Key vocab
减法 – jiǎn fǎ – subtraction
铅笔 – qiān bǐ – pencil
拿走 – ná zǒu – to take away
巧克力 – qiǎo kè lì – chocolate
应该 – yīng gāi – should; ought to
听懂 – tīng dǒng – to understand (by listening)
不管 – bù guǎn – no matter; regardless
高兴 – gāo xìng – happy; glad
想都没想 – xiǎng dōu méi xiǎng – without thinking at all
铅笔 – qiān bǐ – pencil
拿走 – ná zǒu – to take away
巧克力 – qiǎo kè lì – chocolate
应该 – yīng gāi – should; ought to
听懂 – tīng dǒng – to understand (by listening)
不管 – bù guǎn – no matter; regardless
高兴 – gāo xìng – happy; glad
想都没想 – xiǎng dōu méi xiǎng – without thinking at all
小明的减法课
今天上数学课，老师教大家做减法。
老师问小明：”小明，如果我有五支铅笔，你拿走两支，我还有几支？”
小明说：”三支！”
老师说：”很好！”
老师又问：”如果我有十本书，你拿走四本，我还有几本？”
小明说：”六本！”
老师笑了，说：”对！很好！”
老师很高兴。她想再问一个。
“小明，如果你有十块巧克力，我跟你要两块，你还有几块？”
小明想都没想，说：”十块！”
老师说：”不对！应该是八块。你没听懂吗？”
小明说：”老师，我听懂了。但是不管你要多少块巧克力，我一块都不给你。”
2 replies on “小明的减法课 – Xiao Ming’s Subtraction Lesson”
Read it! Too cute.
The chocolate punchline got me. What makes it work is how carefully the vocab is staged – by the time 想都没想 shows up you can read the whole exchange without stopping, and the pinyin notes under the story mean you never have to break the joke to look something up. Graded reading usually feels like an exercise; this one lands like an actual joke, which makes rereading it (and therefore the vocab) effortless. Hope this series keeps going!