星期五（上）
Friday (part 1)
Name: ________________ Date: ________
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 打开 | dǎkāi | to open |
| 眼睛 | yǎnjing | eye |
| 舒服 | shūfu | comfortable |
| 下来 | xiàlai | (after a verb) indicates completion or continuation from past to present (as in 坚持下来) |
| 床 | chuáng | bed |
| 外面 | wàimiàn | outside; out |
| 意思 | yìsi | meaning; idea |
| 旁边 | pángbiān | beside; next to; nearby |
| 过去 | guòqu | (in the) past; former; to go over; to pass by |
| 过 | guò | (particle) marks a past experience: have ever |
| 车站 | chēzhàn | station (bus or train); stop |
| 打 | dǎ | to play (a ball game, cards) |
English (for the teacher)
It’s seven in the morning, and the alarm goes off.
Xiaoxia doesn’t open her eyes. She feels hot and uncomfortable; something is sitting on her face.
“Maomao, get down.”
Maomao doesn’t get down. Maomao is her cat, a very, very big one. His favourite place to sit isn’t a chair, and it isn’t the bed: it’s Xiaoxia’s face.
Xiaoxia lifts Maomao off and sits up. It’s raining outside. Not heavy rain, just a fine drizzle that has been falling all night and still hasn’t stopped.
“Rain.” “It’s Friday,” she says. “Why does it have to rain?”
Maomao looks at her, as if to say: is the rain my problem? I want my breakfast.
Xiaoxia is twenty-four, lives alone, and works the early shift at a tiny coffee shop. The shop is next to a bus stop and opens at half past eight every morning. She isn’t keen on mornings, or on work, but she likes Fridays. Once Friday is over, Saturday comes. On Saturday she can sleep till twelve noon.
She makes Maomao his breakfast and has only a little water herself.
Half past seven, and the phone rings.
Xiaoxia glances at it. It’s Mum.
Mum calls at half past seven every morning; she has never missed a single day. Xiaoxia knows exactly what she’ll ask: Have you had breakfast? Are you wearing enough? When are you coming home? Have you got a boyfriend yet?
The phone rings and rings. Xiaoxia doesn’t answer. She goes to find her umbrella.
“I’ll call her back after work.” She says this to Maomao.
Maomao says nothing. He’s already asleep.
At ten past eight, Xiaoxia reaches the bus stop. It’s crowded; everyone is holding an umbrella and looking at a phone, and nobody is talking.
A little girl of six or seven stands next to her, holding a red balloon. It’s a big balloon, and on this rainy morning it looks wonderful.
The girl sees Xiaoxia looking at her balloon and smiles: “It’s mine.”
“It’s lovely.” Xiaoxia says.
Just then the girl’s grip slips, and the balloon flies away. It flies over the bus stop, over the building in front, higher and higher, and in a moment it’s gone.
The little girl looks up at the sky and starts to cry. She cries very loudly, and everyone at the bus stop looks at her. Her mum says, “Lele, don’t cry, don’t cry, Mummy will buy you another one.”
“I don’t want you to buy another one!” Lele sobs. “I want that one!”
Xiaoxia looks up at the sky and wants to say something. But the bus comes. She gets on, looks out of the window, and Lele is still crying.
At half past eight, Xiaoxia gets to the coffee shop.
Boss Wang is already there. Boss Wang is in his forties and does everything fast: he walks fast, talks fast and even eats fast. When he sees Xiaoxia, his first word is: “Quick, quick, quick!”
“Good morning, Boss Wang.”
“Morning? What morning? Quick, quick, quick! We’re busy today!”
Xiaoxia puts on her shop uniform and starts making coffee. One cup, two cups, three cups. The door opens, people come in, the door opens again.
At a quarter to nine, a man comes to collect a birthday cake. It’s a big cake that Boss Wang made last night, covered in fruit, with four characters written on top: 生日快乐, Happy Birthday.
“It’s for my girlfriend.” The man says, “It’s her birthday today.”
Boss Wang comes out from the back with the cake, walking very fast: “Coming, coming, quick, quick, quick—”
But there’s water on the floor.
Boss Wang slips. The cake goes flying.
The cake lands on the floor. Top side down, bottom side up. The 快 of 生日快乐 ends up on Boss Wang’s shoe.
All at once, nobody in the shop says a word.
The man looks at the cake, Boss Wang looks at the man, and Xiaoxia looks at that 快. After a while, Boss Wang says: “… We’ll make you a new one. Quick, very quick.”