Chicken Soup for the Soul

Good stories , like the best mentors in our lives , are door openers . They are unique experiences containing insights tied to emotional triggers that get our attention and stay in our memories . These stories can free us from being bound to decisions of the past and open us to understanding ourselves and the opportunities that are there before us . A really good story allows us to recognize the choices that are open to us and see new alternatives we might never have seen before . It can give us permission to try ( or at least consider trying ) a new path .


In my spare time , I『d like to read the stories in Chicken Soup for the Soul . Not only because reading is my favor , but also it『s the true stories lead me to continue , they really savor the feelings  .....from reading , I was told that ordinary people may also do extraordinary things . Here I am going to share some of the stories I『ve read with all of you . I hope you will love these stories as I have loved them . May they bring you tears , laughter , insight , healing and empowerment . Come on to read with me , and apply the lessons learned to your own life

[B]Write Your Own Life  譜寫生命的樂章 [/B]


Suppose someone gave you a pen C a sealed, solid-colored pen.


假如有人送你一支筆，一支不可拆卸的單色鋼筆.


You couldn『t see how much ink it had. It might run dry after the first few tentative words or last just long enough to create a masterpiece (or several) that would last forever and make a difference in the scheme of things. You don『t know before you begin.


裡面究竟有多少墨水看不出。或許在你試探性地寫上幾個字后它就會枯乾，或許足夠用來創作一部影響深遠的不朽巨著(或是幾部)。而這些，在動筆前，都是無法得知的。


Under the rules of the game, you really never know. You have to take a chance!


在這個遊戲規則下，你真的永遠不會預知結果。你只能去碰運氣！


Actually, no rule of the game states you must do anything. Instead of picking up and using the pen, you could leave it on a shelf or in a drawer where it will dry up, unused.


事實上，這個遊戲里沒有規則指定你必須要做什幺。相反，你甚至可以根本不去動用這支筆，把它扔在書架上或是抽屜里讓它的墨水乾枯。


But if you do decide to use it, what would you do with it? How would you play the game?


但是，如果你決定要用它的話，那幺會用它來做什幺呢？你將怎幺來進行這個遊戲呢?


Would you plan and plan before you ever wrote a word? Would your plans be so extensive that you never even got to the writing?


你會不寫一個字，老是計劃來計劃去嗎？你會不會由於計劃過於宏大而來不及動筆呢?


Or would you take the pen in hand, plunge right in and just do it, struggling to keep up with the twists and turns of the torrents of words that take you where they take you?


或者你只是手裡拿著筆，一頭扎進去寫，不停地寫，艱難地隨著文字洶湧的浪濤而隨波逐流？


Would you write cautiously and carefully, as if the pen might run dry the next moment, or would you pretend or believe (or pretend to believe) that the pen will write forever and proceed accordingly?


你會小心謹慎的寫字，好象這支筆在下一個時刻就可能會幹枯；還是裝做或相信這支筆能夠永遠寫下去而信手寫來呢？


And of what would you write: Of love? Hate? Fun? Misery? Life? Death? Nothing? Everything?


並且你又會寫下些什幺呢：愛？恨？喜？悲？生？死？虛無？萬物？（Great!）


Would you write to please just yourself? Or others? Or yourself by writing for others?


你寫作只是為了愉己？還是為了悅人？抑或是藉替人書寫而愉己？


Would your strokes be tremblingly timid or brilliantly bold? Fancy with a flourish or plain?


你的落筆會是顫抖膽怯的，還是鮮明果敢的？你的想象會是豐富的還是貧乏的？（Great!）


Would you even write? Once you have the pen, no rule says you have to write. Would you sketch? Scribble? Doodle or draw?


甚或你根本沒有落筆？這是因為，你拿到筆以後，沒有哪條規則說你必須寫作。也許你要畫素描，亂寫一氣？信筆塗鴉？畫畫？


Would you stay in or on the lines, or see no lines at all, even if they were there? Or are they?


