爷爷的收音机
Grandpa's radio
Name: ________________ Date: ________
爷爷有一台旧收音机，年纪比我还大，是他年轻时用第一个月的工资买的。每天晚上九点，他都会准时打开它，听一个讲老故事的节目。主持人的声音低沉、缓慢。爷爷说，听着听着就能睡着。
奶奶去世以后，这个节目成了爷爷最好的朋友。他不用智能手机，也几乎不看电视，只信任这台收音机。
去年秋天的一个晚上，爷爷给我打电话，语气很着急：“收音机坏了！九点到了，里面只有沙沙的声音。”
第二天一大早，我就赶了过去。收音机没有坏。我上网一查，才知道那个节目停播了。我又给电台打了电话，工作人员很客气地解释说，主持人已经退休，这个节目正式结束了。
我犹豫了好几天，不知道该怎么告诉爷爷。他每天晚上还是九点打开收音机，听一会儿沙沙声，再默默地关上。
后来，我在网上找到了这个节目以前的录音，一共好几百集。我有了一个主意：把录音存进一个小小的播放器，设置好每天晚上九点自动播放，然后偷偷把它藏在收音机后面。
那天晚上，爷爷打电话给我，兴奋得像个孩子：“修好了！又能听了！”
从那以后，我每个星期都去爷爷家一次，借口是去“检查收音机”，其实是偷偷给播放器充电。爷爷每次都特意给我做红烧肉，看我在收音机后面忙来忙去，什么也没问。
有一天，我又在“检查”，爷爷忽然说：“这个节目真好，跟以前一模一样。连天气预报都一模一样。”
我手上的动作一下子停住了。
“昨天它说，明天有大雪。”爷爷慢慢地说，“可外面三十多度。”
我的脸红了，尴尬得不知道说什么好。爷爷却笑了，把一碗红烧肉放在我面前：“别停。你要是不来修，我一个人吃饭，太没意思了。”
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 台 | tái | station (radio, TV) |
| 工资 | gōngzī | wages; salary; pay |
| 准时 | zhǔnshí | on time; punctual |
| 赶 | gǎn | to hurry; to rush (as in 赶紧) |
| 客气 | kèqi | polite; courteous; to be polite; to stand on ceremony |
| 解释 | jiěshì | to explain; to interpret; explanation |
| 正式 | zhèngshì | formal; official; officially |
| 主意 | zhǔyi | idea; plan |
| 播放 | bōfàng | to play (audio or video); to broadcast; to air |
| 兴奋 | xīngfèn | excited; excitement |
| 忽然 | hūrán | suddenly; all of a sudden |
| 动作 | dòngzuò | movement; action; move; motion |
English (for the teacher)
Grandpa has an old radio that's older than I am; he bought it with his first month's wages when he was young. Every night at nine on the dot he switches it on to listen to a programme of old stories. The presenter's voice is low and slow. Grandpa says that if he listens for a while, he drifts off to sleep.
After Grandma died, that programme became Grandpa's best friend. He doesn't use a smartphone and hardly watches TV; the only thing he trusts is this radio.
One evening last autumn, Grandpa phoned me, sounding anxious: “The radio's broken! It's nine o'clock and all that's coming out is hiss.”
First thing the next morning I hurried over. The radio wasn't broken. I looked online and found out the programme had been taken off the air. Then I phoned the station, and a member of staff politely explained that the presenter had retired and the programme had officially ended.
For days I hesitated, not knowing how to tell Grandpa. Every night he still switched the radio on at nine, listened to the hiss for a while, and quietly turned it off again.
Later I found the programme's old recordings online, several hundred episodes in all. I came up with a plan: I put the recordings on a tiny player, set it to play automatically at nine every night, and secretly hid it in the back of the radio.
That night Grandpa phoned me, as excited as a child: “It's fixed! I can listen again!”
After that I went to Grandpa's once a week, on the excuse of “checking the radio”, when really I was secretly charging the player. Every time, Grandpa made braised pork specially for me, and watched me busy myself behind the radio without asking a thing.
One day, when I was “checking” again, Grandpa suddenly said: “This programme's wonderful, exactly the same as before. Even the weather forecast's exactly the same.”
My hands stopped.
“Yesterday it said heavy snow tomorrow,” Grandpa said slowly. “But it's over thirty degrees outside.”
My face went red, and I was so embarrassed I didn't know what to say. But Grandpa laughed and put a bowl of braised pork in front of me: “Don't stop. If you don't come to fix it, eating on my own is just no fun.”