Mandarin Companion - The Country of the Blind (Sample)

8/11/2019 Mandarin Companion - The Country of the Blind (Sample)

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Mandarin Companion Graded Readers

Level 1: 300 characters

Mngrn Gu

The Country of the Blind (Sample)

by H.G. Wells

Mind Spark Press LLC

SHANGHAI


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Mandarin Companion Graded Readers

Mandarin Companion creates books you can read! This series offers Chinese

learners enjoyable and interesting reading materials to accelerate language

learning. Each book uses characters, words, and grammar that a learner is most

likely to know at each level based on in-depth analysis of textbooks, education

programs, and natural Chinese language. Every story is written in a style that is

easy for a learner to understand and enjoyable to read.

Mandarin Companion Level 1

Level One is intended for Chinese learners who have obtained an elementary lev

of Chinese. Most students will be able to approach this book after one to two

years of traditional formal study, depending on the learner and program. In

creating this story we have carefully balanced the need for level-appropriate

simplicity against the needs of the story's plot.

When writing a story in Chinese, close attention must be paid to both Chinese

characters and vocabulary words. The level is designed around Mandarin

Companion's core set of 300 basic charactersensuring that most vocabulary wi

be simple, everyday words, composed of characters that the learner is most likely

to know. This book contains approximately 400 unique words, a figure similar

low-level graded readers for English learners. New words and characters may be

added as the plot requires but are strictly limited to fall within the principles of

extensive reading. Corresponding pinyin readings and English definitions are


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provided at each occurrence.

What level is right for me?

If you are able to read this book without stopping every sentence to pull out a

dictionary to look up a character, then this book is probably at your level. If you

are able to ready fluidly and quickly without interruption, then you may be ready

for a higher level. Even if you can read all of the characters and words but are no

able to read fluidly, it is recommended that you build your reading speed before

moving to a higher level.

Learners should read at a level where they can understand most of the words in t

book. It is ideal to have only one unknown word or character for every 40-50

words or characters. New characters and words that fall outside the level of this

story are introduced throughout the book with numbered footnotes referenced in

the glossary with pinyin and an English definition.

How will this help my Chinese?

Reading extensively in a language you are learning is one of the most effective

ways to build fluency. However, the key is to read at a level of high

comprehension. Reading at the appropriate level in Chinese will increase the

speed of your character recognition, help you acquire vocabulary faster, allow yo

to naturally learn grammar, and train your brain to think in Chinese. It also make

learning Chinese fun and enjoyable. You'll finally be able to experience the sens

of accomplishment and confidence that only comes from reading entire books in

Chinese.

Please visit the chapter Extensive Reading and Graded Readersfor more


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information.


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Table of Contents

Story Adaptation Notes

Characters and Locations

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Key Words

Discussion Questions

Extensive Reading and Graded Readers

Credits and Acknowledgements

About Mandarin Companion

Other Stories from Mandarin Companion


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Story Adaptation Notes

This story is an adaptation of English sci-fi author H.G. Wells 1904 classic stor

The Country of the Blind. This Mandarin Companion graded reader has been

adapted into a fully localized Chinese version of the original story. The characte

have been given authentic Chinese names as opposed to transliterations of Engli

names, and the locations have been adapted to well-known places in China. We

have used the English language classic title's official translation in Chinese, but

we have converted all character names to natural Chinese names and changed

some details to better fit a Chinese setting.

The time period of this adaptation is left up to the readers imagination, but

clearly modern technology does not play a role in the story. The original 1904

story and a revised version published in 1939 actually have different endings. W

have made an unusual choice in this case and decided to follow neither original

ending exactly, rather giving the story our own twist. We hope you enjoy it.

Character Adaptations

The following is a list of the characters from The Country of the Blindin Chines

followed by their corresponding English names from Wells original story. The

names below aren't translations; they're new Chinese names used for the Chineseversions of the original characters. Think of them as all-new characters in a

Chinese story.

(Chn Fngyun) - Nuez

(Jing Tiny) - Yacob


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(Jing Xu) - Medina-Sarot


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Cast of Characters

Locations

Guzhu Guizhou Province is in southwest China, between Yunnan

and Hunan. Like Yunnan, it is home to many Chinese ethnic minoritie

and is also a very mountainous province.


