HSK 7–9 story

句子的尾巴

jùzi de wěiba

The Tails of Sentences

A linguistics student climbs to a mountain village to record a dying dialect word by word, and finds that its oldest speaker will only give it to her as stories.

Start readingFree, no account
Chapters
6
Characters
5,151
Reading time
54 min
Words in level
99.8%
HSK 7–9 words used
120
Glossed extras
4

Measured by script against the HSK 3.0 syllabus, names excluded.

Words to know before you start

The HSK 7–9 words this story uses most. Look at them once — the story will bring them back.

  • 亲眼

    qīnyǎn

    with one's own eyes; personally

  • 拐杖

    guǎizhàng

    crutches; crutch; walking stick

  • 书记

    shūjì

    secretary (chief official of a branch of a socialist or communist party); clerk; scribe

  • lèng

    to look distracted; to stare blankly; distracted

  • 空白

    kòngbái

    blank space

  • 葬礼

    zànglǐ

    burial; funeral

  • 按钮

    ànniǔ

    button (one that can be pressed to trigger an action); to push a button

  • 诧异

    chàyì

    flabbergasted; astonished

  • 答辩

    dábiàn

    to reply (to an accusation); to defend one's dissertation

  • 颠簸

    diānbǒ

    to be jolted around (car on a bumpy road, boat on a rough sea, aircraft experiencing turbulence)

Chapters

  1. 1进山Into the mountains908 characters
  2. 2山那边,水那边Towards the mountain, towards the water836 characters
  3. 3亲眼看见Seen with one's own eyes870 characters
  4. 4哭歌The mourning song832 characters
  5. 5展品Exhibits826 characters
  6. 6山在上,水在下Mountain above, water below879 characters

People and places

  • 陈瑜Chén YúChen Yu, a linguistics graduate student
  • ChénChen, a surname (Chen Yu)
  • YángYang, a surname: the retired village teacher
  • ZhōuZhou, a surname: Chen Yu's supervisor
  • 秀英XiùyīngXiuying, an old woman of the village
  • 小川XiǎochuānXiaochuan, Teacher Yang's grandson
  • 高岩GāoyánGaoyan, a mountain village
  • 高岩话Gāoyánhuàthe Gaoyan dialect

Names are underlined in the text, so you can tell them from words.

How to learn with a story →