朋友们。小鱼高兴地说：”外面的世界很大，但是家是最好的地方！”
从那以后，小鱼明白了：快乐不在远方，快乐就在身边。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| <p>小鱼 | xiǎo yú | little fish |
| 河 | hé | river |
| 大海 | dà hǎi | sea/ocean |
| 兴奋 | xīng fèn | excited |
| 咸 | xián | salty |
| 舒服 | shū fu5 | comfortable |
| 想家 | xiǎng jiā | homesick |
| 远方 | yuǎn fāng | distant place |
| 身边 | shēn biān | by one’s side |
| 明白 | míng bai5 | to understand</p> |
| 从前 | cóng qián | previously; formerly; once upon a time |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out … |
| 条 | tiáo | strip; item; article; clause (of law or treaty); classifier for long thin things (ribbon, river, road, trousers etc) |
| 小 | xiǎo | small; tiny; few; young |
| 鱼 | Yú | surname Yu |
| 住 | zhù | to live; to reside; to stay; to stop; to cease; (result complement indicating firmness or a stable achieved state) |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 小河 | xiǎo hé | creek; stream; brook |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 每天 | měi tiān | every day |
| 都 | Dū | surname Du |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 快 | kuài | rapid; quick; speed; rate; soon; almost; to make haste; clever; sharp (of knives or wits); forthright; plainspoken; gratified; pleased; pleasant |
| 乐 | Lè | surname Le |
| 因为 | yīn wèi | because; owing to; on account of |
| 河水 | hé shuǐ | river water |
| 清 | Qīng | Qing (Wade-Giles: Ch'ing) dynasty of China (1644–1911); surname Qing |
| 朋友 | péng you | friend; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of; too many; in excess; (after a numeral) ... odd; how (to what extent) (Taiwan pr. [duo2]); (bound form) multi-; poly- |
| 天 | tiān | day; sky; heaven |
| 只 | zhī | variant of 隻|只[zhi1]; variant of 只[zhi3]; grain that has begun to ripen; classifier for birds and certain animals, one of a pair, some utensils, vessels etc |
| 鸟 | diǎo | variant of 屌[diao3]; penis |
| 飞过 | fēi guò | to fly over; to fly past |
| 来 | lái | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3… |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 你 | nǐ | you (informal, as opposed to courteous 您[nin2]); you (Note: In Taiwan, 妳 is used to address females, but in mainland China, it is not commonly used. Instead, 你 is used to address both males and females.) |
| 为 | wéi | as (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice); variant of 為|为[wei2] |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 去 | qù | to go; to go to (a place); (of a time etc) last; just passed; to send; to remove; to get rid of; to reduce; to be apart from in space or time; to die (euphemism); to play (a part);… |
| 比 | Bǐ | Belgium; Belgian; abbr. for 比利時|比利时[Bi3 li4 shi2] |
| 这里 | zhè lǐ | variant of 這裡|这里[zhe4 li3] |
| 大一 | dà yī | first year of university |
| 千 | qiān | thousand; used in 鞦韆|秋千[qiu1 qian1] |
| 倍 | bèi | (two, three etc) -fold; times (multiplier); double; to increase or multiply |
| 听 | yǐn | smile (archaic); to listen to; to hear; to heed; to obey; a can (loanword from English "tin"); classifier for canned beverages; to let be; to allow (Taiwan pr. [ting4]); (literary) to administer; t… |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about); to think of; to devise; to think (that); to believe (that); to desire; to want (to); to miss (feel wistful about the absence of) |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 要 | yāo | (bound form) to demand; to coerce |
| 看看 | kàn kan | to take a look at; to examine; to survey; (coll.) pretty soon |
| 游 | Yóu | surname You; to walk; to tour; to roam; to travel |
| 长 | cháng | long; (bound form) length; (bound form) strong point; forte; (bound form) to be good at; (literary) surplus; spare (Taiwan pr. [zhang4]) |
| 时间 | shí jiān | (concept of) time; (duration of) time; (point in) time |
| 终 | zhong | end |
| 于 | Yú | surname Yu; (of time or place) in; at; on; (indicating any indirect relation) to; toward; vis-à-vis; with regard to; for; (indicating a source) from; out of; (used in comparison) than; (used i… |
| 到了 | dào liǎo | at last; finally; in the end |
| 真的 | zhēn de | really; truly; indeed; real; true; genuine; (math.) proper |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother) |
| 美 | Měi | (bound form) the Americas (abbr. for 美洲[Mei3 zhou1]); (bound form) USA (abbr. for 美國|美国[Mei3 guo2]) |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 海水 | hǎi shuǐ | seawater |
| 太 | tài | highest; greatest; too (much); very; extremely |
| 不舒服 | bù shū fu | unwell; feeling ill; to feel uncomfortable; uneasy |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 认 | rèn | to recognize; to know; to admit |
| 识 | shí | to know; knowledge; Taiwan pr. [shi4] |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 跟 | gēn | heel; to follow closely; to go with; (of a woman) to marry sb; with; compared with; to; towards; and (joining two nouns) |
| 说话 | shuō huà | to speak; to say; to talk; to gossip; to tell stories; talk; word |
| 回 | Huí | Hui ethnic group (Chinese Muslims); to curve; to return; to revolve; variant of 迴|回[hui2] |
| 看见 | kàn jiàn | to see; to catch sight of |
| 老朋友 | lǎo péng you | old friend; (slang) period; menstruation |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 高兴 | gāo xìng | happy; glad; willing (to do sth); in a cheerful mood |
| 地 | de | -ly; structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 外面 | wài miàn | outside (also pr. [wai4 mian5] for this sense); surface; exterior; external appearance |
| 世界 | shì jiè | world |
| 家 | jiā | used in 傢伙|家伙[jia1 huo5] and 傢俱|家俱[jia1 ju4]; home; family; (polite) my (sister, uncle etc); classifier for families or businesses; refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China; noun suffix for a specialist in some act… |
| 最好 | zuì hǎo | best; had better ...; it would be best to ... |
| 地方 | dì fāng | region; regional (away from the central administration); local |
| 从 | cóng | variant of 從|从[cong2]; surname Cong |
| 那 | Nā | surname Na |
| 以 | yǐ | old variant of 以[yi3]; abbr. for Israel 以色列[Yi3 se4 lie4] |
| 后 | Hòu | surname Hou; back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later; post- |
| 就 | jìu | (after a suppositional clause) in that case; then; (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after; (same as 就是[jiu4 shi4]) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precise… |
Once upon a time, there was a little fish living in a small river. The little fish was happy every day because the river water was clear and it had many friends.
One day, a bird flew over and said: “Little fish, why don’t you go to the big sea? The sea is a thousand times bigger than here!” The little fish was very excited and thought: “I want to go see the sea!”
The little fish swam for a very long time and finally reached the sea. The sea was really big and beautiful! But the seawater was too salty, and the little fish felt very uncomfortable. He didn’t know any of the sea fish, and no friends chatted with him.
The little fish missed home very much. It swam back to the small river and saw its old friends. The little fish happily said: “The outside world is very big, but home is the best place!”
From then on, the little fish understood: happiness is not far away, happiness is right beside you.