KAOKAO阅读版杂志 大家来阅读啊,加内容,好凄惨啊~
古希伯莱语曰:"爱如死之坚强."时间能抚平伤痛,平静中超越死别.
两年前的平安夜姐姐的奶奶去世了.当她下完晚自习回到家时,发现楼下排满了花圈;经管事先知道住院许久的奶奶时日不多,但突如其来的死讯还是让姐姐震恸了;她哭了一整夜.
半年前姐姐的爷爷去世,终岁88.我在老人去世前陪姐姐去了一级监护病房,才更真切地体会到生命的脆弱。大医精诚，却也无力回天。当他的生命流转入终结的那一刻，他在勤劳一生中编制的白昼之花也悄然落下了最后的花瓣，在黄昏中成熟为一颗记忆的金果；留下的是他的音容笑貌，和他对后辈们深沉地滋润和影响。老人毕业于清华，一生致力于土木工程研究，晚年帮着老伴打点卫校。他总是波澜不惊地充满笑意，衣袖挥舞间指点着生活。正是他老人家告诉我那句“爱如死之坚强”，教会我们坦面死亡。他平静地圈上生命的句点，身边的家人没有痛哭；姐姐也是一脸坚忍。平静地坦面死亡，是对凄苦大恸不事声张地挣脱和超越。
我的爷爷奶奶外公外婆依然身体安康。爷爷自从暑假一次轻微脑出血就一直在医院接受调理，奶奶干脆也搬了过去，坚决不同意爷爷身边出现woman护工8D，两人一间病房。爷爷闲着就看看电视，给亲友挂个电话，或者和老干部病房的老战友、值班护士聊天。奶奶在活动室因床位不够摆进了病床时，才恋恋不舍地和医院中的银发亲友团离开欢乐的麻将桌。72岁的奶奶总是牌场上的赢家，她是这桌牌友中最年轻的啊！把拥有的日子有滋有味地珍惜度过，好好生活，便了无遗憾。而外公外婆则与4家儿女住在市中心同一家小区，身体无恙，作息很有规律，有了重孙女。我只有默默祈愿老人的安康，任何疾病和并发症都可能让我们失去大限将至的最亲爱的亲人。
我能想到的只有珍惜。
看看自然,寒冬常与死亡相伴,暖春又会显示勃勃生机.衰颓与新生，这是自然的交响。老叶将死，就任其落下；残花将哭，就任之凋谢吧。分离之痛无法避免，我们有什么理由不去珍惜和祝福自己的伴侣至亲呢？
今天是统考的最后一天，接到爷爷四个电话。我其实在重复地回答他的问题。以前还觉得有些不耐烦，尤其是老人听力降弱和信号不好的时候；以前还觉得老人怎么对外地亲友也万分地挂念起来，煲电话长途很铺张；以前又还觉得老人事无俱细地关心和唠叨让人难以消受；以前总觉得老人的古典生活观消费观不能接受;现在我的观念总算改变了。
成长的日子里终有一天我们会恍然明白：那些曾以为无比难堪的爱，才是催促我们不断前进的原动力，和最眷恋不舍的人间真情。
回复： 爱如死之坚强
个人认为盐阜已经不堪重负了;希望我的水怪朋友们能够坦诚地说说你身边的故事,在灌水的同时消费一份别样的感情,投入到我们的Green.祈愿我们的朋友\亲人冬安,祈愿我们KAOKAO的天空湛蓝如昔.
回复： 爱如死之坚强
对于文章本身，我无能赘述评价，因为这份悲恸和孤独只有作者本人能深刻体味，妄图引起完美的共鸣，那是徒劳。文风方面，带有深蓝色调，像作者的签名和头像风格一样，能做到统一而完整，难能可贵。
可惜再多功力都是局限在这个Little Pot（崇拜鲁迅的朋友也许会引文指责我牙缝里夹着韭菜，不管啦），楼主，有空来林肯公园(sina)来啦，这（那）里更适合你，人才。
回复： 爱如死之坚强
One day my daughter wanted to get paid for doing some routine household chores, so she gave me the following list:For washing the car………………………….$5.00
For making my own bed this week……………….$1.00
Going to the provision shop…………………..$0.50
Playing with little sister …………………..$0.25
Taking out the rubbish……………………….$1.00
Getting a good report card……………………$5.00
And for sweeping the common corridor…………..$2.00
Total …………………………………….$14.75
I looked at her standing there expecting payment. A thousand memories flashed through my mind. So I picked up a pen and turning the paper over, this is what I wrote:
For 9 months I carried you, growing inside me………………..NoCharge
For the nights I sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you….NoCharge
For the toys, food and clothes and wiping your nose…………..NoCharge
When you add it all up, the full cost of my love……………..NoCharge
Well, when she finished reading, she had great big tears in her eyes. She looked at me and said, "Mummy, I love you." Then she took the pen and in great big letters, she wrote, "PAID IN FULL".
回复： 回复： 爱如死之坚强
[quote][b]玄天宗 wrote:[/b]One day my daughter wanted to get paid for doing some routine household chores, so she gave me the following list:
For washing the car………………………….$5.00
For making my own bed this week……………….$1.00
Going to the provision shop…………………..$0.50
Playing with little sister …………………..$0.25
Taking out the rubbish……………………….$1.00
Getting a good report card……………………$5.00
And for sweeping the common corridor…………..$2.00
Total …………………………………….$14.75
I looked at her standing there expecting payment. A thousand memories flashed through my mind. So I picked up a pen and turning the paper over, this is what I wrote:
For 9 months I carried you, growing inside me………………..NoCharge
For the nights I sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you….NoCharge
For the toys, food and clothes and wiping your nose…………..NoCharge
When you add it all up, the full cost of my love……………..NoCharge
Well, when she finished reading, she had great big tears in her eyes. She looked at me and said, "Mummy, I love you." Then she took the pen and in great big letters, she wrote, "PAID IN FULL". [/quote]
小学某次暑假作业的阅读材料
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
Profile of an Ugly PersonI don't understand. Why do people without 1)provocation need to say hurtful things to others? Is it ignorance? The lack of knowledge of others and therefore the lack of understanding of how their words could cut deep? Or just a 2)malicious 3)streak that shoots a surge of satisfaction through them like a drug when they are able to wound others? Either way, there is no excuse for such behavior, so I am left bewildered by what happened to me and my friend on our trip to Great Britain.
On our first day in Edinburgh, Scotland, we arrived late into the night and began to walk around the wide darkened streets of the quiet city. There was hardly a soul walking about that night and we 4)hunched our shoulders against the slight bite of the midnight cold. As we leisurely 5)ambled back to our hotel, a couple of girls crossed our paths. We wouldn't have even noticed them if they hadn't blocked our paths, forcing us to come to a halt, only to shout in 6)unison, "7)ching chong!"
The words were so loud, it rang in the quiet night and no doubt carried down a couple of blocks to whomever else was in that 8)vicinity.
As soon as those words left their mouths, they continued on but they kept watching us, probably for our reactions. For the first second when they shouted at us, I was shocked. I felt that their attack (and attack it was) was 9)unwarranted. We didn't do anything to them. We weren't even speaking in Chinese but in English. Plus my friend isn't Chinese. She's Vietnamese-French.
My instinctive reaction was to return with an equally 10)derogatory remark. Call them 11)white trash or something to that effect. Or say very loudly to my friend how immature and racist some people could be. But I didn't. Instead, why give them that satisfaction? Their remarks don't count. They don't matter. If I respond that would give them power. That their words could affect me. So I kept quiet. Neither did my friend respond. After a 12)momentary pause of collecting ourselves from the surprising confrontation, we continued to walk onward. We didn't even turn around to look at the girls. I barely gave them a glance even when they had shouted in our faces. As far as I was concerned, they and their narrow, racist minds were insignificant.
I'm glad I did that because we obviously hadn't given them the reaction they 13)craved. Maybe they were 14)spoiling for a fight. I don't know why they did what they did. But when we didn't turn around in anger or hang our heads or cry in bewilderment, they did it again.
"Ching chong!"
I heard them behind me like a faraway buzz of an annoying fly. We casually walked on and around the corner to our hotel.
I looked over at my friend who was 15)pensively silent. Quietly I asked my companion if she was alright.
"I'm stunned," she replied softly. "I'm glad you were here with me when that happened. I think if I were alone, I would feel really hurt."
It does help to have someone there to bear the 16)brunt together, but I think that despite her reassurance, my friend was hurt by those senseless words. She commended me for handling it so well. I suppose I did…this time. But it was a lesson learned from previous occurrences. I've been hurt by racial 17)slurs before. A black child on a yellow school bus once called out a string of "ching chong chong" to me as I walked by. And in college, as I walked with a group of my friends to our 18)dorm, a car full of male 19)Caucasians, most likely drunk, slowed down enough to yell out, "Go back to Chinatown" before 20)zipping away in their jeep. One of us threw a bottle at their retreating jeep in anger while the rest stood in hurtful shock. To think that there are still people like that out there who harbor enough hate for others different from them to lash out.
I guess that is what I don't understand. Why the hate? Why the ignorance? How can people hate something they know nothing about? Why hatred for something or someone different? Actually, I think I answered it, or at least touched upon the answer. I guess it is the lack of understanding, the fear of something different and thus beyond their scope of understanding, that makes them act in hateful ways.
Besides reacting in anger, I also considered going up to those girls and asking them why the hurtful words? Did they realize they were racist? That they were narrow-minded? I'm not sure how they would have reacted. Maybe become 21)irascible. It doesn't matter. I just didn't want them to have the satisfaction of thinking that they had 22)victimized me in any way. So I ignored them.
Afterwards I felt almost sorry for them. Did they realize how ugly their actions made them? Unless they learn to accept others, they will always be limited by their ignorance. One day, someone won't ignore their words and return a measure of their own hurt, probably of a physical kind.
1) provocation [pr*v&!kei%&n] n. 挑衅，激怒
2) malicious [m&!li%&s] adj. 怀恶意的
3) streak [stri:k] n. 性格倾向
4) hunch [h^nt%] v. 耸肩
5) amble [!$mbl] v. 缓行
6) unison [!ju:nizn] n. 一致
7) ching chong 这词其实没有任何明确的意义，是模仿中文的发音特点而造出来的一个词，后面常跟“Chinaman”，是对华人的歧视性用语。
8) vicinity [vi!siniti] n. 附近
9) unwarranted [^n!w*r&ntid] adj. 无根据的
10) Derogatory [di!r*g&t&ri] adj. 贬损的
11) white trash 是对白人的歧视性用语
12) momentary [!m&um&nt&ri] adj. 瞬间的
13) crave [kreiv] v. 渴求
14) spoil for 迫切地想
15) pensively [!pensivili] adv. 沉思地
16) brunt [br^nt] n. 冲击
17) slur [sl&:] n. 诽谤，中伤
18) dorm [d*:m] n. 宿舍
19) Caucasian [k*:keizi&n]
20) zip [zip] v. 快速地移动
21) irascible [I!r$sibl] adj. 易怒的
22) victimize [!viktimaiz] v. 牺牲
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
一件难忘的小事我真是想不明白，为什么竟然有些人会无端地说伤害他人的话？是因为无知吗？还是因为对别人缺乏了解，所以不知道说出的话会对别人造成怎样的伤害？或者只是一个不良倾向，就像毒品一样，在伤害别人的同时能他们自己带来一阵涌遍全身的快感？但是无论如何，这样的行为都是不可原谅的，这也是自我和我的朋友英国旅游回来一直困绕我的问题。
抵达苏格兰爱丁堡时天已经很晚了，整个城市都是静悄悄的，我们在昏暗的大街上随便瞎转。那天晚上大街上空无一人，一阵寒风吹来，我们忍不住耸了耸肩膀。正当我们慢悠悠地走回酒店时，几个女孩迎面将我们拦住。如果她们不是挡了我们的路，我们根本就不会留意到她们。我们只好停下来，可没想到她们却一起高声喊道：“中国鬼！”
她们的声音很大，尤其是在那样寂静的夜晚，那么大的声音一定可以传到几个街区以外的地方，任何在附近的人都听得一清二楚。
她们喊完就继续往前走，可眼睛却一直盯着我们看，可能是想看看我们的反应吧！刚听到她们的喊叫时，我非常吃惊。我觉得她们的攻击（那的确是攻击）是完全没有理由的。我们并没有对她们做任何事情；甚至我们都不是在讲中文，而是讲着英文；还有我的朋友并不是中国人，她是越南裔的法国人。
我的本能反应是回敬一句同样恶毒的话，叫她们“白人蠢猪”或是其他有相同效果的话；或是大声地和我的朋友谈论某些人的无知和种族主义倾向。但是我并没有那样做，那不是正称了她们的心意？她们的话根本刺激不了我，她们根本不值一提，如果回应的话她们就会觉得很了不起。想到这些，我就决定不说话。我的朋友也没有说话。在突如其来地遭遇了意外之后，我们镇定下来决定继续往前走。我们甚至没有转过头去看她们。尽管她们曾冲着我们的脸大喊大叫，我甚至看也不看她们一眼。因为对我而言，她们、以及她们狭隘、种族主义的思想根本无关紧要。
我很高兴我作出了那样的反应，显然我们的反应出乎她们的意料。或许她们很想打上一架。总之我不知道为什么她们要那样做。看着我们既没有愤怒地回头，又没有找根绳子上吊，也没有慌张地哭闹，她们又再喊了句。
“中国鬼”。
身后的喊声传来，我就觉得就好象远处一只讨厌的苍蝇在嗡嗡叫一样。我们继续前行，走过街角回到了酒店。
我回头看了看我的朋友，她一直没有说话。我轻声地问她怎么样。
“我真的吓坏了！”她轻声地说，“我很高兴当时你在场，如果是我一个人的话，我真的会很受伤的。”
有人陪着一起承受这样的冲击感觉会好点，但我知道虽然她嘴上说没事，那些无情的话还是伤害了她。她很赞赏我对这件事的处理方法，我想可能就这次吧！因为我从过去发生的许多事情中得到了经验教训。以前我也曾被类似的种族歧视事件伤害过。有一次在我经过一辆黄色校车时，一个黑人小孩冲我喊出了一连串的“中国鬼”。又有一次在念大学时，我和一群朋友正往宿舍走去，一辆车慢慢从我们身边经过，车上都是喝得醉醺醺的白人，他们冲我们大喊“滚回中国城去！”，然后就钻回车里迅速溜走。我们其中一个人生气地朝他们扔了一个瓶子，其他人都很受伤地楞在那里。想着居然还有这样一些人，他们竟然如此仇视跟自己不一样的人，并随时找机会泄愤。
这些就是我所不能理解的。为什么会有这样的仇恨呢？为什么会那么无知呢？人们为什么要恨那些他们一无所知的东西呢？为什么要恨与自己不一样的人或物呢？事实上我觉得我已经作了回答，至少碰到了问题的实质。我猜是由于缺乏了解，对超出他们理解范围之外的东西充满了恐惧，因此他们就做出了那些充满仇恨的事情。
除了生气地做出一些反应，我还想走过走问那些女孩，为什么要说那些伤害人的话？她们意识到自己的种族歧视倾向了吗？意识到自己思想的狭隘了吗？我不知道她们将会有什么反应。或许她们会很生气，那没关系，我就是不想让她们太得意，认为她们已经在某种程度上伤害了我。所以我选择不理会她们。
后来我甚至觉得有点可怜她们。她们意识到自己的行为丑化了她们的形象吗？如果她们不学会接受别人，她们就将永远走不出她们的无知牢笼。或许某天，有人不再对她们的行为视而不见，而是还以颜色，饱以她们一顿老拳呢！
回复： 回复： 爱如死之坚强
[quote][b]汤汤 wrote:[/b]对于文章本身，我无能赘述评价，因为这份悲恸和孤独只有作者本人能深刻体味，妄图引起完美的共鸣，那是徒劳。
文风方面，带有深蓝色调，像作者的签名和头像风格一样，能做到统一而完整，难能可贵。
可惜再多功力都是局限在这个Little Pot（崇拜鲁迅的朋友也许会引文指责我牙缝里夹着韭菜，不管啦），楼主，有空来林肯公园(sina)来啦，这（那）里更适合你，人才。 [/quote]
谢谢回复~我只是个普通的Green建设者,扎根KAOKAO:D
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
My Cat Sitting Adventure
Why and how I got myself into this situation is still unclear to me. A lady friend, a quite good looking lady friend, (okay, okay, so I do know why and how I got myself into this situation) asked me to check her two cats while she was out of town for several days. I said, "Sure." I thought to myself, "How difficult could it be to check on her cats?" Before she left she told me that one of her cats was on medication for dry skin. Yes, dry skin. I thought to myself, "Give me a break!" However I kept my mouth shut because she is a good friend and as I said before, quite a good looking friend. Her one cat was required to take two pills a day and also needed to have Neosporin put on a sore on his skin. "No problem", I foolishly replied.