你會保持寫在線內還是線上，還是根本看不到線，即使有線在那裡？嗯，真的有線嗎？


There『s a lot to think about here, isn『t there?


這裡面有許多東西值得考慮，不是嗎?


Now, suppose someone gave you a life...


現在，假如有人給予你一支生命的筆...

[B]FAMILY[/B]

FAMILY= (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

"Daddy, may I ask you a question?"

"Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man.

"Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"

"That『s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily. "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"
pleaded the little boy.

"If you must know, I make $20 an hour."

"Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Daddy, may I please borrow $10?"

The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy『s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn『t ask for money very often.

The man went to the door of the little boy『s room and opened the door.

"Are you asleep, son?" He asked.

"No daddy, I『m awake," replied the boy.

"I『ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the man, "It『s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here『s the $10you asked for."

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.

"Because I didn『t have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied. "Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."

[B]Shattered Illusions[/B]

There is a story told about how Neill set about winning over one particular boy who was always causing trouble and who clearly regarded all teachers with a hostile eye. On one occasion Neill, out taking a stroll, had just rounded a corner at Summerhill when he came across the boy playing on his own. The boy, not noticing he was no longer alone, picked up a stone and threw it through one of the school windows. Turning he saw Neill. Instead of finding himself shouted at angrily as he expected the boy was startled to see Neill bend down, pick up a stone and hurl it at another window. The boy had to pay to get the window repaired, as did Neill. But he thought this a small price to pay for establishing a bond between himself and the boy, whose behaviour improved afterwards.

Neill was a remarkable character who knew just when to be firm and just when to adopt a lighter touch when handling children. Not everyone is so successful. Willie Russell, the playwright, likes to tell of the time when he had freshly graduated from teacher training college and had just begun work as a probationary teacher. This was in a rather tough area of Liverpool. On his first day at the school he was left to do playground duty on his own, rather a daunting experience for one so new to the job. Standing in the middle of the playground surrounded by milling children at morning break he turned to see one of the children throwing a stone at a school window. When the boy saw that he had been spotted by a teacher his face fell. This was at a time when the punishment for misbehaviour at most schools was a sound beating. Fortunately for this boy, Russell, fresh from training college with his idealism undimmed by grim reality, remembered the story about Neill. 『Ah-ha,『 he said to himself, 『I know just what to do in this situation.『 Stooping down he picked up a stone and propelled it through another window. Turning to smile triumphantly at the boy his satisfaction was suddenly shattered by the sound of dozens of windows being hit by flying stones. Unfortunately he had failed to take into account the difference between his situation and the one which Neill had faced, namely that he and the boy were not alone. All around him dozens of mischievous schoolboys had been only too glad to rush to emulate 『Sir『. It was at this point in his career that Russell decided that perhaps he was not quite cut out to be a teacher.   


By hurling a stone at the window, Neill has probably put the boy in a new situation, a situation in which the boy watches someone else break a window and therefore break the rule. Instead of enjoying his own mischief which is in fact a revenge against his teachers, the boy had a chance of experiencing what others may feel about a broken window. Another important implication here for the boy can be that teachers are also humans and can also make mistakes or even run into mischief. But it is no big deal correcting the mistakes. Furthermore, there is no need to be an enemy of someone who is trying to help him correct himself, someone like a teacher.

Russell failed to take into account that, unlike Neill, he and the boy were not alone - with disastrous results! Deciding after this that he was not suited to teaching he left to take up playwriting. Most of his plays are very imaginative and funny. A bit like this story, in fact.

[B]老爸(Dad)[/B]

The first memory I have of him ― of anything, really ― is his strength. It was in the late afternoon in a house under construction near ours. The unfinished wood floor had large, terrifying holes whose yawning[張大嘴] darkness I knew led to nowhere good. His powerful hands, then age 33, wrapped all the way around my tiny arms, then age 4, and easily swung[搖擺] me up to his shoulders to command all I surveyed.

