HSK 3 Chinese reading practice

刻舟求剑

kè zhōu qiú jiàn

Marking the Boat to Find a Sword

A traveler marks a moving boat and expects his lost sword to remain beneath the mark.

RECOMMENDEDHSK 3
READ3 min
HANZI112
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文化
CULTURE

The mark moves, but the sword does not

刻舟求剑 comes from the ancient Lüshi Chunqiu. It describes using a fixed method after circumstances have changed—and therefore looking in exactly the wrong place.

Key vocabulary8 words from this story
Open vocabulary
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