从前，有个商人聘请了一位老师教他儿子认字。
第一天上学，老师用笔在纸上写了一笔，说：”这是个‘一’字。
”他儿子学得很认真。
第二天上学，老师又在纸上写了两笔，说："这是个’二’字。
”第三天，老师在纸上写了三笔，说："这是个‘三’字。
”儿子觉得写字很简单，自己已经学会写字了，就请父亲辞退了老师。
过了几天，商人让儿子写"万"字，可是写了一天也没写好，儿子说："’万‘字竟然这么难写，我写了一天才写了3000划。
”知识是无穷无尽的，如果我们学习只满足于一知半解，那和这个笨儿子又有什么区别呢？
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
narration saved locally, offline — from https://download.mandarinbean.com/audio?source=aHR0cHM6Ly90cmFmZmljLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vbGVhcm5jaGluZXNlL3dhbl9Jc19IYXJkX3RvX1dyaXRlLTMwNTkubXAz&filename=万-Is-Hard-to-Write.mp3&signature=04d51a3b4a6e4360520aef0ea41b7df93c67a777d2922bbe27a2e32058a3e391
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 从前 | cóng qián | previously / formerly / once upon a time |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is |
| 个 | gè | classifier for people or objects in general |
| 商人 | shāng rén | merchant / businessman |
| 聘请 | pìn qǐng | to engage / to hire |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker) / (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now) |
| 一 | yī | one / single / a (article) |
| 位 | wèi | classifier for people (honorific) |
| 老师 | lǎo shī | teacher |
| 教 | jiāo | to teach; to instruct |
| 他 | tā | he; him; his |
| 儿子 | ér zi | son |
| 认 | rèn | to recognize / to know / to admit |
| 字 | zì | letter / symbol / character / word |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number) |
| 天 | tiān | day |
| 上 | shàng | to attend (class or university) |
| 学 | xué | to learn / to study / to imitate |
| 用 | yòng | to use; to make use of; to employ / (coverb) with; using |
| 笔 | bǐ | writing brush; writing implement / brushstroke; stroke (in painting or calligraphy) / (bound form) style of writing; literary manner; technique of brushwork |
| 在 | zài | (of sb or sth) to be (located) at |
| 纸 | zhǐ | paper |
| 写 | xiě | to write |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to talk; to say |
| 这 | zhè | this; these |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only) |
| 得 | de | structural particle: used after a verb (or adjective as main verb), linking it to following phrase indicating effect, degree, possibility etc |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite |
| 认真 | rèn zhēn | conscientious / earnest / serious |
| 二 | èr | two / 2 |
| 又 | yòu | (once) again |
| 两 | liǎng | two / both / some / a few |
| 三 | sān | three / 3 |
| 觉得 | jué de | to think that ...; to feel that ... |
| 简单 | jiǎn dān | simple; not complicated |
| 自己 | zì jǐ | oneself; (attributive) one's own |
| 已经 | yǐ jīng | already |
| 会 | huì | can; to have the skill; to know how to |
| 就 | jiù | in that case; then |
| 请 | qǐng | to ask / to request |
| 父亲 | fù qīn | father |
| 辞退 | cí tuì | to dismiss / to discharge / to fire |
| 过 | guò | to cross / to go over / to pass (time) / to celebrate (a holiday) / to live / to get along |
| 几 | jǐ | several / a few |
| 让 | ràng | to permit / to let sb do sth / to have sb do sth / to make sb (feel sad etc) |
| 万 | wàn | ten thousand / a great number |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however |
| 也 | yě | even (extreme or unexpected case) |
| 没 | méi | (negative prefix for verbs) have not; not |
| 好 | hǎo | (verb complement indicating completion) |
| 竟然 | jìng rán | unexpectedly / in spite of everything / in that crazy way / actually |
| 这么 | zhè me | so much / this much / how much? |
| 难 | nán | difficult (to...) / difficult |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 才 | cái | (before an expression of quantity) only |
| 划 | huà | stroke of a Chinese character |
| 知识 | zhī shi | knowledge |
| 无穷无尽 | wú qióng wú jìn | (idiom) endless; boundless; infinite |
| 的 | de | emphatic particle (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis) |
| 如果 | rú guǒ | if; in case; in the event that |
| 我们 | wǒ men | we; us; ourselves; our |
| 学习 | xué xí | to learn / to study |
| 只 | zhǐ | only; merely; just |
| 满足 | mǎn zú | satisfied / content |
| 于 | yú | (of time or place) in; at; on / (indicating any indirect relation) to; toward; vis-à-vis; with regard to; for / (indicating a source) from; out of / (used in comparison) than / (used in the passive voice) by |
| 一知半解 | yī zhī bàn jiě | (idiom) to have a superficial knowledge of a subject; to know a smattering of sth |
| 那 | nà | (specifier) that; the; those / (pronoun) that (referring to persons, things or situations) |
| 和 | hé | and; together with |
| 笨 | bèn | stupid / foolish / silly / slow-witted / clumsy |
| 什么 | shén me | what? |
| 区别 | qū bié | difference |
| 呢 | ne | (sentence-final particle) used in questions to link back to prior discourse or context ("what about...?", "and...?") |