First of all, I do not, never did, and probably never will understand women and their fascination with cats. Cats like their independence, they never listen to you and they won't come to you if you call them. They are lazy, enjoy sleeping all day and staying out all night. If they drank beer and watched sports on television then they would be just like most of the men that these women have dated in their lives. Yet they LOVE their cats. Many single women I know have cats. They never seem to have just one cat, they usually have at least two cats. Why? So the cats will have company when the woman is away. I never did understand why a cat, an animal that is very independent, would need or even want company when its owner is away. I would think that most cats are probably happy when their owner is away. They finally have got the entire place to themselves. However many women I know insist on having a second cat to keep the first cat company. All of these women are single. I also know of one woman who owns seven cats. She is also single. I believe it is because she owns seven cats.
Day One Of My Cat-Sitting Adventure
I arrived at my lady friend's house at 11a.m. and found a note instructing me what to do. "Check food". The food is A-OK. "Check Water". Well, the water dish was a little low so I'll add some water. However the note instructed me to "ONLY GIVE THEM BOTTLED WATER WHICH IS IN THE REFRIGERATOR"! I thought to myself, "Bottled water? The cats only drink bottled water?" When I visit my lady friend and ask for water, she gives me tap water. I may have to re-evaluate my friendship with this lady friend. I filled the cats' water dish with the 1)aforementioned bottled water. I read the rest of the instructions she had left for me. The note went on saying, "2)poopy bags are in the flowered green fabric holder hanging off the metal rack beside the litter box.' Yes, you read me right, she wrote, "poopy bags." I REALLY have to re-evaluate my friendship with this woman.
Now it is time to give Lucas, the male cat, his medicine. I was instructed to hide the pill inside some 3)veggie cheese. Yes, the cat likes veggie cheese, made from soy. Apparently Lucas is a bottled water drinking, vegetarian cat. I did as instructed and put the pill inside the veggie cheese. The cat not only ate all of the veggie cheese, he also somehow managed to eat around the pill. All of the veggie cheese was gone yet the pill remained. I now must think of a "Plan B."
I decided to hide the pill in a piece of turkey. 4)What the heck? I could not have any worse luck, could I? Lucas ate the turkey and once again managed to eat around the pill. One thing was certain. Lucas is not a vegetarian. I next attempted to hide the pill in some 5)tuna. 6)Albacore, actually. Again, Lucas ate all of the tuna and left the pill. Another thing was certain. Lucas likes to eat.
I then remembered my lady friend saying that I could hide the pill inside a cat snack treat. Aha! The old hiding the pill in a cat snack treat routine. I proceeded to find the cat treats. There were "7)Grilled Yellowfin Tuna Flavored Treats" and "Shrimp and Crab Medley Flavored Treats" and "Oven Roasted Breast of Chicken Flavored Treats" and "8)Hearty Beef Flavored Treats" and "Salmon Flavored Treats." These cats eat better than most people. I decided to first try the 'Whiskas Temptations Salmon Flavored Treats.' Why? Because on the package it read, "What Cats Want". That was good enough for me. Unfortunately it was not what this cat wanted. I put the pill in each of the treats and Lucas would not go near any of the them. One more thing was certain. Lucas was full. I now must wait until he gets hungry again. I had not thought that this would be an all day event.
While waiting for Lucas to get hungry again I thought I would make an attempt to put the Neosporin on his sore. This went better than expected. I accomplished this task in a mere 45 minutes and I successfully managed not to bleed on any of my friend's furniture as I ran to the bathroom to 9)cleanse my multiple scratch wounds. Although Lucas may not hold a high regard for Neosporin, I have a new found appreciation for it.
Afterwards I noticed Lucas licking the Neosporin off of his sore. My first thought was, "Well, that was a complete waste of time and blood!" Then I got an idea. I'll put some Neosporin on his pill. He seems to like the taste of Neosporin. And you know what? IT DID NOT WORK EITHER! So much for shouting with glee and becoming rich off of my idea for a "Neosporin Flavored Cat Treat".
I looked at my watch. It was almost 2 o'clock. This unsuccessful 10)ordeal had taken almost 3 hours! And I am supposed to do this twice a day for the next four days. Yet one more thing was certain. I must come up with a "PLAN C".
Knowing that I had made a valid attempt made it easier to implement "Plan C". Because of "Plan C", day two, three, and four of my cat-sitting adventure went smoothly. My lady friend arrived home late on day four, none the wiser, thanking me again and again for looking after her beloved cats. What was "Plan C"? Well, "Plan C" was a simple plan. I figured that since Lucas was required to take 2 pills a day for 4 days then that would equate to 8 pills. (Thank God for calculators!) I took 8 pills out of the bottle and threw them in the garbage. I used the Neosporin on my own wounds thus making it look like I used it on Lucas. I did not bother going over to her house to check on the cats at ALL on day 2 or 3. I went over just on day 4 to change the water and litter box in order to make it appear like I did everything she wanted me to do. You may be asking yourselves, "Doesn't he feel any sense of guilt for his deceitful ways?" The answer is, "No!". Well, maybe someday I will, after my wounds heal and the scars fade away. I did not want to 11)implement "Plan C" but I had no other choice. I could not afford to waste several hours of my valuable time along with losing a pint of blood each day. Not when there are "Friends" rerurns to watch on television. Besides, that will teach her to give me tap water!
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
我的猫保姆经历到现在我还是不明白我是为什么以及是怎样卷入这件事情的。一个女性朋友、一个长得很好看的女性朋友，（好啦！好啦！不要再嘲笑我啦！我现在知道自己是怎样卷进来的啦！）问我能不能在她不在的时候帮她照看一下她的两只猫。我说：“当然可以。” 我想，“帮她看看猫有什么难的呢？”她走之前对我说有只猫因为皮肤干燥问题在进行涂药治疗。没错，她是说干燥皮肤，我当时想，“饶了我吧!”但是我没说什么，因为她我的朋友，而且我也说过，她长得很漂亮。其中一只猫每天要吃两个药片，并且要给它涂抗生素软膏以止痛。“没问题!”我自作聪明地答应下来。
首先，我从来不明白，也可能永远也无法理解女人，以及女人对她们猫的迷恋。因为猫是喜欢独立的，它们从不听主人的话，主人叫它时它也不会应声跑过来。它们天性懒惰，喜欢成天睡觉，整晚呆在外面。如果它们也喝啤酒、看电视体育赛事，那它们就跟这些女士们一生中所约会的大多数男人没什么两样了。但她们还是喜欢她们的猫。我所认识的许多单身女性都养猫。而且看起来她们从不只养一只猫，她们至少有两只或两只以上。为什么？因为在她们外出时猫才有伴! 我从来都无法理解，为什么一只猫，一个惯于独立的动物，会在它主人不在的时候需要或喜欢一个伴呢？我认为大多数的猫在它们的主人不在时可能都挺高兴。它们终于可以享受所有地方了。但是我认识的许多女士坚持要再养一只猫来给另一只猫作伴。所有这些女士都是单身。我还认识一个养了七只猫的女士，她也单身，我认为她单身正是由于她养了七只猫的缘故。
第一天做猫保姆的经历
我在上午11点时到了我的那位女性朋友家，看到了她留给我的一张纸条，上面写着我该怎么做。“检查食物。”食物没有问题；“检查水”，嗯，水少了点，我得加点水。但是纸条上叫我只能给“放在冰箱里的罐装水”。我想：“罐装水？猫只喝罐装水？” 我到她家向她要水喝时，她只给我自来水喝。看来我得重新考虑一下我与这位朋友的关系。我用上面提到的水加満了猫的水碟。我看了看她给我说明的其他注意事项。上面写着：“猫粪袋放在有花饰的绿色布袋里，绿色布袋挂在垃圾箱旁的铁钩子上。”是的，你也看清楚了，她写的是“猫粪袋”，我真得再衡量一下我与她的友谊了！
现在到了给那只叫卢卡斯的公猫吃药的时候了。她提醒我将药片藏在素食干酪里面。是的，猫喜欢吃由大豆做的素食干酪。看来卢卡斯是只只喝罐装水、只吃素食干酪的猫。我照章办事，将药片混在素食干酪里面。那猫很快吃光了所有的干酪，它还很有技巧地绕着药片吃。结果所有的干酪都吃光了，药片却还在。看来我必须想出另一个B计划出来。
我决定将药片藏在火鸡肉里面。也不知道是怎么回事，我就是那么倒霉！卢卡斯还是绕着药片吃完了所有的火鸡肉。这只说明了一件事——卢卡斯根本不是个素食主义者。接着我又将药片藏在金枪鱼里，其实是青花鱼。卢卡斯再次吃光了所有的鱼而留下了药片。这说明了另一件事——卢卡斯很贪吃。
这时我想起我的朋友曾经说过可以将药片藏在猫的零食里面，哈哈！又是捉迷藏的老一套！我于是去翻找那些猫零食，果然是五花八门，有烤黄鳍金枪鱼点心、小虾蟹肉味点心、炉烤鸡胸味点心、牛肉味点心和鲑鱼味点心。这些猫比大多数的人吃得还好。我决定先试试“好吃放不下”的鲑鱼味点心。为什么？因为包装上写着“猫真正喜欢的”。那对我来说这就够了。但不幸的是它并不是这里的猫真正喜欢的。我把药片放在每一个点心里，但卢卡斯却碰也没碰它们一下。这又说明了一件事——卢卡斯已经吃饱了！我现在只能等到它想再吃东西的时候再说了。我根本没想到照看猫要花掉我整整一天的时间。
在等着卢卡斯感到饥饿以前，我想我可以试着给它涂些抗生素软膏。这比我想象的容易多啦！我只用了不到45分钟就完成了，卢卡斯也没忘记在我身上留下多处的抓痕，我为此不得不急匆匆地冲向卫生间冲洗伤口，并不让伤口的鲜血掉在我朋友的家具上。尽管卢卡斯不怎么爱用抗生素软膏，我却觉得它很管用。
不久我就发现卢卡斯把涂在它身上的抗生素软膏一点点地舔了下来。我的第一反应就是：“啊？我的时间和鲜血算是全白费了！” 突然我想到了一个新主意，那就是把一些抗生素软膏涂在药片上，看起来它有点喜欢抗生素软膏的味道。结果怎么样呢？还是没戏！ 枉我一片苦心才想出这个“抗生素软膏味猫点心”，开始时我还开心得大喊大叫，我真是受够了！
我看了看表，已近下午2点。这个失败的试验居然耗掉我3个小时！而这些事情在接下来的4天里我却要每天重复两次。看来我必须制订出一个“C计划”出来不可了！
有了第一次的实践经验实施“C计划”就容易多了。由于“C计划”的缘故，我第二、第三和第四天照看猫的工作进行得非常顺利。我朋友在第四天很晚时才回来，不用说，一遍又一遍地感谢我对她的心爱的猫的照顾。我的“C计划”到底是怎么回事呢？唔，“C计划”其实很简单。卢卡斯每天吃两片药，连吃四天那一共是8片。（感谢上帝！计算器帮了我很大的忙！）我从瓶子里拿出了8片药片并把它们扔进了垃圾箱里，我还把抗生素软膏涂在自己被抓伤的手上，这样看起来就好象用在了卢卡斯身上一样。第二天和第三天我根本就没去她家看她的那些猫，我只是第四天去查了查水和那小碟子，这样看起来就好象我每天都按她的吩咐做了的样子。你可能会问：“他难道不为自己的欺骗行为感到愧疚吗？”答案是：“不！”嗯，或许某天我会觉得愧疚，那要等到我的伤痊愈及疤痕消除后。我本不想执行所谓的“C计划”，但实在没有办法。我不能每天浪费好几个小时的宝贵时间，并且每天流下那么些血。起码在电视还在播放《六人行》的时候是不行的。另外，这也算是她让我喝自来水的报应！
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
Revenge 我的野蛮祖母My grandmother was an iron-willed woman, the feared 1)matriarch of our New York family back in the 1950s.
When I was five years old, she invited some friends and relatives to her Bronx apartment for a party. Among the guests was a neighborhood 2)big shot who was doing well in business. His wife was proud of their social status and let everyone at the party know it. They had a little girl about my age who was spoiled and very much used to getting her own way.
Grandmother spent a lot of time with the big shot and his family. She considered them the most important members of her social circle and worked hard at 3)currying their favor.
At one point during the party, I made my way to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. A minute or two later, the little girl opened the bathroom door and grandly walked in. I was still sitting down.
"Don't you know that little girls aren't supposed to come into the bathroom when a little boy is using it!?" I 4)hollered.
The surprise of my being there, along with the 5)indignation I had 6)heaped upon her, stunned the little girl. Then she started to cry. She quickly closed the door, ran to the kitchen, and tearfully complained to her parents and my grandmother.
Most of the partygoers had overheard my loud remark and were greatly amused by it. But not Grandmother.
She was waiting for me when I left the bathroom. I received the longest, sharpest tongue-7)lashing of my young life. Grandmother yelled that I was impolite and rude and that I had insulted that nice little girl. The guests watched and 8)winced in absolute silence. So forceful was my grandmother's personality that no one dared stand up for me.
After her 9)harangue was over and I had been dismissed, the party continued, but the atmosphere was much more 10)subdued.
Twenty minutes later, all that changed. Grandmother walked by the bathroom and noticed a 11)torrent of water streaming out from under the door.
She 12)shrieked twice—first in astonishment, then in rage. She 13)flung open the bathroom door and saw that the sink and 14)tub were plugged up and that the 15)faucets were going at full 16)blast.
Everyone knew who the 17)culprit was. The guests quickly formed a protective 18)barricade around me, but Grandmother was so furious that she almost got to me anyway, 19)flailing her arms as if trying to swim over the crowd.
Several strong men eventually moved her away and calmed her down, although she 20)sputtered and 21)fumed for quite a while.
My grandfather took me by the hand and sat me on his lap in a chair near the window. He was a kind and gentle man, full of wisdom and patience. Rarely did he raise his voice to anyone, and never did he argue with his wife or 22)defy her wishes.
He looked at me with much curiosity, not at all angry or upset. "Tell me," he asked, "why did you do it?"
"Well, she yelled at me for nothing," I said earnestly. "Now she's got something to yell about."
Grandfather didn't speak right away. He just sat there, looking at me and smiling.
"Eric," he said at last, "you are my revenge."
