[two_third]
<strong>Chinese Title: 童年傻事</strong>

This essay about a kid who takes his father's advice a little too literally (with amusing results) is almost as beginner as a multi-paragraph read can get. You'll find very few intermediate-level words, and extremely basic sentence structure. 

Only thing intermediate about this read is the very first sentence, which we'll talk about here. After this it's pretty easy going. The essay starts out 童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。 Let's break this one down word by word:

童年 - [pinyin]tong2 nian2[/pinyin] - Childhood
仿佛 - [pinyin]fang3 fu2[/pinyin] - seems like
是 - [pinyin]shi4[/pinyin] - [it] is
一条 - [pinyin]yi1 tiao2[/pinyin] - a (literally: the word "one" plus the classifier for boats, which is 条)
小船,  - [pinyin]xiao3 chuan2[/pinyin] - boat,
里面  - [pinyin]li3 mian4[/pinyin] - inside
装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)
甜蜜的  - [pinyin]tian2 mi4 de5[/pinyin] - sweet
糖果,  - [pinyin]tang2 guo3[/pinyin] - candy,
也  - [pinyin]ye3[/pinyin] - also
装满了  - [pinyin]zhuang1 man3 le5[/pinyin] - is full (of)
许多  - [pinyin]xu3 duo1[/pinyin] - much
忧伤 - [pinyin]you1 shang1[/pinyin] - distress.

The original is from a Chinese <a href="http://www.61zuowen.com/jishi/2011113020504.html">essay composition site</a>. 
[/two_third]
[one_third last=last]
<div class="postintro">
<h4>Click to Listen</h4>
五脏六腑 - [pinyin]wu5 zang4 liu4 fu3[/pinyin] - Five main organs (and six bowels) of Chinese medicine - heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys
一清二楚 - [pinyin]yi1 qing1 er4 chu3[/pinyin] - Very clear
丧命 - [pinyin]sang4 ming4[/pinyin] - Lose one's life
嫩叶 - [pinyin]nen4 ye4[/pinyin] - Tender new leaves
器官 - [pinyin]qi4 guan1[/pinyin] - Bodily organ
清清爽爽 - [pinyin]qing1 qing1 shuang3 shuang3[/pinyin] - Fresh and cool
巡查 - [pinyin]xun2 cha2[/pinyin] - Do one's rounds on patrol
香味扑鼻 - [pinyin]xiang1 wei4 pu2 bi2[/pinyin] - Exotic odors assail the nostrils
甘草 - [pinyin]gan1 cao3[/pinyin] - Licorice
中毒 - [pinyin]zhong4 du2[/pinyin] - Be poisoned
来不及 - [pinyin]lai2 bu5 ji2[/pinyin] - Not enough time to...
解毒 - [pinyin]jie3 du2[/pinyin] - Detoxify
拯救 - [pinyin]zheng3 jiu4[/pinyin] - To rescue
牺牲 - [pinyin]xi1 sheng1[/pinyin] - Sacrifice oneself
菩萨 - [pinyin]pu2 sa4[/pinyin] - Bodhisattva
</div>
[/one_third]

<hr />

[one_half]
<div id="chinesetext">
童年仿佛是一条小船，里面装满了甜蜜的糖果，也装满了许多忧伤。

我出生在一个幸福的六口之家。有爸爸、妈妈、爷爷、奶奶、姐姐，还有我。

我四岁时，一个烈日炎炎的中午。爷爷、奶奶、妈妈和姐姐都忙着自己手中的活。爸爸抱上我去商店、给我买了很多糖果。回到家中，爸爸放下我，就去我们家的后院种苹果树去了。我也跟了过去，我问爸爸你在干什么？爸爸说：“我在种苹果树，到了秋天你就有苹果吃了。”爸爸还说：“你种什么种子就会长什么。”爸爸说完就回家喝茶去了。当时我心想如果把刚刚买的糖果种到土中，秋天不就有很多糖果了吗！

我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。

如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。
</div>
[/one_half]

[one_half last=last][hide-this-part morelink="SHOW ENGLISH TRANSLATION"]
Childhood seems like a boat that is full of sweet candy, but is also laden with grief. 

I was born into a happy six-person family. There's father, mother, grandpa, grandma, my elder sister and myself. 

[The story begins] when I was four, on a scorching afternoon. Grandpa, grandma, mother an dmy elder sister were all busy doing their own thing. Dad picked me up and carried me to the store, and bought me lots of candy. On the way back to the house, dad put me down, and went to our house's back garden to plant apple trees. I went with him, and asked him 'what are you doing'? Father said: "I'm planting apple trees, when autumn arrives you'll have apples to eat." Father continued: "Whatever seeds you plant will grow." Father finished speaking and went back into the house to drink tea. Then I thought to myself if I take the candy I just bought and plant it in the earth, in autumn I should have lots of candy! 

我说做就做，我刨了个坑，把刚才剩下的糖果都放在坑里，用土埋了。我默默的许下愿说：“糖果快长！糖果快长！长成大树，长出很多很多糖果。”我把这个愿望告诉了爸爸，爸爸听了。大笑起来说：“糖果不会长出大树，也更不会长出糖果。”我听了爸爸话坐在地上大哭起来，我的糖果，我的糖果。爸爸赶快跑到我面前，抱起我说：“哦，不哭了小宝贝，爸爸给你买很多很多糖果。我听了就不哭了。

如今我已经长大了，种糖果的傻事也不会再做了。
[/hide-this-part][/one_half]