Learn Mandarin Online Short Story – 她的故事 Her Story [4] (Intermediate)

Posted by Grace Feng on August 5, 2012

Learn Mandarin Online via reading mini short story is a good way to improve your language skills. Take a small bite a day. Don’t rush yourself. As long as you persist on reading and learning, when you finish the story, you’ll be surprised at how much you’ve learned.

This story is the very first short story that I’ve written for this blog. I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you will enjoy reading it too. I’d be really happy to hear any feedback from your reading and learning experience, no matter it’s positive or negative. Any corrections on my English translation is also welcomed, I need help on my English writing as well, please help! Thanks … :-)

There are vocabulary table, pinyin and English translation to help you read and learn new words and expressions. Hope these annotations do help …

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[simplified Chinese]

听说她有了一个孩子，但和婆婆处得很不好。残疾的丈夫脾气变得越来越暴躁. 他们之间的交流也变得越来越少。。

 

每天天还没亮她就要起床重复种地，养猪，挑水，拾柴这一尘不变的生活。在艰苦的生活环境中常年照顾孩子, 残疾丈夫和年迈公婆的她身体不堪重负，落下了很多毛病。

 

时常，在寂寞的大山里，孤独的她会面对故乡的方向狂喊着爸爸，妈妈，我想你们，可是回答她的只有绵长的回声。

 

经过很多次失败的尝试后，她终于设法与远方的养父母取得了联系，请求她们原谅女儿当年的固执。

 

养母流着泪给她写了回信，告诉她养父已经在车祸中过世，自己疾病缠身，无法到不通车的山区去看她。他们早已原谅了她，只希望她能过得开心。这封信又足足走了三个月才送到她的手里。看到信里熟悉的笔记，她痛哭失声。

 

[traditional Chinese]

聽說她有了一個孩子，但和婆婆處得很不好。殘疾的丈夫脾氣變得越來越暴躁. 他們之間的交流也變得越來越少。。

 

每天天還沒亮她就要起床重複種地，養豬，挑水，拾柴這一塵不變的生活。在艱苦的生活環境中常年照顧孩子, 殘疾丈夫和年邁公婆的她身體不堪重負，落下了很多毛病。

 

時常，在寂寞的大山裏，孤獨的她會面對故鄉的方向狂喊著爸爸，媽媽，我想你們，可是回答她的只有綿長的回聲。

 

經過很多次失敗的嘗試後，她終於設法與遠方的養父母取得了聯系，請求她們原諒女兒當年的固執。

 

養母流著淚給她寫了回信，告訴她養父已經在車禍中過世，自己疾病纏身，無法到不通車的山區去看她。他們早已原諒了她，只希望她能過得開心。這封信又足足走了叁個月才送到她的手裏。看到信裏熟悉的筆記，她痛哭失聲。

 

[pinyin]

tīngshuō tā yǒule yī gè háizi， dàn hé pópo chǔ dehěn bùhǎo。 cánjí de zhàngfu píqi biànde yuèláiyuè bàozào. tāmen zhījiān de jiāoliú yě biànde yuèláiyuè shǎo。。 měitiān tiān hái méi liàng tā jiùyào qǐchuáng chóngfù zhòngdì， yǎng zhū， tiāo shuǐ， shí chái zhè yī chén bùbiàn de shēnghuó。 zài jiānkǔ de shēnghuó huánjìng zhōng chángnián zhàogu háizi, cánjí zhàngfu hé niánmài gōngpó de tā shēntǐ bùkān zhòngfù， luòxià le hěn duō máobìng。 shícháng， zài jìmò de Dàshān lǐ， gūdú de tā huì miànduì gùxiāng de fāngxiàng kuáng hǎn zhe bàba， māma， wǒ xiǎng nǐmen， kěshì huídá tā de zhǐyǒu mián cháng de huíshēng。

jīngguò hěn duōcì shībài de chángshì hòu， tā zhōngyú shèfǎ yǔ yuǎnfāng de yǎng fùmǔ qǔ déle liánxì， qǐngqiú tāmen yuánliàng nǚ’ér dāngnián de gùzhí。

yǎngmǔ liú zhe lèi gěi tā xiě le huíxìn， gàosu tā yǎngfù yǐjīng zài chēhuò zhōng guòshì， zìjǐ jíbìng chán shēn， wúfǎ dào bù tōngchē de shānqū qù kàn tā。 tāmen zǎoyǐ yuánliàng le tā， zhǐ xīwàng tā néng guòdé kāixīn。 zhè fēng xìn yòu zúzú zǒu le sān gè yuè cái sòng dào tā de shǒulǐ。 kàn dào xìn lǐ shúxī de bǐjì， tā tòngkū shī shēng。

 

[vocabulary table]

