房子和猫
How to rent an apartment in Chinese
Name: ________________ Date: ________
我在上海找房子，找了一个月。房子不是太贵，就是太远。
有一天，我看到了一套房子：离公司很近，有两个房间，每个月才三千块。
我马上给房东打电话。房东是一个老太太，姓刘。
刘阿姨带我去看房子。房间很干净，厨房很大，窗户外面还有一棵大树。
“太好了！我什么时候能搬进来？”
“明天就能搬，”刘阿姨说，“可是，有一个条件。”
她打开一个房间的门。床上有一只很胖的黄猫，正在睡觉。
“我要去女儿家住了，女儿家不能养猫。它在这里住了八年，不想走。”
所以，房子是我的，猫也是我的。房租三千，猫不用给钱。
我看了看那只猫，说：“好吧。”
第一个星期，猫不看我，也不吃我买的东西。每天晚上，它都坐在门口等着。
第二个星期，它开始吃饭了。
第三个星期，我下班回家，它在门口等着我。
一个月以后，刘阿姨给我打电话：“我女儿说，她家也可以养猫了。我明天来接它吧。”
我看了看睡在我身边的猫，说：“阿姨……我能不能每个月多给您五百块？”
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 远 | yuǎn | far; distant |
| 离 | lí | to leave; to part from |
| 近 | jìn | near; close |
| 姓 | xìng | surname; family name; to be surnamed |
| 外面 | wàimiàn | outside; out |
| 进来 | jìnlai | to come in; to enter |
| 打开 | dǎkāi | to open |
| 门 | mén | door; gate |
| 床 | chuáng | bed |
| 走 | zǒu | to go; to leave |
| 门口 | ménkǒu | doorway; entrance; gate |
| 等 | děng | etc.; and so on |
English (for the teacher)
I’ve been looking for a flat in Shanghai for a month. Every place is either too expensive or too far away.
Then one day I see one: near the office, two rooms, only three thousand a month.
I call the landlord right away. The landlord is an old lady called Liu.
Auntie Liu shows me round. The rooms are clean, the kitchen is big, and there’s even a big tree outside the window.
“Perfect! When can I move in?”
“You can move in tomorrow,” says Auntie Liu. “But there’s one condition.”
She opens the door to one of the rooms. On the bed, a very fat ginger cat is fast asleep.
“I’m going to live with my daughter, and she can’t have a cat. This one has lived here for eight years and doesn’t want to leave.”
So the flat is mine, and the cat is mine too. The rent is three thousand; the cat comes free.
I look at the cat and say, “All right.”
The first week, the cat won’t look at me and won’t eat anything I buy. Every evening it sits by the door, waiting.
The second week, it starts eating.
The third week, when I come home from work, it’s by the door waiting for me.
A month later, Auntie Liu calls: “My daughter says she can have a cat now. I’ll come and pick it up tomorrow.”
I look at the cat asleep beside me and say, “Auntie… Could I pay you five hundred more a month instead?”