Level 2 · Reading series
Lesson 15 · Grandmother's Old Radio
Audio track 15
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There is an old radio on my grandmother's shelf. It does not connect to the internet, and it cannot show videos. Still, she turns it on every morning.
"When I was your age, this radio was newer than anything in our house," she told me.
I asked, "Was it like a smartphone?"
She laughed. "Maybe. We listened to music, baseball games, weather news, and stories. The whole family sometimes sat around it."
The radio looked simple, but it carried many voices into one small room.
Check your understanding
After reading, state the main idea in one sentence and find a line that supports it.
Chinese translation
奶奶的架子上有一台旧收音机。它不能连接互联网，也放不出视频，但奶奶每天早晨仍会打开它。
她对我说：‘我像你这么大的时候，这台收音机比家里任何东西都新潮。’
我问：‘它像现在的智能手机吗？’
她笑了：‘也许吧。我们用它听音乐、棒球比赛、天气预报和故事。有时候全家人都围坐在它旁边。’
收音机看起来很简单，却把许多不同的声音带进了一间小小的屋子。
Key words and expressions
Key terms have Chinese explanations. Hover over dotted words in the English passage for word help and pronunciation when available.
- There is ...
- 有……；There is an old radio 表示‘有一台旧收音机’。
- shelf
- 架子；这里摆放着奶奶的收音机。
- connect to
- 连接到；connect to the internet 是‘连接互联网’。
- still
- 仍然；虽然功能少，奶奶仍每天打开它。
- turn ... on
- 打开；turn it on 指打开收音机。
- When I was your age
- 我像你这么大的时候；奶奶回忆自己的少年时代。
- newer than anything
- 比其他任何东西都新；突出当年的新奇。
- weather news
- 天气新闻；这里可理解为天气预报。
- sit around
- 围坐在……旁边；全家人一起听。
- carry
- 带来；文中指收音机把声音带进房间。
Background notes (Chinese)
今天，人们能在各自的手机上听节目；以前，一家人围着一台收音机听同一段播报，也是一种共享的生活经验。奶奶珍惜的不只是机器，还有与家人一起听过的声音。