3:35
奶奶走后最黑的那段夏天，和把她拉回来的人
The Darkest Stretch of Summer, and the One Who Pulled Her Back
HSK 4-5 Chinese listening practice. In Never-Ending Summer, grandma's death plunges Zhou Wan into the dark, and Lu Xixiao — staying, rescuing, selling his motorbike for her home — pulls her back inch by inch.
This is an HSK 5-6 Chinese listening episode that runs about 4 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 13 key vocabulary words such as 命运、血亲、母亲 and walks through 4 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
前几段夏天，是气球、白裙、撕碎的画、天台上的生死一刻，和一句迟到的告白。
The past few stretches of summer were balloons, a white dress, a torn painting, a life-and-death instant on a rooftop, and a confession that came too late.
这一段，是一场葬礼，一辆自行车，和一个人在最深的黑暗里，被另一个人一寸寸拉回来的故事。
This stretch is a funeral, a bicycle, and the story of someone in the deepest dark being pulled back, inch by inch, by another.
上次说到，陆西骁在秋千上，极轻地问了周挽一句：想不想谈恋爱。
Last time, on a swing, Lu Xixiao asked Zhou Wan, ever so softly: do you want to fall in love.
那时的他，本已收拾好行李，马上就要出国。
Back then, his bags were packed and he was about to go abroad.
今天，接着往下说。
Today, let's keep going.
可命运偏在这个节骨眼上，狠狠把周挽推下了悬崖——那个与她相依为命的奶奶，走了。
But fate, at just this juncture, shoved Zhou Wan off a cliff — the grandmother who was her whole life, was gone.
奶奶缠绵病榻已久，终究还是没能熬过这个夏天。
Grandma had lingered on her sickbed a long time, and in the end couldn't make it through this summer.
从小到大，周挽的整个世界里，血亲只有奶奶一人；如今这最后一根线一断，她整个人便空落落地塌了下去。
All her life, the only blood family in Zhou Wan's whole world was grandma; now that this last thread snapped, she simply caved in on herself, hollow.
她把自己反锁在屋里，不吃不睡，日夜以泪洗面，谁敲门都不应。
She locked herself in her room, not eating, not sleeping, in tears day and night, answering no one's knock.
陆西骁看在眼里，心像被人攥着一寸寸拧。
Lu Xixiao saw it all, his heart wrung inch by inch as if by a hand.
他本该此刻就登上远行的飞机，可走到这一步，他哪儿也没去，只是守在了周挽身旁。
He was supposed to be boarding a plane for a faraway land, but at this point he went nowhere; he only kept watch at Zhou Wan's side.
他一手替她操办奶奶的后事，桌上桌下，事无巨细，甚至连那个放高利贷的人，都念及旧日恩情，主动松了口，少收了利钱。
He took over grandma's funeral, top to bottom, sparing no detail; even the loan shark, mindful of an old kindness, relented and took less.
可饶是如此，周挽依旧迟迟走不出那片阴影。
And yet, even so, Zhou Wan still couldn't walk out of that shadow.
有一天，她实在太想奶奶，一个人在家昏沉睡去，厨房的水烧沸溢出，浇灭了灶火，煤气便无声无息地弥漫开来。
One day, missing grandma too much, she sank into a heavy sleep at home; the kitchen water boiled over, doused the stove flame, and gas spread, silent and unseen.
眼看她就要在睡梦里中毒，是陆西骁及时赶到，一拳砸碎玻璃，硬生生把她从鬼门关口拽了回来，连夜送进医院。
Just as she was about to be poisoned in her sleep, Lu Xixiao rushed in, smashed the glass with a fist, wrenched her back from death's very gate, and rushed her to the hospital through the night.
出院之后，身上的伤好治，心里那道口子，却迟迟结不了痂。
After discharge, the wound on her body was easy to treat, but the gash in her heart was slow to scab over.
陆西骁没有讲什么大道理，只是把她紧紧搂在怀里，一天又一天地陪，一点一点，把她从深不见底的井里，往上拉。
Lu Xixiao preached no grand lessons; he only held her tightly in his arms, stayed day after day, and pulled her, bit by bit, up out of a bottomless well.