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1

[2] [3]

[4]

[5] [3] [6]

[7]

[8] [9]

[10]

[2]

[11] [12]


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[8] [13] [6] [14] [15]

[16] [2] [8]

[6] [14] [13] [17]

[2] [8] [17]


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[18]

[2] [12]

[19]

[20] [21]

[1] [19]

[22]

[17]

[23] [8]

[13] [6] [14]

[24] [25]

[17] [12]

[26] [23] [27]


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[9] [19] [21]

[24]

[28] [18]

[2] [1]

[1]


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2

[17] [1] [2]

[1] [29]

[30] [30] 6

8 [31] [13]

[14] [14] [32] [32]

[14]

[12]


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[9] [1] [1] [18]

[1] [17]

[22]

[11]

[26]

[19] [33] [34] [21]

[21]

[1]

[35] [36]


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[37]

[21] [1] [12]

[38] [1]

[12] [24] [19] [24] [17] [24]

[19] [32]

[32] [7]

[1] [19] [21]

[39] [1]

[33]

[40] [41] [1] [13]

[17] [1] [12] [17]

[24] [17] [24]

[17] [5]

[1] [23]

[17] [1] [23]

[1] [42] [43]

We hope you enjoyed this sample! Please visit www.MandarinCompanion.comf

a full copy of this book and to browse other titles in this series.
http://mandarincompanion.com/


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Part of Speech Key

adj. Adjective

adv. Adverb

aux. Auxiliary Verb

conj. Conjunction

mw. Measure word

n. Noun

num. Numeral

on. Onomatopoeia

part. Particle

pn. Proper noun

tn. Time Noun

v. Verb

vc. Verb plus complement

vo. Verb plus object


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Extensive Reading

After years of studying Chinese, many people ask, "Why can't I speak Chinese?

I've been studying for years but I still can't speak!" Fluent speaking only happens

when the language enters our "comfort zone." This comfort only comes from

experience with the language. The more times you meet a word, phrase, or

grammar point, the more likely it will enter your comfort zone.

In the world of language research, the experts agree that learners can acquire new

vocabulary through reading if the overall text can be understood. Decades of

research indicate that if we know approximately 98% of the words in a book, we

can comfortably "pick up" the 2% that is unfamiliar. Reading at this 98%

comprehension level is called "Extensive Reading."

Research in extensive reading has shown that it accelerates vocabulary learning

and helps the learner to naturally understand grammar. Perhaps most importantly

it trains the brain to automatically process the language thereby leaving space in

the memory for other things. As they build reading speed and fluency, learners

will move from reading "word by word" to starting to process "chunks of

language" at a time. A defining feature is that it's lesspainfulthan the "intensive

reading" commonly used in textbooks. In fact, extensive reading can be downrigh

fun.

Graded Readers

Graded readersare the best books for learners to "extensively" read. Research

has taught us that learners need to "encounter" a word 10-30 times before truly


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Credits

Original Author: H.G. Wells

Series Editor: John Pasden

Lead Writer: Yang Renjun

Associate Editor: Yu Cui

Illustrator: Hu Shen

Producer: Jared Turner

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Yang Renjun, Yu Cui, Song Shen and the entire team at AllS

Learning for working on this project and contributing the perfect mix of talent to

produce this series.

Thank you to our enthusiastic testers, Logan Pauley, Ashlyn Weber, Michelle

Helding Birkenfeldt, Vanessa Dewey, and Ariel Bowman. Thank you to Judy

Yang who helped with our cover and book design.

A special thanks to Rob Waring, to whom we refer as the "godfather of extensive

reading" for his encouragement, expert advice, and support with this project.


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Thank you to Heather Turner for being the inspiration behind the entire series an

never wavering in her belief. Thank you to Song Shen for supporting us, handlin

all the small thankless tasks, and spurring us forward if we dared to fall behind.

Moreover, we will be forever grateful for Yuehua Liu and Chengzhi Chu for

pioneering the first graded readers in Chinese and to whom we owe a debt of

gratitude for their years of tireless work to bring these type of materials to the

Chinese learning community.


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Other Stories from Mandarin Companion

Level 1 Readers: 300 Characters

The Secret Garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Li Ye grew up never knowing the love and affection of her parents. After an

epidemic leaves her an orphan, Li Ye is sent off to live with her reclusive

Uncle in his sprawling estate in Nanjing. She learns of a secret garden where

no one has set foot in ten years. Li Ye finds the garden and slowly discovers

the secrets of the manor. With the help of new friends, she brings the garden

back to life, a decision that forever changes several lives.

The Monkey's Paw

by W.W. Jacobs

Mr. and Mrs. Zhang live with their grown son, Xide, who works at a factory.

One day Mr. Qian, an old friend of Mr. Zhang, comes to visit the family afte

having spent years traveling in the mysterious hills of Yunnan. Mr. Qian tell

the Zhang family of a monkey's paw he was given that has magical powers to

grant three wishes to the holder. Against his better judgment, Mr. Qian gives

the monkey paw to the Zhang family with a warning that the wishes come wi

a great price for trying to change one's fate


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language learners. Visit our website for the newest books available:

www.MandarinCompanion.com


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Mandarin Companion is a trademark of Mind Spark Press LLC.

www.MandarinCompanion.com

Design and Illustrations contained herein are Mind Spark Press 2013.

First published 2013. This Chinese language original adaption AllSet Learnin

2013,

licensed exclusively to Mandarin Companion.

ISBN 978-0-9910052-3-9

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanica

photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of t

publishers.

Mandarin Companion - The Country of the Blind (Sample)

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