    我對他――實際上是對所有事的最初記憶，就是他的力量。那是一個下午的晚些時候，在一所靠近我家的正在修建的房子里，尚未完工的木地板上有一個個巨大可怕的洞，那些張著大口的黑洞在我看來是通向不祥之處的。時年33歲的爸爸用那強壯有力的雙手一把握住我的小胳膊，當時我才4歲，然後輕而易舉地把我甩上他的肩頭，讓我把一切都盡收眼底。

    The relationship between a son and his father changes over time. It may grow and flourish[繁茂] in mutual maturity[成熟]. It may sour in resented dependence or independence. With many children living in single-parent homes today, it may not even exist.

    父子間的關係是隨著歲月的流逝而變化的，它會在彼此成熟的過程中成長興盛，也會在令人不快的依賴或獨立的關係中產生不和。而今許多孩子生活在單親家庭中，這種關係可能根本不存在。

    But to a little boy right after World War II ,a father seemed a god with strange strengths and uncanny[離奇的] powers enabling him to do and know things that no mortal could do or know. Amazing things, like putting a bicycle chain back on, just like that. Or building a hamster[倉鼠] cage.Or guiding a jigsaw[拼板玩具] so it forms the letter F;I learned the alphabet[字母表] that way in those pre-television days.

    然而，對於一個生活在二戰剛剛結束時期的小男孩來說，父親就像神，他擁有神奇的力量和神秘的能力，他無所不能，無所不知。那些奇妙的事兒有上自行車鏈條，或是建一個倉鼠籠子，或是教我玩拼圖玩具，拼出個字母「F」來。在那個電視機還未誕生的年代，我便是通過這種方法學會了字母表的。

    There were, of course, rules to learn. First came the handshake. None of those fishy[冷冰冰的] little finger grips, but a good firm squeeze accompanied by an equally strong gaze into the other『s eyes. 「 The first thing anyone knows about you is your handshake,」 he would say. And we『d practice it each night on his return from work, the serious toddler in the battered[用舊了的] Cleveland Indian『s cap running up to the giant father to shake hands again and again until it was firm enough.

    當然，還得學些做人的道理。首先是握手。這可不是指那種冷冰冰的手指相握，而是一種非常堅定有力的緊握，同時同樣堅定有力地注視對方的眼睛。老爸常說：「人們認識你首先是通過同你握手。」每晚他下班回家時，我們便練習握手。年幼的我，戴著頂破克利夫蘭印第安帽，一本正經地跌跌撞撞地跑向巨人般的父親，開始我們的握手。一次又一次，直到握得堅定，有力。

    As time passed, there were other rules to learn. 「Always do your best.」「Do it now.」「Never lie!」 And most importantly,「You can do whatever you have to do.」 By my teens, he wasn『t telling me what to do anymore, which was scary[令人害怕的] and heady[使人興奮的] at the same time. He provided perspective, not telling me what was around the great corner of life but letting me know there was a lot more than just today and the next, which I hadn『t thought of.

    隨著時間的流逝，還有許多其他的道理要學。比如：「始終儘力而為」，「從現在做起」，「永不撒謊」，以及最重要的一條：「凡是你必須做的事你都能做到」。當我十幾歲時，老爸不再叫我做這做那，這既令人害怕又令人興奮。他教給我判斷事物的方法。他不是告訴我，在人生的重大轉折點上將發生些什麼，而是讓我明白，除了今天和明天，還有很長的路要走，這一點我是從未考慮過的。

    One day, I realize now, there was a change. I wasn『t trying to please him so much as I was trying to impress him. I never asked him to come to my football games. He had a high-pressure career, and it meant driving through most of Friday night. But for all the big games, when I looked over at the sideline, there was that familiar fedora. And by God, did the opposing team captain ever get a firm handshake and a gaze he would remember. 　　

