曹衝稱象 (Cáo chōng chēng xiàng)
Lit. Cao Chong weighing an elephant.
Cao Chong was intelligent from a young age, where at five or six his intelligence was comparable to that of an adult. Once, Sun Quan of Eastern Wu gifted Cao Cao an elephant, so Cao Cao led his civil and military officials and his young son Cao Chong to see it. No one among Cao Cao and his subordinates had seen an elephant before. This elephant was tall and large, and its legs were thick like the pillars supporting the palace hall. When men approached it to take measure, they did not [even] reach its stomach. Cao Cao addressed everyone thus: “This elephant is truly big, but how much does it really weigh after all? Does any of you have a way to weigh it?” Ha! Being that large, how can one weigh it! The ministers were discussing the matter among themselves. One stepped forward and said: “We need only build a levered scale that exceeds its head to weigh it.”
Another said: “How big must this levered scale be! Besides, the elephant is [still] alive, there is not a way to weigh it! I think the only way is to chop it up, cut it into small pieces and weigh them.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone laughed aloud. They said: “This method of yours is really stupid! Isn’t it a pity that you’d slaughter a live elephant just to measure its weight?”
The ministers thought of many methods, but none of them worked. The task at hand was truly difficult.
At this time, a kid stepped out from the crowd and said to Cao Cao: “Father, I have a way that can be used to weigh the elephant.” Cao Cao saw that it was his beloved son, Cao Chong, so he said smilingly: “You are still of a very young age, what method would you have? Why don’t you tell us [what you have on your mind] and let us see if what you propose is feasible.”
Cao Chong went over his proposed method. After Cao Cao heard it, he repeatedly sang out his praises, ordered his subordinates to immediately prepare to weigh the elephant, then faced his ministers and spoke: “Let’s go! We will go to the river to watch the weighing of the elephant!”
The ministers followed Cao Cao to the river where a large boat was moored in it. Cao Chong called for men to lead the elephant onto the boat, and once it had stabilized, to mark where the water level reached the side of the boat. Then he called for men to lead the elephant back onshore while re-loading the boat with stones large and small, submerging it little by little. Once the boat had submerged to the marked water level, Cao Chong asked the men to stop with the stone loading.
The ministers’ eyes were wide opened, and at first they couldn’t make out what was going on, but once they figured it out, they couldn’t help but sang out their praises: “What a magnificent method! What a magnificent method!” Now everyone understood, by weighing all the stones on the boat and sum them up, one would know the weight of the elephant.
Cao Cao was naturally even happier. He squinted his eyes and looked at his son, then smugly looked at his ministers as if he wanted to say: “You all are not as smart as my young son!”
—– VOCABULARY —–
聰慧 cōng huì – bright, witty, intelligent
相仿 xiāng fǎng – similar
仿 fǎng – seemingly [[phảng: giống, tựa như; phỏng: bắt chước]]
腿 tuǐ – leg; hip bone [[thối: đùi; chân đồ vật]]
殿 diàn – palace hall [[điện: sảnh đường cao lớn (thường chỉ chỗ vua chúa ở, chỗ thờ thần thánh); cuối, sau cùng; trấn định, trấn thủ, bảo vệ; kết thúc, chấm dứt]]
柱子 zhù zi – pillar
柱 zhù – pillar [[trụ: cái cột; vật có hình như cái cột; trục để căng dây đàn; chống đỡ]]
粗 cū – remote; distant; coarse, rough, thick (for cylindrical objects), unfinished, vulgar, rude, crude [[thô: to, lớn; không mịn, thiếu tinh tế, sơ sài; vụng về, thô thiển, sơ suất, quê kệch; to, lớn (tiếng nói); sơ, bước đầu, qua loa]]
肚子 dù zi – belly; abdomen; stomach
肚 dù – belly [[đỗ: bụng, dạ dày; bụng dạ, tấm lòng]]
多重 duō chóng – multi- (faceted, cultural, ethnic etc.)
