蒙學漢文初階 第一百之課 Beginning Chinese - Entry Level Lesson #100 日暮散學 Day dusk scatter school 兄與二弟 elder_brother and two younger_brother 出門遊玩 out door wander play 見一黃牛卧於田中 saw one yellow ox lying at field middle 弟曰異哉 younger brother said strange [exclamation particle] 此馬有角 this horse has horn 兄曰非馬也 older brother said, not horse [ep] 牛也 cow [ep] Everyday when school is out, the older brother and his second younger brother went out to play. They saw a yellow ox lying in the middle of the field. The younger brother exclaimed, "How strange! This horse has horns!". The older brother corrected, "This is not a horse! But a cow!" Notes 1. 日暮 can mean "dusk". I don't think school is this late. In classical usage and in poems, the other meaning is most often used. 2. 二弟 can also mean two younger brothers. However, later in the passage we know that this is not the case. What second younger brother means here is that he is the second in the family. Here 二 denotes his rank in the family and does not imply that he is the second brother defined in terms of the older brother. Chinese traditions consider the family as the first and foremost unit and not in terms of its individuals. 3. Ox or a cow can be used as translation. Oxen are used for tilling the fields and so it is a taboo to eat them.