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Stepping Stones Lesson Seven
Audio Immersion |
Audio Practice |
Vocabulary Study |
Vocabulary Review
Reading Practice |
Exercises |
Stepping Stones Home
The Blind Men and the Elephant
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.
| 盲人摸象 | Blind Men Feel an Elephant |
| 古时候， | In ancient times, |
| 有一个国王让人拉来一头大象， | there was a king who ordered an elephant to be brought forth, |
| 让六个盲人用手去摸， | and he ordered six blind men go feel it with their hands, |
| 然后再说出大象是什么样子。 | and afterwards describe what an elephant is like. |
| 由于六个人所站的位置不同， | Due to the fact that the the six men stood in different positions, |
| 所以感觉不同， | their perceptions were different, |
| 说出的象的形状也不一样。 | and the shape of the elephant that they described were also different. |
| 他们各说各的， | They each stuck to their own opinion, |
| 都认为自己说得对， | and they all felt they had spoken correctly, |
| 并争论起来， | and then began to argue with one another, |
| 谁也说服不了谁。 | and no one was able to convince anyone else. |
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.) blind man, blind men | ||
| (v.) to feel, to touch | ||
| (n.) elephant | ||
| (n.) king | ||
| (v.) to pull | ||
| (v. + object) to use one’s hands | ||
| (conjunction) afterwards | ||
| (question word) what | ||
| (n.) type, manner, appearance | ||
| (conjunction) due to | ||
| (conjunction) therefore | ||
| (v.) to stand | ||
| (n.) location | ||
| (adj.) different | ||
| (n.) feeling; (v.) to feel | ||
| (n.) shape; form; appearance | ||
| (adv.) each | ||
| (v.) to think that | ||
| (n.) self | ||
| (conjunction) hence; and then… | ||
| (n.) dispute; (v.) to argue; to dispute | ||
| (complement) started to | ||
| (question word) who | ||
| (v.) to convince | ||
Vocabulary Notes
盲人摸象 is another example of a Classical Chinese idiom, called a 成语（chéngyǔ). 成语 are commonly used in everyday life situations to explain complex situations with remarkable brevity. Our story literally involves blind men feeling an elephant, but 盲人摸象 is often used in a figurative sense, meaning that someone is unable to see the larger picture, or that the parts are being mistaken for the whole and that someone is coming to an inaccurate and incomplete conclusion.
摸 means “to feel” with one’s hand or sense of touch. It is different than 感觉 or 认为 which mean to feel (emotionally or mentally).
大象 means “elephant.” 大 means “big” and 象 means “elephant.”
国王 means “king.” 国 means “country” and 王 means “king.” Thus “king of a country.”
拉 means “pull.” The opposite, “push,” is 推 (tuī).
什么 is an integral question word, meaning “what.”
样子 is difficult to translate in a single word. It usually refers to the type, the appearance, the shape of an object; or the manner of an action.
站 as a verb means “to stand.” It can also be “a stand/station,” such as 地铁站 (dìtiězhàn), meaning “subway station.”
不同 means “different.” Literally “not the same.”
认为 usually means “to think (that).” It literally means “to acknowledge… as.”
为 is a character with multiple means and two pronunciations. Wéi can be “to be”or “to do; to make,” whereas wèi is a preposition meaning “for.”
自己 means “self.” It can function as a noun or as an adverb.
谁 is pronounced as shéi in Standard Mandarin, but in Southern China and Taiwan many people also pronounce this as shuí.
说服 means “to convince; to persuade.”
争论 can be either a verb or a noun. 争 meaning “strife” and 论 meaning “debate.”
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.
