空城計 Double bluff

《童心童真》漫畫小故事，是孩子能自己讀、自己笑的溫情故事。

用自己學會認讀的字，慢慢學習獨立閱讀，同時吸收各種百科常識：經典、歷史、天文、科學…… 識字和閱讀，是終身學習的工具。

從簡短的故事開始，慢慢就能養成閱讀的習慣和專注力。

爸爸和媽媽也一起來，讀一讀、笑一笑、談一談… 感受親子的樂趣，讓美好時光，永留在孩子的印象之中。

Start to read independently with these short comic stories, all written in characters that the child has learnt from Basic Chinese 500 course. The stories in this series include history, classic, language learning, science, humour, and more.

Each story comes with some background information. It would be a great opportunity for parents to engage children in related discussions.

這個漫畫故事取材於《三國演義》中的其中一個戰略情節。

劉備的軍師諸葛亮和一班文官守着西城，曹操的大將司馬懿率領大軍壓到城下，情況萬分危險。
當眾人驚恐一團時，諸葛亮冷靜地下令：大開城門，完全不設防。他自己更悠然自得地在城頭燃香彈琴。
這樣一來，司馬懿反倒心中大生疑問，認為城中必定有詐，最後決定撤兵。西城保得安全了。

「空城計」是「三十六計」中的其中一計，是一種心理戰術。小朋友一邊自己獨立閱讀這則漫畫，認識前人的智慧；還可以一邊聽家長解說三國的歷史。小朋友能認出誰飾演哪些漫畫中的人物嗎？

故事中有一個新生字：敢 /gǎn/

俗語還有一種說法是「肚皮大唱空城計」，那是說肚子餓得咕嚕咕嚕叫，和這故事所說的不一樣啊～

This story is taken from a plot about a war strategy happened during the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-280 CE).

Zhuge Liang (諸葛亮) is the military adviser of Liu Bei (劉備), one of the three kings.
One day, he was holding the West Fort, with only a few civil officials, when a huge army of the enemy charged towards them. There was imminent peril.
Just when everyone in the city fell into a panic, Zhuge was very calm. He ordered the people to throw the gate wide open and to remove all the guards. He then lit a pot of incense and sat at the top of the gate, and played the Qing instrument in all serenity.
When the enemy general came and saw that, he became puzzled and believed that there must be ambush waiting for him inside. He decided to retreat. The West Fort was thus saved.

This psychological stratagem is called the Empty City Strategem which is one of the famous Thirty-Six Stratagems.
If your child is studying the Confident or Fluent Readers, this story would be perfect for them to read on their own and learn some Chinese history.

There is one new character in the comic which is not taught in the course: 敢 /gǎn/ (to dare)

In addition, a few words in picture 3 might be new to children:

機關 – (here means) “mechanism, trick”.
上當 – to be fooled

The saying 肚皮大唱空城計 (one’s stomach is singing the Empty City Strategem) has nothing to do with this story. It simply means that someone is very hungry and their tummy is grumbling.

Now let’s read the comic below.