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This very indignant kid seems destined to be a vegetarian.  <!--more-->

<img src="http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/20120804-INLINE.jpg" alt="Learn Chinese Reading: Beginner Practice Exercises for Mandarin Chinese: Children&#039;s Essays" title="Learn to Read Chinese: Exercises for Beginner Mandarin Chinese Learners" width="100" height="100" class="imgborder alignleft" />I'd say the most difficult phrase in this little passage is: 家里人都<strong>吃得很香</strong>. The beginning of that sentence is no problem: 家里人都 "Everyone in the family...", but 吃得很香 is a bit more difficult, as we don't have sentence structure similar to this in English. Let's break it down:

吃 - [pinyin]chi1[/pinyin] - To eat
得 - [pinyin]de[/pinyin] - Grammar word, which kind of acts as a bridge between "吃" and "香", indicating that the result of 吃 (eating) is that it was very 香 (savory)
很 - [pinyin]hen3[/pinyin] - Very
香 - [pinyin]xiang1[/pinyin] - Savory

Another interesting thing about this sentence is the word 香, which can mean both "fragrant" (smells good) and / or "savory" (tastes good). I find it particularly interesting that the Chinese recognize in language the interconnectedness of good taste and smell. 

The Chinese title of this text is 爸爸是个大坏蛋.
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<h4>Click to Listen</h4>
青蛙 - [pinyin]qing1 wa1[/pinyin] - Frog
害虫 - [pinyin]hai4 chong2[/pinyin] - Harmful pests (insects, etc.)
庄稼 - [pinyin]zhuang1 jia5[/pinyin] - Farm crop
消灭 - [pinyin]e4 lie4[/pinyin] - Nasty, vile
能手 - [pinyin]xiao1 mie4[/pinyin] - Put an end to, annihilate
煮 - [pinyin]zhu3[/pinyin] - Cook, boil
却 - [pinyin]que4[/pinyin] -  But, however
可怜 - [pinyin]ke3 lian2[/pinyin] - A pity 
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<strong>青蛙</strong>捉<strong>害虫</strong>，是<strong>庄稼</strong>的好朋友。可我爸爸在天出去捉青蛙。

我对爸爸说：“青蛙是<strong>消灭</strong>害虫的<strong>能手</strong>，你不能捉它！”爸爸却笑着说：“大人的事，小孩别管。”我很着急。

爸爸又捉了许多青蛙，<strong>煮</strong>了一锅青蛙肉。家里人都吃得很香，我<strong>却</strong>一点儿也不想吃。我想：我们吃了青蛙肉，又有许多小青蛙没妈妈了，他们一定在哭着找妈妈，多<strong>可怜</strong>呀！爸爸真是个大坏蛋！
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Frogs catch pests, so they're a farm crop's good friend. But my dad goes out during the day and catches frogs. 

I said to dad: "Frogs are experts at annihilating pests, you can't catch them!" But my dad only smiled and said: "Children should stay out of adult business." I'm very worried.

Once again, dad caught several frogs and boiled up a pot of frog meat. Everyone in the family ate up the savory [food], but I didn't even want to eat a little. I thought: here we are eating frog meat, that means there are many small frogs with no mama, surely they're crying for their mother, it's such a pity! My dad is a big scoundrel! 
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