我身后的眼睛 The Eyes Behind Me [2] (Elementary)

I’ve been thinking about writing a colloquial Chinese short story on Beginner level for a while, but it turns out that it’ll be much easier to tell a complete story on Elementary level instead of Beginner’s. To check out how reading levels are rated, please click here.  My dear readers, I’ll also need your feedback to help me understand the difficulty level of my writing.

I’ve always been thinking that Chinese language could be more approachable to the world if enough reading materials on different levels could be available for learners to read, especially for adult learners. That is also the main goal I’m trying to reach in this “Learn Chinese online Short Stories” session.

Before you begin to read this 4500-character Elementary level short story, I’d suggest that you run through the vocab table first to get familiar with the new words. That way your actual reading process might be much smoother. At the end of each part, there will be a short quiz to test your comprehension.

我身后的眼睛 [2]
 

于是, 我早早地睡下了.

第二天一早, 精神好多了.

把女儿送到学校后, 我就坐地铁到了市中心.

从地铁站到公司要在市区走二十多分钟.

我尽量和上班的人群走在一起.

可是没过多长时间, 那种感觉又来了!!

是的, 是有一双眼睛在盯着我,这绝对不是幻觉!

 

下一个路口右转就是书店的大门.

我刚一右转就躲进了书店的门口.

我睁大了眼睛, 看着身后的人流从我面前走过.

突然, 一个穿黑色风衣的身影在右转后的路口停了下来.

那双失去了目标的眼睛焦急地东张西望, 直到它最终发现了书店门口的我.

在他的注视下, 我突然无语.

四目相对, 他竟然也呆住了.

曾以为这一生都不会再与他相见!

可是这一刻, 他是这样真实地面对着我!

“是你吗?”

对面的他问我.

 

 

[vocab table]

Simplified Chinese    Traditional Chinese    Mandarin Pinyin    English Definition
精神    精神    jing1 shen2    spirit
地铁    地鐵    di4 tie3    subway
市中心    市中心    shi4 zhong1 xin1    downtown core
右转    右轉    you4 zhuan3    to turn right; right turn
书店    書店    shu1 dian4    bookstore
突然    突然    tu1 ran2    suddenly
黑色    黑色    hei1 se4    black
风衣    風衣    feng1 yi1    wind jacket; coat
身影    身影    shen1 ying3    figure
目标    目標    mu4 biao1    target
焦急    焦急    jiao1 ji2    anxiety; anxious
东张西望    東張西望    dong1 zhang1 xi1 wang4    look in all directions
直到    直到    zhi2 dao4    until
最终    最終    zui4 zhong1    final; ultimate
注视    注視    zhu4 shi4    to watch attentively; to gaze
竟然    竟然    jing4 ran2    unexpectedly; to one’s surprise
真实    真實    zhen1 shi2    true; real
 

[pinyin]

wǒ shēnhòu de yǎnjing [2]

yúshì, wǒ zǎo zǎo dì shuì xià le.

dì’èrtiān yīzǎo, jīngshén hǎoduō le.

bǎ nǚ’ér sòng dào xuéxiào hòu, wǒ jiù zuò dìtiě dàole shìzhōngxīn.

cóng dìtiězhàn dào gōngsī yào zài shìqū zǒu èrshíduō fēn zhōng.

wǒ jìnliàng hé shàngbān de rénqún zǒu zàiyīqǐ.

kěshì méi guòduō cháng shíjiān, nàzhǒng gǎnjué yòuláile!!

shìde, shì yǒu yī shuāng yǎnjing zài dīng zhe wǒ, zhè juéduì bùshì huànjué!

 

xiàyīge lùkǒu yòuzhuǎn jiùshì shūdiàn de dàmén.

wǒ gāngyī yòuzhuǎn jiù duǒ jìn le shūdiàn de ménkǒu.

wǒ zhēng dà le yǎnjing, kàn zhe shēnhòu de rénliú cóng wǒ miànqián zǒuguò.

tūrán, yī gè chuān hēisè fēngyī de shēnyǐng zài yòuzhuǎn hòu de lùkǒu tíng le xiàlai.

nà shuāng shīqù le mùbiāo de yǎnjing jiāojí dì dōngzhāngxīwàng, zhídào tā zuìzhōng fāxiàn le shūdiàn ménkǒu de wǒ.

zài tā de zhùshì xià, wǒ tūrán wúyǔ.

sì mù xiāngduì, tā jìngrán yě dāizhù le.

céng yǐwéi zhè yīshēng dōu bùhuì zài yǔ tā xiāngjiàn!

kěshì zhè yī kè, tā shì zhèyàng zhēn shídì miànduì zhe wǒ!

“ shì nǐ ma?”

duìmiàn de tā wèn wǒ.

 

[traditional Chinese]

 

我身後的眼睛[2]
 

於是, 我早早地睡下了.

第二天一早, 精神好多了.

把女兒送到學校後, 我就坐地鐵到了市中心.

從地鐵站到公司要在市區走二十多分鍾.

我盡量和上班的人群走在一起.

可是沒過多長時間, 那種感覺又來了!!

是的, 是有一雙眼睛在盯著我, 這絕對不是幻覺!

 

下一個路口右轉就是書店的大門.

我剛一右轉就躲進了書店的門口.

我睜大了眼睛, 看著身後的人流從我面前走過.

突然, 一個穿黑色風衣的身影在右轉後的路口停了下來.

那雙失去了目標的眼睛焦急地東張西望, 直到它最終發現了書店門口的我.

在他的注視下, 我突然無語.

四目相對, 他竟然也呆住了.

曾以為這一生都不會再與他相見!

可是這一刻, 他是這樣真實地面對著我!

“是你嗎?”

對面的他問我.

 

 

[English Translation]

Special thanks to John Collett and Thomas Doherty for diligently proofreading my English translation!!

The Eyes Behind Me [2]

So I went to bed early.
The next day, I felt much better.
After I dropped my daughter off at school, I took the subway downtown.
There is about twenty-minute walk from subway station to my company.
I tried to walk with the crowd as much as I could.
But not long after that the feeling came back!!
Yes, there was a pair of eyes that were watching me, this was not my imagination!
The next right turn was the entrance to a book store.
I hid inside the entrance as soon as I had made the right turn.
I opened my eyes wide, watching the people that were behind me pass by.
Suddenly, a figure in a black coat stopped right at the corner.
The eyes that had lost their target were searching around anxiously, until they spotted me at the book store entrance.
Under his gaze, I was speechless all of a sudden.
When our eyes met, he was stupified too.
I thought I could never meet him again in my whole lifetime!
However at that moment, he was facing me and so real!
“Is that you?”, he asked me.