    有一天，事情發生了變化，這是我現在才意識到的。我不再那麼迫切地想要取悅於老爸，而是迫切地想要給他留下深刻的印象。我從未請他來看我的橄欖球賽。他工作壓力很大，這意味著每個禮拜五要拚命干大半夜。但每次大型比賽，當我抬頭環視看台時，那頂熟悉的軟呢帽總在那兒。並且感謝上帝，對方隊長總能得到一次讓他銘記於心的握手――堅定而有力，伴以同樣堅定的注視。

    Then, a school fact contradicted something he said. Impossible that he could be wrong, but there it was in the book. These accumulated over time, along with personal experiences, to buttress my own developing sense of values. And I could tell we had each taken our own, perfectly normal paths.

    後來，在學校學到的一個事實否定了老爸說過的某些東西。他不可能會錯的，可書上卻是這樣寫的。諸如此類的事日積月累，加上我的個人閱歷，支持了我逐漸成形的價值觀。我可以這麼說：我倆開始各走各的陽關道了。

    I began to see, too, his blind spots, his prejudices[偏見] and his weaknesses. I never threw these up at him. He hadn『t to me, and, anyway, he seemed to need protection. I stopped asking his advice; the experiences he drew from no longer seemed relevant to the decisions I had to make. 　　

    與此同時，我還開始發現他對某些事的無知，他的偏見，他的弱點。我從未在他面前提起這些，他也從未在我面前說起，而且，不管怎麼說，他看起來需要保護了。我不再向他徵求意見；他的那些經驗也似乎同我要做出的決定不再相干。

    He volunteered advice for a while. But then, in more recent years, politics and issues gave way to talk of empty errands and, always, to ailments.

    老爸當了一段時間的「自願顧問」，但後來，特別是近幾年裡，他談話中的政治與國家大事讓位給了空洞的使命與疾病。

    From his bed, he showed me the many sores and scars on his misshapen body and all the bottles for medicine. 「 Sometimes,」 he confided[傾訴], 「 I would just like to lie down and go to sleep and not wake up.」 　　

    躺在床上，他給我看他那被歲月扭曲了的軀體上的疤痕，以及他所有的藥瓶兒。他傾訴著：「有時我真想躺下睡一覺，永遠不再醒來。」

    After much thought and practice (「 You can do whatever you have to do.」 ), one night last winter, I sat down by his bed and remembered for an instant those terrifying dark holes in another house 35 years before. I told my fatherhow much I loved him. I described all the things people were doing for him. But, I said, he kept eating poorly, hiding in his room and violating the doctor『s orders. No amount of love could make someone else care about life, I said; it was a two-way street. He wasn『t doing his best. The decision was his. 　　

    通過深思熟慮與親身體驗（「凡是你必須做的事你都能做到」），去年冬天的一個夜晚，我坐在老爸床邊，忽然想起35年前那另一棟房子里可怕的黑洞。我告訴老爸我有多愛他。我向他講述了人們為他所做的一切。而我又說，他總是吃得太少，躲在房間里，還不聽醫生的勸告。我說，再多的愛也不能使一個人自己去熱愛生命：這是一條雙行道，而他並沒有儘力，一切都取決於他自己。

    He said he knew how hard my words had been to say and how proud he was of me. 「 I had the best teacher,」 I said. 「 You can do whatever you have to do.」 He smiled a little. And we shook hands, firmly, for the last time. 　　

    他說他明白要我說出這些話多不容易，他是多麼為我自豪。「我有位最好的老師，」我說，「凡是你必須做的事你都能做到」。他微微一笑，之後我們握手，那是一次堅定的握手，也是最後的一次。

    Several days later, at about 4 A.M., my mother heard Dad shuffling[拖著] about their dark room. 「 I have some things I have to do,」 he said. He paid a bundle of bills. He composed for my mother a long list of legal and financial what-to-do『s 「 in case of emergency.」 And he wrote me a note.

    幾天後，大約凌晨四點，母親聽到父親拖著腳步在他們漆黑的房間里走來走去。他說：「有些事我必須得做。」他支付了一疊帳單，給母親留了張長長的條子，上面列有法律及經濟上該做的事，「以防不測」。接著他留了封簡訊給我。

Then he walked back to his bed and laid himself down. He went to sleep, naturally. And he did not wake up.

