A little thrush (画眉 huà méi) trades one cage (笼子 lóng zi) for a bigger one, and doesn’t much like the upgrade. Suitable around HSK 3.
一只可爱的画眉被主人关在笼子里，上帝于是对画眉说：“跟我到天堂去生活吧。”
“我现在生活的很好啊，为什么要去天堂呢?”画眉说道。
上帝反问道：“那你有自由吗?”
画眉沉默了。
画眉跟着上帝来到了天堂，上帝把它安排在翡翠宫里住下，自己便去忙别的事情。
过了很长一段时间，上帝突然想起了画眉，便去翡翠宫看它。他问画眉：“我亲爱的孩子，你现在过得还好吗?”
画眉哀叹一声，说：“房子很漂亮，大得我飞都飞不到边，可是我一个人孤零零地生活在这大房子里跟住在笼子里有什么区别呢?”
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 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 … |
| 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 |
| 可爱 | kě ài | adorable; cute; lovely |
| 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… |
| 画眉 | huà méi | to apply makeup to the eyebrows; (bird species of China) Chinese hwamei (Garrulax canorus) |
| 被 | bèi | quilt; to cover (with); (literary) to suffer (a misfortune); used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, … |
| 主人 | zhǔ rén | owner; host; master |
| 关 | Guān | surname Guan |
| 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) |
| 笼子 | lóng zi | cage; basket; container |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 帝 | dǐ | (bound form) emperor; sovereign; supreme deity |
| 于是 | yú shì | thereupon; as a result; consequently; thus; hence |
| 对 | duì | right; correct; towards; at; for; concerning; regarding; to treat (sb a certain way); to face; (bound form) opposite; facing; matching; to match together; to adjust; to fit; to sui… |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 跟 | gēn | heel; to follow closely; to go with; (of a woman) to marry sb; with; compared with; to; towards; and (joining two nouns) |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive; to leave for; to go to; to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point); (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point); considerate; thoug… |
| 天堂 | tiān táng | paradise; heaven |
| 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);… |
| 生 | shēng | to grow; to give birth; to produce; to be born; to arise; to occur; to light (a fire); to live; to be alive; life; raw; uncooked; unprocessed; unfamiliar; strange; (bound form) stu… |
| 活 | huó | to live; alive; living; work; workmanship |
| 吧 | bā | bar (loanword) (serving drinks, or providing Internet access etc); to puff (on a pipe etc); (onom.) bang; abbr. for 貼吧|贴吧[tie1 ba1] |
| 现 | xiàn | to appear; present; now; existing; current |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 好 | hǎo | good; appropriate; proper; all right!; (before a verb) easy to; (before a verb) good to; (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so; (verb complement indicating completion); (… |
| 啊 | ā | interjection of surprise; Ah!; Oh! |
| 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] |
| 要 | yāo | (bound form) to demand; to coerce |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?"); (sentence-final particle) indicating that a state or situation… |
| 说道 | shuō dào | to state; to say (the quoted words) |
| 反问 | fǎn wèn | to ask (a question) in reply; to answer a question with a question; rhetorical question |
| 道 | dào | road; path (CL:條|条[tiao2],股[gu3]); (bound form) way; reason; principle; (bound form) a skill; an art; a specialization; (Daoism) the Way; the Dao; to say (introducing a direct quot… |
| 那 | Nā | surname Na |
| 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.) |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 自由 | zì yóu | freedom; liberty; free; unrestricted |
| 吗 | má | (coll.) what? |
| 沉 | chēn | to sink; heavy; deep; to immerse; to keep down |
| 默 | mò | silent; to write from memory |
| 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 |
| 跟着 | gēn zhe | to follow after; immediately afterwards |
| 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… |
| 到了 | dào liǎo | at last; finally; in the end |
| 把 | bǎ | to hold; to grasp; to hold a baby in position to help it urinate or defecate; handlebar; classifier: handful, bundle, bunch; classifier for things with handles; (used to put the ob… |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 安排 | ān pái | to arrange; to plan; to set up; arrangements; plans |
| 翡 | ||
| 翠 | cuì | bluish-green; green jade |
| 宫 | Gōng | surname Gong |
| 住 | zhù | to live; to reside; to stay; to stop; to cease; (result complement indicating firmness or a stable achieved state) |
| 下 | xià | down; downwards; below; lower; later; next (week etc); second (of two parts); to decline; to go down; to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc); measure word to show the frequency … |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 便 | biàn | plain; informal; suitable; convenient; opportune; to urinate or defecate; equivalent to 就[jiu4]: then; in that case; even if; soon afterwards |
| 忙 | máng | busy; hurriedly; to hurry; to rush |
| 别的 | bié de | else; other |
| 事情 | shì qing | affair; matter; thing; business; CL:件[jian4],樁|桩[zhuang1] |
| 过 | Guō | surname Guo |
| 长 | cháng | long; (bound form) length; (bound form) strong point; forte; (bound form) to be good at; (literary) surplus; spare (Taiwan pr. [zhang4]) |
| 段 | Duàn | surname Duan |
| 时间 | shí jiān | (concept of) time; (duration of) time; (point in) time |
| 突然 | tū rán | sudden; abrupt; unexpected |
| 想起 | xiǎng qǐ | to recall; to think of; to call to mind |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
| 亲爱 | qīn ài | dear; beloved; darling |
| 孩子 | hái zi | child |
| 过得 | guò dé | How are you getting by?; How's life?; contraction of 過得去|过得去, can get by; tolerably well; not too bad |
| 还好 | hái hǎo | not bad; pretty good; fortunately; luckily |
| 哀 | ai | sad; sorrowful; grief; to mourn; to pity |
| 叹 | tǎn | to sigh |
| 一声 | yī shēng | first tone in Mandarin (high, level tone) |
| 房子 | fáng zi | house; building (single- or two-story); apartment; room; CL:棟|栋[dong4],幢[zhuang4],座[zuo4],套[tao4],間|间[jian1] |
| 漂 | piāo | to float; to drift |
| 亮 | liàng | bright; light; to shine; to flash; loud and clear; to show (one's passport etc); to make public (one's views etc) |
| 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) |
| 得 | dé | to obtain; to get; to gain; to catch (a disease); proper; suitable; proud; contented; to allow; to permit; ready; finished |
| 飞 | fēi | to fly |
| 都 | Dū | surname Du |
| 不到 | bù dào | not to arrive; not reaching; insufficient; less than |
| 边 | biān | side; edge; margin; border; boundary; CL:個|个[ge4]; simultaneously |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 一个人 | yī gè rén | by oneself (without assistance); alone (without company) |
| 孤零零 | gū líng líng | lone; isolated and without help; all alone; solitary |
| 地 | de | -ly; structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) |
| 区别 | qū bié | difference; to distinguish; to discriminate; to make a distinction; CL:個|个[ge4] |
A cute little thrush was shut in a cage by its master, so God said to the thrush: “Come and live with me in Heaven.”
“My life is very good now, why should I go to heaven?” the thrush said.
God answered, “Well, do you have freedom?”
The thrush was silent.
The thrush followed God to Heaven, and God arranged for it to settle down in an emerald palace, and then he went to deal with other matters.
After a long time had passed, God suddenly thought of the thrush, and so he went to the emerald palace to see it. He asked the thrush: “My dear child, are things going well now?”
The thrush uttered a sorrowful sigh, and said: “The house is beautiful, so big that [no matter how long] I fly I can’t reach its edges, but how is living by myself alone in this big house any different than living in a cage?”