දෙවෙනි උත්සාහය
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. My younger sister did not pass the exam the first time. She was very upset, but Mother said that the worst of all is to…
Text
- මගේ නංගි විභාගය පළවෙනි වතාවෙන්ම පාස් වුණේ නෑ. එයා ගොඩක් දුක් වුණා, ඒත් අම්මා කිව්වා නරකම දේ තමයි කිසිම දෙයක් නොකර ඉන්න එක කියලා. මම කිව්වා: මම ඔයා නම් තව පාරක් උත්සාහ කරලා බලනවා, ඒක වටිනවා. ඇත්ත කිව්වොත් පළවෙනි වතාවේ එයා ඉගෙනගත්තේ අන්තිම සතියේ විතරයි, ඒක වැරදි පුරුද්දක්. මේ පාර එයා හැම දවසකම ටිකක් ඉගෙනගත්තා, විභාගෙට කලින් නින්දත් හොඳට ගත්තා. දෙවෙනි උත්සාහය සාර්ථකයි, දැන් එයා කියනවා අමාරු වුණාට ඒක කරගත්තා කියලා.magē naṁgi vibhāgaya paḷaveni vatāvenma pās vuṇē nǣ. eyā goḍak duk vuṇā, ēt ammā kivvā narakama dē tamayi kisima deyak nokara inna eka kiyalā. mama kivvā: mama oyā nam tava pārak utsāha karalā balanavā, ēka vaṭinavā. ætta kivvot paḷaveni vatāvē eyā igenagattē antima satiyē vitarayi, ēka væradi puruddak. mē pāra eyā hæma davasakama ṭikak igenagattā, vibhāgeṭa kalin nindat hondaṭa gattā. deveni utsāhaya sārthakayi, dæn eyā kiyanavā amāru vuṇāṭa ēka karagattā kiyalā.My younger sister did not pass the exam the first time. She was very upset, but Mother said that the worst of all is to do nothing. I said: in your place I would try once more, it is worth it. Honestly, the first time she studied only the last week, and that is a bad habit. This time she studied a little every day and slept well before the exam. The second attempt succeeded, and now she says that although it was hard, she coped.
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 to the sister the first time?
- What did Mother say?
- What was her bad habit?
- How did the second attempt 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.