    然後，他走回自己的床邊，躺下。他睡了，十分安詳，再也沒有醒來。【陳儀/譯】

[B]The Gift[/B]

摘自2003年英語學習第七期中第二屆「北外杯」中學生英文寫作大賽的獲獎作文。這篇文章是杭州外國語學校徐泗晟同學的文章。 [/FONT] [/COLOR]

When I was young, my mom always told me that I was the most precious gift she had ever received.

But I never knew why. I was too young to understand because I was at the age of not knowing why the 22 men in a soccer field tried hard to catch the ball, but quickly kicked it away as soon as someone got it.

I can imagine how excited my mom was when she first knew that she was pregnant. It was just like in a soccer match you scored for your team in a critical moment and you were about to win.

To my mom the gift is not free of charge. Several months after her first pregnancy, she miscarried. My mom『s sadness was not relieveduntil she had me.

But to me, if my brother or sister survived, I would not be so lucky to have a chance to visit this beautiful world. So as you can see, I am the lucky one.

Because of this my mom always liked to tell me the story of my coming to this world, which had been repeated countless times.

Mom often told me how she suffered at that time, as she had to lie in bed all the time following the doctor『s suggestion in order not to do harm to my health.

There is a saying: mother is the 24 hours a day and 7 days a week job in the world. I believed in it. My dark life ended on Mar.4th. Just before that my mother was faced with a decision of keeping herself or the baby and my mother chose me without hesitation, which meant she would use her own life as an exchange for me. Luckily we both survived. Otherwise I could never forgive myself. My coming was the beginning of my mother『s job.

It was my mom who brought me to this world and it was her who brought me up...

My mom is a very ordinary woman. She was born in an ordinary family, and she hasan ordinary occupation. She is average as a person, as a woman, but absolutely not as a mother.

According to my mom, my heavy weight has something to do with my addiction to ice cream when I was a little child. Though I never acknowledged the truth of her statement, my mom insisted that I liked ice cream so much that I always cried for having some whenever I saw a refrigerator. She would be worried if I became fatter, but she felt very sorry that she couldn『t buy me more ice cream as we were very poor at that time.

Once, she came to the kindergarden to pick me up. As usual, we came home by bus.On our way to the bus stop, I found a refrigerator, which stimulated my desire of having ice cream. I begged my mom for some.

My mom sighed. I uesd to think that ice cream was my present from God. And I was wondering why my mom was not as happy as I was whenever she passed the present to me. I was too young to understand the meaning of money to a housewife.

But she just sighed, and brought me my favorite kind without a single word of complaints. And I could not notice the embarrassment on my mother『s face. Happily holding the gift from God I was as happy as a lark. My mom said: "Let『s go home inanother 『bus『." This "bus" was my mother『s back. Lying on my mother『s warm and soft back, eating my present from God, I was singing all the way home. After that, my mother always said the bus was too crowded whenever I begged for ice cream on our way home, but as a matter of fact the bus wasn『t so crowded most of the time. I didn『t know until many years later that my mom spent the only coins for bus buying me the ice cream.

Now I『m going to graduate from high school and my 18th birthday is just around the corner. I graddually understand the love of my mother. And Ive decided to send her a card as a gift on my special birthday to thank for all she has done for me. I know everything I have belongs to my mom except the feeling which is what I have for me.

I would tell her she is so special to me. Wherever I go she is in my heart. She is the most precious gift I have ever received.

Now I understand why people always prefer to use "mother" to describe the most important feelings. I understand that why there are so many songs praising mom. I understand more about the Chinese poem, which says every single thread of a traveling son『s coat is mom『s work and expectation. I understand further why we call our country "motherland."

Mom, I love you.[/FONT]

[B]Perseverance can make miracles happen![/B]

An eight-year-old child heard her parents talking about her little brother.
All she knew was that he was very sick and they had no money left.
They were moving to a smaller house because they could not afford to stay in
the present house after paying the doctor『s bills  Only a very costly surgery could save
him now and there was no one to loan them the money.

