Please record the audio with clear pronunciation at a natural pace. Please do your best to add good intonation to boost up the interest of the listeners and making them feel, and visualize the story. Please do not skip any word and do take the name of the author.
A Dried Rose
Author: Rizwan Ahmed Memon
It was the end of Rizwan’s last semester at the university. He was sitting in the library. Looking at the huge shelves of books, he thought about what gift he should give to his fiancée when he would marry her.
The idea of a ring came to mind. “But every groom gives a ring to his wife,” he said to himself. “What is something more special than a ring?” He was still thinking about the gift when he envisioned the first night of their marriage. He wondered, “What will I talk about on our first night? I will tell her how difficult my university life was. I will tell her that I missed her so much," he whispered to himself. Considering the things he would say to his fiancée on their first night, he wondered if she too was thinking what she would say on that first night. “She might be thinking about me or she might not. She is a shy girl, and we have never even talked on the phone!” He reminisced over their relationship. “Isn’t our love special? We have only seen each other two or three times from a distance. Our family customs don’t allow a boy and girl to be in contact until they are married,” he whispered to himself. Rizwan took his bag and started to put his books in it. A book fell from his hand to the floor. A dried rose dropped out of the book. He took the rose and remembered he had plucked it from the garden the day they were announced engaged. He had plucked the flower for Angly, but he was away from her at the university. He had kept it for her in the book. “Wow. A four-year-old rose smells almost the same as it did the day I plucked it! What can be more special than this rose which is as old as our engagement?”
Rizwan decided that he would give that old, dried rose to his fiancée, Angly. He put all his books in his bag and left the library. On his way to the hostel, he kept thinking about the rose. “The petals of the rose have dried, but its fragrance is still there. As I have preserved my love for Angly, the rose has preserved its fragrance for her,” he thought. “A ring or some jewelry are man-made things, but I have something which God has made. A rose, a symbol of love.” When he reached his room, he took the flower out and looked at it again. Then he placed the dried rose on his shelf, his intended gift for Angly, which he would give her on their first night.
All done! I hope you enjoy the recording.