1) matriarch [!meitri+:k] n. 女家长
2) a big shot （俚语）要人，大人物
3) curry [!k^ri] favour (with sb.) 曲意逢迎
4) holler [!h*l&] v. 大声叫喊
5) indignation [indig!nei%n] n. 愤慨
6) heap [hi:p] v. 堆积
7) lash [l$%] v. 鞭打
8) wince [wins] v. 退缩
9) harangue [h&!r$() n. 尤指指责性的，长篇大论，夸张的话
10) subdue [s^b!dju:] v. 减弱
11) torrent [!t*r&nt] n. 急流，洪流
12) shriek [%ri:k] v. 尖声叫喊
13) flung [fl^() v. fling的过去式 急冲
14) tub [t^b] n. 浴盆
15) faucet [!f*:sit] n. 龙头
16) blast [bl+:st] n. at full blast （口）全速地
17) culprit [!k^lprit] n. 犯人
18) barricade [b$ri!keid] n. 路障
19) flail [fleil] v. 胡乱地挥舞
20) sputter [!sp^t&] v. 气急败坏地说
21) fume [fju:m] v. 发怒
22) defy [di!fai] v. 不服从
20世纪50年代我们家住在纽约，当时祖母是一家之主，也是一个令人敬畏的强悍女人。
我5岁那年，她邀请了一些亲戚朋友到布朗克斯的公寓里聚会。在客人中有个做生意发了财的大款，他的妻子神气地向大家炫耀他们家的社会地位。他们有个娇气的小女儿，年纪跟我差不多，脾气很蛮横。
祖母殷勤地伺候着那个大款和他的家人，她把他们看作是她的社交圈里最重要的人物，因此她不遗余力地逢迎他们。
晚会进行中，我走进了洗手间并随手把门关上。大概一两分钟后，我当时还坐在马桶上，那个小女孩推开洗手间的门，大模大样地走了进来。
“难道你不知道当一个男孩在使用洗手间的时候女孩子是不可以进来的吗！？”我生气地嚷着说。
听到我生气的吼声，她一下子惊呆了，然后“哇”的一声哭了起来。她飞快地关上门向厨房跑去，边哭边向她的父母和我的祖母告状。
大多数的客人其实都听到了我的怒骂声，他们都被逗乐了，可祖母一点都没笑。
当我从洗手间出来，祖母劈头盖脸地把我骂了一通，骂我没礼貌、少教养、冲撞了那可爱的小女孩。客人们都在静静地看着，我的祖母实在太霸道了，根本没有人敢为我说话。
等她骂完叫我滚开之后，晚会继续进行，但气氛已经大大减弱。
可二十分钟之后，一切全都变了。当祖母从洗手间走过的时候，她发现有股水流从门缝里涌出来。
她先是惊异地叫了一声，很快又愤怒地尖叫起来。她猛力地撞开洗手间的门，发现洗手盆和浴缸都被塞子塞住了，水龙头被拧到最大，水正哗啦啦地直流。
每个人都知道是谁搞的鬼，客人们马上在我周围形成了一堵人墙保护我。愤怒的祖母使劲地挥舞着双手，样子就像在人堆里游泳一样。好几次她差点够着我。
最后几个魁梧的男人才把祖母制住，把她拉开让她冷静下来，但她还是气急败坏地嚷了好一阵子。
祖父这时走了过来，牵着我的手到靠窗的一张椅子上坐下，还把我抱到他的膝盖上坐。祖父的性格好，脾气也特别好。他很少提高嗓门和别人说话，也从来没有和祖母吵架，也从来没有违背过祖母的意愿。
他很好奇地打量着我，没有半点生气或烦恼的样子，“告诉我，”他说，“你为什么要这样做呢？”
“是这样的，她先无缘无故地骂了我一顿，”我认真地说，“这回她骂我就有理由了！”
祖父没有马上说话，他只是坐在那儿，笑眯眯地看着我。
最后他终于开口说：“艾里克，我的乖孙子，你总算替爷爷出了口气！” :D:I
扬州市梅岭中学 马文戈
自信 乐观 愉快——写给我的学生 扬州市梅岭中学 马文戈
我的学生：
当你要求与我谈谈时流露出求助的目光令我不敢拖延片刻，当你向我倾诉胸中苦闷时泪流满面的痛苦表情令我心如刀绞，“活得太累”从花季年龄你的口中吐出令我触目惊心……。你稚嫩的心灵与肩膀承载着与你年龄极不相称的重负。我搜肠刮肚、刮肚搜肠把我知道的、想到的、能说的、想说的一股脑儿全对你说了。但我仍对你放心不下，辗转反侧几个不眠之夜，想出六个字送给你——自信、乐观、愉快，不知能否帮你放松一下绷得过紧过紧的神经，不知能否帮你舒缓一下被压得透不气的心灵。
先说自信。说到自信，有一件事我刻骨铭心。事情发生在前几年放寒假时，学校决定召开初三年级倒数50名的学生和家长共同参加的家长会。会议内容：动员学生利用中考前的最后一个假期，认真复习功课。校长首先阐述会议宗旨，各科出一位老师谈假期复习，我代表政治学科发了言。对这次会议的动机我无可厚非，学校也是用心良苦。但这种做法我认为值得商榷。请大家设想一下，春节前几天，学生和家长共同坐在一起——年级倒数50名，这是否有伤学生和家长的自尊。
这样的会议，在当时的背景下，对学生和家长可能有一定的震动作用。从积极方面说：让学生猛醒，抓紧时间发愤读书；从消极度方面说，会不会导致学生和家长破罐子破摔？会后，学生和家长能过好年吗？我感觉这次家长会是无意识地向学生和家长的伤口上撒盐。基于这样的认识，我的发言特别怕对他们有丝毫的伤害。
我说的第一句话是：“各位同学请注意，你们都有大学上；各位家长请注意，你们小孩都有大学上。”会议室沉闷得令人窒息的气氛被我打破，学生和家长投来好奇和怀疑的目光。有家长甚至认为是讽刺挖苦他们——我们小孩倒数50名，明年暑假高中不知到哪儿上，而你却说有大学上。
我把学校近几年升学考试的年级总均分诚恳地告诉他们，希望他们不要被眼前的分数和名次吓倒，如果就以中考成绩作为衡量标准的话，我们学校的学生，在同一届毕业生中，都是上等生。半年后的中考实践证明了我的话。
家长会结束后，我未教的班级中有一位家长，从其他老师处得知我的电话号码，打来电话说：“开这样的家长会，比打我的耳光还难受。我们本来心灰意冷，听了您的话，我们增强了信心，看到了希望。”
我的学生，上面的事例，对你有否启发？你感到压力很大，信心不足。是因为考试成绩不理想，再联想到明年的中考，更感到前途渺茫。
关于学习上的差异，重要的不是有没有差异，而是如何正确对待差异。五十个人考试，肯定有第一名，也有第五十名。就象十个指头有长短一样。第一名就一定最好吗？央视节目主持人白岩松在《生命的邮件》中明确要求儿子“不争第一。”理由是：“人生不是竟技场，不必把撞线当成最大的光荣……也许，每一个战役，你都赢了，但夜深人静，一个又一个伤口，会让自己触目惊心。”这不知是“国嘴”人生经历的真实写照，还是其人生感悟？
谈到人与人之间的差异，想起马克思的一句话：“搬运工与哲学家之间的原始差别，要比家犬和猎犬之间的差别小得多……”。请问一个初中班级同学中有哲学家和搬运工之间的差异吗？就算有，这个差异又有多大呢？有必要把差异看得这样重吗？
你说你成绩不理想，我认为你只不过是对知识的领悟慢半拍或一拍而已。过一段时间回过头来看看，都会恍然大悟，原来如此，没有哪一点是深不可测，高不可攀的。学习如同爬山，爬过一段回头看看，原来认为高不及的地方，现在都已踩在脚下。再说你音乐方面、美术方面、体育方面、动手能力方面、关心集体、乐于助人方面的过人之处，为什么不说呢？世界上没有样样都行的人，同样也没有样样都不行的人。整天眼睛盯住自己暂时的、相对的弱项，将越盯越没有信心；反之，充分发挥自己的长处，展示自己的长处，将越来越充满信心。天生我材必有用，希望你学会综合地看待自己。
还要学会发展地看待自己。历史上幼时聪慧，长大后一事无成的事例数不胜数。反之，小时愚钝，长大成就大事业的大有人在。记住：自己是处于发展过程中的未成年人，自己的发展潜力是不可估量的，绝不要被学习上暂时的一点困难所吓倒。现代科学研究证明：“人的大脑就象一个沉睡的巨人，它比世界上最强的电脑还要强几千倍。”因此，就人的潜能而言，每一个学生都是一座永远开采不完的金矿。
你的压力主要来自学习，信心受影响也主要来自学习。因此有必要定一个标准来衡量我们的学习。这个标准是什么？——目的明确，态度端正，勤奋刻苦。符合这三句话就是学习好的学生。家长和学生万万不要用分数和名次去折磨自己。有的家长可能会想，高考有切分线，中考有切分线，没有分数行吗？我说，照我的话去做，只会超过、达到或接近切分线，而不会背离切分线。如果把分数和名次作为衡量标准，其结果反而可能是背离切分线，甚至引出更严重的后果，这些我们看得还少吗？再说有了上面的三句话，不仅在校是好学生，将来走上社会不管做什么工作都可以做好。有位哲人说得好：态度决定你的高度。
除了学习标准外，我还想就学习目标谈点个人想法。每个人都应有自己的奋斗目标，但目标的确定一定要因人而异，从实际出发，切不可盲目攀高，以“跳一跳，够得到”为宜。如果目标过高，达不到后，反而使自己丧失信心。
中央台对话栏目曾经把一个名叫阿进的台湾同胞请进演播室。阿进父亲双目失明，母亲神经严重失常。从小出生在破庙里，以讨饭为生。刚会走路，就领着父亲讨饭。就是这样的家庭环境，阿进还读到职业技校毕业。成年后在台湾成功创办了自己的企业；改革开放后，又在大陆创办了自己的企业。以他个人经历所写的自传畅销华人世界。面对阿进，我们有什么理由失去自信？我们今天的条件，不知比当年的阿进好了千倍万倍。
再说乐观。一个自信的人也必然是乐观的人，自信和乐观其实就是一种人生态度。国民党元老，著名书法家于佑任，有人向他请教长寿的秘诀，他指指墙上的一副对联：“常思一二、不想八九”。人生不如意事常八九，而如意的只有一二，就想这一二件如意的事。祝你万事如意，那仅是美好的愿望而已，实际生活中万分之八千、九千都不如意。如果整天都想不如意的事，其结果可能是喝冷水塞牙，放屁砸脚后跟。
著名作家王蒙9.11以后到美国，美国对入境人员盘查非常严格。与王蒙同机到达美国的人员，被盘查后共留下两名恐怖嫌疑分子，其中一名是王蒙。换个人，肯定认为自己倒霉。王蒙却感到很高兴，原因是以他一个老弱之躯的文弱书生，竟被认为是具有实施恐怖袭击的能力的人，因此他感到有趣。同一个问题，看问题的角度不一样，得出截然相反的结果。
前两年台湾一妇女在一次火灾中面部不幸严重烧伤。这位妇女痛不欲生，不配合治疗。这时一位经常到医院做义工的失去双臂的残疾人来到她床前，看到这位妇女年迈的妈妈和幼小的女儿都痛苦地站在床前。这位残疾人说：“你被烧伤，你是不幸的。请问这次烧伤假如不是你，而是你女儿，你有何感想？你愿意由你承担这场灾难，还是愿意让你女儿承担这场灾难。你的妈妈现在就站在你的身旁，她也情愿替你承担这场灾难，而不愿让你承担。你这样痛不欲生只能使你妈妈和女儿更伤心。你是不幸的，但你又是万幸的——因为女儿未受伤，为了妈妈和女儿你应该坚强地活下去”。听了这位残疾人的话后，这位妇女后悔自己真糊涂，从此积极配合治疗、乐观面对人生。
马克思说：大石挡道，勇者视为前进的阶梯，弱者视为前进的障碍。面对同样一块石头，勇敢者和懦弱者得出截然相反的结论。
在社会发展过程中，人类遇到无数困难、苦难、灾难，人类并没有被其吓倒，而是在战胜困难的过程中增长了才干，推动人类社会由低级向高级发展。同样我们的成长过程中也不可能一帆风顺，不可能不遇到困难。在我们遇到困难的时候，应该想到党和政府为我们创造了良好的接受教育的条件，家长和老师无微不至地呵护我们，我们没有克服不了的困难。再说克服困难的过程，本身就是学习和增长才干的过程。如果再把我们个人遇到的一点困难，放到社会发展的历史长河中去看，能算是困难吗？
我的学生请永远记住：明天比今天好，未来比现在更好！
最后说说愉快。一个自信乐观的人，一定是心情愉快的人。现实生活中，你希望自己拥有好心情，结果往往被一些不顺心的事情搞糟。据我所知，引起心情不快的原因，多数是由于人与人之间的关系处理不当所致。
首先说说与老师的关系。你心情不好是因为老师的批评。任何老师不可能不批评学生，任何学生也不可能不被老师批评。如何正确对待老师的批评是我们必然面临的课题。
作为老师批评学生，应力求客观、公正，讲究方法、分清场合 、注意态度、掌握分寸、注重效果。但我不得不告诉你，任何一个老师都不能保证自己的每一次批评都符合上面的要求。因为老师是人不是神，老师的认识也有局限性。老师批评错了、批评重了、批评过火的情况是经常发生的。这种事情无论发生在那个同学身上，再好的心情也会变糟。怎么办？我想说两点：一、从积极角度去理解老师的批评，多想老师批评的动机。不要苛求老师批评的方法、态度、分寸、场合，做到有则改之，无则加勉。二、如果有必要，事后心平气和地善意地向老师解释一下。
写到这里，我想起廿年前教的一个学生。该生是上一级的留级生，各个班主任都不要，教导处安排到我班上。这个同学的家住在菜场附近。有一天早上我从菜场买菜回来，正是学生上学时间。该生与其他几个同学背着书包步行上学，一边走一边议论老师批评的事。我刚好骑车从旁边经过，就听这位同学说：“老师批评有什么好计较的，老师批评都是为我们好。”当时我感动得不得了。联想自己，正当年轻气盛，批评学生肯定有过火的时候，而这个同学竟然能这样劝其他同学正确对待老师的批评（我当时是骑车从后面上来，学生并未看到我）。今天想到这件事，仍记忆犹新。后来观察这位同学，除了学习有困难外，品行相当好、为人宽厚、关心集体、乐于助人。我庆幸自己运气真好，遇到这样好的学生，他的名字我永远记住——严锦华。
我的学生，如果遇到老师的批评的事情，不妨学学这位同学。
再说说与同学的关系。你喜欢说：“我就不喜欢他（她）”。我和你一样大的时候也说过这样的话，长大后知道自己错了。我问你：
“他（她）违法了吗？”
“没有”
“违反纪律了吗？”
“没有”。
“违反道德了吗？”
“也没有”。
“那你为什么不喜欢他（她）呢？”
“因为我喜欢吃青菜，他喜欢吃萝卜”。
如果因为这个原因而使你心情不好，那就不是别人的错，而是你自己的错。
穿衣戴帽，各有所好，萝卜青菜，各有所爱。不能因为你喜欢吃青菜也要别人喜欢吃青菜，这是待人不平等，为人霸道的表现。要公道，颠个倒，如果别人喜欢吃萝卜，也强求你吃萝卜，你作何感想。再说，别人活着有让你喜欢的义务吗？反过来问自己，别人喜欢我吗？恕老师直言，如果你这样思考问题，非但心情不好，而且人缘也不会好，谁愿意与小肚鸡肠的人相处呢？学会宽容、学会善待他人，也是我们成长过程中的必修课。
别人做到了遵守法律、纪律、公德，我们就无权说三道四，我们不能用自己的标准去要求别人。别人的志向、习惯、兴趣、情感等应得到我们的尊重。只有这样，别人才能尊重我们。
最后把台湾著名作家吴谈如论“烦恼”的一段话送给你，供参考。“心理学家认为，我们的烦恼中，有40%属于杞人忧天，那些事根本不会发生；30%是不管怎么烦也没有用的既定事实；另12%是事实上并不存在的幻象；还有10%是日常生活中微不足道的小事。也就是说我们的脑袋有92%的烦恼都是自寻烦恼，活该你烦恼。只有8%的烦恼勉强有些正面意义。看了这些数据，你要不要删除你92%的烦恼？”请你想一想。
还有什么想说吗？随时愿意与你交流。
让我们共同以自信的心理、乐观的态度、愉快地去迎接生活中的每一天吧。
祝进步！
你信得过的朋友
2003年12月30日
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
Hanover Square追忆似水年华Can it really be sixty-two years ago that I first saw you?
It is truly a lifetime, I know. But as I gaze into your eyes now, it seems like only yesterday that I first saw you, in that small café in Hanover Square.
From the moment I saw you smile, as you opened the door for that young mother and her newborn baby. I knew. I knew that I wanted to share the rest of my life with you.
I still think of how foolish I must have looked, as I gazed at you, that first time. I remember watching you intently, as you took off your hat and loosely shook your short dark hair with your fingers. I felt myself becoming 1)immersed in your every detail, as you placed your hat on the table and cupped your hands around the hot cup of tea, gently blowing the steam away with your 2)pouted lips.
From that moment, everything seemed to make perfect sense to me. The people in the café and the busy street outside all disappeared into a 3)hazy 4)blur. All I could see was you.
All through my life I have relived that very first day. Many, many times I have sat and thought about that the first day, and how for a few 5)fleeting moments I am there, feeling again what is like to know true love for the very first time. It pleases me that I can still have those feelings now after all those years, and I know I will always have them to comfort me.
Not even as I shook and trembled uncontrollably in the 6)trenches, did I forget your face. I would sit huddled into the wet mud, terrified, as the hails of bullets and mortars crashed down around me. I would 7)clutch my rifle tightly to my heart, and think again of that very first day we met. I would cry out in fear, as the noise of war beat down around me. But, as I thought of you and saw you smiling back at me, everything around me would be become silent, and I would be with you again for a few precious moments, far from the death and destruction. It would not be until I opened my eyes once again, that I would see and hear the 8)carnage of the war around me.
I cannot tell you how strong my love for you was back then, when I returned to you on leave in the September, feeling 9)battered, bruised and fragile. We held each other so tight I thought we would burst. I asked you to marry me the very same day and I 10)whooped with joy when you looked deep into my eyes and said "yes" to being my bride.
