有一个人经过绿洲，看到一位老人正在播种，就走过去问："你好呀，大爷。
这么热的天，你在这里做什么呢？
”"我在种椰枣树。
”老人回答。
"椰枣树？
”那个人继续问，"大爷，你多大年纪了？
”"我不知道，60，70，还是80…
…
我忘记了…
…
但这并不重要。
”那个年轻人说："大爷，一棵椰枣树长成要五十多年，长成之后才能结出果实，所以最后您很可能无法收获果实，还是别干了吧。
"老人却说："我吃的椰枣是前人种下的，我今天播种，是为了让后人能吃到我种的椰枣。
”
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL1Nvd2luZ19hbmRfSGFydmVzdGluZy0zMDYzLm1wMw&filename=Sowing-and-Harvesting.mp3&signature=95c683e8984fde26018a8a93c0cb960e3e621e86f08fbb822e5ad1f6f2eed041
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is |
| 一 | yī | one / single / a (article) |
| 个 | gè | classifier for people or objects in general |
| 人 | rén | person; people |
| 经过 | jīng guò | to pass / to go through |
| 绿洲 | lǜ zhōu | oasis |
| 看到 | kàn dào | to see |
| 位 | wèi | classifier for people (honorific) |
| 老人 | lǎo rén | old man or woman / the elderly |
| 正在 | zhèng zài | to be in the process of (doing sth); to be currently ...-ing |
| 播种 | bō zhǒng | to sow seeds |
| 就 | jiù | in that case; then |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk / to go / to run / to move (of vehicle) / to visit / to leave / to go away / to die (euph.) / to change (shape, form, meaning) |
| 过去 | guò qù | to go over; to pass by |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
| 你 | nǐ | you |
| 好 | hǎo | good / appropriate; proper |
| 呀 | ya | (particle equivalent to 啊 after a vowel, expressing surprise or doubt) |
| 大爷 | dà ye | (coll.) father's older brother / uncle / term of respect for older man |
| 这么 | zhè me | so much / this much / how much? |
| 热 | rè | hot (of weather) |
| 的 | de | possessive particle (of; 's) / modifying particle (used after an attribute to modify a noun or to form a nominal expression) |
| 天 | tiān | day |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 这里 | zhè lǐ | here |
| 做 | zuò | to do; to engage in; to hold (a party etc) |
| 什么 | shén me | what? |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?") |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 种 | zhòng | to plant / to grow / to cultivate |
| 椰枣 | yē zǎo | date palm; date (fruit) |
| 树 | shù | tree |
| 回答 | huí dá | to reply; to answer / reply; answer |
| 那 | nà | (specifier) that; the; those / (pronoun) that (referring to persons, things or situations) |
| 继续 | jì xù | to continue; to proceed with; to go on with |
| 多 | duō | how (to what extent) |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great / older (than another person) / eldest |
| 年纪 | nián jì | age |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) |
| 不 | bù | no; not so |
| 知道 | zhī dào | to know; to become aware of |
| 还是 | hái shi | still (as before) |
| 忘记 | wàng jì | to forget |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still |
| 这 | zhè | this; these |
| 并 | bìng | (not) at all |
| 重要 | zhòng yào | important; significant; major |
| 年轻人 | nián qīng rén | young people / youngster |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to talk; to say |
| 棵 | kē | classifier for trees, cabbages, plants etc |
| 长 | zhǎng | to grow / to develop / to increase / to enhance |
| 成 | chéng | to succeed / to finish / to complete / to accomplish / to become / to turn into / to be all right |
| 要 | yào | to want; to need; to ask for |
| 五十 | wǔ shí | fifty |
| 年 | nián | year |
| 之后 | zhī hòu | after; behind / (at the beginning of a sentence) afterwards; since then |
| 才 | cái | then and only then |
| 能 | néng | can / to be able to / might possibly |
| 结出 | jiē chū | to bear (fruit) |
| 果实 | guǒ shí | fruit (produced by a plant) / (fig.) fruits (of success etc) / results / gains |
| 所以 | suǒ yǐ | therefore / as a result / so |
| 最后 | zuì hòu | finally; in the end |
| 您 | nín | you (courteous, as opposed to informal 你[ni3]) |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite |
| 可能 | kě néng | possible / probable |
| 无法 | wú fǎ | unable to; incapable of |
| 收获 | shōu huò | to harvest / to reap / to gain |
| 别 | bié | don't ...! / (noun suffix) category |
| 干 | gàn | to manage / to work / to do / to kill (slang) / to fuck (vulgar) |
| 吧 | ba | (modal particle indicating suggestion or surmise) / ...right? / ...OK? / ...I presume. |
| 却 | què | but / yet / however / while / nevertheless / even though |
| 吃 | chī | to eat; to consume / to eat at |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 前人 | qián rén | predecessor / forebears / the person facing you |
| 下 | xià | down / downwards / below |
| 今天 | jīn tiān | today |
| 为了 | wèi le | for; for the purpose of; in order to |
| 让 | ràng | to permit / to let sb do sth / to have sb do sth / to make sb (feel sad etc) |
| 后人 | hòu rén | later generation |
| 到 | dào | to reach; to arrive / to (a place); until (a time); up to (a point) / (verb complement indicating arriving at a place or reaching a point) |