Simplified Chinese	Traditional Chinese	Mandarin Pinyin	English Definition
听说	聽說	ting1 shuo1	to hear (sth said); one hears (that);
婆婆	婆婆	po2 po5	husband’s mother; mother-in-law; grandma;
残疾	殘疾	can2 ji2	disabled; handicapped; deformity on a person or animal;
脾气	脾氣	pi2 qi4	temperament; disposition; temper;
变得	變得	bian4 de5	to become;
暴躁	暴躁	bao4 zao4	irascible; irritable; violent;
交流	交流	jiao1 liu2	communication; interaction;
亮	亮	liang4	bright; clear; resonant; to shine; to show; to reveal;
重复	重複	chong2 fu4	to repeat; to duplicate; CL:個|个[ge4];
种地	種地	zhong4 di4	to farm; to work the land;
养	養	yang3	to raise (animals); to bring up (children);
猪	豬	zhu1	hog; pig;
挑	挑	tiao1	to carry on a shoulder pole;
拾	拾	shi2	to pick up; to collate or arrange;
柴	柴	chai2	firewood
这	這	zhe4	this; these; (commonly pr. [zhei4] before a classifier, esp. in Beijing);
一尘不变	一塵不變	yi1 chen2 bu4 bian4	unvarying; without a bit of change (implicating it’s boring)
艰苦	艱苦	jian1 ku3	difficult; hard;
环境	環境	huan2 jing4	environment;
常年	常年	chang2 nian2	all year round; for years on end;
照顾	照顧	zhao4 gu5	to take care of; to look after;
残疾	殘疾	can2 ji2	disabled; handicapped;
年迈	年邁	nian2 mai4	old; aged;
公婆	公婆	gong1 po2	husband’s parents; parents-in-law;
不堪	不堪	bu4 kan1	cannot bear; cannot stand;
重负	重負	zhong4 fu4	heavy load; heavy burden (also fig. of tax);
落下	落下	luo4 xia4	to accumulate (illness)
毛病	毛病	mao2 bing4	defect; problem
时常	時常	shi2 chang2	often; frequently;
寂寞	寂寞	ji4 mo4	lonely; lonesome; quiet; silent;
孤独	孤獨	gu1 du2	lonely; solitary;
故乡	故鄉	gu4 xiang1	home; homeland;
方向	方向	fang1 xiang4	direction; orientation;
回答	回答	hui2 da2	to reply; to answer; the answer;
绵长	綿長	mian2 chang2	long lasting (sound)
回声	回聲	hui2 sheng1	echo;
失败	失敗	shi1 bai4	to be defeated; to lose; to fail (e.g. experiments);
尝试	嘗試	chang2 shi4	to try; to attempt; CL:次[ci4];
终于	終於	zhong1 yu2	at last; in the end; finally; eventually;
设法	設法	she4 fa3	to try; to make an attempt; to think of a way (to accomplish sth);
远方	遠方	yuan3 fang1	far away; a distant location;
取得	取得	qu3 de2	to acquire; to get; to obtain;
联系	聯繫	lian2 xi4	connection; contact; relation; to get in touch with;
请求	請求	qing3 qiu2	request;
原谅	原諒	yuan2 liang4	to excuse; to forgive; to pardon;
当年	當年	dang1 nian2	in those days; then; in those years; during that time;
固执	固執	gu4 zhi2	obstinate; stubborn;
祸	禍	huo4	disaster; misfortune; calamity;
过世	過世	guo4 shi4	to die; to pass away;
疾病	疾病	ji2 bing4	disease; sickness; ailment;
缠	纏	chan2	to wind around; to wrap round; to coil; tangle; to involve; to bother; to annoy;
希望	希望	xi1 wang4	to wish for; to desire; hope CL:個|个[ge4];
她	她	ta1	she;
能	能	neng2	surname Neng;
过得	過得	guo4 de2	How are you getting by?; How’s life?; contraction of 過得去|过得去, can get by; tolerably well; not too bad;
足足	足足	zu2 zu2	fully; no less than; as much as; extremely;
熟悉	熟悉	shu2 xi1	to be familiar with; to know well;
笔记	筆記	bi3 ji4	handwriting

(Special thanks to Thomas Doherty for proofreading and editing my English translation!)

[English translation]

They said that she had a child. Her mother-in-law was not getting along well with her. Her disabled husband had became more and more testy due to depression. The communications between them was getting less and less. She had to start her routine of field work, feeding pigs, carrying water and picking up wood when it was still dark in the morning. In that touch living environment, taking care of child, disabled husband, and aging in-laws, had taken tolls on her health. Quite often, in the lonely mountain, the poor lonely girl would cry out loud:”Mom — Dad — I miss you!” However, the only thing that answered her was the long echoes.

After many failed tries, she finally managed to get in tough with her parents and asked them to forgive her stubbornness many years ago.

Her Mom wrote back in tears and told her daughter that her father had died in a car accident. She herself was not in good health condition, couldn’t make it to the mountain area to visit her daughter. They already forgave her and only wished the best for her. The letter took another three months to finally reached her. Looking at the familiar handwriting from her Mom, she suddenly burst into tears.

 

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Category: Chinese short stories

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