我身后的眼睛 The Eyes Behind Me [5] (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 [5]


那是十三年前的夏天.

大学毕业的晚餐会上我和他都喝多了.

我拉着他的手, 逃离了晚餐会的嘈杂.

我们来到东院的长青湖边, 紧紧地拥吻在一起…

昏暗的路灯下, 一阵凉风吹散了我们的醉意.

我搂着他的脖子, 忘情地看着他的脸.

“我们该怎么办?”

我轻声问他.

“你等我,等我找到工作, 安定下来,我们再一起计划. 我会回来找你.”

他的这句话一直印刻在我的心里.

我们在大学里整整热恋了两年.

毕业在即, 他就要回南方的家乡小镇找工作了.

而我, 将仍然留在这个我从未离开过的城市.

他的离去有两个必然: 一个是他的外地户口, 一个是他的母亲病重.

火车站台上难舍的离别, 为我们这段甜蜜的初恋划上了句号.

不过当时, 我们并不知道缘分已尽.

我还痴痴地给他写信. 一封又一封.

可是自始至终, 我没有收到他的只言片语.

 

 

[vocab table]

 

Simplified Chinese    Traditional Chinese    Mandarin Pinyin    English Definition
毕业    畢業    bi4 ye4    graduation
晚餐会    晚餐會    wan3 can1 hui4    evening dinner party
逃离    逃離    tao2 li2    to run out; to escape;
嘈杂    嘈雜    cao2 za2    noisy; clamorous;
拥吻    擁吻    yong1 wen3    to embrace and kiss (of romantic lovers)
昏暗    昏暗    hun1 an4    dusky;
吹散    吹散    chui1 san4    to disperse;
醉意    醉意    zui4 yi4    intoxication; excitement (due to alcohol)
忘情    忘情    wang4 qing2    head over heels in love
计划    計劃    ji4 hua4    plan
印刻    印刻    yin4 ke4    emgrave; print
整整    整整    zheng3 zheng3    whole; full
热恋    熱戀    re4 lian4    to be passionately in love;
在即    在即    zai4 ji2    imminent; within sight
小镇    小鎮    xiao3    small town
将    將    jiang1    will; shall
仍然    仍然    reng2 ran2    still
必然    必然    bi4 ran2    inevitable; certain
户口    戶口    hu4 kou3    registered residence; residence permit
难舍    難舍    nan2    hard to let it go
甜蜜    甜蜜    tian2 mi4    sweet
缘分    緣分    yuan2 fen4    fate or chance that brings people together; destiny
痴痴    癡癡    chi1    persistent (in love)
自始至终    自始至終    zi4 shi3 zhi4 zhong1    from the beginning to the end
只言片语    祇言片語    zhi3 yan2 pian4 yu3    a single word
 

[pinyin]

wǒ shēnhòu de yǎnjing [5]

nàshi shísān niánqián de xiàtiān.

dàxué bìyè de wǎncān huì shàng wǒ hé tā dōu hē duō le.

wǒ lā zhe tā de shǒu, táolí le wǎncān huì de cáozá.

wǒmen láidào dōng yuàn de cháng qīng húbiān, jǐnjǐn dì yōng wěn zàiyīqǐ…

hūn’àn de lùdēng xià, yīzhèn liáng fēng chuīsàn le wǒmen de zuì yì.

wǒ lǒu zhe tā de bózi, wàngqíng dì kàn zhe tā de liǎn.

“ wǒmen gāi zěnmebàn?”

wǒ qīngshēng wèn tā.

“ nǐděng wǒ, děng wǒ zhǎodào gōngzuò, āndìng xiàlai, wǒmen zài yīqǐ jìhuà. wǒ huì huílai zhǎo nǐ.”

tā de zhè jù huà yīzhí yìn kè zài wǒ de xīnli.

wǒmen zài dàxué lǐ zhěngzhěng rèliàn le liǎng nián.

bìyè zàijí, tā jiùyào huí nánfāng de jiāxiāng xiǎo zhèn zhǎo gōngzuò le.

ér wǒ, jiāng réngrán liú zài zhège wǒ cóngwèi líkāi guò de chéngshì.

tā de líqù yǒu liǎng gè bìrán: yī gè shì tā de wàidì hùkǒu, yī gè shì tā de mǔqīn bìngzhòng.

huǒchēzhàn táishàng nán shě de líbié, wéi wǒmen zhè duàn tiánmì de chūliàn huà shàng le jùhào.

bùguò dāngshí, wǒmen bìngbù zhīdào yuánfèn yǐ jìn.

wǒ hái chī chī dì gěi tā xiěxìn. yī fēng yòu yī fēng.

kěshì zìshǐzhìzhōng, wǒ méiyǒu shōudào tā de zhǐyánpiànyǔ.

 

[traditional Chinese]

我身後的眼睛[5]
 

那是十叁年前的夏天.

大學畢業的晚餐會上我和他都喝多了.

我拉著他的手, 逃離了晚餐會的嘈雜.

我們來到東院的長青湖邊, 緊緊地擁吻在一起…

昏暗的路燈下, 一陣涼風吹散了我們的醉意.

我摟著他的脖子, 忘情地看著他的臉.

“我們該怎麼辦?”

我輕聲問他.

“你等我,等我找到工作, 安定下來,我們再一起計劃. 我會回來找你.”

他的這句話一直印刻在我的心裏.

我們在大學裏整整熱戀了兩年.

畢業在即, 他就要回南方的家鄉小鎮找工作了.

而我, 將仍然留在這個我從未離開過的城市.

他的離去有兩個必然: 一個是他的外地戶口, 一個是他的母親病重.

火車站台上難舍的離別, 為我們這段甜蜜的初戀劃上了句號.

不過當時, 我們並不知道緣分已盡.

我還癡癡地給他寫信. 一封又一封.

可是自始至終, 我沒有收到他的只言片語.

 

 

 

[English Translation]

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

The Eyes Behind Me [5]

 

That was in a summer thirteen years ago.

Both of us had a good drink in the university graduation evening dinner party.

I grabbed his hand and we escaped from the loud party together.

We came to the Chang Qing river in east campus. We embraced each other and kissed.

Under the dim light, the cool breeze brought us back to the reality.

I draped my arms around his neck, gazing at him with all my love.

“What about us?”, I whispered to him.

“Wait for me. After I find a job and settle down, we will plan together. I will come back here to find you.”

His words have been engraved in my heart since then.

We’ve been passionately in love in that university for the whole two years.

With the imminent graduation, he would soon be on his way back to his small hometown in the south and look for a job.

And I would still stay in the city that I had never ever left.

There were two inevitable reasons for his leaving: his non-registered residence status, and his Mom’s illness.

The heart-wrenching departure at the train platform put an end to our sweet relationship.

only at that time, we didn’t know that was the end.

I wrote letters to him one after another.

But I haven’t received a single word from him since then.