Big Apple Chinese Readers is a graded Chinese reading series tailored to k-12 Chinese learners, comprising short texts phrased in simple, easy-to-understand language. There are five levels in total, with 20 books in per level. Topics increase in level of difficulty as readers progress to each higher level of language proficiency.
Topics are selected to begin with students’ personal life (Family and School), connected with social lives and cultural events, and finally leveled up to stories of historical figures, mythological characters, as well as Chinese idioms.
1.画蛇添足- Drawing a Snake and Adding Feet to It
2.拔苗助长- Pulling up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow
3.亡羊补牢- Mend the Pen after a Sheep is Lost
4.杯弓蛇影- Snake-like Reflection of a Bow in the Cup
5.刻舟求剑- Making a Mark on the Boat
6.守株待兔- Holding a Tree, Waiting for Rabbit
7.对牛弹琴- Play the Lute to a Cow
8.邯郸学步- Learning to Walk in Handan
9.掩耳盗铃- Plug Your Ears while Stealing a Bell
10.买椟还珠- Getting the Casket but Returning the Pearl
11.自相矛盾- Self-contradiction
12.盲人摸象- Blind Men Feel the Elephant
13.惊弓之鸟- A Bird Frightened by the Mere Twang of a Bowstring
14.闻鸡起舞- To Rise Up upon the Crowing of the Rooster
15.滥竽充数- The Man Who Pretended He could Play Reed Pipes
16.熟能生巧- Practice Makes Perfect
17.井底之蛙- Frog in the Well
18.杞人忧天- The Man of Qi Worries about the Sky
19.胸有成竹- Bamboo on the Mind
20.狐假虎威- The Fox Borrows the Tiger's Power and Prestige
