කඩේ ගාණ
A short in Sinhala text at level B1. The translation sits next to it: reading with a dictionary is still too early at this level, and without support it will not happen at all. At the shop of our village goods are sold per piece, not by kilograms. Last year the price of one coconut grew twofold.…
Text
- අපේ ගමේ කඩේ බඩු ගෙඩියට විකුණනවා, කිලෝවට නෙවෙයි. ගිය අවුරුද්දේ පොල් ගෙඩියක ගාණ දෙගුණයකින් වැඩි වුණා. මුදලාලි කිව්වා තොග වශයෙන් ගත්තොත් ගාණ ගුණයකින් අඩුයි කියලා. ඒත් ගෙදර ඉඩ මදි නිසා අපි එකින් එක අරන් එනවා. මාසේ අන්තිමට සල්ලි හරි ගානට තියෙන්නේ, ඒ නිසා අපි හැම දෙයක්ම ගණන් හදනවා.apē gamē kaḍē baḍu geḍiyaṭa vikuṇanavā, kilōvaṭa neveyi. giya avuruddē pol geḍiyaka gāṇa deguṇayakin væḍi vuṇā. mudalāli kivvā toga vaśayen gattot gāṇa guṇayakin aḍuyi kiyalā. ēt gedara iḍa madi nisā api ekin eka aran enavā. māsē antimaṭa salli hari gānaṭa tiyennē, ē nisā api hæma deyakma gaṇan hadanavā.At the shop of our village goods are sold per piece, not by kilograms. Last year the price of one coconut grew twofold. The shopkeeper said that if you take wholesale, the price is several times lower. But at home it is cramped, so we take one by one. By the end of the month money is scarce, so we count everything.
Comprehension questions
The questions are asked in Russian on purpose: we test your understanding of the text, not your ability to read the question.
- How is the goods sold at the shop?
- What happened to the price of the coconut?
- Why is wholesale not taken?
- How are things with money by the end of the month?
Frequently asked
What level do you need to read this text in Sinhala?
B1. That means: you know the letters and have a stock of everyday words — about two or three hundred.
How to read a text in an unfamiliar language usefully?
First all the way through without peeking at the translation — just to catch the familiar words. Then with the translation. Then all the way through again: the second pass brings noticeably more, and that feeling matters more than any rule.