A young girl puts a smile back on a sad widow’s face.
王奶奶住在一个小房子里。她的花园很漂亮，有红的、黄的、白的花。可是王奶奶从不笑，也不和别人说话。
小女孩小美每天走过王奶奶的花园去学校。她很想知道为什么花那么美，可是奶奶那么不高兴。
一天，小美看见王奶奶在花园里哭。她走过去问：’奶奶，您怎么了？’
王奶奶说：’我的老伴去年走了。这些花是他最喜欢的。我种花，因为我想他。’
小美说：’奶奶，我可以帮您种花吗？这样您就不会一个人了。’
从那天起，小美每天下午来帮忙。慢慢地，王奶奶开始笑了。花园里的花比以前更漂亮了。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| <p>花园 | huā yuán | garden |
| 漂亮 | piào liang5 | beautiful |
| 从不 | cóng bù | never |
| 想 | xiǎng | to miss/to think |
| 走了 | zǒule | died, passed away |
| 种 | zhòng | to plant |
| 帮忙 | bāng máng | to help |
| 慢慢地 | màn màn de5 | slowly |
| 一个人 | yí gè rén | alone |
| 王 | Wáng | surname Wang |
| 奶 | nǎi | breast; milk; to breastfeed; variant of 嬭|奶[nai3]; mother; variant of 奶[nai3] |
| 住 | zhù | to live; to reside; to stay; to stop; to cease; (result complement indicating firmness or a stable achieved state) |
| 在 | zài | to exist; to be alive; (of sb or sth) to be (located) at; (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress) |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 小 | xiǎo | small; tiny; few; young |
| 房子 | fáng zi | house; building (single- or two-story); apartment; room; CL:棟|栋[dong4],幢[zhuang4],座[zuo4],套[tao4],間|间[jian1] |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 她 | tā | she |
| 的 | de | of; ~'s (possessive particle); (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun); (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis); (used after a noun, verb or adjective to… |
| 花园 | huā yuán | garden (for flowers, ornamental plants etc); (landscaped) park; yard with decorative plants; CL:座[zuo4] |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 红 | Hóng | surname Hong |
| 黄 | Huáng | surname Huang or Hwang |
| 白 | Bái | surname Bai; Bai ethnic group |
| 花 | Huā | surname Hua; old variant of 花[hua1]; variant of 花[hua1]; flower; blossom; also pr. [wei3] |
| 可是 | kě shì | but; however; (used for emphasis) indeed |
| 笑 | xiào | old variant of 笑[xiao4]; to laugh; to smile; to laugh at |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 和 | hé | old variant of 和[he2]; surname He; (literary) harmonious (variant of 和[he2]) |
| 别人 | bié ren | other people; others; other person |
| 说话 | shuō huà | to speak; to say; to talk; to gossip; to tell stories; talk; word |
| 小女 | xiǎo nu:3 | my daughter (humble) |
| 孩 | hái | (bound form) child |
| 美 | Měi | (bound form) the Americas (abbr. for 美洲[Mei3 zhou1]); (bound form) USA (abbr. for 美國|美国[Mei3 guo2]) |
| 每天 | měi tiān | every day |
| 走过 | zǒu guò | to walk past; to pass by |
| 去 | qù | to go; to go to (a place); (of a time etc) last; just passed; to send; to remove; to get rid of; to reduce; to be apart from in space or time; to die (euphemism); to play (a part);… |
| 学校 | xué xiào | school; CL:所[suo3] |
| 知道 | zhī dào | to know; to become aware of; also pr. [zhi1dao5] |
| 为 | wéi | as (in the capacity of); to take sth as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; by (in the passive voice); variant of 為|为[wei2] |
| 什 | shén | what |
| 么 | má | exclamatory final particle; variant of 麼|么[me5] |
| 那么 | nà me | like that; in that way; to that extent; (before a number) ... or so; about ...; then; in that case |
| 高兴 | gāo xìng | happy; glad; willing (to do sth); in a cheerful mood |
| 一 | yī | one; single; a (article); as soon as; entire; whole; all; throughout; "one" radical in Chinese characters (Kangxi radical 1); also pr. [yao1] for greater clarity when spelling out … |
| 天 | tiān | day; sky; heaven |
| 看见 | kàn jiàn | to see; to catch sight of |
| 哭 | kū | to cry; to weep |
| 问 | wèn | to ask; to inquire |
| 您 | nín | you (courteous, as opposed to informal 你[ni3]) |
| 怎 | zěn | how |
| 了 | le | (completed action marker); (modal particle indicating change of state, situation now); (modal particle intensifying preceding clause); (bound form) clear in one's mind; to understand clearly |
