我身后的眼睛 The Eyes Behind Me [3] (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 [3]


“是我.”

我的心跳开始加速.

“我吓到你了吗?对不起!”

又看到了那曾经熟悉的微笑.

他一步步向我走来.

还未开门的书店门口给了我们一块小小的空间.

“你为什么不跟我打招呼?”

我问他, 看着那双和记忆中一样明亮的眼睛.

“十三年了… 我不敢确定是不是你.”

他就站在我的身边, 我已经能闻到他身上的味道.

岁月啊!

 

“有十三年了吗? … 我变老了吧?”

我避开他的眼睛.

“不. 你比那个时候更有风韵.” 他笑了.

我努力让自己平静:“你… 什么时候来的?”

“前几天. 来出差. 昨天下午在路上就看到你, 一直想确定是不是你.”

我用手拉了拉衣领. 他注意到我无名指上的戒指.

他把眼光移开, 问我:

“你正赶着上班吧?”

我点了点头.

“那…今晚能不能请你吃饭? 就当我是老同学 … 可以吗?”

他无声地等待着我的回答.

…… ……

“好吧.” 我说, “那六点半在这见?”

“一言为定.”

 

 

 

[vocab table]

Simplified Chinese    Traditional Chinese    Mandarin Pinyin    English Definition
加速    加速    jia1 su4    accelerate
吓    嚇    xia4    to scare
熟悉    熟悉    shu2 xi1    familiar
打招呼    打招呼    zhao1 hu5    to say hello to
记忆    記憶    ji4 yi4    to remember; memory
明亮    明亮    ming2 liang4    bright
不敢    不敢    bu4 gan3    not dare to
确定    確定    que4 ding4    to be sure
闻    聞    wen2    smell
味道    味道    wei4 dao4    flavor
岁月    歲月    sui4 yue4    years; passing of time;
避开    避開    bi4 kai1    to evade
风韵    風韻    feng1 yun4    charm; elegant bearing (usually feminine);
努力    努力    nu3 li4    to try hard
平静    平靜    ping2 jing4    undisturbed
出差    出差    chu1 chai1    to go on an official or business trip
无名指    無名指    wu2 ming2 zhi3    ring finger;
戒指    戒指    jie4 zhi5    (finger) ring;
眼光    眼光    yan3 guang1    gaze
移开    移開    yi2 kai1    move away
一言为定    一言為定    yi1 yan2    (idiom) It’s a deal!; That’s settled then.
 

[pinyin]

wǒ shēnhòu de yǎnjing [3]

“shì wǒ.”

wǒ de xīn tiào kāi shǐ jiā sù.

“wǒ xià dào nǐ le;liǎo;liào ma? duì bù qǐ!”

yòu kàn dào le;liǎo;liào nà;nèi céng jīng shú xī de wēi xiào.

tā yī bù bù xiàng wǒ zǒu lái.

hái;huán wèi kāi mén de;dì;dí shū diàn mén kǒu gěi le;liǎo;liào wǒ men yī kuài xiǎo xiǎo de kōng jiān.

“nǐ wèi shén me bù gēn wǒ dǎ zhāo hū?”

wǒ wèn tā, kàn;kān zhe;zhuó;zháo nà;nèi shuāng hé jì yì zhōng yī yàng míng liàng de yǎn jīng.

“ shí sān nián le;liǎo;liào… wǒ bù gǎn què dìng shì bú shì nǐ.”

tā jiù zhàn zài wǒ de shēn biān, wǒ yǐ jīng néng wén dào tā shēn shàng de;dì;dí wèi dào.

suì yuè ā;a!

 

“yǒu shí sān nián le;liǎo;liào ma? … wǒ biàn lǎo le;liǎo;liào ba; bā?”

wǒ bì kāi tā de yǎn jīng.

“bù. nǐ bǐ nà gè shí hòu gèng;gēng yǒu fēng yùn.” tā xiào le;liǎo;liào.

wǒ nǔ lì ràng zì jǐ píng jìng:“nǐ… shén me shí hòu lái de;dì;dí?”

“ qián jī tiān. lái chū chāi. zuó tiān xià wǔ zài lù shàng jiù kàn dào nǐ, yī zhí xiǎng què dìng shì bú shì nǐ.”

wǒ yòng shǒu lā le;liǎo;liào lā yī lǐng. tā zhù yì dào wǒ wú míng zhǐ shàng de;dì;dí jiè zhǐ.

tā bǎ yǎn guāng yí kāi, wèn wǒ:

“nǐ zhèng;zhēng gǎn zhe shàng bān ba; bā?”

wǒ diǎn le;liǎo;liào diǎn tóu.

“nà;nèi… jīn wǎn néng bù néng qǐng nǐ chī fàn? jiù dāng;dàng wǒ shì lǎo tóng xué … kě yǐ ma?”

tā wú shēng de děng dāi zhe;zhuó;zháo wǒ de huí dā.
…… ……

“ hǎo bā.” wǒ shuō;shuì, “nà;nèi liù diǎn bàn zài zhè jiàn;xiàn?”

“ yī yán wéi dìng.”

 

[traditional Chinese]

 

我身後的眼睛[3]
 

“是我.”

我的心跳開始加速.

“我嚇到你了嗎?對不起!”

又看到了那曾經熟悉的微笑.

他一步步向我走來.

還未開門的書店門口給了我們一塊小小的空間.

“你為什麼不跟我打招呼?”

我問他, 看著那雙和記憶中一樣明亮的眼睛.

“十叁年了… 我不敢確定是不是你.”

他就站在我的身邊, 我已經能聞到他身上的味道.

歲月啊!

 

“有十叁年了嗎? … 我變老了吧?”

我避開他的眼睛.

“不. 你比那個時候更有風韻.” 他笑了.

我努力讓自己平靜:“你… 什麼時候來的?”

“前幾天. 來出差. 昨天下午在路上就看到你, 一直想確定是不是你.”

我用手拉了拉衣領. 他注意到我無名指上的戒指.

他把眼光移開, 問我:

“你正趕著上班吧?”

我點了點頭.

“那…今晚能不能請你吃飯? 就當我是老同學 … 可以嗎?”

他無聲地等待著我的回答.

…… ……

“好吧.” 我說, “那六點半在這見?”

“一言為定.”

 

 

 

[English Translation]

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

The Eyes Behind Me [3]



“Yes, it’s me.”

My heart pounded fast.

“Did I scare you? Sorry. “

once again I saw the smile that I used to be so familiar with.

He came up to me closer and closer.

The still-shut book store gave us a little space to stand.

“Why didn’t you say hello to me?”

I asked him, gazing into those eyes that were as bright as the way they were in my memories.

“It has been thirteen years, I couldn’t tell whether it was you.”

Time flies!

 

“Thirteen years already? I must have grown old.”

I escaped his eyes.

“No. You have more charms than in those days.” He smiled.

I tried to stay calm:”When did you come here?”

“A few days ago, on a business trip, I saw you on the street since yesterday afternoon. I was trying to figure out whether it was you.”

I pulled my collar together, he noticed the ring on my finger.

He turned his head away, and asked me again:

“Are you hurrying to work?”

I nodded.

“May I invite you for dinner tonight? As an old classmate of you… may I?”

He waited for my reply quietly.

…. ….

“OK,” I said, “let’s meet here at 6:30?”

“Deal.”