Page 274 - updated on July

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

So I thought of one of the texts that I was most

familiar with and began to recite it, thinking that she

was a doctor anyway and didn’t know English at all.

So long as I could demonstrate my beautiful

pronunciation, I would get by under false pretenses.

But as soon as I began to recite the text, I stammered

terribly, “Long, long ago… there was…eh… a

king…eh… whose name was Midas. He

loved…eh… gold very much. One day…eh… he

asked the God to give…eh… him more gold…”

She laughed and said,” I know some English.

Can we talk in English?”

“Do you know English?” I uttered a cry of

surprise and face went red. I knew I would lose face.

“Yes, I do. I learned some English at the medical

university.” She stared at me, smiling.

“Ok, let me try,” I grumbled and became nervous.

I was indeed an English major. But because of the

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