| 说 | shuì | to persuade; variant of 說|说[shuo1] |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 老 | lǎo | prefix used before the surname of a person or a numeral indicating the order of birth of the children in a family or to indicate affection or familiarity; old (of people); venerabl… |
| 伴 | bǎn | partner; companion; comrade; associate |
| 去年 | qù nián | last year |
| 这些 | zhè xiē | these |
| 是 | shì | to be (followed by substantives only); correct; right; true; (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well; (adverb for emphatic assertion); variant of 是[shi4] |
| 他 | tā | (third-person singular) (since the early 20th century, usu. male) he; him; his; (bound form) other; another; some other (as in 他日[ta1 ri4] and 他人[ta1 ren2]) |
| 最 | zuì | variant of 最[zui4]; old variant of 最[zui4]; (before an adjective or verb) to the highest degree; (the) most ...; -est; (after 之[zhi1]) best or most extreme example (e.g. 世界之最[shi4 jie4 zhi1 zui4] "the greatest in the world") |
| 喜欢 | xǐ huan | to like; to be fond of |
| 种花 | zhòng huā | to grow flowers; (dialect) to vaccinate; (dialect) to grow cotton |
| 因为 | yīn wèi | because; owing to; on account of |
| 可以 | kě yǐ | can; may; possible; able to; not bad; pretty good |
| 帮 | bāng | old variant of 幫|帮[bang1]; to help; to assist; to support; for sb (i.e. as a help); hired (as worker); side (of pail, boat etc); outer layer; upper (of a shoe); group; gang; clique; party; secret society |
| 吗 | má | (coll.) what? |
| 这 | zhè | (pronoun) this; these; (bound form) this; the (followed by a noun); (bound form) this; these (followed by a classifier) (in this sense, commonly pr. [zhei4], esp. in Beijing) |
| 样 | yàng | manner; pattern; way; appearance; shape; classifier: kind, type |
| 就 | jìu | (after a suppositional clause) in that case; then; (after a clause of action) as soon as; immediately after; (same as 就是[jiu4 shi4]) merely; nothing else but; simply; just; precise… |
| 不会 | bù huì | improbable; unlikely; will not (act, happen etc); not able; not having learned to do sth; (coll.) (Tw) don't mention it; not at all |
| 从 | cóng | variant of 從|从[cong2]; surname Cong |
| 那天 | nà tiān | that day; the other day |
| 起 | qǐ | to rise; to raise; to get up; to set out; to start; to appear; to launch; to initiate (action); to draft; to establish; to get (from a depot or counter); verb suffix, to start; sta… |
| 下 | xià | down; downwards; below; lower; later; next (week etc); second (of two parts); to decline; to go down; to arrive at (a decision, conclusion etc); measure word to show the frequency … |
| 午 | wǔ | 7th earthly branch: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., noon, 5th solar month (6th June-6th July), year of the Horse; ancient Chinese compass point: 180° (south) |
| 来 | lái | to come; (used as a substitute for a more specific verb); hither (directional complement for motion toward the speaker, as in 回來|回来[hui2 lai5]); ever since (as in 自古以來|自古以来[zi4 gu3… |
| 开始 | kāi shǐ | to begin; to start; beginning; start |
| 比 | Bǐ | Belgium; Belgian; abbr. for 比利時|比利时[Bi3 li4 shi2] |
| 以前 | yǐ qián | before; formerly; previous; ago |
| 更 | gēng | to change or replace; to experience; one of the five two-hour periods into which the night was formerly divided; watch (e.g. of a sentry or guard) |
Grandmother Wang lived in a small house. Her garden was very beautiful, with red, yellow, and white flowers. But Grandmother Wang never smiled and never talked to others.
A little girl named Xiaomei walked past Grandmother Wang’s garden every day to go to school. She really wanted to know why the flowers were so beautiful, but the grandmother was so unhappy.
One day, Xiaomei saw Grandmother Wang crying in the garden. She walked over and asked: ‘Grandmother, what’s wrong?’
Grandmother Wang said: ‘My husband passed away last year. These flowers were his favorites. I plant flowers because I miss him.’
Xiaomei said: ‘Grandmother, can I help you plant flowers? That way you won’t be alone.’
From that day on, Xiaomei came to help every afternoon. Slowly, Grandmother Wang began to smile. The flowers in the garden became even more beautiful than before.