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 sentences

Listen, 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 weekday

Subscribe so you don't miss the next sentence.