Auntie Wang's mother lives alone at eighty-eight and will not hear of a care home. The neighbourhood office offers another way.
Auntie Wang
我妈今年八十八了，一个人住，我不放心。
Wǒ mā jīnnián bāshíbā le, yī gè rén zhù, wǒ bù fàngxīn.
My mother is eighty-eight this year, she lives on her own, and it worries me.
The neighbourhood officer
她自己愿意去养老院吗？
Tā zìjǐ yuànyì qù yǎng lǎo yuàn ma ?
Is she willing to go into a care home herself?
Auntie Wang
不愿意。她说在这个家住了五十年，不想搬。
Bù yuànyì. Tā shuō zài zhè gè jiā zhù le wǔshí nián, bù xiǎng bān.
She is not. She says she has lived in this flat for fifty years and does not want to move.
The neighbourhood officer
那可以先用上门的服务。
Nà kěyǐ xiān yòng shàng mén de fúwù.
Then you could start with home visits.
Auntie Wang
上门做什么？
Shàng mén zuò shénme ?
What do they do when they come?
The neighbourhood officer
做饭、洗衣服、陪她去医院，一个星期三次。
Zuò fàn, xǐ yīfu, péi tā qù yīyuàn, yī gè xīngqī sān cì.
Cooking, laundry, going with her to the hospital, three times a week.
Auntie Wang
一个月多少钱？
Yī gè yuè duōshao qián ?
How much a month?
The neighbourhood officer
八百多。八十岁以上，社区还补一部分。
Bā bǎi duō. Bāshí suì yǐshàng, shè qū hái bǔ yī bùfen.
A little over eight hundred. Over eighty, the neighbourhood covers part of it.
Auntie Wang
那晚上呢？她上个月在卫生间摔过一次。
Nà wǎnshang ne ? Tā shàng gè yuè zài wèi shēng jiān shuāi guò yī cì.
And at night? Last month she had a fall in the bathroom.
The neighbourhood officer
可以在屋里装几个按钮。摔了，一按我们就知道。
Kěyǐ zài wū lǐ zhuāng jǐ gè àn niǔ. Shuāi le, yī àn wǒmen jiù zhīdào.
You can have a few call buttons fitted in the flat. If she falls, one press and we know.
Auntie Wang
这个好。不但她安心，而且我晚上也能睡了。
Zhè gè hǎo. Bùdàn tā ān xīn, érqiě wǒ wǎnshang yě néng shuì le.
That is good. Not only will she feel safer, I will be able to sleep at night too.
The neighbourhood officer
除了这些以外，社区食堂中午还送饭。
Chúle zhèxiē yǐwài, shè qū shí táng zhōngwǔ hái sòng fàn.
On top of that, the neighbourhood canteen delivers lunch.
Auntie Wang
那我今天下午就把材料送过来。
Nà wǒ jīntiān xiàwǔ jiù bǎ cáiliào sòng guòlai.
Then I will bring the paperwork over this afternoon.
不但她安心，而且我晚上也能睡了: the two halves are not about the same person, and that is what gives the sentence its force. The mould does not require a shared subject; it requires only that the two facts run the same way. It is the last use of the construction at this level, and the freest.
摔了，一按我们就知道: she falls, one press, and we know. Chinese strings the events together with no conjunction, and 一…就… is enough to mark the immediacy. English has to add "if", "then", "and" where Chinese makes do with word order. That is what makes a Chinese sentence shorter than its translation, and it can be checked on almost every line at this level.
The 社区 is the smallest urban administrative unit, between the compound and the district. It runs an office, a canteen, often a clinic — the very one Doctor Zhang mentioned in lesson 7. Care at home goes through it: an allowance based on age, approved home helps, alarm devices. It is China's answer to an ageing faster than elsewhere, and it rests on the neighbourhood as much as on the state.
