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Stepping Stones Lesson Ten
Audio Immersion |
Audio Practice |
Vocabulary Study |
Vocabulary Review
Reading Practice |
Exercises |
Stepping Stones Home
The Old Frontiersman Loses His Horse
Study the vocabulary for one line of the story along with the English translation of that line. You may want to go back to the previous step so you can listen to the line and practice reading it aloud. When you can read the line comfortably and with full comprehension, go on to the next line.
| 塞翁失马 | The Old Frontiersman Loses His Horse |
| 从前，塞北有一位 | Long ago, on the northern frontier, there was an |
| 深解人事的长者， | elder with a deep understanding of human affairs, |
| 人们叫他塞翁. | and the people called him Old Frontiersman. |
| 一天，他家养的马 | One day, the horse kept by his household |
| 不知什么原因 | for an unknown reason |
| 跑到胡人的土地上去， | ran off to the lands of the barbarians, |
| 没法找回来了。 | where there was no way to retrieve it. |
| 邻居们听说了， | The neighbors heard this, |
| 都来安慰塞翁。 | and they all came to comfort the Old Frontiersman. |
| 塞翁一点也不难过，说： | The Old Frontiersman wasn’t the least upset, and said: |
| “这说不定是件好事。” | “This perhaps is a good thing.” |
| 过了几个月， | After a few months, |
| 他家的马认识路， | his family’s horse found its way, |
| 自己跑回来了。 | and ran back on its own. |
| 还从胡人那里 | Additionally, from the barbarians’ lands, |
| 带回一匹好马。 | it brought back another fine horse. |
| 邻居们都特地来道喜。 | The neighbors all came to offer congratulations. |
| 塞翁却说： | But the Old Frontiersman said, |
| “可也不见得是好事。” | “This is not necessarily a good thing.” |
| 因为家里有两匹好马， | Because his household had two fine horses, |
| 塞翁的儿子 | the Old Frontiersman’s son |
| 经常骑马出门。 | would often go out to ride them. |
| 一次不小心， | One time he was not careful, |
| 从马上摔下来， | and he fell from his horse |
| 把腿摔断了。 | and broke his legs. |
| 邻居们听到这事， | When the neighbors heard of this, |
| 都为塞翁难过。 | they all felt terrible for the Old Frontiersman. |
| 塞翁又说： | The Old Frontiersman said yet again: |
| “其实说不定是好事。” | “Actually, it’s possible this may be a good thing.” |
| 大家都不相信塞翁。 | No one believed the Old Frontiersman. |
| 过了一年， | After a year, |
| 胡人进军攻打塞北。 | the barbarians marched to attack the frontier. |
| 国王出师反攻。 | The king dispatched troops to counterattack. |
| 塞翁的邻居里上前线的人 | Of the Old Frontiersman’s neighbors who went to the front line, |
| 十之八九都没能回来。 | Eight or nine of ten never returned. |
| 而塞翁的儿子， | But as for the Old Frontiersman’s son, |
| 因为断腿， | it was on account of his broken leg, |
| 反而保全了生命。 | that his life was spared. |
New Vocabulary
Click on any character to see how it is written. Click on any character's pinyin to hear how it is pronounced.
While learning to write the characters is not essential to learning to read them, it helps a lot and is highly recommended. Practice writing each yourself 5-10 times, being careful to follow the stroke order shown in the animation.
| (n.) fort; (n.) cork, (v.) to cork; (n.) blockage, (v.) to block | ||
| (n.) old man | ||
| (v.) to lose | ||
| (n.) horse | ||
| (adj.) deep | ||
| (v.) to cut apart; to understand | ||
| (n.) thing, affair, matter | (n.) human affairs | |
| (n.) village head; elder | ||
| (n.) cause; reason | ||
| (v.) to run | ||
| (n.) (northern) barbarians (i.e.: the Mongols) | ||
| n. land | ||
| (n.) way, method, technique | ||
| (v.) to look for, to search | ||
| (v.) to return | ||
| v. to comfort | ||
| upset | ||
| perhaps | ||
| mW for 事（things, affairs, matters） | ||
| to recognize | ||
| (v.) to bring (along) | ||
| mW for 马（horses） | ||
| specially | ||
| not necessarily | ||
| because of | ||
| (adj.) often | ||
| (v.) to ride (a horse) | ||
| be careful | ||
| (v.) to fall | ||
| (n.) leg | ||
| (v.) to break | ||
| its | ||
| (n.) reality | ||
| grow up | ||
| (adv.) mutual | ||
| (v.) to believe; (n.) faith, trust | ||
| to believe | ||
| (v.) to think; would like | ||
| (n.) year | ||
| (n.) military, army | ||
| (v.) to attack | ||
| (v.) to hit, to punch, to strike | ||
| to attack | ||
| (n.) master, troop(s) | ||
| (n.) line | ||
| formal version of 的 | ||
| (adj.) reverse, backwards | ||
| (conj.) and yet (contrary to expectations) | ||
| on the contrary | ||
| (v.) to protect | ||
| (adj.) whole, complete | ||
| (n.) life, order, command | ||
| save life; survive | ||
Vocabulary Notes
塞翁失马 is a 成语（chéngyǔ), or Classical Chinese Idiom. 成语 are commonly used in everyday life situations to explain complex situations with remarkable brevity. This 成语 does not have a direct literal equivalent. The closest English equivalent is “a blessing in disguise.” More accurately, this expression is used to denote that things are not always as they seem. The Old Frontiersman lost his horse, but this lost ended up as a gain.
What is 塞北？
塞 means a defensive fort or garrison. 塞北 literally means “north of the fort,” but it is a general expression for the northern frontier. In this 成语, the “fort” in question is actually the Great Wall of China, which has many defensive outposts. These outposts, and the Great Wall itself, were built to guard against the “Northern Barbarians,” namely the Mongolians.
深 is an adjective meaning “deep.” This can be applied literally and figuratively. 深 also means deep/dark when talking about colors.
事 is a difficult word to translate. It means “a thing” (that happened), an affair (to manage or handle), a matter (to attend to). This is an extremely common Chinese word, so it is best to acquaint yourself with this word sooner rather than later. 事 has the measure word 件.
多音字：In Chapter 9 we covered a few characters with multiple pronunciations. In Chapter 10, there are also multiple 多音字, although only one reading for each is required to understand this chapter. Please refer to the vocabulary section to see the 多音字。Please take note that even the same reading of a character may have different meanings (e.g.: 才 meaning “not until”; 才 meaning “(literary) talents”).
匹 is a the measure word for horses.
说不定 means that something is unclear. One can’t say for certain or, “this could possible be.”
难过 means “to feel upset” about something.
原因 means “reason” or “cause.”
Once you've studied the vocabulary and can read each line of the story with comprehension, you are ready to go on to the next step.