I'm looking at our wedding photo now, the one on our dressing table, next to your jewellery box. I think of how young and innocent we were back then. I remember being on the church steps grinning like a 11)Cheshire cat, when you said how dashing and handsome I looked in my uniform. The photo is old and faded now, but when I look at it, I only see the bright vibrant colors of our youth. I can still remember every detail of the pretty wedding dress your mother made for you, with its fine delicate lace and pretty pearls. If I concentrate hard enough, I can smell the sweetness of your wedding bouquet as you held it so proudly for everyone to see.
I remember being so over enjoyed, when a year later, you gently held my hand to your waist and whispered in my ear that we were going to be a family.
I know both our children love you dearly; they are outside the door now, waiting.
Do you remember how I panicked like a mad man when Jonathon was born? I can still picture you laughing and smiling at me now, as I 12)clumsily held him for the very first time in my arms. I watched as your laughter faded into tears, as I stared at him and cried my own tears of joy.
Sarah and Tom arrived this morning with little Tessie. Can you remember how we both hugged each other tightly when we saw our tiny granddaughter for the first time? I can't believe she will be eight next month. I am trying not to cry, my love, as I tell you how beautiful she looks today in her pretty dress and red shiny shoes, she reminds me so much of you that first day we met. She has her hair cut short now, just like yours was all those years ago. When I met her at the door her smile wrapped around me like a warm glove, just like yours used to do, my darling.
I know you are tired, my dear, and I must let you go. But I love you so much it hurts to do so.
As we grew old together, I would tease you that you had not changed since we first met. But it is true, my darling. I do not see the wrinkles and grey hair that other people see. When I look at you now, I only see your sweet tender lips and youthful sparkling eyes as we sat and had out first picnic next to that small stream, and chased each other around that big old oak tree. I remember wishing those first few days together would last forever. Do you remember how exciting and wonderful those days were?
I must go now, my darling. Our children are waiting outside. They want to say goodbye to you.
I wipe the tears away from my eyes and bend my frail old legs down to the floor, so that I can kneel beside you. I lean close to you and take hold of your hand and kiss your tender lips for the very last time.
Sleep peacefully my dear.
I am sad that you had to leave me, but please don't worry. I am content, knowing I will be with you soon. I am too old and too empty now to live much longer without you.
I know it won't be long before we meet again in that small café in Hanover Square.
Goodbye, my darling wife.
我们初次相遇，难道真的是六十二年前吗？
年华似水，倏忽间我们已相携一世。望着你的眼睛，当年的邂逅历历如在昨昔，就在汉诺威广场的那间小咖啡馆里。
从见到你的那一刻起，那一刻你正为一位年轻的母亲和她的小宝宝开门，那一刻当看到你的盈盈笑靥，我就明白我只愿与你执手携老，共度今生。
我仍然不时想起，那天自己那样地盯着你，一定很傻；就那样情不自禁怔怔地望着你，追随你摘下小帽，用手指松了松短短的黑发，追随你把帽子放在桌前，双手捧起暖暖的茶杯，追随你微撅樱唇，轻轻吹走飘腾的热气，我的目光始终追随着你，感觉自己在你的温柔举止间慢慢融化。
从那一刻起，一切似乎都鲜明了意义。咖啡馆里的来来往往和外面闹市的熙熙攘攘忽然都模糊了起来，我眼里能看到的，只有你。
光阴似箭，那一天却不断在我的记忆里重演，鲜活如初。多少次我再次坐下，不断追忆那天的点滴，不断回味那些飞纵的瞬间，重新体会一见钟情的美丽。岁月的流逝却并没有带走我的爱恋感觉，这些体验会永远伴随我，安抚我的寥寥余生。
即使是当我在战壕中控制不住地颤抖，我也不曾忘记你的容颜。我蜷缩在稀泥中，身边是枪林弹雨，弥漫硝烟，我把步枪紧紧地攥在胸前，一颗惊恐不安的心，还是想起了我们初识的那一天。身旁战火呼啸，恐惧让我想要大声呼叫，直到想起你，仿佛见到你在我身后盈盈浅笑，战场忽然沉寂下来，在这珍贵的瞬间，我觉得自己暂时远离了毁灭和死亡，飞向你的身旁。我拼命想留住这美好，直到睁开眼，周围却依然是血与火的生死战场。
九月休假回到你身边，我疲惫而脆弱，没能再告诉你战火纷飞时我对你的爱有多深。我们只能紧紧拥抱在一起，仿佛要把对方挤碎。也就在那天，面对我的求婚，你深深凝望我的眼睛，答应做我的新娘，而我早已欢喜地大喊大叫。
我现在正看着我们的结婚照片，总是放在妆台上的那张，就在你的首饰盒旁。那时候，我们多么年轻，多么纯真。我记得我们站在教堂的台阶上，开心得像一对甜蜜的鸳鸯，你还说我穿着制服多么英武俊朗。照片已经旧得泛黄了，但我看到的，却只有当年青春的明媚姿彩。我仍然记得你母亲为你做的那件新娘礼服，那些精致的花边和漂亮的珠饰。让我再想一想，我还能闻到那婚礼花束的甜香，你那么骄傲地捧着花，让每一个人分享你的幸福时光。
一年后，你轻轻地把我的手放到你的腹前，对着我的耳朵悄悄透露这个让我欣喜若狂的好消息：我们就快有宝宝啦。
我知道我们的孩子都深深地爱你，他们现在就在门外等候。
你还记得乔纳森出生的时候我那手足无措的慌张样子吗？当我笨拙地把他抱在怀里，我还记得你笑话我的样子，我看着他，我们都情不自禁地迸出了开心的泪花。
今天早晨撒拉和汤姆带着小缇西也赶到了。你还记得吗？第一次看到这个可爱的小孙女，我俩高兴地紧紧拥抱。真让人难以相信，她下个月就八岁了。亲爱的，我不得不忍住眼泪告诉你，小家伙今天穿着漂亮的裙子，闪亮的红色小鞋，让我立刻想起当年相遇时的你，连她的短发也像极了年轻的你。当我在门口看到她的时候，她的笑容暖人心脾，这竟然也和你一模一样。
我明白，亲爱的，你累了，我应该让你离开。可是爱人即逝，孤侣何伤！
这些年我们相濡以沫，白首到老，我总是逗你说你的容颜依然如昔。可这是真的，亲爱的，我真的见不到他人眼里的皱纹和白发。现在我望着你，也还是只能看到你娇嫩温柔的红唇和秋水流盼的眼眸，仿佛我们第一次在那条小溪边野餐，在那棵巨大的老橡树旁追逐嬉戏。那时候我们刚刚在一起，总是盼望那样的日子生生世世，你还记得吗？那些日子是多么激情荡漾，让人不忍回首……
亲爱的，我应该走了。孩子们都等在外面，他们要和你道别。
我擦去了眼角的泪，跪在你的身边，轻轻靠近你，握住你的双手，最后一次吻你。
亲爱的，安心地睡吧。
这分离扯碎了我的心。别担心，我很快就会来陪伴你。生死茫茫，尘世间没有你，这满腔的衷肠凭谁倾诉？这只影的寂寥复有何欢？
很快，我们就能在汉诺威广场的那间小咖啡馆里再相逢。
再会了，我的爱妻。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
A Million Dollar Lesson A cab driver taught me a million dollar lesson in customer satisfaction and expectation. Motivational speakers charge thousands of dollars to 1)impart this kind of training to corporate executives and staff. It cost me a $12 taxi ride.
I had flown into Dallas for the sole purpose of calling on a client. Time was of the essence and my plan included a quick turnaround trip from and back to the airport. A spotless cab pulled up. The driver rushed to open the passenger door for me and made sure I was comfortably seated before he closed the door. As he got in the driver's seat, he mentioned that the neatly folded Wall Street Journal next to me was for my use. He then showed me several tapes and asked me what type of music I would enjoy. Well! I looked around for a "Candid Camera!" Wouldn't you? I could not believe the service I was receiving! I took the opportunity to say, "Obviously you take great pride in your work. You must have a story to tell."
"You bet," he replied, "I used to be in Corporate America. But I got tired of thinking my best would never be good enough. I decided to find my 2)niche in life where I could feel proud of being the best I could be. I knew I would never be a rocket scientist, but I love driving cars, being of service and feeling like I have done a full day's work and done it well. I evaluate my personal assets and… wham! I became a cab driver. One thing I know for sure, to be good in my business I could simply just meet the expectations of my passengers. But, to be great in my business, I have to exceed the customer's expectations! I like both the sound and the return of being 'great' better than just getting by on 'average'"
Did I tip him big time? You bet! Corporate America's loss is the travelling folk's friend!
千金一课
怎样令顾客满意，达到他们的期望，一个出租车司机给我上了宝贵的一课。换了是一些给公司行政人员和员工作培训的讲师，可能要收取上万的课酬才会传授这等经验。而我呢，只花了12美元的出租车费就学到了。
之前我为了见一个客户飞了一趟达拉斯，时间就是生命，按照行程计划，我马上又折返回到了机场。一辆一尘不染的出租车停在面前。司机随即替我开车门，确定我稳稳妥妥地坐好后才把门关上。坐进驾驶室时，他不忘提醒我，旁边叠得整整齐齐的《华尔街日报》是给我看的。接着，他拿了几盘带子出来，问我喜欢什么类型的音乐。哇塞！我到处张望，看偷拍镜头究竟藏在哪里。碰到这样的情形，你也会有这个反应吧？我简直不敢相信会享受到这般服务！我趁机和他聊了起来：“看得出你很以自己的工作为豪，这里头一定有什么故事吧。”
“你说中了，”他答道，“我以前也是美国商界一员，但是我已经厌倦了怎么努力也达不到别人定下的目标这种生活。我决定要为我的人生创造属于自己的新天地，在那里我可以为自己的最佳表现而感到自豪。我知道我永远也不会成为一个火箭科学家，但是喜欢开车，喜欢为别人服务，喜欢感觉完成一整天的工作而且把事情做好。算了一下手头的资产后，我就当起出租车司机了。我很清楚要干好这一行，需要做的仅仅就是满足乘客的期望。但是我要做出不一般的成绩，我的服务就要超出顾客的期望！我不要以一般服务混日子，我喜欢听到顾客对我优良服务的赞赏和为此得到的回报。”
我有没有爽快给他小费？当然有！奔波各地的我就这样和这个美国商界流失的一大人才成了朋友。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
My Busy Day真的爱你
"Mommy, look!" cried my daughter, Darla, pointing to a chicken hawk soaring through the air.
"Uh huh," I murmured, driving, lost in thought about the tight schedule of my Day.
Disappointment filled her face. "What's the matter, Sweetheart?" I asked, entirely 1)dense.
"Nothing," my seven-year-old said. The moment was gone. Near home, we slowed to search for the 2)albino deer that comes out from behind the thick mass of trees in the early evening. She was nowhere to be seen.
"Tonight, she has too many things to do," I said.
Dinner, baths and phone calls filled the hours until bedtime.
"Come on, Darla, time for bed!" She raced past me up the stairs. Tired, I kissed her on the cheek, said prayers and tucked her in.
"Mom, I forgot to give you something!" she said. My patience was gone.
"Give it to me in the morning," I said, but she shook her head.
"You won't have time in the morning!" she 3)retorted.
"I'll take time," I answered defensively. Sometimes no matter how hard I.tried, time flowed through my fingers like sand in an 4)hourglass, never enough. Not enough for her, for my husband, and definitely not enough for me.
She wasn't ready to give up yet. She wrinkled her freckled little nose in anger and swiped away her chestnut brown hair.
"No, you won't! It will be just like today when I told you to look at the hawk. You didn't even listen to what I said."
I was too weary to argue; she hit too close to the truth. "Good night!" I shut her door with a 5)resounding 6)thud.
Later though, her gray-blue gaze filled my vision as I thought about how little time we really had until she was grown and gone.
My husband asked, "Why so 7)glum?" I told him.
"Maybe she's not asleep yet. Why don't you check," he said with all the authority of a parent in the right. I followed his advice, wishing it was my own idea.
I cracked open her door, and the light from the window spilled over her sleeping form. In her hand I could see the remains of a 8)crumpled paper. Slowly I opened her palm to see what the item of our disagreement had been.
Tears filled my eyes. She had torn into small pieces a big red heart with a poem she had written titled, "Why I Love My Mother!"
I carefully removed the 9)tattered pieces. Once the puzzle was put back into place, I read what she had written:
Why I Love My Mother
Although you're busy, and you work so hard You always take time to play I love you Mommy because I am the biggest part of your busy day!
The words were an arrow straight to the heart. At seven years old, she had the wisdom of Solomon.
Ten minutes later I carried a tray to her room, with two cups of hot chocolate with 10)marshmallows and two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. When I softly touched her smooth cheek, I could feel my heart burst with love.
Her thick dark lashes lay like fans against her lids as they fluttered, awakened from a dreamless sleep, and she looked at the tray.
"What is that for?" she asked, confused by this late-night intrusion.
"This is for you, because you are the most important part of my busy day!"She smiled and sleepily drank half her cup of chocolate. Then she drifted back to sleep, not really understanding how strongly I meant what I said.
“妈妈，看！”我的女儿达拉喊到，小手指着翱翔在空中的小鹰。
当时我开着车，正想着我当天忙碌的日程安排，便随口“嗯“了一声。
女儿一脸的失望。“乖乖，怎么啦？”我问道，完全不知道发生了什么事。
“没什么，”我那七岁的女儿说道。那不愉快的一刻很快就过去了。快到家了，我放慢了车速，想找那头白化变种鹿。她通常在入夜时出现在那片茂密的树林里。但这次我们却找不到她的影踪。
“小鹿今晚太忙了，”我说。
晚餐，沐浴﹑电话占据了我睡觉前的所有时间。
“达拉，睡觉了！”她从我身旁跑过，我这时已觉得很疲惫，吻了吻她的脸，说了几句祷告的话后便把她推进房里去。
“妈，我忘了给你些东西！”她说。我当时已经没有耐性再听她说话了。
“明早再给我吧，”我说，但她却摇摇头。
“你明早没时间的，”她反驳道。
“我会抽时间的，”我辩解道。有时候，不管我怎么努力，时间还是像沙漏里的沙子一样从我的指间里流走，似乎永远不够用。我永远没有足够的时间耗在女儿身上，丈夫身上，在自己身上更是如此。
她没打算放弃。她生气地皱了皱长着雀斑的小鼻子，拨弄了一下她那栗色的头发。
“不！你不会有时间的！就像今天我让你看看天上的小鹰的时候，你根本就没留意我在说什么。”
我太累了，不想跟她争论。她说得很对。“晚安！” 我重重地关上了她的门。
夜深了，我眼前仍然浮现着女儿蓝灰色的眸子，我想到在女儿长大成人离开我们之前我们共处的时间已所剩无几。
“怎么这么惆怅呢？”我丈夫问。我跟他说了事情的来龙去脉。
“也许她还没睡着呢。为什么不去看看呢，”丈夫以一种完全家长式的语气说道。我接受了他的建议，要是自己也会这么想就好了。
我把门推开了一道小缝。透过窗户射进的光线刚好照在她身上。我看到她手上揣着张皱皱的纸。我慢慢地摊开她的手掌，想看看究竟是什么东西导致了我们母女的不和。
我的眼睛湿润了。她把一个大大的红心撕成了碎片，上面是她自己写的一首诗，《为什么我爱妈妈！》
我小心翼翼地拿走那些碎片，并重新拼凑起来。诗是这样写的：
虽然你很忙，而且也做得很辛苦，但你总是抽时间陪我玩。我爱妈咪，因为我是你繁忙日子里最重要的部分。
女儿的话语像箭一样刺痛了我的心。七岁的她居然具备了所罗门的智慧。十分钟后，我端着一个托盘走进她的房间，托盘上盛着两杯葵蜜饯热咖啡，两片花生黄油和果冻三文治。轻抚着她的脸颊，我的心里盈满了爱意。
她眨着眼睛，乌黑浓密的睫毛像扇子一样在她睡意惺忪的脸颊上扇动，她看着我的托盘。
“这是给谁弄的？”她问道，对我这深夜的造访感到迷惑。
“是给你弄的，因为你是我繁忙日子里最重要的部分！”她笑了，睡意朦胧地喝了半杯巧克力。然后便又躺下睡了，她并没听出我那句话里饱含的深情。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
01、The Right Way to Eat an Ice-cream Cone Grasp the 1)cone with the right hand firmly but gently between thumb and at least one but not more than three fingers, two-thirds of the way up the cone. Then 2)dart swiftly away to an open area, away from the 3)jostling crowd at the 4)stand. Now 5)take up the classic ice-cream-cone-eating 6)stance: feet from one to two feet apart, body bent forward from the waist at a twenty-five-degree angle, right 7)elbow well up, right 8)forearm 9)horizontal, at a level with your collarbone and about twelve inches from it.