嘿 hēi – hey [[hắc, mặc: im lặng, không nói; biểu thị kêu gọi hoặc gây chú ý – này, nào; tiếng cười – hề hề]]
杆 gǎn – stick; pole; lever; classifier for long objects such as guns [[can: gậy, côn, quản]]
秤 chèng – steelyard; Roman balance [[xứng: cái cân; cân (để biết trọng lượng)]]
宰 zǎi – to slaughter livestock; to govern or rule; to cheat customers; imperial official in dynastic China [[tể: chúa tể; quan teer, đứng đầu coi một việc gì; kẻ đứng đầu bọn gia thần; làm chủ, chủ trì, đứng đầu; giết, cắt, làm thịt]]
切 qiē – to cut; to slice [[thiết: cắt, bổ, thái; khắc; nghiến, cắn chặt; sát, gần; bắt mạch; quyết, nhất định, chắc chắn; rất, hết sức, lắm; cần kíp, cấp bách, cấp xúc]]
所有 suǒ yǒu – all; to have; to possess; to own [[sở hữu, có, chiếm hữu]]
笨 bèn – stupid; foolish; silly; slow-witted; clumsy [[bổn: ngu dốt, đần độn, tối dạ; chậm chạp, vụng về; nặng nề, cồng kềnh]]
可惜 kě xī – it is a pity; what a pity; unfortunately [[đáng tiếc]]
為難 wéi nán – to feel embarrassed or awkward; to make things difficult (for someone); to find things difficult (to do or manage)
人群 rén qún – crowd [[đám đông]]
疼愛 téng ài – to love dearly
疼 téng – (it) hurts; sore; to love dearly [[đông: đau, nhức; thương yêu lắm]]
倒是 dào shi – contrary to what one might expect; actually; contrariwise; why don’t you
連連 lián lián – repeatedly; again and again
停 tíng – to stop; to halt; to park (a car) [[đình: dừng, nửa chừng ngừng lại; đỗ lại, đậu, ở tạm; đặt, để; thỏa đáng, ổn thỏa; phần]]
牽 qiān – to lead along; to pull (an animal on a tether); (bound form) to involve; to draw in [[khiên: dắt; vướng, ràng buộc; co kéo, gượng ép; liên lụy, dính dấp]]
穩定 wěn dìng – steady; stable; stability; to stabilize; to pacify [[ổn định, bền vững]]
船舷 chuán xián – sides of a ship; ship’s railing; fig. the dividing line between shipboard expenses and onshore freight charges
舷 xián – side of a ship or an aircraft [[huyền: mạn thuyền, cạnh hai bên máy bay]]
痕跡 hén jì – vestige; mark; trace
痕 hén – scar; traces [[ngân: sẹo; vết, ngấn]]
跡 jì – footprint; mark; trace; vestige; sign; indication [[tích: vết chân; ngấn, dấu vết; sự vật, công nghiệp tiền nhân lưu lại; khảo sát, tham cứu; mô phỏng, làm theo]]
岸 àn – bank; shore; beach; coast [[ngạn: bờ; cao; cao ngạo, trang nghiêm]]
往 wǎng – to go (in a direction); to; towards; (of a train) bound for; past; previous [[vãng: đi, đến; đi mất; cấp cho, đưa cho; hướng về, quy hướng; đã qua; trước đây; thường thường]]
裝 zhuāng – to load; to pack; adornment; to adorn; dress; clothing; costume (of an actor in a play); to play a role; to pretend; to install; to fix; to wrap (sth in a bag) [[trang: hành lí; quần áo, các thứ mặc trên người; bìa, bao, gói; gói lại, bao lại; giả cách; đựng chứa; lắp, bắc, đặt, dựng lên, phối trí; tô điểm cho đẹp]]
沉 chén – to submerge; to immerse; to sink; to keep down; to lower; to drop; deep; profound; heavy [[trầm: chìm, đắm; sụt, lún; mai một, luân lạc; sa sầm, tối sầm; say đắm, mê muội; nặng; sâu, sâu kín; lâu, kéo dài]]
剛才 gāng cái – just now; a moment ago
睜 zhēng – to open (one’s eyes) [[tĩnh: mở mắt; trợn mắt]]
摸 mō – to feel with the hand; to touch; to stroke; to grope; to steal; to abstract [[mạc: sờ mó, rờ, nắn; lòn tay lấy, móc ra; thăm dò, suy đoán; mò, bắt, lấy trộm; đánh, chơi (bài); lần mò, mò mẫm]]
不由得 bù yóu de – can’t help; cannot but
眯 mī – to narrow one’s eyes; to squint; (dialect) to take a nap [[mị: xốn mắt, làm mắt không mở ra được; híp mắt]]
洋洋 yáng yáng – vast; impressive; self-satisfied; immensely pleased with oneself
好像 hǎo xiàng – as if; to seem like