A bite-sized story with repetitive sentence structure which seems to be about a fickle monkey who can’t focus long enough to enjoy his meal, but which is actually a gut-wrenching satire of my entire life. HSK 2-3.
有一天，一只小猴子下山来。它走到一块玉米地里，看见玉米长得又大又多，非常高兴，就偷了一个，拿着往前走。小猴子拿着玉米，走到一棵桃树下。它看见树上的桃子又大又红，非常高兴，就扔了玉米去摘桃子。小猴子拿着几个桃子，走到一片瓜地里。它看见西瓜又大又圆，非常高兴，就扔了桃子去摘西瓜。小猴子拿着一个大西瓜往回走。走着走着，看见一只小兔子，真可爱。它非常高兴，就扔了西瓜去追小兔。小兔跑进树林里，不见了。小猴子只好空着手回家去。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 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 … |
| 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 |
| 小 | xiǎo | small; tiny; few; young |
| 猴 | hōu | monkey |
| 子 | zǐ | son; child; seed; egg; small thing; 1st earthly branch: 11 p.m.–1 a.m., midnight, 11th solar month (7th December to 5th January), year of the rat; viscount, fourth of five orders o… |
| 下山 | xià shān | to go down a hill; (of the sun or moon) to set |
| 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… |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk; to go; to run; to move (of vehicle); to visit; to leave; to go away; to die (euph.); from; through; away (in compound verbs, such as 撤走[che4 zou3]); to change (shape, form… |
| 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… |
| 一块 | yī kuài | a piece; a chunk; (fig.) (coll.) (typically preceded by a specifier such as 這|这[zhe4]) aspect; area; dimension (Example: 情感這一塊|情感这一块[qing2 gan3 zhe4 yi1 kuai4] "the emotional aspec… |
| 玉米 | yù mǐ | corn; maize; CL:粒[li4] |
| 地 | de | -ly; structural particle: used before a verb or adjective, linking it to preceding modifying adverbial adjunct |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 看见 | kàn jiàn | to see; to catch sight of |
| 长得 | zhǎng de | to look (pretty, the same etc) |
| 又 | yòu | (once) again; also; both... and...; and yet; (used for emphasis) anyway |
| 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) |
| 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- |
| 非常 | fēi cháng | very; really; unusual; extraordinary |
| 高兴 | gāo xìng | happy; glad; willing (to do sth); in a cheerful mood |
| 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… |
| 偷 | tou | to steal; to snatch; stealthily |
| 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 |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 拿 | ná | old variant of 拿[na2]; variant of 拿[na2]; to hold; to seize; to catch; to apprehend; to take; (used in the same way as 把[ba3]: to mark the following noun as a direct object) |
| 着 | zhāo | variant of 著|着[zhao1]; a move in chess (Taiwan pr. [zhuo2]); trick; tactic; (dialect) okay; all right; (dialect) to put in; to add |
| 往前 | wǎng qián | (in) the past; ahead; forward; in the future |
| 棵 | kē | classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc |
| 桃树 | táo shù | peach tree; CL:株[zhu1] |
| 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 … |
| 树 | shù | tree; CL:棵[ke1]; to cultivate; to set up |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 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… |
| 桃子 | táo zi | peach |
| 红 | Hóng | surname Hong |
| 扔 | reng | to throw |
| 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);… |
| 摘桃子 | zhāi táo zi | to harvest the fruits of sb else's labor |
| 几个 | jǐ ge | a few; several; how many |
| 片 | piān | disk; sheet |
| 瓜 | guā | melon; gourd; squash; (slang) a piece of gossip |
| 西瓜 | xī guā | watermelon; CL:顆|颗[ke1] |
| 圆 | yuán | circle; round; circular; spherical; (of the moon) full; unit of Chinese currency (yuan); tactful; to make consistent and whole (the narrative of a dream or a lie) |
| 摘 | zhāi | to take; to pick (flowers, fruit etc); to pluck; to remove; to take off (glasses, hat etc); to select; to pick out; to borrow money at a time of urgent need |
| 大西 | Dà xī | Ōnishi (Japanese surname) |
| 往 | wǎng | to go (in a direction); to; towards; (of a train) bound for; past; previous; old variant of 往[wang3] |
| 回 | Huí | Hui ethnic group (Chinese Muslims); to curve; to return; to revolve; variant of 迴|回[hui2] |
| 兔子 | tù zi | hare; rabbit; CL:隻|只[zhi1] |
| 真 | zhēn | really; truly; indeed; real; true; genuine |
| 可爱 | kě ài | adorable; cute; lovely |
| 追 | zhui | to sculpt; musical instrument (old) |
| 兔 | tù | variant of 兔[tu4]; rabbit |
| 跑 | páo | (of an animal) to paw (the ground) |
| 进 | jìn | to go forward; to advance; to go in; to enter; to put in; to submit; to take in; to admit; (math.) base of a number system; classifier for sections in a building or residential com… |
| 树林 | Shù lín | Shulin city in New Taipei City 新北市[Xin1 bei3 shi4], Taiwan |
| 不见了 | bù jiàn le | to have disappeared; to be missing; nowhere to be found |
| 只好 | zhǐ hǎo | to have no other option but to ...; to have to; to be forced to |
| 空着手 | kōng zhe shǒu | empty-handed |
| 回家 | huí jiā | to return home |
One day, Little Monkey came down from the mountain. He walked to a field of corn, and saw that the corn had grown large and abundant, [this made him] very happy, so he stole one, and holding it walked on. Holding the corn, he walked to the bottom of a big peach tree. He saw the peaches in the tree were big and red, [this made him] very happy, and he threw down the corn to pick the peaches. Little Monkey took several peaches, and walked to a watermelon field. He saw the watermelons were big and round, [this made him] very happy, so he threw down the peaches to pick the watermelons. Little Monkey took a big watermelon and [started] walking back. Walking and walking, he saw a rabbit, it was very cute. [It made him] very happy, so he threw down the watermelon to chase the rabbit. The rabbit ran into the forest, and disappeared. Little Monkey had to go home empty-handed.