But don’t start eating yet! Check first to see what emergency repairs may be necessary. Sometimes a sugar cone will be so 10)crushed or broken or 11)cracked that all one can do is 12)gulp at the thing like a savage, getting what he can of it and letting the rest drop to the ground, and then 13)evacuating the area of 14)catastrophe as quickly as possible.
Checking the cone for possible trouble can be done in a second or two, if one knows where to look and does it 15)systematically. A trouble spot some people 16)overlook is the bottom tip of the cone. This may have been 17)broken off. Or the flap of the cone material at the bottom, usually wrapped over itself in that funny 18)spiral construction, may be folded in a way that is imperfect and leaves an opening. No need to say that through this 19)opening-in a matter of perhaps thirty or, at most, ninety seconds-will begin to pour hundreds of thousands of sticky 20)molecules of melted ice cream.
You know in this case then you must instantly get the paper napkin in your left hand under and around the bottom of the cone to 21)stem the 22)forthcoming flow, or else be 23)doomed to eat the cone far too rapidly. It is a 24)grim moment. No one wants to eat a cone under that kind of pressure, but neither does anyone want to end up with the bottom of the cone stuck to a messy napkin.
There’s one other alternative-one that takes both skill and courage: 25)Forgoing any cradling action, grasp the cone more firmly between thumb and forefinger and extend the other fingers so that they are out of the way of the dripping from the bottom, then increase the waist-bend angle from twenty-five to thirty-five degrees, and then eat the cone, allowing it to drip out of the bottom onto the ground in front of you! Experienced and thoughtful cone-eaters enjoy facing up to this kind of sudden challenge.
1) cone [kEun] n.蛋筒冰淇淋，锥形物
2) dart [da:t] v. 飞奔，投掷
3) jostling [5dVCsliN]a. 拥挤的
4) stand [stAnd] n. 营业摊点
5) take up 采取，开始，继续
6) stance [stAns] n. 姿势
7) elbow [5elbEu] n. 手肘
8) forearm[fC:r5a:m] n. 前臂
9) horizontal [hCri5zCntl] a.水平的
10) crushed [krQFt] a. 变形的
11) cracked [krAkt] a. 破碎的，破裂的
12) gulp[gQlp] v. 吞咽
13) evacuate [i5vAkjueit] v. 疏散，排出
14) catastrophe [kE5tAstrEfi] n. 灾难
15) systematically [sistE5mAtikEli]]adv.系统地
16) overlook [EuvE5luk] v.忽略，远眺
17) break off 折断
18) spiral [5spaiErEl] a. 螺旋形的
19) opening [5EupEniN] n. 口子，空缺
20) molecule [5mClikju:l] n. 分子，微粒
21) stem [stem] v. 阻止，滋生
22) forthcoming [fC:W5kQmiN] a.即将到来的
23) doomed [du:md] a. 命定的
24) grim [grim]a.严酷的，憎恶的
25)forgo[fC:gEu]v.作罢，放弃
吃蛋筒冰淇淋的正确方法8D
技巧与勇气必须兼备，巧补妙拿之余且要敏思善想，食家的乐趣便是要挂足不漏才来得无悔无憾！
右手牢牢地抓住蛋筒，但要以大拇指和至少一个、不能超过三个的其他手指夹住蛋筒自下而上三分之二的地方。然后飞奔至宽敞处，离开冷饮亭的拥挤人群。现在摆出吃冰淇淋的古典姿势：两足相距一两英尺，上半身前倾25度，右肘抬起，右前臂水平提至与颈骨同高处，距离12英寸。
但还别开始吃！先查看一下是否需要进行必要的紧急修补。有时候甜筒给压扁、断裂、破碎了，你只好犹如野人一般狼吞虎咽，能吃多少算多少，其余的只能任由滴到地上，接着还得要迅速撤离灾难现场。
如果一个人知道该注意什么地方并有系统地去做，检查蛋筒以防隐患只消一两秒钟便可完成。蛋筒的尖底往往是为人们所忽视的地方——这儿或有可能已经破损。再或者蛋筒底部常给弄成可笑的螺旋状，由于扭拧技术欠佳而留下缺口。不用说，过了30秒或至多90秒钟，成百上千融化了的冰淇淋粘乎乎的微粒便会从这缺口倾涌而出。
在此情况下，你要立即用左手拿纸巾包在蛋筒底部及四周堵住涌出的冰淇淋，否则的话，你只能匆匆忙忙地吃下蛋筒。这可真令人着恼。没人希望在那样的压力下吃冰淇淋，也不会有人希望吃剩个脏兮兮的纸巾裹着的蛋筒底。
还有另一种选择，但那既需要技巧也需要勇气，即：在进行任何补救措施之前，以拇指和食指牢牢夹住蛋筒，并翘起其他手指以免粘上蛋筒底端的冰淇淋，然后上身倾度由25度变为35度，再吃蛋筒，随它在你跟前漏洒到地上！经验老道且敏思善想的蛋筒吃家是很乐于面对这种突然的挑战的。
回复： 扬州市梅岭中学 马文戈
[quote][b]shoutout扬中人 wrote:[/b] 自信 乐观 愉快——写给我的学生
扬州市梅岭中学 [color=red]马文戈[/color]
我的学生：
当你要求与我谈谈时流露出求助的目光令我不敢拖延片刻，当你向我倾诉胸。。。。
马文戈，偶初三政治老师~~8D
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
同时也是偶老师,敬爱他老人家呢8D他那时候用扬州话点我名字帮他读"服务导报"
他在教课,更在塑造灵魂:)
向马老师敬礼!:I
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
非走不可的弯路 张爱玲
在青春的路口，曾经有那么一条小路若隐若现，召唤着我。
母亲拦住我：“那条路走不得
我不信。
“我就是从那条路走过来的，你还有什么不信？”
“既然你能从那条路上走过来，我为什么不能？”
“我不想让你走弯路。”
“但是我喜欢，而且我不怕。”
母亲心疼的看我好久，然后叹口气：“好吧，你这个倔强的孩子，那条路很难走，一路小心。”
上路后，我发现母亲没有骗我，那的确是条弯路，我碰壁，摔跟头，有时碰的头破血溜，但我不停的走，终于走过来了。
坐下来喘息的时候，我看见一个朋友，自然很年轻，正站在我当年的路口，我忍不住喊：“那路走不得。”
她不信。
“我母亲就是从那条路上走过来的，我也是。”
“既然你们都从那条路上走过来了，我为什么，不能？”
“我不想让你走同样的弯路。”
“但是我喜欢。”
我看了看她，看了看自己，然后笑了：“一路小心。”
我很感激她，她让我发现自己不再年轻，已经开始扮演“过来人”的角色，同时患有“过来人”常患的“拦路癖”。
在人生的路上，有一条路每个人非走不可，那就是年轻时候的弯路。不摔跟头，不碰壁，不碰个头破血流，怎能炼出钢筋铁骨，怎能长大呢？
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
Adrift :)In 1982 Steven Callahan was crossing the Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. He was out of the shipping 1)lanes and floating in a life raft, alone. His supplies were few. His chances were small. Yet when three fishermen found him seventy-six days later (the longest anyone has survived a shipwreck on a life raft alone), he was alive-much skinnier than he was when he started, but alive.
His account of how he survived is fascinating. How he 2)ingeniously managed to catch fish, how he fixed his solar 3)still, which 4)evaporates seawater to make fresh water, is very interesting.
But the thing that caught my eye was how he managed to keep himself going when all hope seemed lost, when there seemed no point in continuing the struggle, when he was suffering greatly, when his life raft was 5)punctured and after more than a week struggling with his weak body to fix it, it was still leaking air and 6)wearing him out to keep pumping it up. He was starved. He was desperately 7)dehydrated. He was thoroughly exhausted. Giving up would have seemed the only 8)sane option.
When people survive these kinds of circumstances, they do something with their minds that gives them the courage to keep going. Many people in similarly desperate circumstances give in or go mad. Something the survivors do with their thoughts helps them find the 9)guts to carry on in spite of overwhelming odds.
"I tell myself I can handle it," wrote Callahan in his narrative. "Compared to what others have been through, I'm fortunate. I tell myself these things over and over, building up 10)fortitude…."
I wrote that down after I read it. It struck me as something important. And I've told myself the same thing when my own goals seemed far off or when my problems seemed too overwhelming. And every time I've said it, I have always come back to my senses.
The truth is, our circumstances are only bad compared to something better. But others have been through much worse. I've read enough history to know you and I are lucky to be where we are, when we are, no matter how bad it seems to us compared to our fantasies. It's a sane thought and worth thinking.
So here, coming to us from the extreme edge of survival, are words that can give us strength. Whatever you're going through, tell yourself you can handle it. Compared to what others have been through, you're fortunate. Tell this to yourself over and over, and it will help you get through the rough spots with a little more fortitude.
1) lane [lein] n. 航道
2) ingeniously [in!d)enju&sli] adv. 有才能地，贤明地
3) still [stil]n. 蒸馏器
4) evaporate [I!v$p&reit] v. 蒸发
5) puncture [!p^nkt%& ] v. 刺破
6) wear sb. Out 使某人精疲力竭
7) dehydrate [di:!haidreit] v. 使脱水
8) sane [sein] adj. 明智的
9) guts （复）（口）勇气与决心
10) fortitude [!f*:titju:d] n. 不屈不挠的精神；坚忍不拔
漂流者箴言
1982年史蒂文·卡拉汉独自驾驶着帆船横渡大西洋，途中帆船遇难下沉。他在救生艇里孤独地漂浮着，远离了航道。当时他身上的食物所剩无几，生存机会非常渺茫。但76天后，三个渔民发现了他，他还活着 （他是世界上遭遇海难，在救生艇上存活最长时间的人），他当时瘦骨嶙峋，与出航前相比简直判若两人，然而他还活着。
关于他大难不死的故事让人惊叹。其中他是如何巧妙地抓鱼，如何固定太阳蒸馏器来提取淡水的事情都非常有趣。
但我最感兴趣的还是在他感到彻底绝望的时候，当一切抗争都似乎已毫无意义的时候，当灾难苦苦折磨着他的时候，他是如何支撑着活下来的？救生艇穿了洞，他强撑着虚弱的躯体，花了一周多的时间去修理，可救生艇仍然漏气，于是他耗尽了所有的力气去吹气。饥肠辘轳的他极度脱水，精疲力竭，就算放弃也完全在情理之中。
如果人们能够战胜这种情况，那么他们的脑海中一定有什么信念支撑着他们。许多人在遭遇类似的绝境时会选择放弃或精神失常，但幸存下来的人，靠的是心中的信念，是信念给予了他们战胜一切恶劣情况的勇气和决心。
“我跟自己说我一定可以挺过去的，”卡拉汉在他的叙述中写到。“跟别人的遭遇相比，我已经算是幸运的。我由始至终都这样鼓励自己，在自己心中建立起永不放弃的信念。”
读完这几句，我就把它们抄下了，并深深地为之震撼。当我觉得自己的目标似乎遥不可及又或者我遇到了似乎无法解决的问题的时候，我就用它们来勉励自己。而每每念及它们，我总能有所醒悟。
事实上，不幸都是相对而言的，有些人比我们更不幸。不管现实和理想相距多远，纵观历史，我们应该为现在所处的时代和景况感到幸运。这样的想法是明智的，而且也值得思考。
从这个大难不死的的故事中，我们学到了能给予我们勇气和力量的话语。无论你遭遇了什么，你都要对自己说：一定能挺过去的。和其他人的不幸相比，你已经算幸运了。要一遍一遍地用此话鼓励自己，这个信念将会使你更有决心去度过难关。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
人工智能与围棋电影《美丽心灵》里有这样一幕场景：教学家约翰·纳什坐在普林斯顿大学的庭院里，俯身看着一块游戏，木板上点缀着黑色和白色的像鹅卵石那样的东西。
纳什正在下围棋，围棋是一个源自亚洲的古老游戏。输掉游戏使他很沮丧，却促使他专注博弈的数学研究，他也最终由此获得诺贝尔奖。
近几年来，计算机科学家们，特别是专攻人工智能这块的科学家们也同样感受到纳什的这种痴迷和沮丧。
其它棋类游戏的电脑程序都比较简单编写，国际象棋也在功能强劲的处理器面前乖乖屈服。五年前，一部叫“深蓝”的电脑不仅击垮了当时的世界冠军卡斯帕罗夫，而且还重挫了他的锐气。
这是因为国际象棋虽然错综复杂，但仍可简化成强力运算。围棋却不大一样，看上去好像很容易学会——无论人还是电脑，但事实上要达到精通的水平却要付出多年的摸索。到目前为止，仍没有电脑能够超出业余围棋手的水平。
围棋游戏是在一块由19条水平线和19条垂直线围成格子的木板上进行的。黑色或白色的棋子每次只能下一颗于格子交叉处。目的是通过围格子获得或保卫“领土”。编程人员认为围棋比象棋更能精确地反映人类思维的方式。要让电脑模仿人那样思考牵涉到人工智能的核心技术，例如要教会电脑如何学习、下结论、战略考虑、知识再现、模式识别，以及也许是最引人注目的技术——直觉认知。
电脑工程师兼Applied Minds科技公司的主席丹尼·席立斯表示：科学的进步源于对典型事物的全面研究，而对深奥围棋的研究正是促进科学进步的好时机。
“我们要研究的是像果蝇那样具有代表性的东西”，席立斯说。“国际象棋是研究逻辑的典型物，围棋却是研究直觉认知的典型物”。
跟直觉认知一样，模式识别在游戏中占了很大部分。电脑在运算数字方面很在行，但人天生就擅长模式匹配，匆匆一瞥甚至是背影都可以认出熟人。
斯坦福大学的数学教授，丹尼·巴布在空闲时编写一个名叫GNU的围棋程序。
他说：“国际象棋比赛中我们只要看一眼就知道大致的结果，但下围棋时，棋手必须运用多年积累的知识和逻辑并综合自己的模式匹配能力，才能下好一盘棋”。
大卫·福兰认为衡量一个电脑围棋游戏的标准是围棋软件的性能，在过去的五年里，围棋软件虽然进步很大，却没有重大突破。福兰是加州圣何塞市的编程人员和芯片设计师，他编写并出售一套叫“多面围棋”的软件——为数不多的商业围棋软件之一。
“游戏软件的性能部分受制于数据处理速度。传统的国际象棋程序每秒可以计算30万步，深蓝每秒更是可以计算2亿步。然而大部分的围棋程序到游戏进行到一半时每秒只能计算几十步”，“聪明围棋”软件的设计者安德·可鲁夫这样说。
对国际象棋来说，每一步棋棋手大概有25到35种下法，但围棋却有240多种。照伦敦一位电脑专家迈克尔·雷斯的说法，深蓝电脑在3秒钟就能计算出国际象棋很多步以后的各种变化，而处理相同步数围棋的变化情况，围棋程序却需要运行3万年之久。
但障碍还不止表现在数据的处理能力上，围棋程序不但计算步数很慢，而且计算的准确性也不高。尽管围棋程序的开发如此之难，编程人员越发产生了浓厚的兴趣，他们必须在人工智能的基础研究上有所突破。
“我们认为我们已经完全掌握了人类的行为规律”，巴布说，“我们在早上起床，然后准备早餐。但你如果想要让电脑做这种事情，你马上会发现我们轻而易举能做到的事，对电脑来说却难似登天。”
让电脑下围棋也是一样。“当你考虑棋局的种种变数时，你下意识地进行筛选”，巴布说，“很难说得清这个筛选过程是怎样的，我面对棋盘思考10种可能的变化情况，要得出相同的结论电脑却需要考虑上千种，甚至是上百万种的位置变化，而出来的结果还可能是错误的。”
雷斯他还是神经网络系统的专家，他比较了人类的两种辨别能力，一种是辨别出围棋棋局中的关键位点，另一种是辨别开椅子和自行车的图片，他说，这两种能力对电脑来说都是难乎其难。
正因如此，大卫·福兰指出：“编写一套好的围棋程序比编写一套好的象棋程序更具挑战性，它能让电脑更接近人的思维方式”。
（果蝇，fruit fly，因其寿命短，繁殖力强而成为研究遗传学的典型，在本文中指代有代表性的事物——译者注）
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
My Miraculous FamilyI never considered myself unique, but people are constantly telling me, "you are a miracle." To me, I was just an ordinary "guy" with realistic goals and big dreams. I was a 19-year-old student at the University of Texas and well on my way toward fulfilling my "big dream" of one day becoming an 1)orthopedic surgeon.
