A short story about an older cat teaching a younger cat a lesson as they fish together.
The most interesting thing you’ll learn here is the contrast between the two phrases “三心二意” and “一心一意”. The first, 三心二意, literally translates as “three hearts two intentions”, and it means to be of two minds about something, or to be a bit scatterbrained while doing something. The second, 一心一意, translates into “one heart one intention”, which means “intently”, or to really concentrate on what you’re doing.
Want something easier?
Du Chinese has a big catalog of easy HSK 1 and HSK 2 texts for ultra-beginners. There are quite a few free practice lessons, but CRP readers get 10% off on paid accounts using the discount code CRP10.
小猫钓鱼
老猫和小猫一块儿在河边钓鱼。
一只蜻蜓飞来了。小猫看见了，放下钓鱼竿，就去捉蜻蜓。蜻蜓飞走了，小猫没捉着，空着手回到河边来。小猫一看，老猫钓着了一条大鱼。
一只蝴蝶飞来了。小猫看见了，放下钓鱼竿，又去捉蝴蝶。蝴蝶飞走了，小猫又没捉着，空着手回到河边来。小猫一看，老猫又钓着了一条大鱼。
小猫说: “真气人，我怎么一条小鱼也钓不着？”
老猫看了看小猫，说: “钓鱼就钓鱼，不要这么三心二意的。一会儿捉蜻蜓，一会儿捉蝴蝶，怎么能钓着鱼呢？”
小猫听了老猫的话，就一心一意地钓鱼。
蜻蜓又飞来了，蝴蝶又飞来了，小猫就象没看见一样。不大一会儿，小猫也钓着了一条大鱼。
9 replies on “Cat Goes Fishing”
Should 不大一会儿 be 不到一会儿?
That I don’t know – this is a copy-paste from another site, so I hesitate to change the original! But good to keep in mind.
不大一会儿 should be fine! If you google it you will find it in oher texts as well as a page teaching the diference between 不一会儿 and 一会儿 telling the reader, that 不一会儿 can also be changed to 不大一会儿 .
In the English translation it says Little Cat listened to Old Fish. It should be Old Cat right?
Yup, thanks!
说不定，”小猫就象没看见一样” 的 “象” 应该是”像”。你觉得呢?
I am mentioning that I have think I seen this story
From my Old Year 2 Chinese Textbook. ? No idea though.
Thank you very much for all this free material. I really appreciate all the work that went into this. All this content has been really great in helping me improve my grammar.