我身后的眼睛 The Eyes Behind Me [6] (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 [6]


我给他家打电话, 无人接听.

父母开始做我的工作,

“你和他本来就不合适. 两家都只有一个孩子, 一个南, 一个北. 怎么生活到一起去?”

我虽然反感他们的唠叨, 但内心里也开始挣扎.

这一去就没了音讯的他是不是已经变心?

或者, 已经和现实妥协, 不再继续为我们的未来争取?

我开始整夜整夜地失眠，痛哭, 抑郁。我品尝到了失恋的滋味.

后来，我索性换了份离家较远的工作, 在外面租了房子, 过起了真正的单身生活.

我现在的老公就在那时闯进了我的生活….

“你回去后…. 为什么没给我回信?”

这是我长久以来一直想得到答案的问题。

在那个还没有英特网的年代，书信和电话是我们唯一的联系。

我的问题象是击中了他的要害, 他身子向后一靠,吃了一惊.

“我的回信你一封都没有收到吗?” 他反问我.

我肯定地摇了摇头.

他沉思了片刻.

“我给你写过八封回信, 但在我给你写第九封信的时候, 我前面的回信都被一起退回来了.

…. 退回来的邮包里还有你父母给我写的便条.”

[vocab table]

 

Simplified Chinese    Traditional Chinese    Mandarin Pinyin    English Definition
接听    接聽    jie1 ting1    to answer the phone;
本来    本來    ben3 lai2    originally; at first
合适    合適    he2 shi4    suitable; to fit;
虽然    雖然    sui1 ran2    although
反感    反感    fan3 gan3    to dislike; antipathy;
唠叨    嘮叨    lao2 dao5    nagging
挣扎    掙扎    zheng1 zha2    to struggle
音讯    音訊    yin1 xun4    messages; correspondence;
变心    變心    bian4 xin1    to cease to be faithful
妥协    妥協    tuo3 xie2    to compromise; to reach terms
争取    爭取    zheng1 qu3    to fight for; to strive for
失眠    失眠    shi1 mian2    to suffer from insomnia
抑郁    抑郁    yi4 yu4    depressed
品尝    品嘗    pin3 chang2    to taste a small amount
失恋    失戀    shi1 lian4    to lose one’s love
滋味    滋味    zi1 wei4    taste; feeling
索性    索性    suo3 xing4    simply; just;
英特网    英特網    Ying1    Internet
唯一    唯一    wei2 yi1    only; sole;
联系    聯繫    lian2 xi4    connection
要害    要害    yao4 hai4    crucial
沉思    沉思    chen2 si1    to ponder; contemplation
片刻    片刻    pian4 ke4    short period of time; a moment;
邮包    郵包    you2 bao1    postal parcel
便条    便條    bian4 tiao2    note
[pinyin]

wǒ shēnhòu de yǎnjing [6]
wǒ gěi tā jiā dǎdiànhuà, wúrén jiētīng.

fùmǔ kāishǐ zuò wǒ de gōngzuò,

“ nǐ hé tā běnlái jiù bùhéshì. liǎng jiā dōu zhǐyǒu yī gè háizi, yī gè nán, yī gè běi. zěnme shēnghuó dào yīqǐ qù?”

wǒ suīrán fǎngǎn tāmen de láodao, dàn nèi xīnli yě kāishǐ zhēngzhá.

zhè yī qù jiù méile yīnxùn de tā shìbùshì yǐjīng biànxīn?

huòzhě, yǐjīng hé xiànshí tuǒxié, bùzài jìxù wéi wǒmen de wèilái zhēngqǔ?

wǒ kāishǐ zhěngyè zhěngyè dì shīmián， tòngkū, yìyù。 wǒ pǐncháng dàoliǎo shīliàn de zīwèi.

hòulái， wǒ suǒxìng huàn le fèn lí jiā jiào yuǎn de gōngzuò, zài wàimiàn zū le fángzi, guò qǐ le zhēnzhèng de dānshēn shēnghuó.

wǒ xiànzài de lǎogong jiù zài nàshí chuǎngjìn le wǒ de shēnghuó….
“ nǐ huíqu hòu…. wèishénme méi gěi wǒ huíxìn?”

zhè shì wǒ chángjiǔ yǐlái yīzhí xiǎng dédào dá’àn de wèntí。

zài nàge hái méiyǒu Yīngtèwǎng de niándài， shūxìn hé diànhuà shì wǒmen wéiyī de liánxì。

wǒ de wèntí xiàng shì jīzhòng le tā de yàohài, tā shēnzi xiànghòu yī kào, chī le yī jīng.

“ wǒ de huíxìn nǐ yī fēng dōu méiyǒu shōudào ma?” tā fǎnwèn wǒ.

wǒ kěndìng dì yáo le yáotóu.

tā chénsī le piànkè.

“ wǒ gěi nǐ xiě guò bā fēng huíxìn, dàn zài wǒ gěi nǐ xiě dì jiǔ fēng xìn de shíhou, wǒ qiánmiàn de huíxìn dōu bèi yīqǐ tuì huílai le.

…. tuì huílai de yóubāo lǐ háiyǒu nǐ fùmǔ gěi wǒ xiě de biàntiáo.”

[traditional Chinese]

我身後的眼睛[6]
 

我給他家打電話, 無人接聽.

父母開始做我的工作,

“你和他本來就不合適. 兩家都只有一個孩子, 一個南, 一個北. 怎麼生活到一起去?”

我雖然反感他們的嘮叨, 但內心裏也開始掙紮.

這一去就沒了音訊的他是不是已經變心?

或者, 已經和現實妥協, 不再繼續為我們的未來爭取?

我開始整夜整夜地失眠，痛哭, 抑鬱。我品嘗到了失戀的滋味.

後來，我索性換了份離家較遠的工作, 在外面租了房子, 過起了真正的單身生活.

我現在的老公就在那時闖進了我的生活….

“你回去後…. 為什麼沒給我回信?”

這是我長久以來一直想得到答案的問題。

在那個還沒有英特網的年代，書信和電話是我們唯一的聯系。

我的問題象是擊中了他的要害, 他身子向後一靠,吃了一驚.

“我的回信你一封都沒有收到嗎?” 他反問我.

我肯定地搖了搖頭.

他沉思了片刻.

“我給你寫過八封回信, 但在我給你寫第九封信的時候, 我前面的回信都被一起退回來了.

…. 退回來的郵包裏還有你父母給我寫的便條.”

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

The Eyes Behind Me [6]

I called his home, but nobody picked up the phone.

Then my parents began to talk to me,

“You and he are not suitable for each other. Both of our families are single-child families. One lives in the south, one lives in the north. How could the two of you live together?”

Although I was sick of their nagging, my mind started to struggle.

Was he seeing someone else that he even didn’t care to send a word to me?

Or had he already given up and didn’t want to fight for our future together?

Then I started to lose my sleep night after night, weeping and depressed. I experienced the bitter feeling of losing my love.

Thereafter I made up my mind to change to another job, even further from my home.

I rented a place to live by myself and started a real single life.

My current husband came into my life since then.

 

“After you returned home… why didn’t you write to me?”

This is the question that I’ve been waiting for an anwser for so long.

At a time when the Internet did not exist in our life, letters and phone calls were the only ways to keep us connected.

My question was like a punch swung right at him. He leaned back against his chair. He was surprised.

“You hadn’t received even one letter from me?”

I shook my head with certainty.

He paused for a moment,

“I wrote eight letters to you. When I was writing the ninth, all my previous letters were mailed back to me in one parcel. … together with it, was a note from your parents. “