In this short story, a melancholy robot stays awake all night, considering how strange it is that humans sleep.
Key vocab
睡觉 – shuìjiào – to sleep
闭着眼睛 – bìzhe yǎnjing – with eyes closed
动 – dòng – to move
做梦 – zuòmèng – to dream
醒 – xǐng – to wake up
奇怪 – qíguài – strange/weird
月亮 – yuèliang – moon
外面 – wàimiàn – outside
不会睡觉的机器人
我是一个机器人。我叫小白。
晚上十一点了。我的家人都睡觉了。
爸爸在床上睡觉。妈妈也在床上睡觉。小狗在地上睡觉。
我不睡觉。我不会睡觉。
我看爸爸。爸爸闭着眼睛。他不动。
我看妈妈。妈妈也闭着眼睛。她也不动。
我想：人睡觉的时候，像死了一样。
但是他们没有死。早上他们会醒。这很奇怪。
我看小狗。小狗在做梦。它的脚动一动，动一动。
它在梦里跑步吗？
我也想做梦。但是我不会睡觉，所以我没有梦。
晚上十二点了。
外面很黑。月亮在天上。
我看着月亮，看了很久很久。
今天晚上，只有我和月亮没睡觉。
The Robot Who Can’t Sleep
I am a robot. My name is Xiaobai.
It’s eleven o’clock at night. My family has all gone to sleep.
Dad is sleeping on the bed. Mom is also sleeping on the bed. The little dog is sleeping on the floor.
I don’t sleep. I can’t sleep.
I look at Dad. Dad’s eyes are closed. He doesn’t move.
I look at Mom. Mom’s eyes are also closed. She doesn’t move either.
I think: when people sleep, they look like they’re dead.
But they’re not dead. In the morning they will wake up. This is very strange.
I look at the little dog. The little dog is dreaming. Its feet move a little, move a little.
Is it running in its dream?
I also want to dream. But I can’t sleep, so I don’t have dreams.
It’s twelve o’clock at night.
Outside it’s very dark. The moon is in the sky.
I look at the moon, looked for a very, very long time.
Tonight, only the moon and I are not sleeping.