古代战国的时候,在北部的城市,住着一个老人,名字叫塞翁。
塞翁养了许多马,一天,他的马群中有一匹不见了。
邻居们听说这件事,都来安慰他,劝他不要太着急,年龄大了,多注意身体。
塞翁笑了笑说:丢了一匹马损失不大,可能会带来什么福气呢。
邻居听了塞翁的话,心里觉得很好笑。
马丢了,明明是件坏事,他却认为也许是好事,显然是安慰自己而已。
过了几天,不见的马不仅自动回了家,还带回一匹好马。
邻居听说以后,对塞翁非常佩服,向塞翁说:还是您有远见,马不仅没有丢,还带回一匹好马,真是福气呀。
塞翁反而一点都不高兴:白白得了一匹好马,不一定是什么福气,也许会有什么麻烦。
邻居们以为他是故意这么说,心里明明很高兴,但是不说出来。
塞翁只有一个儿子,非常喜欢骑马。
他发现带回来的那匹马是匹非常好的马。
他每天都骑马出门,心里很骄傲。
一天,他有些太高兴了,不小心从马背上摔下来,腿断了。
邻居听说,都来慰问。
塞翁说:没关系,腿摔断了但没死,或许是福气呢。
邻居们觉得他又在乱说话。
他们想不出,摔断腿会带来什么福气。
不久以后,战争开始了,年轻人都被要求加入军队,塞翁的儿子因为摔断了腿,不能加入。
后来参加军队的年轻人都因为战争死了,只有塞翁的儿子还活着。
后来人们用“塞翁失马”这个成语来形容有时候虽然受到了损失,不一定是坏事,也有可能会得到好处。
也用来形容坏事有时候也会变成好事。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL1NhaXdlbmdfbG9zdF9oaXNfaG9yc2VfLV80MTEwLm1wMw&filename=Saiweng-lost-his-horse.mp3&signature=394c84a2f8a7644ea2f87fb3012ec7b2c233938fc8fa233eafaab500a26e0976
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 古代 | gǔ dài | ancient times |
| 战国 | Zhàn guó | the Warring States period (475-221 BC) |
| 的 | de | possessive particle (of; 's) / modifying particle (used after an attribute to modify a noun or to form a nominal expression) |
| 时候 | shí hou | time / length of time / moment / period |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 北部 | běi bù | northern part |
| 城市 | chéng shì | city; town |
| 住 | zhù | to live; to reside; to stay |
| 着 | zhe | aspect particle indicating action in progress or ongoing state |
| 一 | yī | one / single / a (article) |
| 个 | gè | classifier for people or objects in general |
| 老人 | lǎo rén | old man or woman / the elderly |
| 名字 | míng zi | name (of a person or thing) |
| 叫 | jiào | to be called |
| 塞翁 | sài wēng | the old man from the frontier; a figure from the idiom "the old man at the frontier loses his horse" |
| 养 | yǎng | to raise (animals) / to bring up (children) / to keep (pets) |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) |
| 许多 | xǔ duō | many / a lot of / much |
| 马 | mǎ | horse / horse or cavalry piece in Chinese chess / knight in Western chess |
| 天 | tiān | day |
| 他 | tā | he; him; his |
| 群 | qún | group / crowd / flock, herd, pack etc |
| 中 | zhōng | within; among; in |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is |
| 匹 | pǐ | classifier for horses, mules etc / classifier for cloth: bolt |
| 不见 | bù jiàn | not to see / not to meet / to have disappeared / to be missing |
| 邻居 | lín jū | neighbor |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 听说 | tīng shuō | to hear (sth said) / one hears (that) |
| 这 | zhè | this; these |
| 件 | jiàn | classifier for events, things, clothes etc |
| 事 | shì | matter / thing / item / affair |
| 都 | dōu | all; both; entirely |
| 来 | lái | to come |
| 安慰 | ān wèi | to comfort; to console |
| 劝 | quàn | to advise / to urge / to try to persuade / to exhort / to console / to soothe |
| 不要 | bù yào | don't!; must not |
| 太 | tài | too (much) / very / extremely |
| 着急 | zháo jí | to worry; to feel anxious / to feel a sense of urgency; to be in a hurry |
| 年龄 | nián líng | (a person's) age |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest |
| 多 | duō | many; much; more; a lot of |
| 注意 | zhù yì | to take note of; to pay attention to |
| 身体 | shēn tǐ | one's health |
| 笑 | xiào | to laugh; to smile |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to talk; to say |
| 丢 | diū | to lose / to put aside / to throw |
| 损失 | sǔn shī | loss / damage |
| 不 | bù | no; not so |
| 可能 | kě néng | might (happen) / maybe / perhaps |
