In this short story, a melancholy robot stays awake all night, considering how strange it is that humans sleep.
我是一个机器人。我叫小白。
晚上十一点了。我的家人都睡觉了。
爸爸在床上睡觉。妈妈也在床上睡觉。小狗在地上睡觉。
我不睡觉。我不会睡觉。
我看爸爸。爸爸闭着眼睛。他不动。
我看妈妈。妈妈也闭着眼睛。她也不动。
我想：人睡觉的时候，像死了一样。
但是他们没有死。早上他们会醒。这很奇怪。
我看小狗。小狗在做梦。它的脚动一动，动一动。
它在梦里跑步吗？
我也想做梦。但是我不会睡觉，所以我没有梦。
晚上十二点了。
外面很黑。月亮在天上。
我看着月亮，看了很久很久。
今天晚上，只有我和月亮没睡觉。
Hover a word for its pinyin & meaning; click to pin it.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 机器人 | jīqìrén | robot |
| 睡觉 | shuìjiào | to sleep |
| 闭着眼睛 | bìzhe yǎnjing | with eyes closed |
| 动 | dòng | to move |
| 做梦 | zuòmèng | to dream |
| 醒 | xǐng | to wake up |
| 奇怪 | qíguài | strange/weird |
| 月亮 | yuèliang | moon |
| 外面 | wàimiàn | outside |
| 我 | wǒ | I; me; my |
| 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] |
| 一个 | yī ge | a; an; one; the whole (afternoon, summer vacation etc) |
| 叫 | jiào | to shout; to call; to order; to ask; to be called; by (indicates agent in the passive mood); variant of 叫[jiao4] |
| 小白 | xiǎo bái | (slang) novice; greenhorn; (old) (slang) fool; idiot; abbr. for 小白臉|小白脸[xiao3 bai2 lian3], pretty boy |
| 晚上 | wǎn shang | evening; night; CL:個|个[ge4]; in the evening |
| 十一 | Shí Yī | PRC National Day (October 1st) |
| 点 | diǎn | to touch briefly; to tap; to mark with a dot; to check off (on a list); to order (food etc); to select; to mention; to bring up (a topic or person); to hint at; to imply; to admini… |
| 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 |
| 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… |
| 家人 | jiā rén | family member; (old) servant |
| 都 | Dū | surname Du |
| 爸爸 | bà ba | (coll.) father; dad; CL:位[wei4] |
| 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) |
| 床 | chuáng | bed; couch (furniture that one can lie down on) (CL:張|张[zhang1]); bed; bottom (of rivers, oceans, gardens etc); frame; chassis; classifier for blankets, quilts etc; variant of 床[chuang2] |
| 上 | shǎng | used in 上聲|上声[shang3 sheng1] |
| 妈妈 | mā ma | mama; mommy; mother; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4] |
| 也 | Yě | surname Ye |
| 小狗 | xiǎo gǒu | pup; puppy |
| 地上 | dì shang | on the ground; on the floor |
| 不 | bù | no; not so; (bound form) not; un- |
| 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 |
| 看 | kān | to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard |
| 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]) |
| 不动 | bù dòng | motionless |
| 她 | tā | she |
| 想 | xiǎng | to think (about); to think of; to devise; to think (that); to believe (that); to desire; to want (to); to miss (feel wistful about the absence of) |
| 人 | rén | person; people; CL:個|个[ge4],位[wei4],名[ming2] |
| 时 | shí | old variant of 時|时[shi2]; surname Shi |
| 候 | hòu | to wait; to inquire after; to watch; season; climate; (old) period of five days |
| 像 | xiàng | to resemble; to be like; to look as if; such as; appearance; image; portrait; image under a mapping (math.) |
| 死 | sǐ | to die; impassable; uncrossable; inflexible; rigid; extremely; damned |
| 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 … |
| 样 | yàng | manner; pattern; way; appearance; shape; classifier: kind, type |
| 但 | dàn | but; yet; however; still; merely; only; just |
| 们 | men | plural marker for pronouns, and nouns referring to individuals |
| 没有 | méi yǒu | haven't; hasn't; doesn't exist; to not have; to not be |
| 早上 | zǎo shang | early morning; CL:個|个[ge4] |
| 会 | huì | can; to have the skill; to know how to; to be likely to; to be sure to; to meet; to get together; meeting; gathering; (suffix) union; group; association; (bound form) a moment (Tai… |
| 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) |
| 很 | hěn | very; quite; (also, often used before an adjective without intensifying its meaning, i.e. as a meaningless syntactic element) |
| 它 | tā | it; it (pronoun for an animal) |
| 脚 | jiǎo | foot; leg (of an animal or an object); base (of an object); CL:雙|双[shuang1],隻|只[zhi1]; classifier for kicks |
| 梦 | mèng | dream (CL:場|场[chang2]); (bound form) to dream |
| 里 | lǐ | variant of 裡|里[li3]; lining; interior; inside; internal; also written 裏|里[li3]; surname Li |
| 跑步 | pǎo bù | to run; to jog; (military) to march at the double |
| 吗 | má | (coll.) what? |
| 所以 | suǒ yǐ | therefore; as a result; so; the reason why |
| 十二 | shí èr | twelve; 12 |
| 黑 | Hēi | short name for Heilongjiang 黑龍江|黑龙江[Hei1 long2 jiang1] |
| 天上 | tiān shàng | the sky; the heavens |
| 着 | zhāo | variant of 著|着[zhao1]; a move in chess (Taiwan pr. [zhuo2]); trick; tactic; (dialect) okay; all right; (dialect) to put in; to add |
| 久 | jǐu | (of a period of time) long |
| 今天 | jīn tiān | today; the present time; now |
| 只有 | zhǐ yǒu | only have ...; there is only ...; (used in combination with 才[cai2]) it is only if ... (that one can ...) (as in 只有通過治療才能痊愈|只有通过治疗才能痊愈[zhi3 you3 tong1 guo4 zhi4 liao2 cai2 neng2 qu… |
| 和 | hé | old variant of 和[he2]; surname He; (literary) harmonious (variant of 和[he2]) |
| 没 | méi | (negative prefix for verbs) have not; not |
I am a robot. My name is Xiaobai.
It’s eleven o’clock at night. My family has all gone to sleep.
Dad is sleeping on the bed. Mom is also sleeping on the bed. The little dog is sleeping on the floor.
I don’t sleep. I can’t sleep.
I look at Dad. Dad’s eyes are closed. He doesn’t move.
I look at Mom. Mom’s eyes are also closed. She doesn’t move either.
I think: when people sleep, they look like they’re dead.
But they’re not dead. In the morning they will wake up. This is very strange.
I look at the little dog. The little dog is dreaming. Its feet move a little, move a little.
Is it running in its dream?
I also want to dream. But I can’t sleep, so I don’t have dreams.
It’s twelve o’clock at night.
Outside it’s very dark. The moon is in the sky.
I look at the moon, looked for a very, very long time.
Tonight, only the moon and I are not sleeping.