පොලීසියේ දවසක්
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. Last night an incident happened on our street. Someone broke the door of the shop, so we called the police. The police…
Text
- ඊයේ රෑ අපේ පාරේ සිද්ධියක් වුණා. කවුරු හරි කඩේ දොර කඩලා තිබුණා, ඒක නිසා අපි පොලීසියට කතා කළා. පොලීසිය ඇවිත් සැකකරුවෙක් අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්තා. මට ලිඛිත ප්රකාශයක් දෙන්න වුණා, මොකද මම ඒ වෙලාවේ පාරේ හිටියා. නිලධාරියා ඇහුවා මම මොනවා දැක්කද කියලා. මම කිව්වා හරියට දැක්කේ නෑ කියලා, ඒක නිසා මම වැඩිය කිව්වේ නෑ. අන්තිමට එයාලා කිව්වා නඩුව උසාවියට යනවා කියලා.īyē rǣ apē pārē siddhiyak vuṇā. kavuru hari kaḍē dora kaḍalā tibuṇā, ēka nisā api polīsiyaṭa katā kaḷā. polīsiya ævit sækakaruvek at-aḍaṁguvaṭa gattā. maṭa likhita prakāśayak denna vuṇā, mokada mama ē velāvē pārē hiṭiyā. niladhāriyā æhuvā mama monavā dækkada kiyalā. mama kivvā hariyaṭa dækkē nǣ kiyalā, ēka nisā mama væḍiya kivvē nǣ. antimaṭa eyālā kivvā naḍuva usāviyaṭa yanavā kiyalā.Last night an incident happened on our street. Someone broke the door of the shop, so we called the police. The police came and detained a suspect. I had to give a statement, because at that moment I was on the street. The official asked what I had seen. I said that I had not really seen anything, so I did not tell much. In the end they said that the case would go to court.
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 happened on the street?
- What did the police do?
- Why was a statement taken from the author?
- How did it end?
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.