乌鸦喝水 · The Thirsty Crow
Wūyā hē shuǐ — A classic Chinese fable — a clever crow solves a problem.
Read the story
Every word shows its pinyin above the characters. The English translation follows each line.
一只乌鸦很渴。
A crow was very thirsty.
它想喝水。
It wanted to drink water.
它看到一个瓶子。
It saw a bottle.
瓶子里有水,可是水很少。
There was water in the bottle, but very little.
乌鸦喝不到水。
The crow could not reach the water.
它想了想,看到旁边有小石头。
It thought, and saw small stones nearby.
乌鸦把石头一个一个放进瓶子里。
The crow dropped the stones into the bottle, one by one.
水慢慢升上来了。
The water slowly rose up.
最后,乌鸦喝到了水。
At last, the crow drank the water.
乌鸦真聪明!
The crow is very clever!
Vocabulary in this story (31 words)
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 一只 | yì zhī | a (one) |
| 乌鸦 | wūyā | crow |
| 很 | hěn | very |
| 渴 | kě | thirsty |
| 它 | tā | it |
| 想 | xiǎng | wants to |
| 喝 | hē | drink |
| 水 | shuǐ | water |
| 看到 | kàndào | saw |
| 一个 | yí ge | a |
| 瓶子 | píngzi | bottle |
| 里 | lǐ | inside |
| 有 | yǒu | has |
| 可是 | kěshì | but |
| 少 | shǎo | little |
| 不到 | bú dào | cannot reach |
| 想了想 | xiǎng le xiǎng | thought for a moment |
| 旁边 | pángbiān | nearby |
| 小 | xiǎo | small |
| 石头 | shítou | stones |
| 把 | bǎ | (took) |
| 一个一个 | yí ge yí ge | one by one |
| 放进 | fàngjìn | put into |
| 慢慢 | mànmàn | slowly |
| 升 | shēng | rose |
| 上来 | shànglai | up |
| 了 | le | (past) |
| 最后 | zuìhòu | finally |
| 喝到 | hēdào | drank |
| 真 | zhēn | really |
| 聪明 | cōngmíng | clever |