Xiao Ming is about to learn that persistence (and maybe some puppy-dog eyes) might just be the secret weapon to getting what you want.
“妈妈，我可以养一只狗吗？”小明问。”我非常非常想要一只狗！”
妈妈摇摇头。”不行。狗太大了，我们家太小了。”
小明想了想。”那，猫呢？猫很小。”
“猫会抓沙发，”妈妈说。”不行。”
小明有点不开心，但是他没有放弃。”那鱼呢？鱼不会抓沙发。”
妈妈想了想，然后说：”鱼缸很难打扫。不行。”
小明叹了口气。他看了看妈妈，说：”那……乌龟呢？乌龟很安静，很小，也很容易养。”
妈妈看着小明。小明用最可爱的眼神看着妈妈。
妈妈笑了。”好吧。但是你要自己照顾它。”
“没问题！”小明高兴地说。”谢谢妈妈！你是最好的妈妈！”
妈妈笑着摇摇头。”去写作业吧。”
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 宠物 | chǒngwù | pet |
| 摇头 | yáotóu | to shake one’s head |
| 放弃 | fàngqì | to give up |
| 鱼缸 | yúgāng | fish tank |
| 叹气 | tànqì | to sigh |
| 乌龟 | wūguī | turtle |
| 安静 | ānjìng | quiet |
| 容易 | róngyì | easy |
| 照顾 | zhàogù | to take care of |
| 眼神 | yǎnshén | expression in one’s eyes; look |
| 妈妈 | mā ma | mama; mommy; mother; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good |
| 养 | yǎng | to raise (animals); to bring up (children); to keep (pets); to support; to give birth |
| 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 |
| 狗 | gǒu | dog; CL:隻|只[zhi1],條|条[tiao2] |
| 吗 | má | (coll.) what? |
| 小 | xiǎo | small; tiny; few; young |
| 明 | Míng | Ming Dynasty (1368–1644); surname Ming; Ming (c. 2000 BC), fourth of the legendary Flame Emperors, 炎帝[Yan2 di4] descended from Shennong 神農|神农[Shen2 nong2] Farmer God |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
| 非常 | fēi cháng | very; really; unusual; extraordinary |
| 想要 | xiǎng yào | to want to; to feel like; to fancy; to care for sb; desirous of |
| 摇 | yāo | to shake; to wave; to rock; to sway |
| 不行 | bù xíng | won't do; be out of the question; be no good; not work; not be capable |
| 太 | tài | highest; greatest; too (much); very; extremely |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 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… |
| 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) |
| 那 | Nā | surname Na |
| 猫 | māo | cat (CL:隻|只[zhi1]); (dialect) to hide oneself; (loanword) (coll.) modem |
| 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… |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 会 | huì | can; to have the skill; to know how to; to be likely to; to be sure to; to meet; to get together; meeting; gathering; (suffix) union; group; association; (bound form) a moment (Tai… |
| 抓 | zhua | to grab; to arrest; to scratch |
| 沙 | sha | sand; granule; (of voice) hoarse; surname Sha |
| 发 | fā | to send out; to show (one's feeling); to issue; to develop; to make a bundle of money; classifier for gunshots (rounds); hair; Taiwan pr. [fa3] |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 有点 | yǒu diǎn | a little |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 开心 | kāi xīn | to feel happy; to rejoice; to have a great time; to make fun of sb |
| 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] |
| 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]) |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 鱼 | Yú | surname Yu |
| 不会 | bù huì | improbable; unlikely; will not (act, happen etc); not able; not having learned to do sth; (coll.) (Tw) don't mention it; not at all |
| 然 | rán | correct; right; so; thus; like this; -ly |
| 后 | Hòu | surname Hou; back; behind; rear; afterwards; after; later; post- |
| 难 | nán | difficult (to...); problem; difficulty; difficult; not good |
| 打扫 | dǎ sǎo | to clean; to sweep |
| 叹 | tǎn | to sigh |
| 口气 | kǒu qì | tone of voice; the way one speaks; manner of expression; tone |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 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 |
| 用 | yòng | to use; to make use of; to employ; (coverb) with; using; to need; to have to (usu. used in the negative or in questions); usefulness; utility; (bound form) expense; outlay; (courte… |
| 最 | zuì | variant of 最[zui4]; old variant of 最[zui4]; (before an adjective or verb) to the highest degree; (the) most ...; -est; (after 之[zhi1]) best or most extreme example (e.g. 世界之最[shi4 jie4 zhi1 zui4] "the greatest in the world") |
| 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… |
| 笑 | xiào | old variant of 笑[xiao4]; to laugh; to smile; to laugh at |
| 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); (… |
| 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] |
| 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.) |
| 要 | yāo | (bound form) to demand; to coerce |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 没问题 | méi wèn tí | no problem |
| 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 |
| 谢谢 | xiè xie | to thank; thanks; thank you |
| 最好 | zuì hǎo | best; had better ...; it would be best to ... |
| 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);… |
| 写作 | xiě zuò | to write; to compose; writing; written works |
| 业 | Yè | surname Ye |
“Mom, can I have a dog?” Xiao Ming asked. “I really, really want a dog!”
Mom shook her head. “No. Dogs are too big, and our home is too small.”
Xiao Ming thought for a moment. “Then, what about a cat? Cats are small.”
“Cats scratch the sofa,” Mom said. “No.”
Xiao Ming was a little unhappy, but he didn’t give up. “What about a fish then? Fish won’t scratch the sofa.”
Mom thought about it, then said: “Fish tanks are hard to clean. No.”
Xiao Ming sighed. He looked at Mom and said: “Well then… what about a turtle? Turtles are very quiet, very small, and also very easy to take care of.”
Mom looked at Xiao Ming. Xiao Ming looked at Mom with his cutest eyes.
Mom laughed. “Alright. But you have to take care of it yourself.”
“No problem!” Xiao Ming said happily. “Thank you, Mom! You’re the best mom!”
Mom laughed and shook her head. “Go do your homework.”