General Chinese

孟母三迁 (Mèngmǔ sān qiān) Mencius’ Mother Relocates Home Three Times to Improve Her Son’s Education

Key Learning Points (Preview):

学习 (xuéxí): v to learn/to study

儿子 (érzi): n son

Once upon a time, there was a “淘气 (táoqì) naughty” boy named Mencius. At the beginning, Mencius and his family lived next to the cemetery. Mencius liked to play a game imitating adults to hold funerals. His “妈妈 (māma) mother” said, “No, I can’t let my ‘儿子 (érzi) son’ live here.” So Mencius’ mother took him and moved to a market next to a slaughterhouse. Then Mencius and his neighbors’ children learned to trade butchered “动物 (dòngwù) animals.” His mother said, “This place was also not good for my child.” So they moved again and lived next to a “学校 (xuéxiào) school.”

In this neighborhood, people treated each other politely and also went to Confucian temple regularly. Mencius’ mother nodded her head with satisfaction and said, “That is the right place for my son to live!”

Now, people use this story to show that one should choose to stay close to good people or things, and form good “习惯 (xíguàn) habits.”

Key Learning Points:

学习 (xuéxí): v to learn/ to study

Example:

    Nǐ  érzi Tāngmǔ xuéxí hànyǔ duō jiǔ le?
A: 你 儿子 汤姆  学习 汉语   多 久 了？

How long has your son Tom learned Chinese?

   Hái bú dào yìnián.
B: 还 不 到   一年。

Less than one year.

   Zhēn liǎobùqǐ, tā de hànyǔ shuǐpíng búcuò ne!
A: 真   了不起，他 的 汉语   水平    不错 呢。

Marvelous! His Chinese level is very high now.

儿子 (érzi): n son

Example:

Wǒ érzi sìsuì jiù kāishǐ xuéxí hànyǔ le.
我 儿子四岁 就 开始 学习 汉语 了。

My son started to learn Chinese when he was four years old.

生词 (shēngcí) vocabulary:

游戏 (yóuxì): n game

淘气 (táoqì): adj naughty

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