On the night of February 17, 1981 I was studying for an 2)Organic Chemistry test at the library with Sharon, my girlfriend of three years. Sharon had asked me to drive her back to her dormitory as it was getting quite late. We got into my car, not realizing that just getting into a car would never quite be the same for me again. I quickly noticed that my gas 3)gauge was registered on empty so I pulled into a nearby convenience store to buy $2.00 worth of gas. "I'll be back in two minutes," I yelled at Sharon as I closed the door. But instead, those two minutes changed my life forever.
Entering the convenience store was like entering the 4)twilight zone. On the outside I was a healthy, athletic, pre-med student, but on the inside I was just another statistic of a violent crime. I thought I was entering an empty store, but suddenly I realized it was not empty at all. Three robbers were in the process of committing a robbery and my entrance into the store caught them by surprise. One of the criminals immediately 5)shoved a .38 6)caliber handgun to my head, ordered me to the cooler, pushed me down on the floor, and pumped a bullet into the back of my head - execution style. He obviously thought I was dead because he did not shoot me again. The 7) trio of thieves finished robbing the store and left calmly.
Meanwhile, Sharon wondered why I had not returned. After seeing the three men leave the store she really began to worry as I was the last person she saw entering the store. She quickly went inside to look for me, but saw no one-only an almost empty cash register containing one check and several pennies. Quickly she ran down each aisle shouting, "Mike, Mike!"
Just then the 8) attendant appeared from the back of the store shouting, "Lady, get down on the floor. I've just been robbed and shot at!"
Sharon quickly dropped to the floor screaming, "Have you seen my boyfriend? He has 9)auburn hair." The man did not reply but went back to the cooler where he found me choking on my vomit. The attendant quickly cleaned my mouth and then called for the police and an ambulance.
Sharon was in shock. She was beginning to understand that I was hurt, but she could not begin to comprehend or imagine the severity of my injury.
When the police arrived they immediately called the 10)homicide division as they did not think I would survive and the 11)paramedic reported that she had never seen a person so severely wounded survive. At 1:30 a.m. my parents who lived in Houston, were awakened by a telephone call from Brackenridge Hospital advising them to come to Austin as soon as possible for they feared I would not make it through the night.
But I did make it through the night and early in the morning the 12)neurosurgeon decided to operate. However, he quickly informed my family and Sharon that my chances of surviving the surgery were only 40/60. If this were not bad enough, the neurosurgeon further shocked my family by telling them what life would be like for me if I 13)beat the odds and survived. He said I probably would never walk, talk, or be able to understand even simple commands.
My family was hoping and praying to hear even the slightest bit of encouragement from that doctor. Instead, his pessimistic words gave my family no reason to believe that I would ever again be a productive member of society. But once again I beat the odds and survived the three and a half hours of surgery.
Granted, I still could not talk, my entire right side was paralyzed and many people thought I could not understand, but at least I was stable. After one week in a private room the doctors felt I had improved enough to be transferred by jet ambulance to Del Oro 14)Rehabilitation Hospital in Houston.
My 15)hallucinations, coupled with my physical problems, made my 16)prognosis still very bleak. However, as time passed my mind began to clear and approximately six weeks later my right leg began to move ever so slightly. Within seven weeks my right arm slowly began to move and at eight weeks I uttered my first few words.
My speech was extremely difficult and slow in the beginning, but at least it was a beginning. I was starting to look forward to each new day to see how far I would progress. But just as I thought my life was finally looking brighter I was tested by the hospital europsychologist. She explained to me that judging from my test results she believed that I should not focus on returning to college but that it would be better to set more "realistic goals."
Upon hearing her evaluation I became furious for I thought, "Who is she to tell me what I can or cannot do. She does not even know me. I am a very determined and stubborn person!" I believe it was at that very moment that I decided I would somehow, someday return to college.
It took me a long time and a lot of hard work but I finally returned to the University of Texas in the fall of 1983 - a year and a half after almost dying. The next few years in Austin were very difficult for me, but I truly believe that in order to see beauty in life you have to experience some unpleasantness. Maybe I have experienced too much unpleasantness, but I believe in living each day to the fullest, and doing the very best I can.
And each new day was very busy and very full, for besides attending classes at the University I underwent therapy three to five days each week at Brackenridge Hospital. If this were not enough I flew to Houston every other weekend to work with Tom Williams, a trainer and executive who had worked for many colleges and professional teams and also had helped many injured athletes, such as Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson. Through Tom I learned: "Nothing is impossible and never, never give up or quit."
Early, during my therapy, my father kept repeating to me one of his favorite sayings. I have repeated it almost every day since being hurt: "Mile by mile it's a trial; yard by yard it's hard; but inch by inch it's a cinch."
I thought of those words, and I thought of Tom, my family and Sharon who believed so strongly in me as I climbed the steps to receive my diploma from the Dean of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas on that bright sunny afternoon in June of 1986. Excitement and pride filled my heart as I heard the dean announce that I had graduated with "highest honors", been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and been chosen as one of 12 Dean's Distinguished Graduates out of 1600 in the College of Liberal Arts.
The overwhelming emotions and feelings that I experienced at that very moment, when most of the audience gave me a standing 17)ovation, I felt would never again be matched in my life-not even when I graduated with a masters degree in social work and not even when I became employed full time at the Texas Pain and Stress Center. But I was wrong!
On May 24, 1987, I realized that nothing could ever match the joy I felt as Sharon and I were married. Sharon, my high school sweetheart of nine years, had always stood by me, through good and bad times. To me, Sharon is my miracle, my diamond in a world filled with problems, hurt, and pain. It was Sharon who dropped out of school when I was hurt so that she could constantly be at my side. She never wavered or gave up on me.
It was her faith and love that pulled me through so many dark days. While other nineteen year old girls were going to parties and enjoying life, Sharon devoted her life to my recovery. That, to me, is the true definition of love.
After our beautiful wedding I continued working part time at the Pain Center and completed my work for a masters degree. We were extremely happy, but even happier when we learned Sharon was pregnant.
On July 11, 1990 at 12:15 a.m. Sharon woke me with the news: "We need to go to the hospital… my water just broke." I couldn't help but think how ironic it was that my life almost ended in a convenience store and now on the date "7-11" we were about to bring a new life into this world. This time it was my turn to help Sharon as she had helped me over those past years.
She was in labor for 15 hours. At 3:10 p.m. Sharon and I experienced the birth of our beautiful daughter, Shawn Elyse Segal!
Tears of joy and happiness came to my eyes as our healthy, alert, wonderful daughter entered this world. We anxiously counted her 10 fingers and her 10 toes and watched her wide eyes take in the world about her. It was truly a beautiful picture that was 18)etched in my mind forever as she lie in her mother's waiting arms, just minutes after her birth. At that moment I thanked God for blessing us with the greatest miracle of all-Shawn Elyse Segal.
1) orthopedic [~*:#&u!pi:dik] adj. [医] 整形外科的
2) Organic Chemistry 有机化学
3) gauge [ged)] n. 量表
4) twilight zone （介于界限分明的两者之间的）过渡区，模糊状态
5) shove [%^v] v. 推，猛推
6) Caliber [!k$lib&] n. 口径
7) trio [!tri:&u] n. 三重唱
8) attendant [&!tend&nt] n. 服务员
9) auburn [!*:b&n] adj. 赤褐色的
10) homicide [!h*misaid] n. 杀人，杀人者
11) paramedic [!p$r&~medik] n. 护理人员
12) neurosurgeon [~nju&r&u!s&:d)&n] n. 神经外科医生
13) beat the odds 万一
14) rehabilitation [!ri:&~bili!tei%&n] n. 复原
15) hallucinations [h&lu:si!nei%&n] n. 幻觉，幻想
16) prognosis [pr*g!n&usis] n. 预后
17) ovation [&u!vei%&n] n. 热烈欢迎，喝彩
18) etched [!et%id] adj. 被侵蚀的，风化的
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
生命的奇迹我从未觉得自己与众不同，但人们常对我说：“你的生命是个奇迹。”对我而言，我只是一个普通人，有着现实的目标和远大的理想。我曾是德克萨斯大学一名十九岁的大学生，在通向理想之路上信步前行，梦想有一天我会成为一名整形外科医生。
1981年2月17日的晚上，我和交往三年的女友沙伦在为有机化学测试做准备。因为太晚了，沙伦叫我驾车把她送回宿舍。我们钻进汽车，谁能想到在今后的生命中我不能再如此矫健地重复这样一个简单的动作。我很快发现油表空了，于是我把车泊在附近的一家便利店旁，想买两块钱的汽油。“我两分钟就回来，”我关上车门朝沙伦喊到。但就是这短短的两分钟改变了我一生的命运，永远地改变了。
进入这家便利店就如同踏上了阴阳间的奈何桥，门外的我还是个健康的，活蹦乱跳的未婚大学生，而门内的我却成了暴力犯罪的又一个牺牲品。我还以为店里没有人，但我突然发现我错了——有三个匪徒正在打劫这家店，而我的进入让他们有些惊慌失措。其中一个匪徒迅速掏出一把口径为38毫米的手枪用力指着我的头，勒令我走到冷冻机旁，然后把我推倒在地，像执行死刑般从后面朝我头部开了一枪。他没再朝我开第二枪，显然他以为我死了。打劫完后三个劫匪逃之夭夭。
与此同时，沙伦对我的不归忧心忡忡。看到这三个匪徒离开便利店后她真的很担心，因为我是她见到的最后一个进入店里的人。她赶快跑进店来找我，只见几乎被一扫而空的收银机上挂着一张帐单，还有几枚硬币散落在上面，四周无人。她在货架间飞快地跑着、喊着：“迈克，迈克！”
这时一名服务员从店后面走出来叫到：“小姐，过来一下，我刚才被打劫了，他们还向我开了枪。”
沙伦跌跌撞撞地过来哭喊到：“你见到我的男朋友了吗？长褐色头发的。” 那人默默走到冷冻机旁，找到了我，此时呕吐快令到我窒息了。他赶忙帮我擦干了嘴，叫了警察和救护车。
沙伦被吓坏了。渐渐地她才明白我受伤了，但是她根本想象不到伤势的严重性。
警察来了，他们很快断定是杀人案，因为没人相信我还能活过来，而救护人员说她从来没有见过伤势如此严重的人可以逃离死劫。下午一点半，我住在奥斯汀的父母被来自布莱肯瑞吉医院的电话铃惊醒，医院通知他们尽快赶到奥斯汀，因为他们认为我熬不过当晚了。
但那晚我挺了过来，第二天清晨神经外科医生决定给我动手术。但他立即告知我的家人和沙伦我存活的机会只有百分之四十。然后他还雪上加霜地告诉我的家人，向他们描述如果我万幸活下来将面临怎样的生活——我可能再也不会走路了，不会说话了，甚至不能理解一些极其简单的命令。这些对我的家人来说都是莫大的打击。
本来家里人祈望能从医生的口中听到一点点鼓励的话，而他悲观的言语让他们没理由相信我还会成为一个对社会有用的人。在经历了三个半小时的手术之后，我再次侥幸地活了下来。
医生的话得到了应验，我不能说话，整个右边的身体瘫痪了，许多人认为我变傻了，但至少我身体状况是稳定的。在私人看护病房里呆了一个星期后，医生觉得我已经好转了许多，并可以坐救护飞机转到奥斯汀的德欧洛康复医院。
意识上的幻觉和生理上的病疾使我的病情预断非常的渺茫。然而时间的飞逝使我的意识开始变得清晰，大约六个星期以后我的右腿可以轻微地活动了，七周以后我的右臂开始缓慢地活动了，八周以后我终于开口说话了。
说话对于我非常地艰难并且开始的时候说得很慢，但是总算是开头了。我开始寄希望于新的一天的到来，祈望着新的进步。但正当我以为生活总算初露光明的时候，医院里有个欧洲来的心理学家对我做了测试。她向我解释到，从检测的结果来看她坚信我不能再重返学校，劝我对此不要抱有任何希望，希望我最好树立些更现实点的目标。
她的这番结论让我怒不可遏，“她是谁，凭什么告诉我能做什么或不能做什么。她根本不了解我。我是很坚强而固执的人！”我相信就在那时我决定无论如何，总有一天我会返回学校的。
在经历了一年半垂死挣扎的生活后，在漫长的等待和艰辛的付出后，终于在1983年的秋天，我返回了德克萨斯大学。在奥斯汀接下来的几年里我生活得非常艰难，但我确信为了看到生活中的真善美你必须要经历一些苦难。也许我经历的苦难太多了，但我有一个信念——充实地过每一天，尽力做到最好。
日子过的很繁忙、很充实，除了读书，每周我还在要在布莱肯瑞吉医院接受三到五次的治疗。如果这还不够忙的话，我还要隔周和汤姆·威廉斯飞到奥斯汀工作。汤姆是一个教练兼主管，他曾效力于许多大学校队和职业联队，并帮助过许多受伤的运动员，如：厄尔·坎贝尔 和 艾立克·迪克森。从汤姆的身上我学到“没有什么是不可能的，千万千万不要放弃，永不放弃。”
早在我接受治疗的时候，父亲总是重复他最爱的那句话，每天当我感到痛苦的时候我也对自己重复那句话，那就是“脚踏实地，切勿急功近利。”
1986年六月那个阳光明媚的午后，当我步履蹒跚地走上德克萨斯大学迪安文学院的台阶接受文凭的时候，我思索着这些话，想到汤姆、父母还有沙伦，他们都那么坚定地给予了我信任。当我听到院长宣布我以最高荣誉毕业时，我的心中充满了骄傲和自信。接着他还宣布我被选入美国大学优等生荣誉学会，并在1600名毕业生中当选为12名迪安文学院的杰出毕业生之一。
当场有许多观众站起来为我鼓掌，那一刻令我心潮澎湃、百感交集。我甚至觉得生命中不可能再经历那样的感慨和激情，这种想法一直延续到我获得社会学的硕士学位，成为德克萨斯止痛减压中心的一名全职工作人员。但幸运之神再次眷顾了我！
1987年5月24日，我觉得再没有什么能与此时的快乐相提并论，我和沙伦结婚了。沙伦是我高中时代的女友，风风雨雨九年来，她一直陪在我身旁。对我来说，她是我的奇迹，是我在这个充满困惑和伤痛的世界上拥有的一颗钻石。为了能日夜守侯在我的身旁，沙伦在我受伤的时候放弃了学业。她的爱从未动摇过，她从未抛弃过我。
是她的忠诚和爱伴着我度过了无数个黑暗的日子。当别的十九岁的女孩子参加舞会、享受生活的时候，沙伦把青春献给了病床上的我，等待我的康复。对我来说，这就是爱的真谛。
在那个美满的婚礼之后，我继续在止痛中心做着兼职的工作，并获得了我的硕士学位。我们非常的幸福，而沙伦怀孕的消息更让我们恩爱有加。
1990年7月11日12点15分，沙伦把我从梦中唤醒：“我们得去医院了…… 我羊水破了。”我忍不住想命运真让人啼笑皆非，它几乎让我在那家便利店里丢了性命，而在一个命名为“7·11”的日子里它却让我迎来新生命的出世。多年来沙伦帮我度过了一次又一次难关，这次该我来帮助她了。
沙伦经历了15个小时的分娩。在3点10分的时候，沙伦和我一起迎来了我们美丽的女儿——萧恩·艾丽斯·斯高。
当我看到美丽的女儿健康地来到这个世上，喜悦和幸福化作泪水夺眶而出。我们迫不及待地数着她的十个手指和十只脚趾，看着她大大的眼睛注视着她的世界。初生的婴儿躺在妈妈柔软的怀里如一副优美的图画将永驻我的心中。那一刻，我感谢上帝赐予我们如此最伟大的奇迹——我的萧恩·艾丽斯·斯高。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
A Plate of PeasMy grandfather died when I was a small boy, and my grandmother started staying with us for about six months every year. She lived in a room that doubled as my father's office, which we referred to as "the back room." She carried with her a powerful 1)aroma. I don't know what kind of perfume she used, but it was the 2)double-barreled, 3)ninety-proof, 4)knockdown, render-the-victim-unconscious, 5)moose-killing variety. She kept it in a huge 6)atomizer and applied it frequently and liberally. It was almost impossible to go into her room and remain breathing for any length of time. When she would leave the house to go spend six months with my Aunt Lillian, my mother and sisters would throw open all the windows, strip the bed, and take out the curtains and 7)rugs. Then they would spend several days washing and airing things out, trying 8)frantically to make the 9)pungent odor go away.