| 会 | huì | to be likely to; to be sure to |
| 带 | dài | to wear / to carry / to take along / to bear / to bring |
| 什么 | shén me | what? |
| 福气 | fú qi | good fortune / a blessing |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?") |
| 听 | tīng | to listen to; to hear |
| 话 | huà | spoken words / speech / talk / words / conversation / what sb said |
| 心里 | xīn lǐ | chest / heart; mind |
| 觉得 | jué de | to feel (uncomfortable etc) |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite |
| 好笑 | hǎo xiào | laughable; funny; ridiculous |
| 明明 | míng míng | obviously / plainly / undoubtedly / definitely |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 坏 | huài | bad / spoiled / broken |
| 却 | què | but / yet / however / while / nevertheless / even though |
| 认为 | rèn wéi | to believe; to think; to consider; to feel |
| 也许 | yě xǔ | perhaps; maybe |
| 好 | hǎo | good / appropriate; proper |
| 显然 | xiǎn rán | clearly; evidently; obviously |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 而已 | ér yǐ | that's all / nothing more |
| 过 | guò | to cross / to go over / to pass (time) / to celebrate (a holiday) / to live / to get along |
| 几 | jǐ | several / a few |
| 不仅 | bù jǐn | not just; not limited to / (as a correlative conjunction) not only (..., but also ...) |
| 自动 | zì dòng | voluntarily |
| 回 | huí | to go back / to turn around / to answer / to return |
| 家 | jiā | home / family / (polite) my (sister, uncle etc) |
| 还 | hái | in addition, also, else, even |
| 以后 | yǐ hòu | after / later / afterwards / following / later on / in the future |
| 对 | duì | towards; at; for / concerning; regarding |
| 非常 | fēi cháng | very; really |
| 佩服 | pèi fú | to admire |
| 向 | xiàng | towards / shortly before / formerly / always / all along |
| 还是 | hái shi | still (as before) |
| 您 | nín | you (courteous, as opposed to informal 你[ni3]) |
| 远见 | yuǎn jiàn | foresight / discernment / vision |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't / hasn't |
| 真 | zhēn | really / truly / indeed |
| 呀 | ya | (particle equivalent to 啊 after a vowel, expressing surprise or doubt) |
| 反而 | fǎn ér | on the contrary; instead |
| 一点 | yī diǎn | a bit; a little bit / (used in negative expressions) (not) the least bit / (after an adjective, used to form the comparative) a bit more, -er |
| 高兴 | gāo xìng | happy / glad / in a cheerful mood |
| 白白 | bái bái | in vain / for nothing |
| 得 | dé | to obtain / to get / to gain / to catch (a disease) |
| 一定 | yī dìng | surely; certainly; definitely |
| 麻烦 | má fan | trouble; inconvenience |
| 以为 | yǐ wéi | to think; to believe |
| 故意 | gù yì | deliberately; on purpose |
| 这么 | zhè me | this way / like this |
| 但是 | dàn shì | but; however |
| 出来 | chu lai | (after a verb, indicates coming out, completion of an action, or ability to discern or detect) |
| 只 | zhǐ | only; merely; just |
| 儿子 | ér zi | son |
| 喜欢 | xǐ huan | to like; to be fond of |
| 骑 | qí | to sit astride / to ride (a horse, bike etc) |
| 发现 | fā xiàn | to notice; to become aware of / to discover; to find; to detect |
| 回来 | huí lái | to return; to come back |
| 那 | nà | (specifier) that; the; those / (pronoun) that (referring to persons, things or situations) |
| 每 | měi | each / every |
| 出 | chū | to go out; to come out / to arise; to occur / to produce; to yield / to go beyond; to exceed |
