19.我们家的男子汉

Lesson nineteen

The Man in Our Family

There is a man in our family, and that is my sister’s child.After my sister gave birth to him, she went to Anhui with my brother-in-law, and left him at home to be looked after by us.

His Interest in Food

1.“He eats very well,” said his nanny.

2.Indeed, he ate well, in a large amount and in a wide range—he had a big appetite and had a good taste.

3.People can’t help but be greedy when seeing him have a meal.

4.Of course, like all children, he didn’t like to eat vegetables.

5.But I said to him, “You will die if you don’t eat vegetables.”

6.Thus he began to eat vegetables, a lot.

7.He didn’t want to die, and it seems that he is deeply happy to live.

8.He was interested in all tastes, and he could wait patiently for three quarters of an hour in order to eat a meal of stuffed bun; he would make up riddles like children’s songs for what he likes to eat.

9.When he really couldn’t eat any more, he ate his thumb, and ate so intently that his front lips became warped.

10.When The Shaolin Temple became popular all over the country, he also learned a set of drunken fists very well.It was cool and he was very fascinated by it.

11.He yearned to be a monk in Shaolin Temple.

12.But we told him that he can’t eat meat to be a monk.

13.He said, “Can I eat rice with broth?” “No.”

14.“How about frozen sucker?”

15.He asked carefully.He said “frozen sucker”, not ice cream, not even popsicles.

16.“I’m afraid there is no frozen sucker on that mountain.” We were very sorry.

His Demand for Independence

1.I don’t know from what time to start, he didn’t want to be held by his hand no longer when hanging out with him.

2.A chubby little hand was in my palm, struggling like a stubborn live fish.

3.Once, when I took him shopping, he offered to let him buy it himself.

4.I gave him one jiao.

5.Holding the money, he approached the counter and suddenly became timid again.

6.I said, “You pay the money, and I will tell the clerk what we want.”

7.“No, no, I can do it by myself,” he said.

8.When he got to the counter, he told me again, “Don’t say a word!”

9.The shop assistant finally came.He looked a little nervous and spoke bravely, “Sir, I, I, I want…” He forgot what to buy.

10.I finally couldn’t help but say, “A pack of haw flakes.”

11.He didn’t speak for a long time, eating haw flakes listlessly, and he looked a little depressed, which made me regret a little.

12.Later, he could take five soda bottles and one yuan to the shop to change orange juice.

13.He must go by himself.

14.If I didn’t feel at ease and followed him, he would stop walking, “Go back, go back!” I had to let him go.

15.He became increasingly skilled in buying orange juice, and his mood became increasingly high, which eventually turned into a terrible fanaticism.

16.In order to take the empty bottle and buy another as soon as possible, he tried to drink orange juice.

17.On a hot noon, when I came back from outside, I saw him buying orange juice at the shop.

18.He stood in front of the refrigerator, showing half his head.

19.The shop assistant only dealt with a few adults without looking at him.

20.He waited with sweat and patience.

21.I really wanted to go over and say something, but I finally resisted.

His Composure in Facing the Challenges of Life

1.When he was two years old, we decided to send him to the nursery.

2.On the morning of his departure, he looked around calmly without saying a word.

3.He didn’t cry until he saw other children cry.

4.Crying loudly, without sadness, it seems only to attend a ceremony.

5.Every morning, it was easy to send him to the nursery, unlike our sisters who cried and refused to go when we were young.

6.We asked him whether he like the nursery, he said, “No.”

7.But he understood that he had to go, so he accepted the reality without any ineffective struggle.

8.According to the teacher, he ate well, slept well, sang well and played well, but he was a little restrained.

9.However, he quickly became familiar with others and began to make friends and fight.

10.When we go to pick him up every day, we have to listen to the teacher’s complaints.

11.When he was four years old, his nanny fell ill and returned to her hometown.He finally had to go back to Anhui.

12.He was extremely unwilling to go.

13.The day before he left, he said to his grandmother, “Grandma, you don’t want me, and you threw me out.”

14.Grandma almost changed her mind and wanted to keep him.

15.At that time, there was only one train from Shanghai to Hefei every day.There were a lot of people, and the door was full of luggage and people.So the adults had to squeeze into the train and leave him on the platform.

16.He cried anxiously, “What shall I do?”

17.I comforted him, “If you can’t get up, you won’t leave.”

18.He was still in a hurry and thought he must go.

19.My sister said, “Let him climb in through the window!”

20.I picked him up, and he bravely grasped the window frame, pushed his feet strongly against the carriage and climbed up the window.

21.The passengers at the window reached out to hold him.

22.He pushed away the hands that hindered him, grabbed the most effective hands, and jumped into the carriage, drowning in the crowd.

23.This is the man of our family.

24.Watching him grow up, the outline of his face, the fine lines on his palm, his body, his strength, his wisdom, his character, and his gender, which were really the most wonderful thing to be so mysteriously bright, prominent, enlarged and expanded.