Ever wished your annoying neighbor would just disappear? Be careful what you wish for! This short story follows someone who gets exactly what they wanted – and discovers that silence isn’t always golden.
我的邻居很吵。每天早上，他唱歌。每天晚上，他看电视。他的电视很大，很响。我不喜欢他。
每天我很不高兴。每天他很高兴。我觉得这不公平。
有一天，他不唱歌了。他的电视也没有声音了。我想，很好。
第二天也没有。第三天也没有。
我去看他。他的家里没有东西了。他走了。
我回到我的家, 坐下来, 很安静。我不喜欢安静。我不知道为什么, 但是我想他。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 邻居 | línjū | neighbor |
| 吵 | chǎo | noisy/loud |
| 响 | xiǎng | loud (of sound) |
| 公平 | gōngpíng | fair |
| 声音 | shēngyīn | sound/voice |
| 安静 | ānjìng | quiet/peaceful |
| 想 | xiǎng | to miss/to think |
| 东西 | dōngxi | things/stuff |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 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… |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 每天 | měi tiān | every day |
| 早上 | zǎo shang | early morning; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 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]) |
| 唱歌 | chàng gē | to sing a song |
| 晚上 | wǎn shang | evening; night; CL:個|个[ge4]; in the evening |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 电 | diàn | lightning; electricity; electric (bound form); to get (or give) an electric shock; phone call or telegram etc; to send via telephone or telegram etc |
| 视 | shì | variant of 視|视[shi4]; variant of 示[shi4]; old variant of 視|视[shi4]; (literary, or bound form) to look at |
| 大 | dà | big; large; great; older (than another person); eldest (as in 大姐[da4 jie3]); greatly; freely; fully; (dialect) father; (dialect) uncle (father's brother) |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 喜欢 | xǐ huan | to like; to be fond of |
| 高兴 | gāo xìng | happy; glad; willing (to do sth); in a cheerful mood |
| 觉得 | jué de | to think that ...; to feel that ...; to feel (uncomfortable etc) |
| 这不 | zhè bu | (coll.) As a matter of fact, ... (used to introduce evidence for what one has just asserted) |
| 有 | yǒu | to have; there is; (bound form) having; with; -ful; -ed; -al (as in 有意[you3 yi4] intentional) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 好 | hǎo | good; appropriate; proper; all right!; (before a verb) easy to; (before a verb) good to; (before an adjective for exclamatory effect) so; (verb complement indicating completion); (… |
| 第 | dì | (prefix indicating ordinal number, as in 第六[di4 liu4] "sixth"); (literary) grades in which successful candidates in the imperial examinations were placed; (old) residence of a high… |
| 二 | èr | two; 2; (Beijing dialect) stupid |
| 三 | Sān | surname San |
| 我去 | wǒ qù | (slang) what the ...!; oh my god!; that's insane! |
| 家里 | jiā lǐ | home |
| 走 | zǒu | to walk; to go; to run; to move (of vehicle); to visit; to leave; to go away; to die (euph.); from; through; away (in compound verbs, such as 撤走[che4 zou3]); to change (shape, form… |
| 回到 | huí dào | to return to |
| 家 | jiā | used in 傢伙|家伙[jia1 huo5] and 傢俱|家俱[jia1 ju4]; home; family; (polite) my (sister, uncle etc); classifier for families or businesses; refers to the philosophical schools of pre-Han China; noun suffix for a specialist in some act… |
| 坐下 | zuò xia | to sit down |
| 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… |
| 不知 | bù zhī | not to know; unaware; unknowingly; fig. not to admit (defeat, hardships, tiredness etc) |
| 道 | dào | road; path (CL:條|条[tiao2],股[gu3]); (bound form) way; reason; principle; (bound form) a skill; an art; a specialization; (Daoism) the Way; the Dao; to say (introducing a direct quot… |
| 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] |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 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] |
My neighbor is very noisy. Every morning, he sings. Every evening, he watches TV. His TV is very big and very loud. I don’t like him.
Every day I am very unhappy. Every day he is very happy. I think this is not fair.
One day, he stopped singing. His TV also went quiet. I thought, very good.
The second day, nothing either. The third day, also nothing.
I went to see him. There was nothing left in his home. He was gone.
I returned to my home and sat down, it wasvery quiet. I don’t like the quiet. I don’t know why, but I miss him.