When she heard her daddy say to her tearful mother with whispered desperation,
『Only a miracle can save him now『, the little girl went to her bedroom and pulled her
piggy bank from its hiding place in the closet. She poured all the change out on the
floor and counted it carefully.

Clutching the precious piggy bank tightly, she slipped out the back door and made her
way six blocks to the local drugstore. She took a quarter from her bank and placed it
on the glass counter.

"And what do you want?" asked the pharmacist. "It『s for my little brother," the girl
answered back. "He『s really, really sick and I want to buy a miracle."

"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.

"His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says
only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?"

"We don『t sell miracles here, child. I『m sorry," the pharmacist said, smiling sadly at
the little girl.

"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn『t enough, I can try and get some more.
Just tell me how much it costs."

In the shop was a well-dressed customer. He stooped down and asked the little girl,
"What kind of a miracle does you brother need?"

"I don『t know," she replied with her eyes welling up. "He『s really sick and mommy
says he needs an operation. But my daddy can『t pay for it, so I have brought my savings".

"How much do you have?" asked the man. "One dollar and eleven cents, but I can try and
get some more", she answered barely audibly.

"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man. "A dollar and eleven cents - the exact price
of a miracle for little brothers."

He took her money in one hand and held her hand with the other. He said, "Take me to
where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let『s see if I have
the kind of miracle you need."

That well-dressed man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in
neuro-surgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn『t long
before Andrew was home again and doing well.

"That surgery," her mom whispered, "was a real miracle. I wonder how much it
would have cost?"

The little girl smiled. She knew exactly how much the miracle cost ...
one dollar and eleven cents ... plus the faith of a little child.[/FONT]

[B]愛只是一根線(Love Is Just a Thread)[/B]


Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don』t act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, 「I love you」 is too luxurious for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine』s Day is even more out of the question. Finally my father has a bad temper. When he』s very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.

　　有時候，我真的懷疑父母之間是否有真愛。他們天天忙於賺錢，為我和弟弟支付學費。他們從未像我在書中讀到，或在電視中看到的那樣互訴衷腸。他們認為「我愛你」太奢侈，很難說出口。更不用說在情人節送花這樣的事了。我父親的脾氣非常壞。經過一天的勞累之後，他經常會發脾氣。

　　One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.

　　「Mom, I have a question to ask you,」 I said after a while.

　　「What?」 she replied, still doing her work.

　　「Is there love between you and Dad?」 I asked her in a very low voice.

　　一天，母親正在縫被子，我靜靜地坐在她旁邊看著她。

　　過了一會，我說：「媽媽，我想問你一個問題。」

　　「什麼問題？」她一邊繼續縫著，一邊回答道。

　　我低聲地問道：「你和爸爸之間有沒有愛情啊？」

　　My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn』t answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.

　　I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment and I didn』t know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:

　　母親突然停下了手中的活，滿眼詫異地抬起頭。她沒有立即作答。然後低下頭，繼續縫被子。

　　我擔心傷害了她。我非常尷尬，不知道該怎麼辦。不過，後來我聽見母親說：

「Susan,」 she said thoughtfully, 「Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it』s really there. Love is inside.」

　　「蘇珊，看看這些線。有時候，你能看得見，但是大多數都隱藏在被子里。這些線使被子堅固耐用。如果生活就像一床被子，那麼愛就是其中的線。你不可能隨時隨地看到它，但是它卻實實在在地存在著。愛是內在的。」
　　I listened carefully but I couldn』t understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked very pale. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness.

　　我仔細地聽著，卻無法明白她的話，直到來年的春天。那時候，我父親得了重病。母親在醫院裡待了一個月。當他們從醫院回來的時候，都顯得非常蒼白。就像他們都得了一場重病一樣。

　　After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so gentle. It seemed they were the most harmonious couple. Along the country road, there were many beautiful flowers, green grass and trees. The sun gently glistened through the leaves. All of these made up the most beautiful picture in the world.

