The lift stops between the fifth and sixth floors. Auntie Wang, who has lived there twenty years, has never seen it before.
Xiaoyu
电梯怎么不动了？
Diàntī zěnme bù dòng le ?
Why has the lift stopped?
Auntie Wang
别着急，可能是停电了。
Bié zháojí, kěnéng shì tíngdiàn le.
Do not worry, it may be a power cut.
Xiaoyu
灯还亮着，应该不是停电。
Dēng hái liàng zhe, yīnggāi bùshì tíngdiàn.
The light is still on, so it cannot be a power cut.
Auntie Wang
那就是坏了。按那个红的。
Nà jiù shì huài le. Àn nà gè hóng de.
Then it has broken down. Press that red button.
Xiaoyu
按了。喂，我们在五楼和六楼中间。
Àn le. Wèi, wǒmen zài wǔ lóu hé liù lóu zhōngjiān.
Done. Hello, we are between the fifth and sixth floors.
The engineer
听到了。你们别动，我正在上来，十分钟。
Tīng dào le. Nǐmen bié dòng, wǒ zhèngzài shànglái, shí fēnzhōng.
I hear you. Do not move, I am on my way up, ten minutes.
Auntie Wang
好，我们等着。我在这个楼住了二十年，还是第一次。
Hǎo, wǒmen děng zhe. Wǒ zài zhè gè lóu zhù le èrshí nián, hái shì dìyī cì.
Right, we will wait. Twenty years I have lived in this building, and this is the first time.
Xiaoyu
您坐下休息一会儿，别站着。
Nín zuò xià xiūxi yīhuìr, bié zhàn zhe.
Sit down and rest a moment, do not stand.
Auntie Wang
不用。上个月就该修了，一直没人管。
Bù yòng. Shàng gè yuè jiù gāi xiū le, yīzhí méi rén guǎn.
No need. It should have been repaired last month, nobody has bothered.
Xiaoyu
出去以后我去跟他们说。
Chūqù yǐhòu wǒ qù gēn tāmen shuō.
When we get out I will go and speak to them.
Auntie Wang
你说了也没用，不过还是得说。
Nǐ shuō le yě méi yòng, bùguò hái shì de shuō.
It will do no good, but it still has to be said.
Two ways of saying what is going on now, and they do not swap. 着 describes a state that lasts with nothing moving: 亮着, lit; 站着, standing; 等着, waiting and doing nothing else. 正在 describes a movement in progress: 正在上来, he is on his way up. A state cannot take 正在, and an action cannot take 着 on its own.
该…了 says the moment has passed: 就该修了, it should have been repaired by now. The 就 sharpens the delay, the 了 signals that the deadline has gone by. Without them, 该修 would state a plain duty. The same turn of phrase serves without reproach for what arrives on time: 该吃饭了, it is time to eat.
怎么 asks how, but placed before an unexpected fact it expresses astonishment rather than curiosity: 怎么不动了, how come it has stopped? To ask for the reason in earnest you use 为什么. The final 了 marks the change: it was working, and now it is not.
