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And now a break from all the intermediate and advanced exercises I've been posting lately. This one is a straightforward beginner Chinese diary-style essay about a student whose mother is displeased with his (or her, it's never clarified) homework. <!--more-->

<img src="http://chinesereadingpractice.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/20120503-INLINE.jpg" alt="Beginner Chinese Reading Materials: Learn Chinese Reading for Beginners" title="Easy Chinese Passages: Easy Chinese Essays" width="100" height="100" class="imgborder alignleft" /> There's only one thing that particularly stands out to me as confusing here, which is when the mother says: 可能是<strong>有了</strong>小妹妹，我这段时间对你关心少了。 Literally, this translates as "Maybe it's have small sister, I during this time towards you care little." The last clause we can translate into less literal and more readable English as "I haven't looked after you much during this time," but the first bit, "<strong><em>have </em></strong>small sister" (有了), is confusing. Why "have" 有了? 

In this case, that could be translated as, "Maybe it's because we have your little sister," or "It's because I had your little sister [to look after]", though "because" is never actually used in the sentence, it becomes that much harder to read. 

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<h4>Click to Listen</h4>
闷闷不乐 - [pinyin]men4 men4 bu4 le4[/pinyin] - Sulky, moody, unhappy
怎么了 - [pinyin]zen3 me5 le4[/pinyin] - What's wrong?
叹 - [pinyin]tan4[/pinyin] - Sigh
暑假 - [pinyin]shu3 jia4[/pinyin] - Summer vacation
自责 - [pinyin]zi4 ze2[/pinyin] - To blame oneself
根本 - [pinyin]gen1 ben3[/pinyin] - absolutely (not)
努力 - [pinyin]nu3 li4[/pinyin] -  To strive, work hard
盯 - [pinyin]ding1[/pinyin] - Stare at
攥 - [pinyin]zuan4[/pinyin] - To grasp
共同 - [pinyin]gong4 tong2[/pinyin] - Together
</div>
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<div id="chinesetext">
9月24日星期六

今天，开完家长会，妈妈<strong>闷闷不乐</strong>，