This, then, was my grandmother at the time of the 10)infamous pea incident.
It took place at the Biltmore Hotel, which, to my eight-year-old mind, was just about the fancies place to eat in all of Providence. My grandmother, my mother, and I were having lunch after a morning spent shopping. I grandly ordered a salisbury steak, confident in the knowledge that beneath that fancy name was a good old hamburger with 11)gravy. When brought to the table, it was accompanied by a plate of peas.
I do not like peas now. I did not like peas then. I have always hated peas. It is a complete mystery to me why anyone would voluntarily eat peas. I did not eat them at home. I did not eat them at restaurants. And I certainly was not about to eat them now.
"Eat your peas," my grandmother said.
"Mother," said my mother in her warning voice. "He doesn't like peas. Leave him alone."
My grandmother did not reply, but there was a 12)glint in her eye and a 13)grim set to her jaw that signaled she was not going to be 14)thwarted. She leaned in my direction, looked me in the eye, and uttered the fateful words that changed my life: "I'll pay you five dollars if you eat those peas."
I had absolutely no idea of the 15)impending 16)doom. I only knew that five dollars was an enormous, nearly unimaginable amount of money, and as awful as peas were, only one plate of them stood between me and the possession of that five dollars. I began to force the wretched things down my throat.
My mother was 17)livid. My grandmother had that self-satisfied look of someone who has thrown down an unbeatable trump card. "I can do what I want, Ellen, and you can't stop me." My mother glared at her mother. She glared at me. No one can glare like my mother. If there were a glaring Olympics, she would undoubtedly win the gold medal.
I, of course, kept 18)shoving peas down my throat. The glares made me nervous, and every single pea made me want to throw up, but the magical image of that five dollars floated before me, and I finally 19)gagged down every last one of them. My grandmother handed me the five dollars with a 20)flourish. My mother continued to glare in silence. And the episode ended. Or so I thought.
My grandmother left for Aunt Lillian's a few weeks later. That night, at dinner, my mother served two of my all-time favorite foods, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Along with them came a big, steaming bowl of peas. She offered me some peas, and I, in the very last moments of my innocent youth, declined. My mother fixed me with a cold eye as she heaped a huge pile of peas onto my plate. Then came the words that were to haunt me for years.
"You ate them for money," she said. "You can eat them for love."
Oh, despair! Oh, devastation! Now, too late, came the dawning realization that I had unwittingly damned myself to a hell from which there was no escape.
"You ate them for money. You can eat them for love."
What possible argument could I 21)muster against that? There was none. Did I eat the peas? You bet I did. I ate them that day and every other time they were served thereafter. The five dollars were quickly spent. My grandmother passed away a few years later. But the 22)legacy of the peas lived on, as it lives on to this day. If I so much as curl my lip when they are served (because, after all, I still hate the 23)horrid little things), my mother repeats the dreaded words one more time: "You ate them for money," she says. "You can eat them for love."
1)aroma [&!r&um&] n. 香气
2)double-barreled （指枪）双管的
3)ninety-proof 一种烈性酒
4)knockdown [!n*k!d&un] adj. 使人击倒的
5)moose [mu:s] n. 麋（长有粗毛及厚角的一种大鹿）
6)atomizer [!$t&maiz&] n. 喷雾器
7)rug [r^g] n. 地毯
8)frantically [!fr$ntikli] adv. 狂乱的
9)pungent [!p^nd]&nt] adj. 刺鼻的
10)infamous [!inf&m&s] adj. 可耻的
11)gravy [!greivi] n. 肉汁
12)glint [glint] n. 闪烁
13)grim [grim] adj. 严厉的
14)thwart [#w*:t] v. 阻挠
15)impend [im!pend] v. 逼近
16)doom [du:m] n. 厄运
17)livid [!livid] adj. 蓝灰色的，（指人或面容）狂怒的
18)shove [%^v] v. 推，挤
19)gag [g$g] v. 塞物于……之口中
20)flourish [!fl^ri%] n. 挥舞，鼓号曲
21)muster [!m^st&] v. 鼓起
22)legacy [!leg&si] n. 遗产
23)horrid [!h*rid] adj. 可怕的
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
一盘豌豆在我还是个小孩的时候，我的外公去世了。自那以后，外婆每年里有6个月跟着我们过。她的房间是我父亲办公室的两倍大，被我们称作“里屋”。她身上总带着浓郁的香气；我不知道她用的是哪种香水，但这种香水的味道非常地强烈，刺鼻、令人窒息，简直能把人熏晕，把驼鹿熏死。外婆将它装在一个巨大的喷瓶里，并经常频繁地喷洒。要走进她的房间，保持正常呼吸几乎是不可能的。当她离开去莉莲姨妈家住另外6个月的时候，妈妈和姐姐们总会迫不及待地打开所有的窗户、拆开被子、取下窗帘和地毯。接着的几天里，她们就一直在洗东西、晾东西，倾尽全力地趋散那种刺鼻的气味。
就在奶奶住在我们家时发生了豌豆事件，一件让我耻辱的事。
事情发生在比尔特摩饭店。在当时年仅8岁的我的眼里，那是全普罗维登斯最好的饭店了。一天，外婆、妈妈和我逛了一个上午的街，然后走进比尔特摩饭店吃午饭。我相当郑重地点了一道索里兹伯里牛排，想当然地认为在那考究的菜名后面是盘美味可口的牛排，上面还淋着肉汁的那种。牛排被端上桌时，还伴着一盘豌豆。
我不喜欢吃豌豆，当时也不喜欢。我从来都讨厌吃豌豆。我真是不理解为什么有人会愿意去吃豌豆。在家我不会吃，在餐馆我也不会吃，当时我也不准备吃。“把豌豆吃了。”外婆说。
“妈，”母亲提醒外婆说，“他不喜欢吃豌豆，您就随他吧！”
外婆没有回答，但她眼睛冒光，下巴僵直，流露出一副不甘心挫败的神情。她向我靠过来，盯着我的眼睛，说了一句改变我一生的话：“你吃掉那些豌豆的话，我就给你5美元。”
我对即将发生的厄运一无所知，我只知道5 美元是笔很大的一笔财富，可一盘豌豆成了拦路虎。尽管豌豆很难吃，可为了拿到5美金，我还是强迫自己往下咽。
我母亲脸色铁青，而外婆却是一脸的得意洋洋，就像刚在牌桌上甩出杀手锏一样，“只要我想要做的，我就能做到。埃伦，你是阻止不了我的。”我母亲生气地瞪着自己的母亲，也瞪着我。没有人可以像我母亲那样瞪着眼睛，如果有个瞪眼奥林匹克比赛的话，她一定能拿金牌回来。
当然了，当时我还在往自己喉咙塞豌豆。愤怒的目光让我紧张，每颗豆子都让我想吐，可5美元那美妙的影子一直在我眼前飘浮。终于，我咽下了最后一颗豆子。外婆很夸张地递给我5美元，母亲还在沉默地怒视着。总算告一段落了！至少当时我是那么认为的。
几周后，外婆去了莉莲姨妈家。一天晚饭时，母亲做了两道我一直最喜欢吃的菜——肉饼和土豆泥。和它们一起的，还有一大碗热气腾腾的豌豆。她给了我一些，而我拒绝了，那也正是我纯真时代终结的一刻。母亲冷冰冰地看着我，一边向我的盘子里加了一大堆的豌豆。而后从她口里说出的话，萦绕在我心里，好多年都没有散去。
“你可以为钱吃了它们，”她说，“你就可以为爱吃了它们。”
哦，天哪！哦，太惨了！事到如今，我才顿悟：不知不觉中，我已将自己推进万劫不复的地狱，但一切为时已晚。
“你可以为钱吃了它们，就可以为爱吃了它们。”
我能有什么样的理由来反驳呢？没有！我无话可说。那后来我吃了没有呢？当然，我吃了。在那一晚，我吃了。之后每次上豌豆的时候，我都吃了。5美元很快就被花掉了，外婆也在几年后过世，而豌豆事件的影响却一直还在，直到如今。如果我看到豌豆就撅嘴的话（因为，无论如何，我仍然憎恶这些讨厌的小东西），母亲就会又一次重复那令我畏惧的话：“你可以为钱吃了它们，”她说，“就可以为爱吃了它们。”
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
Turning over a New Leaf JIN Yu's - not his real name - hands have brought him many ups and downs. Fortunately, today his hands are providing him with a living as a skilled chef at a four-star hotel.
Yet, four years ago, his hands almost marred his life when he was caught stealing, and almost landed in prison. The 17-year-old stole 108 pagers with his friends, making more than 20,000 yuan (US$2,418).
"His grandmother even got down on her knees to beg the judges to put her in prison instead of the boy," said Zhang Lingying, a judge with the juvenile tribunal at Changning District People's Court. "But if the grandmother hadn't spoiled the boy so badly, Jin may have had a better future."
Idle boy
Due to his excellent physical condition Jin selected to attend a sports school. However, when he was about to be recommended to the municipal sports school, his grandmother fought the idea as she would only be able to see the boy once a week.
Thus, the stubborn old woman forced the boy to stay at home so he could not attend the school. No one could imagine what would happen next - the idle boy got involved with a bad crowd.
Considering the lad was a minor, judges did not simply try the case and penalize him.
"After all, they are still children, and still have a long way to go, " Zhang said.
"They should recognize their wrongdoings, so educating them is the most important thing."
Robust lad
To help these young offenders exam their follies, the tribunal connected with Chengqiao Community Hospital, making the hospital the tribunal's observation base for juvenile delinquents since 1994.
Over the past eight years, some 30 groups of 46 young offenders have been sent to the hospital to help take care of patients - mainly elderly men - for an average period of three months.
"These young offenders need people's care, but we want them to know that those elder patients are more vulnerable than them," Zhang added.
Ordered by the judge, Jin went to work at the hospital, although he never did chores at home.
"It is difficult for a teenager to adapt to such an environment," Zhang said. "Some patients are unable to control bowel and bladder functions, and some bring up their meal right in the middle of feeding."
Without his grandmother, Jin did not make a fuss at the hospital. He sent patients for treatment each day and bathed them every other day.
Since many elderly patients are unable to walk, the robust young lad carried them on his back when ascending or descending stairs for daily treatment. Several times, patients even fell asleep on his back.
"Working there for three-months helped me regain confidence about life," Jin said. "Through work, I realized that I could do something useful, and I could still make my contributions to society."
Vain girl
Ma Jing - not her real name - was another young offender, who was sent to work at the hospital after being caught stealing at age 17.
Unlike Jin who has a large family, her only relative was her grandmother.
Due to a miserable marriage, both parents deserted the girl when she was only a one-year-old baby, leaving her grandmother to shoulder the task of bringing up the baby.
To make up for the child's losses, the grandmother pampered Ma and tried her best to meet all the child's demands.
When the crying baby grew into a girl, she became fascinated with fashion and vanity. However, the grandmother refused to buy the girl cosmetics, which ignited a conflict between the two.
One day, at the home of a classmate, Ma saw that the girl had a brand-named T-shirt and made-in-Japan cosmetics. Finally, her envy defied her honesty, and the vain girl stole a pile of Japanese banknotes from one of the classmate's drawers.
Haughty teenager
"When I went to the hospital on the first day, patients with dementia, and the smell in the wards scared me," recalled Ma.
Reluctant to work there, she either wandered along the wards or stayed at home, saying she was ill.
Thus, her grandmother had to take her to the hospital every day.
Judges and staff of the hospital told the haughty teenager the patients' history.
"These patients were mathematicians or old Red Army soldiers who devoted themselves to the motherland," Zhang said.
Gradually, Ma stopped avoiding the patients. She would help them with meals, and carefully screen their medicine .
"These elderly people gave a great deal to society, so they deserve our love and admiration, and I would like to help them," said Ma when finishing work.
However, her grandma fell seriously ill, and Ma three times received the hospital's written notice of the old woman's critical condition.
Chic clothes
For a whole month, Ma did not go home but stayed with her grandmother, and used what she learned from the work to take care of the sick woman.
"In that month, I lost five kilograms, but I was delighted to see my grandma get better," she said.
In the eyes of the elderly woman, the vain girl has become a "nursing angel".
"It was her persistence that helped me out of danger," said the grandma.
Now, Ma is running her own clothing shop to bring chic clothes to others.
"It is an honour to let more people enjoy beauty," she said.
浪子回头金不换
金誉的双手曾经给他带来不少麻烦，幸运的是，今天他的双手给他带来的是谋生之技，他现在是一家四星级酒楼的大厨。然而四年前，他的双手差点毁了他的一生。他在偷窃时被当场抓住，还差点锒铛入狱。这个17岁的小伙子和他的朋友一起偷了108部传呼机，价值超过两万人民币（相当于美金2418元）。“他的奶奶甚至跪下来求法官，让她来替这个男孩顶罪。” 长宁区人民法院青少年法庭的法官张玲英（音译）说道，“如果不是奶奶太过溺爱这个孩子，小金也许会有更好的将来。”由于小金有着很优越的身体条件，他被保送到体校学习。然而，当他正准备到市体校报到时，他的奶奶却不想和孙子分开，因为这样她一周只能见到小金一次。所以，这个顽固的老奶奶强迫她的孙子留在家里，他也因而不能去学校读书。没有人能够预见下一步的发展情况，最终这个无所事事的男孩和一帮不良青年混在了一起。考虑到这个男孩还是个未成年人，法官并没有简单地审判并惩处这个男孩。“怎么说，他们都还是孩子，他们的人生道路还很长，”张法官说。“他们应该意识到他们的错误，所以教育他们才是最重要的事情。”为了帮助这些少年犯们改正他们的过错，自1994年来，法庭与澄桥社区医院联系，把该医院变成法院改造这些少年犯的考察基地。在过去的8年里，大约有30组46个少年犯被送到这个医院，帮忙照顾年老的病人，平均每人呆上3个月左右。“这些少年犯需要他人的照顾，但是我们要他们知道，那些年老体弱的病人们比他们更需要照顾，”张法官补充道。经由法院判决，小金被遣到了这个医院工作，尽管他在家从来没做过任何家务。离开了奶奶的照顾，小金并没有在医院搞事。他每天护送病人接受治疗，隔天给他们洗澡。由于很多年老的病人都不能行走，这位精力充沛的小伙子就背着病人们上下楼梯进行每日的治疗。有好几次，病人都在他的背上睡着了。“在那里工作三个月后，我又重获了生活的信心，”小金说。“通过劳动，我意识到我也能做一些有益的事，我也可以对这个社会做出贡献。”马静是另外一个少年犯，她在17岁时因偷盗被捕后，也被送到医院进行工作。跟小金不同的是，她并没有很大的家庭，她唯一的亲戚就是她的外婆。由于不和谐的婚姻，当小女孩才一岁时，父母就离异并抛弃了她。是她的外婆一人承担了抚养她长大的责任。为了弥补她的损失，外婆对小马总是千依百顺，无所不从。当小女婴长成小女孩时，她对时尚和虚荣大为着迷。然而，外婆却不愿意给她买化妆品，这也使两个人之间的感情起了裂痕。一天，在一个同学的家里，小马看见那个同学有一件名牌衬衫和日本制造的化妆品。最终，她的嫉妒心战胜了她的诚实心，这个虚荣的女孩把手伸向了她同学的抽屉，拿走了一叠日元。“当我第一天到医院时，那痴呆的病人，还有病房里的气味把我给吓坏了，”小马回忆说。由于不情愿在那里工作，她要么在病房里闲逛着，要么呆在家里，声称自己生病了。因此，她外婆不得不每天领着她到医院工作。法官和医院的护理人员就跟这个傲慢的年轻人讲了医院里病人的历史。“这些病人都是数学家或者老红军战士，他们曾为祖国鞠躬尽瘁”，张法官说道。渐渐地，小马不再回避这些病人了。她开始帮着他们进餐，仔细地帮他们整理和筛选药品。“这些老人们曾经为了这个社会做了很大的贡献，我们应该爱戴并尊敬他们，我很愿意为他们服务，”做完了工作的小马如是说。但是，她的外婆却得了重病，小马也收到了医院给她的三封病危通知书。整整一个月，小马都没有回家而是留下来陪她的外婆，她用她在医院所学的护理知识照顾着她病危的外婆。“那个月，我整整瘦了5公斤，但我却很高兴地看到外婆身体渐渐好转，”她说。在年老的外婆眼里，那个贪慕虚荣的女孩已经变成了一个“医护天使”。“是她的坚持让我脱离了危险”，外婆说。现在，小马经营一家时装店，为他人带来时尚的美丽服装。“让越来越多的人能够享受美丽是我的光荣”，她说。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 第一期
Today is a Gift 活着是福Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.
