Page 273 - updated on July

Yu Jihui: “A Stinking Old Ninth – A Tale of the Coal Capital” (updated on July 2020)

“In my class, I was at the top. There was no rival

for me.”

I extolled myself to the skies.

“Ah!” she uttered a cry of praise again. I felt

even more proud.

“Can you recite one of the texts you have learnt?”

“Ok. But…” I wanted to say that because of the

great cultural revolution, I had not practiced it for a

long time. But I immediately realised that’s not a

good excuse. To be frank, I was not closer to the

bottom of my class. I had been lazy. I was not very

familiar with the texts even when I was at school.

Now, many years later, I had almost forgotten all of

them. So for a moment I hesitated.

“I know you haven’t practiced English for a long

time. But I don’t think it’s a problem to recite a few

sentences. You are an English major…” she said, as

if she knew what I was thinking.

270