养花 Growing Flowers — HSK 2 Reading

去年qùnián春天chūntiān，妈妈māma开始kāishǐ在zài家jiā里lǐ养yǎng花huā。

Last spring, mom started growing flowers at home.

她tā在zài阳台yángtái上shàng放fàng了le很hěn多duō花盆huāpén，颜色yánsè都dōu不bù一样yíyàng。

She put a lot of flowerpots on the balcony, all different colors.

每měi天tiān早上zǎoshang，她tā都dōu给gěi花huā浇水jiāoshuǐ，还hái跟gēn它们tāmen说话shuōhuà。

Every morning, she waters the flowers and even talks to them.

我wǒ问wèn她tā：“花huā能néng听懂tīngdǒng你nǐ说话shuōhuà吗ma？”

I asked her: "Can the flowers understand what you say?"

她tā笑xiào着zhe说shuō：“可能kěnéng不bù能néng，但是dànshì我wǒ觉得juéde很hěn快乐kuàilè。”

She smiled and said: "Maybe not, but it makes me happy."

夏天xiàtiān的de时候shíhou，阳台yángtái上shàng的de花huā都dōu开kāi了le，特别tèbié漂亮piàoliang。

In summer, the flowers on the balcony all bloomed — especially pretty.

现在xiànzài每次měi cì回家huíjiā，我wǒ都dōu先xiān去qù阳台yángtái看看kànkan那些nàxiē花huā。

Now every time I go home, I go look at those flowers on the balcony first.

🔊 Audio uses your device's Chinese voice for now — teacher recordings are coming. Tap any word to see its meaning.

Key words 生词

养花yǎng huāto grow flowers

阳台yángtáibalcony

花盆huāpénflowerpot

浇水jiāoshuǐto water (plants)

听懂tīngdǒngto understand (by listening)

快乐kuàilèhappy

跟 + person + verb — with someone

跟 introduces the person an action is done together with or toward.

她跟花说话。 — She talks to the flowers.

V + 懂 — understanding successfully

听懂 and 看懂 add 懂 as a result to show the listening or reading was actually understood.

花能听懂你说话吗？ — Can the flowers understand what you say?

1. Where does mom keep the flowerpots?

2. What does mom do every morning?

3. What happened to the flowers in summer?

After this reading

I'm Fei, and I teach Mandarin one-on-one on Preply. Bring this text to a trial lesson — we'll fix your tones and turn it into a real conversation.