A Treasury of Literary Classics -
Chinese Fables and Tales Series (1)

Instruction:

    Read the Chinese story and answer the following questions.

Yu the Great Tamed the Waters

Click here to read the text.

1. People had to escape to the mountaintops because ...

A. there was a great flood.
B. there were a lot of hills and valleys.
C. there was heavy rain.
D. they were homeless.

Your answer:

Read paragraph 1.

“Long, long ago, people suffered a lot from great floods ... Many people were left homeless and forced to flee to mountaintops.”

2. What was NOT TRUE about Gun?

A. He spent nine years building embankments to block the waters.
B. Emperor Yao appointed him to control the flood.
C. He was the emperor's distant relative.
D. He successfully helped to control the waters.

Your answer:

Read paragraph 2.

“Emperor Yao, who had always been known for his benevolence, did not want the people to suffer, so he appointed a distant relative named Gun to tackle the floods. Gun did everything possible to stop the ruthless floods. He spent nine years building embankments to block the raging water. However, this traditional way didn’t work well.”

3. Read paragraph 2. Who was Yu?

A. The current emperor
B. Gun's father
C. Gun's son
D. The emperor's friend

Your answer:

Read paragraph 2.

“As the days passed, the floods continued. Therefore, the successor Emperor Shun appointed Gun's son Yu as the commander-in-chief of flood control.”

4. What did Yu do to tame the flood?

A. He built embankments to block the raging water.
B. He let the floodwater breach the dike.
C. He led the people to go under the sea.
D. He dredged and widened the rivers to divert the floods to the sea.

Your answer:

Read paragraph 3.

“He led the people to go over the mountains, erecting wooden pillars as markers to measure the location and characteristics of the mountains and rivers. He also dredged and widened the rivers so as to divert the floods to the sea in the east.”

5. Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE about Yu?

A. He stayed frugal because he spent all the savings on water control.
B. He thought it was too hard and tiring to control the water and wanted to give up.
C. He left his beautiful wife for work after getting married for a few days.
D. He did his best to control the water because he wanted the people to have a stable life.

Your answer:

Read paragraph 4.

“No matter how hard and tiring the work was, Yu did his best to control the water so that the people could have a stable life. He always reminded himself to be frugal, and would rather live in a shabby room, and spend all the savings on water control. After getting married for four days, he hurriedly left his beautiful wife and continued to fight side by side with his companions."

Taming the great floods was hard and tiring work. Did he try to give up the work?

6. Yu didn't allow himself to see his family when he passed by his house because ...

A. the emperor did not want him to do so.
B. he was afraid of the wailings of his newborn son.
C. he was afraid that this would delay his work.
D. his family did not allow him to do so.

Your answer:

Read paragraph 4.

“During the years he was away from home, Yu had passed by his home three times, but he didn’t allow himself to go inside and meet his family for fear of delaying his enormous task ...”

7. A compound word is made up of two or more different words to creat a new word with a new meaning. For example, the word “livestock” in the story is made up of “live” and “stock”, which means animals and birds that are kept on a farm, such as cows, sheep, or chickens.

Read the following descriptions. Fill in each blank with a compound word from the list given. Each option can be used once only.

A. floodwater B. newborn C. commander-in-chief D. mountaintops
Description Compound word
7a. To escape from the flood, people ran up to the _______________ because they were the highest points that people could reach.
7b. The ______________ rose higher and higher. It covered the people's houses, which made many people homeless.
7c. Yu was the ______________ of flood control. He was very hard-working and strongly committed to his work. After years of hardship, the floods were stopped and people enjoyed better lives.
7d. Yu did not have time to take care of his ______________ baby because he was too busy to control the flood.

A. The word "floodwater" is made up of "flood" and "water", which means water that overflows as a result of a flood.

B. The word "newborn" is made up of "new" and "born", which means recently born.

C. The word "commander-in-chief" is made up of "commander", "in" and "chief", which means a person who is in charge of all the armed forces of a country.

D. The word "mountaintops" is made up of "mountain" and "tops", which means the tops of mountains.

8. Read paragraph 5. What was NOT TRUE about Yu?

A. People called him "Yu the Great".
B. Yu became the emperor of the Xia Dynasty.
C. People respected Yu very much.
D. Emperor Shun thought Yu could do better.

Your answer:

Read paragraph 5.

“They even called him Yu the Great to express their profound respect for him. Being impressed with the result of Yu’s flood control techniques and his attitude towards work, Emperor Shun chose Yu to be the successor to the throne after him. Yu the Great then founded the first dynasty in Chinese history: the Xia.”

9. People called Yu "Yu the Great" because ...

A. he dedicated his time and effort to controlling the flood for the people.
B. he was the tallest, the cleverest and the strongest man in his country.
C. he built the biggest system of canals to help his family irrigate the fields.
D. he controlled the flood with the people and the emperor.

Your answer:

What did Yu do throughout his years of hardship?

Read paragraphs 3-5.

Did he stay frugal and spend all the savings on water control?

Did he work alongside the people to dredge the rivers?

Did he allow himself to see his family, including his newborn son, although he was near his house three times?

Yu made selfless dedication to the people, putting their safety as the first priority. What was he committed to?

Yu the Great Tamed the Waters

Score Sheet

Questions Results
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Question 7a
Question 7b
Question 7c
Question 7d
Question 8
Question 9
Total

10. What is the moral lesson of the story? Based on the story, which Chinese saying can you think of?

11. Yu was very determined to help other people. Have you ever helped others? Think of one incident and share it with your parents or classmates.

Extension Activity

Watch the video clip "Floods and Sponge Cities", which is about some cities such as Zhengzhou in China having experienced horrific floods and developing "sponge" infrastructure to improve the situation.

Acknowledgements: The China Current

https://chinacurrent.com/story/22606/floods-and-sponge-cities-kyle-obermann

A stitch in time saves nine. In the past, Yu the Great was determined to prevent flooding using his flood control techniques. What have the people in Zhengzhou done to make the flooding less harmful? Do you have any experience in helping others solve a problem? What was it and how did you fix it? Think and share your ideas or experiences with your parents or classmates.