Two friends in a park become captivated by a tiny ant carrying something way bigger than itself.
王明和李红坐在公园里。
李红看着地上。”你看那只蚂蚁。”
地上有一只很小的蚂蚁。它嘴里有一块饼干。饼干很大。但是蚂蚁还在走。
“哇，”王明说。”它很厉害！”
“对，”李红说。”蚂蚁很厉害。”
王明看着蚂蚁。”如果我也这么厉害，我可以搬汽车。”
李红笑了。”你想搬汽车做什么？”
“我不知道，”王明说。
两个人看着蚂蚁走，走，走。
“它去哪里？”王明问。
“回家，”李红说。
王明点点头。”它很努力。”
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 蚂蚁 | mǎyǐ | ant |
| 饼干 | bǐnggān | cookie/cracker |
| 厉害 | lìhai5 | amazing/formidable |
| 搬 | bān | to move/to carry |
| 汽车 | qìchē | car |
| 努力 | nǔlì | hardworking/to work hard |
| 点点头 | diǎndiǎntóu | to nod (one’s head) |
| 回家 | huíjiā | to go home |
| 王明 | Wáng Míng | Wang Ming (1904-1974), Soviet-trained Chinese communist, Comintern and Soviet stooge and left adventurist in the 1930s, fell out with Mao and moved to Soviet Union from 1956 |
| 和 | hé | old variant of 和[he2]; surname He; (literary) harmonious (variant of 和[he2]) |
| 李 | lí | plum; surname Li |
| 红 | Hóng | surname Hong |
| 坐 | Zuò | surname Zuo |
| 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) |
| 公园 | gōng yuán | park (for public recreation); CL:座[zuo4] |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 着地 | zháo dì | to land; to touch the ground; also pr. [zhuo2 di4] |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 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.) |
| 那 | Nā | surname Na |
| 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 |
| 地上 | dì shang | on the ground; on the floor |
| 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 … |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 小的 | xiǎo de | (coll.) young child; the little one(s) of the family; (old) (humble) I; me; my (used by a commoner when speaking to an official) |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 嘴 | zuǐ | mouth; beak; nozzle; spout (of teapot etc); CL:張|张[zhang1],個|个[ge4] |
| 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… |
| 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) |
| 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] |
| 还 | Huán | surname Huan |
| 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… |
| 哇 | wa | Wow!; sound of vomiting |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 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… |
| 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 |
| 如 | rú | as; as if; such as |
| 果 | guǒ | fruit; result; resolute; indeed; if really |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 这么 | zhè me | so much; this much; how much?; this way; like this |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good |
| 笑 | xiào | old variant of 笑[xiao4]; to laugh; to smile; to laugh at |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 做 | zuò | to make; to produce; to write; to compose; to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc); (of a person) to be (an intermediary, a good student etc); to become (husband and wife, frien… |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 不知 | bù zhī | not to know; unaware; unknowingly; fig. not to admit (defeat, hardships, tiredness etc) |
| 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… |
| 两 | liǎng | two; both; some; a few; tael, unit of weight equal to 50 grams (modern) or 1⁄16 of a catty 斤[jin1] (old) |
| 个人 | gè rén | an individual; oneself; (attributive) personal; one's own |
| 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);… |
| 哪 | nǎ | how; which |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
Wang Ming and Li Hong were sitting in the park.
Li Hong looked at the ground. “Look at that ant.”
There was a very small ant on the ground. It had a piece of cookie in its mouth. The cookie was very big. But the ant kept walking.
“Wow,” Wang Ming said. “It’s so amazing!”
“Yes,” Li Hong said. “Ants are very amazing.”
Wang Ming watched the ant. “If I were that strong, I could lift a car.”
Li Hong laughed. “What would you want to lift a car for?”
“I don’t know,” Wang Ming said.
The two of them watched the ant walk, walk, walk.
“Where is it going?” Wang Ming asked.
“Home,” Li Hong said.
Wang Ming nodded. “It works very hard.”