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A medium-length lower-intermediate (HSK 4-5) story about an old cat who goes up to heaven for a rest and some snacks. 

The challenge in this story is not in the vocabulary, but in the sentence construction, which is not as clear and directly-translatable to English sentences as, say, the sentences in <a href="http://chinesereadingpractice.com/2020/04/22/childrens-stories-grandpa-tree/">Grandfather Tree</a>. This piece includes quite a few grammatical structures unique to Chinese. I always tend to find that words are easy to look up, but unfamiliar sentence construction is harder to comprehend, because the words don't seem to string together. So, I'll spend some time explaining the rough bits before we dive in. 

<h4>Some language stuff</h4>
<strong>Quick vocab note:</strong> Since this piece is set in heaven (天堂 [pinyin]tian tang[/pinyin]), expect to see related words like God / Heavenly Lord (上帝 [pinyin]shang di[/pinyin], lifetime (辈子 [pinyin]bei zi[/pinyin], life (一生 [pinyin]yi4 sheng1[/pinyin])

<a href="https://www.51test.net/show/9785328.html">Source here</a>
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<h4>《老猫的下酒菜》</h4>
老猫度完了自己的一生,上了天堂。上帝来到它的面前,对它说:“我希望你在这里能过得更好。现在你说一下你有什么要求吧。”

“上帝啊!”老猫说:“为了抓住老鼠,填饱肚子,我像个疯子似的跑了一辈子了。您能不能让我在这儿不用跑来跑去找吃的吗?”

“好的。”上帝说完,给了老猫一张舒服柔软的大床、一大瓶酒、一些玩具和一大堆好吃的。

第二天,天堂来了六只老鼠。上帝对老鼠说:“我希望你们在这里能过得更好。现在你们说一下你们都有什么要求吧。”

“上帝啊!”老鼠们齐声说。“我们这辈子为了弄口吃的,每天东躲西藏,时刻提防着老猫的袭击。我们跑够了,再也不想跑了。”　　

“好。”上帝说完,给每只老鼠发了一双冰鞋。　

第三天,上帝看见老猫时,问:“你在这儿过得怎么样?还满意吧?”　　

“好极了!”老猫回答。“我喜欢我那张床,还有那堆玩具。酒也非常好喝,就是那些穿冰鞋的下酒菜实在不容易抓到。”

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An old cat FINISHED HIS  life, and went up to heaven. The Heavenly Lord came before him, and said to him: "I hope that here you can pass [your time] more happily. Now, tell me what requests you have." 

"Oh Heavenly Lord!" The old cat said: "In order to catch mice, and fill my belly, I ran about like a crazy thing all my days. Can you make it so that here, I needn't run all about to eat?" 

"Alright." The Heavenly Lord finished speaking, and he gave the old cat a comfortable, soft, big bed, a bottle of wine, a few toys and a big pile of food.

The next day, six mice came to heaven. The Heavenly Lord said to the mice: "I hope that here you can pass [your time] more happily. Now tell me what requests you have." 

"Oh Heavenly Lord!" The mice said in unison. "During our lives in order to get a bite to eat, every day we've [had to] hide here and there, we've  “上帝啊!”老鼠们齐声说。“我们这辈子为了弄口吃的,每天东躲西藏,时刻提防着老猫的袭击。我们跑够了,再也不想跑了。”　　

“好。”上帝说完,给每只老鼠发了一双冰鞋。　

第三天,上帝看见老猫时,问:“你在这儿过得怎么样?还满意吧?”　　

“好极了!”老猫回答。“我喜欢我那张床,还有那堆玩具。酒也非常好喝,就是那些穿冰鞋的下酒菜实在不容易抓到。”

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