　　他們回來之後，每天的清晨或黃昏，母親都會攙扶著父親在鄉村的小路上漫步。父親從未如此溫和過。他們就像是天作之合。在小路旁邊，有許多美麗的野花、綠草和樹木。陽光穿過樹葉的縫隙，溫柔地照射在地面上。這一切形成了一幅世間最美好的畫面。

　　The doctor had said my father would recover in two months. But after two months he still couldn』t walk by himself. All of us were worried about him.

　　醫生說父親將在兩個月後康復。但是兩個月之後，他仍然無法獨立行走。我們都很為他擔心。

　　「Dad, how are you feeling now?」 I asked him one day.

　　有一天，我問他：「爸爸，你感覺怎麼樣？」

　　「Susan, don』t worry about me.」 he said gently. 「To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life.」 Reading his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply.

　　他溫和地說：「蘇珊，不用為我擔心。跟你說吧，我喜歡與你媽媽一塊散步的感覺。我喜歡這種生活。」從他的眼神里，我看得出他對母親的愛之深刻。

　　Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this experience, I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm..

　　我曾經認為愛情就是鮮花、禮物和甜蜜的親吻。但是從那一刻起，我明白了，愛情就像是生活中被子里的一根線。愛情就在裡面，使生活變得堅固而溫暖。

[B]Tale of an eventful age[/B]

Prelude

As a saying goes, the wheel of fortune is constantly spinning in turns, to be in honor for thirty years will turn to be in disgrace for forty years, and prosperity swings to poverty, and then poor turns to wealthy, it keeps rotating beyond your control. Nevertheless, a lot of people don』t believe it and regard it as a kind of superstition. At any rate, I strongly believe it and my gut feeling tells me that our life is controlled by our designated destine. As Confucius says 「life and death have destined times; wealth and honors rest with heaven」. When I was only little, I heard the older generation in my family boast my forebears were super rich for many generations. Though later on when it came down to my great grandpa』s generation, the overall circumstances were declining, he still managed to make some fortune out of speculating in trade of gold bullions. Nevertheless, unfortunately my great grandpa at last still lost all his fortune in his greedy speculation; therefore, it was the end of a good fortune and a beginning of a bad cycle.

A Chinese phrase reads --- Duo Shi Zhi Qiu C it is an eventful time, I was borne in autumn, as if it has destined my life to have a lot more pitfalls than anybody else does. Truly in my memory, it has never been a plain sailing in my life since I was borne in this big family, which had already downgraded to an only better-off status in the old Shanghai times. Anyhow, when I finally came to this world, the old Shanghai was already gone by, so was my better-off family. No wonder my mother was saying that I didn』t even feel bothered to utter a sound when I finally pushed out of her body, as if I already knew there was nothing there for me to cheer for.

The old Shanghai, once upon a time, was a magnificent place, a bright pearl of East; a worldwide recognized the paradise for Adventurers for all walks of life. The old Shanghai was a grotesque shining mosaic and a powerful melting pot nurturing and culturing generations upon generations of good and bad men and women. If Hong Kong is regarded being hatched out from a sordid fishing village to today』s thriving and prosperous international Metropolitan City, whereas Shanghai certainly has had a great leap forward from a squalid coastal enclave to a gorgeously brilliant gem of Cosmopolis in the world.

