Been a couple of months since I tossed a post out there - the latter half of 2013 was a bit of a shake-up, so please forgive the lapse. In other news, I can't get my favorite Chinese story website, tom61.com, to load anymore, #sadface. Fingers crossed that's a temporary glitch, but if not, I'll mourn the loss of a fantastic learner's website. <!--more-->

<img src="http://devenv.chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/20140204-INLINE.jpg" alt="Practice Chinese Simplified Essays Stories for Beginners" width="100" height="100" class="imgborder alignleft" />In the meantime, I've pulled something off <a href="http://gushi365.com">gushi365.com</a>. 

The content of <a href="http://www.gushi365.com/info/9851.html">this story</a> is for children, but the language is not beginner, and neither is the sentence structure - this is an intermediate read for sure. I say that because it feels very "fairy-tale" language-y, in the sense that sentences are formed in a more literary way, rather than in a chatty way, and there are some uncommonly-heard words, like "footprint" (脚印), etc. The tone of the story, on the other hand, is very tra-la-la, winter sparkly glitter magic.

Two quick notes on phrases here: 传来了 [pinyin]chuan4 lai2[/pinyin] is an intermediate phrase that can be a little hard to understand, but it is used in reference to things we hear that come to us from afar. This may include voices (like hearing someone's voice from outside your house), or noises, or smells, or a piece of news. You can use this to talk about sensations and things that come to you from no particular person or direction - from "afar" or "all around". 

掏出 [pinyin]tao1 chu1[/pinyin]: this means to fish something out of something else. For example, to fish your phone out of your pocket, or to fish your sweatshirt out of your backpack. 

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<strong>1)</strong> 下雪啦，下雪啦！一片片雪花像<strong>蒲公英</strong>一样在空中<strong>翩翩起舞</strong>，不一会儿，大地就穿上了一件洁白的衣裳。

<strong>2)</strong> 可爱的小熊不小心<strong>扭到脚了</strong>，只得孤零零地躺在小床上。忽然，从窗外<strong>传来了</strong>欢快的歌声。小熊朝窗外看去，原来是小老鼠和小白兔在雪地里<strong>载歌载舞</strong>呢！雪地上还留下了他们可爱的小脚印。小熊心里真羡慕呀！可是，他有什么办法呢？小熊深深地叹了一口气，<strong>自言自语</strong>：“还是睡一觉吧，<strong>说不定</strong>梦里会出现<strong>奇迹</strong>！”

<strong>3)</strong> 小熊果然做了一个好梦。他梦见一位留着长胡子的老爷爷来到了他的小屋里。老爷爷从衣袋里<strong>掏出</strong>一个小瓶子，笑眯眯地喷了喷小熊受伤的脚。小熊马上就<strong>活蹦乱跳</strong>了，快活地在雪地上和小伙伴们玩耍……

<strong>4)</strong> 小鸟们的欢声笑语把小熊<strong>吵醒</strong>了，原来这只是一场梦。可是小熊发现自己的手里竟然有一个小瓶子！小熊拿起小瓶子往脚上一喷，受伤的脚马上就好了。这真是一瓶神水啊！从此，小熊再也不怕摔伤了。 
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<strong>1)</strong> It's snowing, it's snowing! Flakes of snow lightly danced like dandelions in the air, and after a while, the earth wore clothes of pure white. 

<strong>2)</strong> Cute Little Bear incautiously sprained his ankle, and had to lie in bed all alone. Suddenly, from outside the window came the sound of lighthearted singing. Little bear looked out the window, and [saw that it was] Little Mouse and Little White Rabbit dancing and singing! The snow still held [impressions of] their cute little footprints. Little Bear was truly envious! But what could he do? Little Bear gave a deep sigh, and said aloud to himself: "Better get some more sleep, and maybe in my dream there will be a miracle!" 

<strong>3)</strong> Sure enough, Little bear had a good dream. In his dream, an old man with a long beard came into his room. The old man fished a little bottle out of his pocket, and smilingly sprayed [some liquid from the bottle] on Little Bear's wounded foot. Little Bear immediately leaped up and frisked about, playing cheerfully with his [two] buddies on the snowy ground.

<strong>4)</strong> The happy sounds of the small birds woke Little Bear up, and [found that] actually it was all just a dream. But then he discovered that there was a small bottle in his hand! Little Bear took up the small bottle and sprayed it on his foot, and the wounded foot was immediately better! This really was a bottle of magic water! After that, Little Bear never again feared bumps and bruises. 
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