精衛填海
Jingwei Fills the Sea
Level 5 · Idiom Stories · 成语故事 · 62 vocabulary words
Source: 《山海经·北山经》 · Classic of Mountains and Seas, North Mountains
炎帝的小女儿女娃到东海去玩,掉进海里淹死了。
Nüwa, youngest daughter of the Flame Emperor, drowned in the Eastern Sea.
她变成了一只小鸟,名字叫精卫,叫声就是'精卫、精卫'。
She became a small bird — Jingwei — named for her own cry.
精卫恨大海夺走了她的命,天天从西山叼小石头、小树枝,扔进东海里,要把海填平。
Hating the sea that took her life, she carries pebbles and twigs from the western hills, dropping them in day after day to fill it.
大海笑她:你这只小鸟,一千年也填不满我。精卫说:我填一千年,一万年,总有一天把你填平。一只小鸟也不认输。
The sea laughs: a little bird can't fill me in a thousand years. She answers: a thousand, ten thousand — one day I will. Even a small bird refuses to lose.