中秋夜班
A Mid-Autumn night at the office: mooncakes for the security guard
Name: ________________ Date: ________
中秋节那天晚上，整座写字楼里只有我一个人。项目明天早上就要交，我只好留下来加班。同事们下午就纷纷回家了，走之前还把公司送的月饼分完了：蛋黄的、巧克力的，全被拿走了。桌子上只有一盒五仁月饼，安安静静地放在那儿。
大家都知道，五仁月饼在网上是有名的“没人要”。有人开玩笑说，它根本不应该算月饼。
快十一点的时候，我终于做完了工作。下楼的时候，我看见保安老周坐在大门口，身边没有别人。他举着手机，对着外面的月亮，正在和谁视频。“看见了吗？今天的月亮特别圆。”手机里传来一个小女孩的声音：“爸爸，你什么时候回家？”
老周笑了笑，说：“快了，快了。”挂了电话，他看着月亮，半天没说话。
我有点儿不好意思，把那盒五仁月饼递给他：“周叔叔，中秋快乐。只剩这种了，您别嫌弃。”
没想到，他的眼睛马上亮了：“五仁的？这可是好东西！现在的年轻人都不懂。”他立刻打开盒子，拿出一块，咬了一大口，一边吃一边点头。然后，他从包里拿出一个塑料袋，里面装着两块圆圆的月饼，样子不太好看。“这是我老婆自己做的，从老家寄过来的。你也试试。”
我们就坐在门口的台阶上吃月饼。他告诉我，他已经三年没回家过中秋了。我咬了一口他老婆做的月饼，很甜，甜得我突然很想家。
“你给家里打电话了吗？”他问。
我摇摇头，拿出了手机。妈妈很快就接了，第一句就问：“你那边的月亮圆不圆？”
我看了看天上。月亮又大又圆。老周看得见，我看得见，妈妈也看得见。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 只有 | zhíyǒu | only; only if; unless |
| 同事 | tóngshì | colleague; coworker |
| 有名 | yǒumíng | famous; well-known |
| 身边 | shēnbiān | at one's side; nearby |
| 别人 | biéren | other people; others; someone else |
| 月亮 | yuèliang | the moon |
| 整 | zhěng | exactly; sharp (as in 十点整) |
| 座 | zuò | constellation; zodiac sign (as in 巨蟹座) |
| 交 | jiāo | to hand over; to hand in |
| 只好 | zhíhǎo | to have no choice but to; to be forced to |
| 加班 | jiābān | to work overtime |
| 之前 | zhīqián | before; prior to; ago |
English (for the teacher)
On Mid-Autumn night I was the only person left in the whole office tower. The project was due first thing tomorrow, so I had no choice but to stay late. My colleagues had drifted home one after another in the afternoon, and before they left they’d divided up the company’s mooncakes: egg yolk, chocolate, all taken. On the desk there was just one box of five-kernel mooncakes, sitting there quietly.
Everyone knows the five-kernel mooncake is famous online as the one “nobody wants”. People joke that it shouldn’t even count as a mooncake.
It was nearly eleven when I finally finished. As I came downstairs, I saw Lao Zhou, the security guard, sitting by the main door with no one around him. He was holding up his phone toward the moon outside, on a video call with someone. “Can you see it? The moon’s really round tonight.” A little girl’s voice came from the phone: “Daddy, when are you coming home?”
Lao Zhou smiled and said: “Soon, soon.” After he hung up, he looked at the moon and said nothing for a long time.
A bit embarrassed, I handed him the box of five-kernel mooncakes: “Uncle Zhou, happy Mid-Autumn. This kind was all that was left; I hope you don’t mind.”
To my surprise, his eyes lit up at once: “Five-kernel? Now that’s the good stuff! Young people today just don’t get it.” He opened the box straight away, took one out, bit off a big mouthful, and nodded as he ate. Then he took a plastic bag out of his own bag, with two round mooncakes inside that didn’t look very pretty. “My wife made these herself and sent them from back home. You try one too.”
So we sat on the steps by the door and ate mooncakes. He told me he hadn’t been home for Mid-Autumn in three years. I took a bite of his wife’s mooncake; it was sweet, so sweet that I suddenly missed home.
“Have you called your family?” he asked.
I shook my head and took out my phone. Mum answered right away, and the first thing she asked was: “Is the moon round where you are?”
I looked up at the sky. The moon was big and round. Lao Zhou could see it, I could see it, and Mum could see it too.