Today, a story for beginners (HSK 2-3) that’s mostly comprised of dialogue between a man and a sailor. The story drives home a quick life lesson: there’s risk in anything you do, so there’s no point in trying to avoid danger entirely.
Some language stuff
Most of the harder words here are ocean-related. You probably already know the word for ocean (海), here are a few others:
水手 shuǐ shǒu – Sailor
西洋 xī yáng – Western Seas. Doesn’t refer to a particular ocean, just the ocean lands that are west of the South China Seas.
风暴 fēng bào – Storm
印度洋 yìn dù yáng – Indian Ocean
捕鱼 bǔ yú – Catch fish / fishing
And a couple of other important phrases:
既然如此 jì rán rú cǐ – “Since it is like that…” or “In that case…”
永远也不 yǒng yuǎn yě bù – I saved the hardest one for last, here. This whole phrase means “would never”. But this may seem strange to you, because if you look at each word individually, here’s what it says:
永远 – Forever
也 – also
不 – no / not
The reason “forever” is used, is because it is referencing an event in the future, rather than the past. In Chinese, “have never” (in the past) and “would never” (in the future) are expressed with different words. “Have never” is usually expressed with 从来没有, sometimes shortened to 从没 or 从未. But if you’re talking about something you would not do in the future, you use 永远不, sometimes shortened to 永不. The 也 here doesn’t mean “also”, it is basically a strengthening word, it just makes the “never” stronger.
海上和床上
一个人在海边遇见一个刚从海上归来的水手。他们开始聊天。那个人问水手：“你很喜欢大海吗？”
“当然。”水手回答说：“我的家人同我一样，也都爱海。”
“你父亲现在在哪里？”
“他死在海里。”
“你的祖父呢？”
“他死在大西洋里。”
“你的哥哥……”
“他在一场风暴中失踪了，那时他在印度洋捕鱼。”
“既然如此，”那个人说，“如果我是你，我决不会到海里去。”
“你愿意告诉我你的父亲死在哪里吗？”水手问那个人。
“啊，他在床上断的气。”
“你的祖父呢？”
“也是死在床上。”
“既然如此，”水手说，“如果我是你，我就永远也不到床上去。”
