Mending the Sheep Pen

Illustration for the Chinese story “Mending the Sheep Pen”

Tap any word for its meaning

从前cóng qián,有yǒu一个人yī gè rén养yǎng了le很多hěn duō羊yáng。Long ago, a man kept many sheep.他的tā de羊yáng圈juàn上shàng有yǒu一个yī ge洞dòng。His sheep pen had a hole in it.

晚上wǎn shang,狼láng从cóng洞dòng里lǐ进来jìn lái了le。At night, a wolf came in through the hole.狼láng吃chī了le一只yī zhī羊yáng。The wolf ate one sheep.

邻居lín jū说shuō:“快kuài把bǎ洞dòng补bǔ上shàng吧ba!”A neighbor said, "Hurry and mend that hole!"他说tā shuō:“羊yáng已经yǐ jīng没了méi le,补bǔ它tā做zuò什么shén me?”He said, "The sheep is already gone. Why mend it?"

第二天dì èr tiān,狼láng又yòu吃chī了le一只yī zhī羊yáng。The next day, the wolf ate another sheep.他tā很hěn后悔hòu huǐ,马上mǎ shàng把bǎ洞dòng补bǔ好了hǎo le。He was very sorry and mended the hole right away.从那以后cóng nà yǐ hòu,他tā再也zài yě没有méi yǒu丢diū过guò羊yáng。From then on, he never lost a sheep again.

这个zhè ge成语chéng yǔ是shì“亡羊补牢wáng yáng bǔ láo”。This idiom is "mend the pen after losing a sheep."意思yì si是shì:出chū了le问题wèn tí,马上mǎ shàng改gǎi还hái不bù晚wǎn。It means: when something goes wrong, it is not too late to fix it right away.例句lì jù:你nǐ现在xiàn zài开始kāi shǐ学习xué xí,亡羊补牢wáng yáng bǔ láo,还hái来得及lái de jí。Example: Start studying now — better late than never, there is still time.

Want to read along with audio? Every story in the Literate Chinese app is narrated by a native speaker — in Mainland or Taiwan Mandarin — so you can listen while you read, and tap any word to save it as a flashcard. See what's in the app.

More free stories: more HSK 3 stories · all Idioms for Beginners stories · traditional characters · test your reading level

Try reading your first story

The fastest way to make characters stick is to meet them in a story you can actually finish. Literate Chinese has 1,000+ graded stories matched to the words you know — in Mainland or Taiwan Mandarin, Simplified or Traditional. Free on iOS and Android.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Prefer the browser? Read a free story on the web →