Day 35 · The Call Before Gaokao

A slow English story about A phone call from my nephew the night before his gaokao — and what I told him. 16 simple sentences. Word by word.📝 Today's sentencesListen, my nephew called me this weekend.He told me his gaokao starts tomorrow morning.And he wanted me to give him a pep talk.Honestly, I was kind of touched.He thought of me at a moment like this.But I didn't really know what to say.I mean, it's the gaokao.I just wanted him to take it easy.So I said, I'm so glad you called me.You've really grown these past three years.I genuinely like who you've become.To me, you already aced your gaokao.Then we started joking about his freshman year. So rebellious.His junior-year crush. His senior-year all-nighter.He laughed. I could feel him relax.We talked a little longer, then hung up.🔑 Vocabulary• pep talk /pep tɔːk/• touched /tʌtʃt/• ace /eɪs/• all-nighter /ˌɔːlˈnaɪtər/• hang up /hæŋ ʌp/• gaokao /ˈɡaʊˌkaʊ/• a moment like this /ə ˈmoʊmənt laɪk ðɪs/• take it easy /teɪk ɪt ˈiːzi/• genuinely /ˈdʒenjuɪnli/• rebellious /rɪˈbeljəs/• crush /krʌʃ/🎧 New episode every weekdaySubscribe so you don't miss the next sentence.