Chinese Reader for adult learners – Wan Jun 婉君 [1] (Elementary to Intermediate)

Posted by Grace Feng on October 6, 2012

This is a simplified story that I edited based on a Taiwan TV episodes Wan Jun 婉君 wǎn jūn that was shoot in 1989. It is one out of six “Dreams” series written by a famous Taiwan women writer 琼瑶 qióngyáo.

This Chinese Reader is suitable for Elementary to Intermediate level Chinese learners (with character base ranging from 1000 to 2500) to practice Chinese reading.

This story happened at the beginning of 民国 (100 years back) in China. It all started when the eldest son of a wealthy family fell ill and was dying …

有一家姓周的富有人家。他们有三个儿子，

没有女儿。

 

大儿子伯健十几岁的时候生了重病。

 

医生说没法治，只能等死。

 

他的爸爸妈妈听后心快碎了。

 

于是他们求助迷信的办法。

 

就是说找个小女孩儿做儿子的新娘。

 

用喜事去转变坏运气。

 

这叫”冲喜”。

 

很快他们就找到了。她的名字叫婉君。

 

婉君很小就没了父母,是外婆把她带大的。

 

贪财的舅舅和舅妈见有人出钱，就高兴的把

八岁的婉君卖给了周家。

 

婉君艰难得离开了外婆的怀抱。

 

在周家为大儿子和婉君举办的婚礼上，病床

上的伯健挣扎着起来, 想阻止婚礼的进行,救

出婉君。。。

 

[pinyin]

yǒu yījiā xìng zhōu de fùyǒu rénjiā。 tāmen yǒu sān gè érzi，

méiyǒu nǚ’ér。

dà érzi bó jiàn shíjǐ suì de shíhou shēng le zhòngbìng。

yīshēng shuō méi fǎzhì， zhǐnéng děng sǐ。

tā de bàba māma tīng hòuxīn kuài suì le。

yúshì tāmen qiúzhù míxìn de bànfǎ。

jiùshìshuō zhǎo gè xiǎonǚ hái’ér zuò érzi de xīnniáng。

yòng xǐshì qù zhuàn biànhuài yùnqi。

zhè jiào” chōng xǐ”。

hěn kuài tāmen jiù zhǎo dàoliǎo。 tā de míngzi jiào wǎn jūn。

wǎn jūn hěn xiǎo jiù méile fùmǔ, shì wàipó bǎ tā dài dà de。

tāncái de jiùjiu hé jiù mā jiàn yǒurén chūqián， jiù gāoxìng de bǎ

bā suì de wǎn jūn mài gěi le zhōujiā。

wǎn jūn jiān nándé líkāi le wàipó de huáibào。

zài zhōujiā wéi dà érzi hé wǎn jūn jǔbàn de hūnlǐ shàng， bìngchuáng

shàng de bó jiàn zhēngzhá zhe qǐlai, xiǎng zǔzhǐ hūnlǐ de jìnxíng, jiù

chū wǎn jūn。。。

 

[vocab table]

Simplified Chinese	Traditional Chinese	Mandarin Pinyin	English Definition
富有	富有	fu4 you3	rich; full of;
人家	人家	ren2 jia1	household; dwelling; family;
伯健	伯健	bo2 jian4	eldest son’s name
时候	時候	shi2 hou5	time; moment
重病	重病	zhong4 bing4	serious illness;
医生	醫生	yi1 sheng1	doctor
没法	沒法	mei2 fa3	unable to do anything about it
治	治	zhi4	cure; treatment
碎	碎	sui4	to break into pieces
于是	於是	yu2 shi4	as a result; hence;
求助	求助	qiu2 zhu4	to request help; to appeal (for help);
迷信	迷信	mi2 xin4	superstition
办法	辦法	ban4 fa3	means; method;
就是说	就是說	jiu4 shi4 shuo1	in other words; that is;
找	找	zhao3	to try to find; to look for
新娘	新娘	xin1 niang2	bride;
喜事	喜事	xi3 shi4	happy occasion; wedding
转变	轉變	zhuan3 bian4	to change; to transform
坏运气	壞運氣	huai4 yun4 qi4	bad luck; misfortune;
冲喜	衝喜	chong1 xi3	To arrange a wedding for the dangerously sick with the aim of driving away the devil and the disease.
婉君	婉君	wan3 jun1	The little bride’s name
外婆	外婆	wai4 po2	grandma; maternal grandmother;
贪财	貪財	tan1 cai2	to be greedy in getting money;
舅舅	舅舅	jiu4 jiu5	mother’s brother; maternal uncle (informal)
舅妈	舅媽	jiu4 ma1	mother’s brother’s wife; aunt
艰难	艱難	jian1 nan2	difficult; hard
离开	離開	li2 kai1	to depart; to leave;
怀抱	懷抱	huai2 bao4	to hug; to cherish
举办	舉辦	ju3 ban4	to conduct; to hold;
婚礼	婚禮	hun1 li3	wedding;
病床	病床	bing4 chuang2	hospital bed; sickbed;
挣扎	掙扎	zheng1 zha2	to struggle;
阻止	阻止	zu3 zhi3	to prevent; to block;
救	救	jiu4	to save; to assist

 

[English translation]

A wealthy family Zhou has three sons, no daughter.

The eldest son Bo Jian fell ill badly at his teenage year.

The doctor said there was no cure, they had to let the fate to take it’s course.

Bo Jian’s parents were heart-broken.

Then they sought superstition as last resort.

That means they looked for a little girl to be their son’s bride.

In hoping that a merry event could drive the bad luck away.

That is called “Chong Xi” (To arrange a wedding for the dangerously sick with the aim of driving away the devil and the disease.)

Soon enough they found one. Her name is Wan Jun.

Wan Jun lost her parents when she was very little, her grandma raised her up.

Her greedy Uncle and Aunt happily sold eight-year old Wan Jun to Zhou family for the good money they paid.

Wan Jun had a tough time leaving her own grandma.

During the wedding held for Bo Jian and Wan Jun in Zhou’s house, Bo Jian struggled to get out of bed and tried to stop the wedding and help Wan Jun to escape …

 

[traditional Chinese]

有一家姓周的富有人家。他們有叁個兒子，

沒有女兒。

 

大兒子伯健十幾歲的時候生了重病。

 

醫生說沒法治，只能等死。

 

他的爸爸媽媽聽後心快碎了。

 

於是他們求助迷信的辦法。

 

就是說找個小女孩兒做兒子的新娘。

 

用喜事去轉變壞運氣。

 

這叫”沖喜”。

 

很快他們就找到了。她的名字叫婉君。

 

婉君很小就沒了父母,是外婆把她帶大的。

 

貪財的舅舅和舅媽見有人出錢，就高興的把

八歲的婉君賣給了周家。

 

婉君艱難得離開了外婆的懷抱。

 

在周家為大兒子和婉君舉辦的婚禮上，病床

上的伯健掙紮著起來, 想阻止婚禮的進行,救

出婉君。。。

 

to be continued …

 

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Category: Chinese short stories

Tags: Chinese Reader for adult learners, Elementary to Intermediate level Chinese learners, learn Chinese, 婉君

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