Have you ever tried to read mini novels in Chinese? Here is a very “mini” one …

Reading in your Learn Mandarin journey is more important than anything else. If your life is spinning too fast to afford any stretched window to read even a short novel in Chinese, you can try mini novels instead. Believe or not, it could be as mini as this one, see if you can understand?

Please try to read the Chinese version first ( together with pinyin if you need). With help of an online dictionary, such as Chinese-tools, an intermediate level Chinese student should be able to understand this story easily.

I’ve left the English version to the last, so you can test your Chinese ability first without “peeking” :-) Let me know how it goes …

Update: There’s a voice recording for this piece of writing above the text.

[Chinese version]

高二，她问他：“老师，我可以爱你吗？”他笑，“傻孩子，你还小。”大学毕业后，她长大结婚，他寄来一份贺礼，人没到。二十年后，得知他因病去世，她和爱人参加他的葬礼，才知道他终身未娶。三十年后，她搬家时无意发现高中时的作业本，最后一页有一行醒目的字：可是我愿意等你长大。。。

 

[pinyin version]

gāo èr， tā wèn tā：“ lǎoshī， wǒ kěyǐ ài nǐ ma？” tā xiào，“ shǎ háizi， nǐ hái xiǎo。” dàxué bìyè hòu， tā zhǎngdà jiéhūn， tā jì lái yī fèn hèlǐ， rén méi dào。 èrshí nián hòu， dézhī tā yīn bìng qùshì， tā hé àiren cānjiā tā de zànglǐ， cái zhīdào tā zhōngshēn wèiqǔ。 sānshí nián hòu， tā bānjiā shí wúyì fāxiàn gāozhōng shí de zuòyè běn， zuìhòu yī yè yǒu yī háng xǐngmù de zì： kěshì wǒ yuànyì děng nǐ zhǎngdà。。。

 
[English version]

In the second year of high school, she asked him: “Teacher, would you let me to love you?” He smiled, “Silly kid, you’re still small.” After graduation, she grew up and get married, he mailed her a wedding gift, but he didn’t show up for the wedding. Twenty years later, knowing he passed away from illness, she attended his funeral with her husband. At that time, she got to know that he never got married. Thirty years later, she inadvertently discovered her notebook from high school while moving, in the last page, there was a line of highlighted words: However I will wait for you to grow up …