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.