Chinese Breeze Graded Reader Series: Level 2: 500 Word Level: 如果没有你: Rúguǒ méiyǒu nǐ: If I Didn't Have You

by Yuehua Liu, Chengzhi Chu

Chinese Breeze is a large and innovative Chinese graded reader series that will offer over 60 titles of enjoyable stories at eight language levels. It is designed for college and secondary school Chinese language learners from beginning to advanced levels (including AP Chinese students), offering them a new opportunity to read for pleasure and simultaneously developing real fluency, building confidence, and increasing motivation for Chinese learning. Each title comes with an audio CD containing recordings of the text. In simplified characters, with pinyin and English in vocabulary lists. There are also short exercises and answer keys at the end of each book. CONTENT OF THIS Xiaoming is a talented pickpocket, but steals only from the wealthy. He never harms the poor, and doesn't allow other thieves to victimize them either. When college student Xia Yu loses her purse at the train station, Xiaoming retrieves it for her. They begin to fall in love, but everything is thrown into jeopardy when Xiaoming picks the pocket of a man he should not have crossed...

Genres: China

77 pages, Paperback

Published December 31, 2009

Reviews

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the second of the level 2 readers I've read. It was the first one I bought and sounded like it had the best modern story. It was about a pickpocket who falls in love, picks the wrong businessman's pocket but has a happy ending. It is quite simplistic but also quite interesting. The hero only steals from the rich and helps the elderly. The girl he falls in love with is also an orphan but because she went to a good orphanage she is able to work and go to university.

I read this one in three sittings as well. Overall I think it was easier to read than Green phoenix. There was only one place where I got a little bit lost which was when they were explaining exactly what the bad guys had done. It seemed to be bribing people for an archiecture project but I'm still a little unclear. It did feel a little clumsy in places when it was describing people as the rich man, or the tall men wearing black clothes, rather than just giving them names. But it was still a good book and good practice. I think I have four more level 2 books and am looking forward to reading them too.

[Jonathan Mckay · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of the level 2 graded readers, without a doubt.

[Katie M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over-the-top cheesy, even for a Chinese romance novella.