Chinese · Episode 10
The Long Lunar Night
Spoken by 晓星
The long lunar night, when garden lamps hum and she looks for a sunset that will not come.
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月亮外面已经黑了好几天，早上去学校， It's been dark outside on the Moon for several days. In the morning I go to school,
晚上回家，看着都差不多。 and come home in the evening—it all looks about the same.
这里的夜晚差不多有两个星期那么长， Nights here last nearly two weeks,
可我们还是照常睡觉、上学， but we still sleep and go to school as usual,
不会一直等太阳出来。 we don't keep waiting for the sun to come out.
花园也有自己的时间。外面没有太阳的时候， The garden has its own time too. When there's no sun outside,
就按植物需要的时间开灯。 they turn the lights on for as long as the plants need.
今天放学过去，灯正亮着， When I went over after school today, the lights were on,
还能听见一点轻轻的响声。 and I could hear a faint little sound.
妈妈在下面摘叶子，兔子从旁边送东西过去， Mom was down below picking leaves, and Rabbit was bringing things over from the side,
大家都有事做。 everyone had something to do.
我倒坐了一会儿，想起小美说过， I sat for a while instead, and remembered Xiaomei saying
地球上太阳快下去的时候，天有时会变红。 that on Earth, when the sun is about to set, the sky sometimes turns red.
我还没见过那样的天， I've never seen a sky like that,
真想看看它怎么一点一点暗下来。 I'd really love to watch it darken little by little.
可望城外面早就黑了，这时候往上看， But outside Wangcheng it's been dark for a long time. Looking up now,
也等不到太阳下山。 you still won't get a sunset.
妈妈见我一直抬头，就问在看什么。 Mom saw me keeping my head up and asked what I was looking at.
我说想看看日落，她笑着说：“那今天可等不着。 I said I wanted to see the sunset. She laughed and said, "You won't catch one today.
明天还上课呢，别在这儿坐一晚上。” You've got class tomorrow—don't sit here all night."
我知道，可还是舍不得马上回去。 I knew that, but I still couldn't bear to head back right away.
花园灯下的叶子那么绿，远处却是一片黑， The leaves under the garden lights were so green, yet far off it was all black,
看久了就觉得这个夜晚特别长。 and after looking a while, this night felt especially long.
回家以后，我又看见窗外的地球， After I got home, I saw Earth outside the window again,
跟它说了声“早上好”。 and said "good morning" to it.
说习惯了，晚上也会说。 I've gotten used to saying it, so I say it at night too.
然后我把明天要用的书收好，去睡觉了。 Then I put away the books I'll need tomorrow and went to sleep.
外面什么时候亮，我明天都得按时起床。 Whenever it gets light outside, I still have to get up on time tomorrow.