我的房间
My Room
Name: ________________ Date: ________
妈妈发来一张照片。我的床不见了。
窗边多了一张长桌，桌上有剪刀、布，还有一台我没见过的缝纫机。
“那我回来睡哪儿？”我马上问。
“客厅的沙发能拉开。”
我看着这句话，半天没回。
周末回家，我没先换鞋，直接走到房间门口。书架也空了，墙上那张高中时贴的海报不见了。住了十几年的地方，忽然像别人家。
“你的东西都在这儿。”妈妈指着墙边的三个箱子。一个写着“书”，一个写着“衣服”，最后一个写着“别扔”。
我打开写着“别扔”的箱子。里面有坏掉的耳机、朋友写的卡片，还有一本日记，只有七天的内容。
妈妈站在旁边：“我不知道哪些你还要。”
我忽然想起，搬出去这三年，我在这间房里，一共只睡过五个晚上。
桌上放着一件还没做完的蓝色上衣。我以为是给我的，伸手摸了摸。
“别动，上面有针。”妈妈说，“这是我的作业，明天要交给老师。”
“你去学做衣服了？”
她点点头，拿起衣服给我看。领子怎么做，袖子哪里还要改，她越说越快。我第一次发现，妈妈也会说出一大串我听不懂的词。
窗外的阳光照在布上，她一站过来，就挡住了阳光。
“桌子换个方向吧。”我说。
我们一起给桌子换了个方向。她坐下试试，说：“这样更好。”
晚上，我自己拉开客厅的沙发。比想象中宽，也比想象中舒服。
睡前，我关掉了第二天的闹钟。明早九点要去听课的，是妈妈。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 张 | zhāng | surname Zhang |
| 照片 | zhàopiàn | photo; picture |
| 沙发 | shāfā | sofa; couch |
| 句 | jù | classifier for phrases and lines of speech or verse |
| 半天 | bàntiān | a long time; quite a while |
| 周末 | zhōumò | weekend |
| 先 | xiān | first; in advance |
| 地方 | dìfang | place |
| 窗 | chuāng | window |
| 台 | tái | station (radio, TV) |
| 客厅 | kètīng | living room; sitting room |
| 直接 | zhíjiē | direct; immediate; directly; straight |
English (for the teacher)
Mum sent me a photo. My bed was gone.
There was a new long table by the window, with scissors, fabric and a sewing machine I’d never seen before.
‘Where am I supposed to sleep when I come back, then?’ I asked straight away.
‘The sofa in the living room pulls out.’
I stared at that sentence and didn’t reply for ages.
When I came home that weekend, I went straight to my room’s doorway without even changing my shoes. The bookcase was empty too, and the poster I’d put on the wall in high school was gone. The place I’d lived for over ten years suddenly felt like someone else’s home.
‘Your things are all here.’ Mum pointed at three boxes by the wall. One said ‘Books’, another said ‘Clothes’, and the last said ‘Don’t throw away’.
I opened the box marked ‘Don’t throw away’. Inside were broken headphones, cards from friends and a diary with only seven days’ worth of entries.
Mum stood beside me. ‘I didn’t know which things you still wanted.’
It suddenly occurred to me that in the three years since moving out, I’d slept in this room for only five nights altogether.
An unfinished blue top lay on the table. I thought it was for me and reached out to touch it.
‘Don’t touch it. There are pins in it.’ Mum said, ‘It’s my homework. I have to hand it in to the teacher tomorrow.’
‘You’ve been learning to make clothes?’
She nodded, picked up the top and showed it to me. As she explained how to make the collar and where the sleeves still needed changing, she spoke faster and faster. For the first time, I realised Mum could also say a whole string of words I didn’t understand.
Sunlight from the window fell on the fabric, and whenever she stood in front of it, she blocked the light.
‘Let’s turn the table around.’ I said.
Together, we changed the direction the table faced. She sat down to try it and said, ‘That’s better.’
That evening, I pulled out the living room sofa myself. It was wider and more comfortable than I’d imagined.
Before bed, I switched off my alarm for the next day. The one who had a class at nine tomorrow morning was Mum.