ගඟයි කුණුයි
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. Near our village there is a river, but now there are harmful impurities in the water. The dump beyond the village grows…
Text
- අපේ ගම ළඟ ගඟක් තියෙනවා, ඒත් දැන් වතුරේ හානිකර මිශ්රණ තියෙනවා. ගමෙන් පිටත කසළ ගොඩ අවුරුද්දෙන් අවුරුද්ද ලොකු වෙනවා. කර්මාන්තශාලාවේ අපද්රව්ය ගඟට යනවා, ඒක ගඟ විස කරනවා. දැන් හැමෝම කුණු වෙන් වෙන් කරලා දානවා, ආපහු පාවිච්චි කරන ද්රව්ය වෙනම එකතු කරනවා. ගඟ යථා තත්වයට ගේන්න අවුරුදු ගාණක් යනවා, ඒත් හැමෝගෙම තමන්ගේ දායකත්වය ඕන.apē gama ḷanga gangak tiyenavā, ēt dæn vaturē hānikara miśraṇa tiyenavā. gamen piṭata kasaḷa goḍa avurudden avurudda loku venavā. karmāntaśālāvē apadravya gangaṭa yanavā, ēka ganga visa karanavā. dæn hæmōma kuṇu ven ven karalā dānavā, āpahu pāvicci karana dravya venama ekatu karanavā. ganga yathā tatvayaṭa gēnna avurudu gāṇak yanavā, ēt hæmōgema tamangē dāyakatvaya ōna.Near our village there is a river, but now there are harmful impurities in the water. The dump beyond the village grows year by year. The waste of the factory goes into the river and poisons it. Now everyone sorts garbage, and recyclables are collected separately. To restore the river, years are needed, but a personal contribution of each is needed too.
Comprehension questions
The questions are asked in Russian on purpose: we test your understanding of the text, not your ability to read the question.
- What is now in the water of the river?
- What is happening with the dump?
- What do the residents do now?
- What is needed besides time?
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.