| 门 | mén | gate / door / gateway / doorway / opening / valve / switch / way to do something / knack / family / house / (religious) sect / school (of thought) / class / category / phylum or division (taxonomy) / (suffix) -gate (i.e. scandal; derived from Watergate) |
| 心 | xīn | heart / mind / intention |
| 里 | lǐ | lining / interior / inside |
| 骄傲 | jiāo ào | conceited / proud of sth |
| 有些 | yǒu xiē | somewhat; rather; a bit |
| 小心 | xiǎo xīn | to be careful / to take care |
| 从 | cóng | from; through; via / (bound form) retainer; attendant / (bound form) assistant; auxiliary; subordinate / (bound form) related by common paternal grandfather or earlier ancestor |
| 背 | bèi | the back of a body or object |
| 上 | shàng | (noun suffix) on; above |
| 摔 | shuāi | to throw down / to fall / to drop and break |
| 下来 | xià lái | (after verb of motion, indicates motion down and towards us, also fig.) |
| 腿 | tuǐ | leg |
| 断 | duàn | to break / to snap / to cut off / to give up or abstain from sth / to judge |
| 慰问 | wèi wèn | to express sympathy, greetings, consolation etc |
| 没关系 | méi guān xi | it doesn't matter |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still |
| 没 | méi | (negative prefix for verbs) have not; not |
| 死 | sǐ | to die |
| 或许 | huò xǔ | perhaps; maybe |
| 又 | yòu | (once) again |
| 乱 | luàn | indiscriminate / random / arbitrary |
| 说话 | shuō huà | to speak / to say / to talk / to gossip / to tell stories |
| 他们 | tā men | they; them |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about) / to think of; to devise / to think (that); to believe (that) |
| 不久 | bù jiǔ | not long (after) / before too long / soon / soon after |
| 战争 | zhàn zhēng | war; conflict |
| 开始 | kāi shǐ | to begin / to start |
| 年轻 | nián qīng | young |
| 人 | rén | person; people |
| 被 | bèi | used to indicate passive voice (placed before the doer of the action like "by" in English passive-voice sentences, or, if the doer is not mentioned, before the verb) / (sarcastic or jocular) used to indicate that the following word should be regarded as being in air quotes |
| 要求 | yāo qiú | to request / to require / to stake a claim / to ask / to demand |
| 加入 | jiā rù | to become a member / to join / to mix into / to participate in / to add in |
| 军队 | jūn duì | armed forces; troops |
| 因为 | yīn wèi | because; owing to; on account of |
| 能 | néng | can / to be able to / might possibly |
| 后来 | hòu lái | afterwards; later |
| 参加 | cān jiā | to participate / to take part / to join |
| 只有 | zhǐ yǒu | only have ...; there is only ... |
| 活 | huó | alive / living |
| 人们 | rén men | people |
| 用 | yòng | to use; to make use of; to employ / (coverb) with; using |
| 塞翁失马 | sài wēng shī mǎ | lit. the old man lost his horse, but it all turned out for the best (idiom) / fig. a blessing in disguise / it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good |
| 成语 | chéng yǔ | Chinese set expression, typically of 4 characters, often alluding to a story or historical quotation; idiom; proverb; saying; adage |
| 形容 | xíng róng | to describe |
| 有时候 | yǒu shí hou | sometimes |
| 虽然 | suī rán | although; even though |
| 受到 | shòu dào | to receive (praise, an education, punishment etc); to be ...ed (praised, educated, punished etc) |
| 也 | yě | also; too; as well; (not ...) either |
| 得到 | dé dào | to get; to obtain; to receive |
| 好处 | hǎo chù | benefit; advantage; merit / gain; profit |
| 变成 | biàn chéng | to change into / to turn into / to become |