就这样，周挽苍白的脸上，终于重新透出了一丝光。
And so, a faint light finally broke again across Zhou Wan's pale face.
再后来，是周挽的生日。
Later still, it was Zhou Wan's birthday.
她曾经只是随口一提，说想要一辆自行车。
She had once only mentioned, in passing, that she wanted a bicycle.
陆西骁便在游乐场里熬了一个通宵，一局接一局地赢，愣是把那辆车赢到了手。
So Lu Xixiao pulled an all-nighter at the arcade, winning round after round, until he'd wrestled that bike into his hands.
他独自一人，把那么沉的车，一级一级扛上了楼顶，只为把她一个微不足道的小心愿，稳稳地捧到她面前。
Alone, he carried that heavy bike up flight after flight to the rooftop, just to place one utterly small wish of hers, steadily, before her.
不止如此，为了替周挽赎回那套险些保不住的老房子，陆西骁把自己视若性命的摩托车，也一并卖了。
Not only that — to redeem the old house Zhou Wan had nearly lost, Lu Xixiao sold the motorbike he'd guarded like his own life.
偏偏在这时，周挽的母亲又一次现身，冷冷地劝她趁早与陆西骁一刀两断。
And precisely then, Zhou Wan's mother appeared once more, coldly urging her to cut ties with Lu Xixiao at once.
她说得毫不留情：你和他，从来就不是一个世界的人。
She said it without mercy: you and he were never from the same world.
可这一次，陆西骁没有转身离开，周挽，也终于没有再狠心把他推开。
But this time, Lu Xixiao didn't turn and leave, and Zhou Wan, at last, didn't harden her heart and push him away again.
奶奶不在了，可陆西骁一直都在。
Grandma was gone, but Lu Xixiao was always there.
这个夏天最黑、最冷的那一段，是他，用整个人的重量，把周挽一寸一寸，从黑暗深处拖了回来。
In that darkest, coldest stretch of summer, it was he who, with the weight of his whole being, dragged Zhou Wan, inch by inch, back from the depths of the dark.
只是那个埋了整整一夏的秘密，和那个虎视眈眈的女人，仍旧横在两人之间，像一根随时会断的弦。
Only, that secret buried all summer, and that woman lying in wait, still lay across the two of them, like a string about to snap.
陪你熬过最深那口井的人，你舍得，只因别人一句“不是一个世界”，就松开他的手吗？
When someone has seen you through the deepest well, could you let go of his hand just because another says you're "not from the same world"?
HSK 4-5. 可命运偏在这个节骨眼上… = but fate, at just this critical juncture…
HSK 5-ish. 血亲只有奶奶一人 = her only blood relative was grandma.
HSK 4. 周挽的母亲又一次现身 = Zhou Wan's mother appeared once more.
HSK 5-ish. This stretch is 一场葬礼 = a funeral.
HSK 2. 是周挽的生日 = it's Zhou Wan's birthday.
Beyond HSK 4. 那个放高利贷的人 = the loan shark.
Beyond HSK 4. 就要在睡梦里中毒 = about to be poisoned in her sleep.
Beyond HSK 4. 煤气便无声无息地弥漫开来 = gas spread silently through the room.
Beyond HSK 4. 说想要一辆自行车 = said she wanted a bicycle.
Beyond HSK 4. 把视若性命的摩托车也卖了 = sold the motorbike he guarded like his life.
Beyond HSK 4. 一级一级扛上了楼顶 = carried it flight by flight up to the rooftop.
Beyond HSK 4. 问周挽想不想谈恋爱 = asked her if she wanted to fall in love.
Beyond HSK 4. 那个埋了整整一夏的秘密 = the secret buried all summer.
* beyond level超纲词
缠绵病榻
缠绵病榻 = to be bedridden by illness for a long time (literary).
奶奶缠绵病榻已久。
饶是…依旧…
饶是 A，依旧 B = even though A, still B — literary concession.
可饶是如此，周挽依旧走不出那片阴影。
视若性命
视 X 若 Y = to regard X as Y; 视若性命 = to treasure like one's own life.
把自己视若性命的摩托车也卖了。
只因 + 原因
只因 X = merely because X — pins the single (often flimsy) reason.
你舍得，只因别人一句“不是一个世界”，就松开他的手吗？
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