My grandpa told me the old Shanghai was a famous 「sink of iniquity」, for it had more than 600 brothels spreading across every corner of this dazzling human world with its myriad temptations. The old British Club was an eyewitness account of the decadent Shanghai. It was over there the great Taipans, once upon a time, sipped their 「stengahs」 with a big cigar between their fingers after sunset. It was over there the white Russian girls were twisting their curvy body on the toe-point and lustfully showing their sexy long legs on the stage. The racecourse, the numerous gambling houses, and the gaudy western- abodes and skyscrapers with ever-lasting flashing neon-signs on the top of building made a life a sharp and striking contrast with the sweating, scrawny coolies pulling the heaviest load of carts crossing the garden bridge and the haggard-looking, flea-ridden beggars howling along the street in the blizzards. Grandpa once teased me saying that I was coming too late to enjoy the old good times they used to have, but at that time I didn』t quite understand what he really meant, as all I knew was the old Shanghai was the glorious birthplace of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. From the day of founding its organization to the day of becoming the founder of the People』s Republic of China, Shanghai was always playing an important role in milking the Chinese Communist Party and mothering the birth of a brand New China, despite the old Shanghai was also the old homes of Jiang, Kong, Song, Chen Dynasty and the hotbed of the 「Green Gang」 and 「Red Gang」.

It is said that the 「Green Gang」 and 「Red Gang」 were the backbone of Jiang Jie Shi Nationalist Party and once they even assisted Generalissimo Jiang Jie Shi and his Nationalist Army in 4.12 massacre killing hundreds and thousands of revolutionary people, but in my eyes, the notorious 「Gang of four」 and their historically unprecedented Cultural Revolution was multiple folds worse than these Green and Red gangs, as they have completely ruined the life of more than three generations and tarnished millions upon millions innocent souls of people.  

When I was old enough to go to kindergarten, on the first day, I was told we were the luckiest generation ever in China, as we were borne in the New China and were growing up under the Red flag. However, were we the luckiest generation? No! What had actually happened to us was nothing but political campaigns after campaigns, turmoil upon turmoil.   

I was told we must listen to Chairman Mao and follow the Communist Party and become Chairman Mao』s good children, so my first song that I learnt to sing as soon as I was able to talk was

「The Red is the East and rises the Sun」.

I was told to study hard for the course of the Chinese revolution, so my first nursery rhyme I learnt by heart was

「Sparkling is the star in the sky,
Looking towards the direction of Beijing by standing on the bridge,
Keep looking until you see the TaiAnMen Square,
Our greatest Savior is Chairman Mao.」

When I went to primary school, I was told the foreign language was a must tool in a struggle against the Imperialism, the Revisionism, and the Reactionary, so my first English lesson was nothing but

「Long live Chairman Mao and long long life to Chairman Mao」,

And again I was told there were about two-third of people in the world still living in the deep water and scorching fire C an abyss of suffering and extreme miseries, so my first lecture for the revolutionary politics was

「Never forget the class struggle」.

The wheel of fortune has never stopped spinning, good to bad and bad to good, and no one is able to reverse the course of a life journey. Whatever my life is going to be like at the end of my day, despite it has been relentlessly destined to have a lot of pitfalls, I would always give it my best shot, as I firmly believe the wheel of fortune will turn.
  [/FONT]

I am so touched. How lovely the child is! so if you heard this, what are you going to do? are you going to come earlier home the next day?
In a word, Money is not the most important, the happiness of the family is the most important. Making money is just for it. What's more, the more money you have, it doesn't mean the happier your family will be. So enjoying yourselves timely is very important, especially taking good care of children is a parent's important task-we have to realize the importance.

when your baby is very small, you could do fewer things such as cleaning the room, but you couldn't reduce the love to your baby and the care to your baby , I mean any time we have to try our best to give our love to our children, the dust can wait for us to wipe tomorrow, however; we couldn't let the baby cry for a while just because we are wiping the dust.

so we need to think orders whatever we do, the first important things comes first...

another idea, many immigrants families send their new born baby back to China because of all kinds of reasons. I don't think that is a good choice. I remember when I gave birth to my son, My hubby suggested me to send my two kids back to China, however; I didn't agree. I think for children it is a good way to stay with parents all the time. Because I think momey and career can be picked up after my children grow up a little bit. however, If I missed the caress to my children, I will never have a chance to make up for the passed time. maybe it will be my regrets in my all life.

Mommy is mommy, without mommy, without the love from mommy, then the baby's life misses a lot!