One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly and painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.
The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 大家来阅读啊,加内容,好凄惨啊~
Japan's Voluntary Shut-InsTOKYO -- Akiko Abe has barely seen her 25-year-old son in six years, yet they live in the same small house. He leaves his room only when he's sure his parents are out or asleep, she said. She can tell when he has used the kitchen, and she knows he goes to the living room to watch television and use the computer at night.
She has waited patiently for him to tire of his isolation, sometimes standing outside his door and talking, to herself as much as to him. But, afraid that many more years would pass like this, she finally approached an organization that works with shut-ins by making home visits. "It will be difficult, because he won't open his door," she said quietly.
As many as a million Japanese -- most of them young men -- are considered shut-ins, either literally cloistered in their rooms or refusing to work and avoiding all social contact for periods ranging from six months to more than 10 years. Forty-one percent live reclusively for one to five years, according to a government survey.
Some shut-ins suffer from such illnesses as depression, agoraphobia or schizophrenia. But experts say the vast majority shut themselves up at home for six months or more without showing any other signs of neurological or psychiatric disorder.
The seriousness of the problem has increased dramatically over the past decade as Japan's economy has slid into recession, bringing record unemployment rates and little job security as companies restructure or go bankrupt.
Psychologists and other mental health experts here say that Japan has the biggest problem of this type in the world, and that it is growing. They give a long list of reasons why young men are dropping out of society, including a declining birthrate, which means there are more families with only one son on whom they place all their hopes in this patrilineal society. Also, boys grow up without male role models because their fathers are working all the time. Psychologists also cite Japan's "culture of shame," which makes people fear how they're perceived if they have a problem fitting in.
Japan's wealth makes it possible for people to cut themselves off from society. Young adults live at home much longer than they do in the United States, traditionally until marriage. Teens and adults who drop out of school or leave work are simply supported by their parents.
"When I was young, there was no question that you would have to go to work," said Abe, 61, who asked that her son, who refused to talk to a visitor, not be named. "Now, families have enough money so that the children don't need to find jobs right away." In an attempt to get their son to communicate with them, Abe and her husband have decided that from now on, they are not going to slip an envelope under his door with his $400 monthly allowance.
Shut-ins -- 70 to 80 percent of whom are men -- often sleep much of the day and are up all night, watching television, using the Internet and popping out to the 24-hour convenience stores that are located in most neighborhoods and sell all kinds of microwaveable packaged meals. Japan's convenience store culture caters to the solitary life -- providing everything for the person eating alone, living alone.
"In Japan, it's easy for anybody to live with walls around themselves," said Seiei Muto of the Tokyo Mental Health Academy. "And with the number of children declining, you play alone, eat alone, study alone."
Muto and other mental health workers talk about the decline of communication skills, the increasing anonymity of urban Japan and the collapse of a cooperative society. "If a child is walking down the street, it would be rare for someone to ask the child, 'Where are you going?' " Muto said.
Others say the problem has deep historical and cultural roots. "Japan is a rich country, but we have no identity, no confidence, no ability to communicate with others," said Tadashi Yamazoe, a professor of clinical psychology at Kyoto Gakuen University. "Japanese have a passive personality."
But most people say it is a modern phenomenon, evidence of a great generation gap between those who built Japan's postwar economic success, and their children, who cannot expect lifetime employment in today's weak economy and say they do not want it anyway.
"In Japan there has been only one path, and today an increasing number of people are not on it," said Noki Futagami, who began the nonprofit New Start Foundation to work with shut-ins. "It's easy to say that academic background is not everything. But the parents cannot suggest another path because they don't know one."
The existence of large numbers of shut-ins in many ways encapsulates the social problems of modern Japan and the wrenching period it is now going through. The Japanese word for the phenomenon -- hikikomori -- translates as withdrawal, and it is becoming increasingly familiar. It is the subject of television documentaries and newspaper and magazine articles.
Many adult shut-ins start as school dropouts.
For a country obsessed with education, there is a surprisingly high number of dropouts. A record 134,000 elementary and junior high students were absent from school for at least 30 straight days during the 2000-01 school year, more than twice the number 10 years ago.
Abe said her son's school years were normal, but in high school he failed the university entrance exam. That is not unusual; most who fail study for another year and try again. Abe's son said he was going to study on his own instead of enrolling in a cram school, and that began his withdrawal.
The family has tried to keep the problem hidden, not even talking about it to relatives, much less neighbors.
But Futagami said this means the family is shutting itself in as well, making the problem worse. "There are things parents can and cannot do," he said. "They should be more open and get help from others, nurture social ties. I regard this as an illness stemming from society. Nobody helps these people, so they accumulate."
In a few recent cases, socially withdrawn young men have committed shocking crimes, including a 27-year-old who kidnapped a 9-year-old girl in 1990 and kept her in his room for nine years. His mother, who lived downstairs, was never permitted to enter his room.
"In America, the child's room belongs to the parents and is seen as being rented out to the kid," noted one of the actors appearing in a new play on shut-ins. "The child can be displaced for guests." This is a remarkable concept in Japan, where the norm is that teens or young adults can forbid their parents from entering their rooms.
As the problem gets more national attention, parent support groups, counseling centers and mental health clinics have geared up to help families. Home visits over the course of months and sometimes years bring many people out of their rooms.
But finding a job after having spent several years as a shut-in is extremely difficult. To provide work experience, Futagami's New Start organization runs a welfare center for the elderly, a restaurant and coffee shop.
Takeshi Watanabe, a counselor with the Tokyo Mental Health Academy, and Yasutaka Masuko, 28, seem like brothers. For 10 years Watanabe visited Masuko once a week at the home Masuko refused to leave. Masuko said he doesn't remember anything specific causing him to drop out of school during his second year of junior high. "Maybe I was feeling pressure," he said. For a while he became physically ill when people came to see him.
But Watanabe's steady visits, their shared interest in music and eventually Masuko's purchase of a computer slowly convinced Masuko that he could go out. The turning point was soccer. He wanted so badly to go to the games of his favorite team -- an interest encouraged by Watanabe -- that he bought a season ticket, and before the first game practiced going outside.
"For night games I went early in the morning to get a good seat," he said. "I made friends because I was in the same place every game."
Masuko has taken other big steps. He got his high school degree through a correspondence course and is now enrolled at Nihon University, majoring in philosophy and education. He said there are many other former shut-ins there, and they often talk.
He also found a part-time job at a loan collection company.
An understanding society is critical to dealing with the problem, Watanabe said. The mental health clinic in a Tokyo suburb where he works has cultivated about a dozen business establishments in the immediate neighborhood, where they have introduced themselves and the young men who come by.
"We wanted them to understand we are not a cult," Watanabe said. At the bike shop, coffee shop and 7-Eleven, people started to talk to them, started to say, "Hi, how's it going?" They got emotional support from the neighborhood and some shopkeepers hired them to work two to three hours per week, he explained.
"Many people feel nostalgic about Japanese traditions and the warmth that is harder to find today," Watanabe said.
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 大家来阅读啊,加内容,好凄惨啊~
日本的自闭现象阿部秋子尽管与儿子同住在一间小房子里，六年来，他只在父母外出或者睡觉的时候才出门。她只知道他什么时候用过厨房，还知道他在客厅看过电视，在晚上使用过电脑，可是她却没能和自己25岁的儿子见上几次面。
她耐心地等待着有一天儿子终于会厌烦这种自我封闭，有时她就站在他的门口说话，既是对他说也是对自己说。但是她很害怕再过上几年这样的日子，于是她终于向一家自闭症患者援助中心求助，这个组织可以提供家访服务。“这可能会很麻烦，因为他不愿意开门，”她小声地说道。日本有将近一百万人患有自闭症，其中大多数是年轻人。他们把自己幽禁在房间里，不愿意去工作，把自己完全与外界隔离开来，少则半年，多的超过10年。根据一项政府调查表明，41%的患者把自己一人关禁起来一到五年不等。一些自闭者患有沮丧、旷野恐惧或者精神分裂等症状。但是专家们表示，大多数的自闭病人在呆在家里半年或更长的时间里，都没有出现任何神经或精神上的失调症状。随着日本的经济开始走下坡路，经济萧条导致了居高不下的失业率，而由于公司重组或者破产员工的饭碗也是朝不保夕，自闭现象在过去十年里也变得更加严重。心理学家和心理健康专家们都一致认为自闭现象在日本尤其严重，并且有增长的趋势。他们列出了一大串的理由来解释为什么年轻人会幽居寡出，与世隔绝。这些理由包括低出生率，这表明在这个父系社会里，越来越多的家庭只有一个孩子，家长们把他们所有的希望都寄托在这个孩子身上。同时，由于父亲长时间在外工作，男孩在成长过程中缺乏可模仿的男性模范角色。心理学者同时指出日本文化中的羞耻感，在出现问题的时候，人们都害怕不能被社会所接纳而极力隐瞒。日本的富有也使日本国民可以脱离社会生存。日本的年轻成人呆在家里的时间远比美国人的长，传统上他们在结了婚以后才自立门户。对退学或失业的孩子，他们的父母完全有能力把他们养在家里。“在我年轻的时候，我必须要出去找工作谋生”，现年61岁的阿部秋子说。她的儿子拒绝和来访者交谈，她请求不要把她儿子的名字写出来，“现在，每家每户都有足够的钱，他们的子女也不必急着去找工作。”尝试着让他们的儿子以后和他们进行交流，阿部秋子夫妇俩决定停止儿子每月400美金的零用钱，那还是夫妇俩用信封装好从儿子的门缝里塞进去的。70%到80%的自闭症患者是男性，他们经常昼伏夜出，白天就蒙头大睡，晚上才出来活动，看电视、上网，或者跑到外面24小时营业的便利店。这些便利店在每个街区都有，可以提供各式各样的速食食品，只要放进微波炉烤一烤就可以吃。日本的便利店文化迎合了独居生活的需要——里面的东西可以满足一个人独吃独住的一切需求。“在日本，人们很容易生活在自己修筑的墙里面，孤独地生活着”，东京精神健康研究所的武藤清英说，“随着兄弟姐妹数量的减少，你就自然成了孤家寡人，你只好一个人玩，一个人吃，一个人学习。”武藤清英和一些精神康复的工作人员还谈到了自闭现象的其他成因，比如说交流能力的匮乏，日本城市里人们彼此距离的疏远，及集体合作精神的崩溃等。“如果一个小孩在街道上游荡，几乎没有路人会上去问他‘你要去哪里呀？’”武藤清英说。但也有人认为这个问题有着深远的历史与文化根源。“日本是个富裕的国家，但是我们却有身份危机，我们缺乏自信，不懂与他人交流”，东京学园大学的临床心理学教授山添忠说，“日本人的性格都很消极被动。”但是大多数的人认为这只是个现代病，证明两代人之间已经有了一道无法逾越的鸿沟，与亲手缔造战后日本经济繁荣的父辈相比，他们的子女根本不指望能在经济疲软的今天找到铁饭碗，他们甚至不在乎有没有工作。“在日本只有一条路可以走，可现在越来越多的人都不在这条路上走，”二神轩这样说道，他创办了新生基金会，一个帮助自闭症患者的非赢利机构，“大家都说学历背景其实并不重要，说起来很容易，可是家长们又不能提出其他更好的出路。”自闭现象的流行其实浓缩了日本的很多社会问题，日本经济的不景气也使这个问题显得特别尖锐。日语把这现象称为闭居，翻译过来就是遁世。这个词现在在日本很流行，常在电视、报纸和杂志等媒体中报道。很多成年人的自闭首先从退学开始。对极端重视教育的日本来说，日本的辍学率也是相当惊人。日本中小学在2000年度就有134,000人次旷课一个月以上，这个数字是10年前的两倍多。阿部秋子说她儿子在学校的表现还算正常，但在高中升大学的考试中考砸了。这本来也不是很出奇的事情，大多数失败的考生都会复读一年再考一次。阿部秋子的儿子说他宁愿自习也不愿意参加备考班，从此他就开始了遁世。夫妇俩试图掩盖这件事情，从没跟亲戚们讲起，邻居们也自然无从得知。但是二神轩说，这就意味着这个家庭也把自己封闭起来，这只会使问题恶化。“处理这些问题有些是家长们可以做的，有些却是不能做的，”他说，“他们应该更加开放，从外界寻求帮助，培养社会关系。我认为这是由于社会弊端在作怪，没有人愿意帮助这些人，所以这些人的人数也随之增长。”近期的一些例子中，遁离社会的年轻人犯下了令人发指的罪行，其中有一个27岁的男子，于1990年绑架了个年仅9岁的小女孩，然后把她困在自己房间里长达9年之久。而住在楼下的母亲却从来不容许进入他的房间。“在美国，孩子的房间是父母的财产，他们就好像把房间租给孩子一般，”一位演员这样说到，他刚参加了一部反映自闭现象的戏剧演出，“当有客人来时，小孩的房间可以准做客房。”而在日本，青少年和年轻成年人完全可以把父母赶出他们的房间，这在日本已经是个深入人心的观念。这个问题越来越引起全国的关注，家长援助组织、咨询中心和心理健康医疗所等机构组织了各种活动援助那些家庭。几个月甚至几年的家访，他们终于使很多患者带出了他们的家门。但是，自闭症患者在闲置多年后再继续找工作会变得特别困难。为了给他们提供工作经历，二神轩的新生基金会开了一个老人福利中心、一家餐馆和咖啡店。渡边武是东京精神健康研究院的顾问，他与28岁的康隆雅子看上去象是兄弟一般。十年来，渡边武每周对康隆雅子进行一次家访，而康隆雅子却不肯离开自己的家门。康隆雅子回忆说，他其实记不清是哪件具体的事情让他在初二时退学。“也许是我感到压力吧，”他说。在一段时间里，只要有人来看他，他就会觉得浑身不舒服。渡边武持之以恒的家访发现俩人在音乐方面有共同的爱好，最终康隆雅子买下了一台电脑，而康隆雅子也慢慢地被说服，他其实是可以出去面对的。转折点是一场足球比赛。康隆雅子非常想看一场他喜爱球队的比赛，渡边武也一直鼓励他喜欢足球运动，他还买下了整个赛季的球票，在赛季开始前他们练习一起走出家门。“比赛在晚上举行，我早上就去了，这样就能占个好位置，”他说，“由于我每次都坐在同一个位置上，我还结交了一些朋友。”康隆雅子在其他方面也取得了很大的进步，他通过函授课程获得了高中学历，现在已被日本大学录取，所学的专业是哲学与教育。他说在这里还有很多以前的自闭症患者，他们经常一起交流。他同时还在一家商账追收公司找到了一份兼职。渡边武说，一个理解宽容的社会对这个问题的处理是很重要的。他在东京郊外的那家精神健康诊所已经在周边地区开了十几家的店铺，他们向人们介绍自己和在店里工作的前自闭症患者。“我们要让他们明白我们并不是什么邪教组织，”渡边武说。在自行车店、咖啡店和7-11连锁店里，人们开始跟他们交谈，开始会问，“嘿，最近怎么样啊？”他们得到了邻居们的精神支持，一些店主还雇佣他们在店里每周工作2到3小时，他解释说。“大家都很怀念日本过去的传统，而过去人与人间的温情现在也很难找到了！”渡边武说道。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 大家来阅读啊,加内容,好凄惨啊~
If Only I had Known 假如我知道……Thomas Carlyle lived from 1795 until 1881. He was a Scot essayist and historian. During his lifetime he became one of the world's greatest writers. But he was a human and humans make mistakes.
On October 17, 1826, Carlyle married his secretary Jane Welsh. She was an intelligent, attractive and somewhat temperamental daughter of a well-to-do doctor. They had their quarrels and misunderstandings, but still loved each other dearly.
After their marriage, Jane continued to serve as his secretary. But, after several years of marriage, Jane became ill. Being a hard worker, Carlyle became so absorbed in his writings that he let Jane continue working for several weeks after she became ill. She had cancer, and though it was one of the slow growing kind, she finally became confined to her bed. Although Carlyle loved her dearly, he very seldom found time to stay with her long. He was busy with his work.
When Jane died they carried her to the cemetery for the service. The day was a miserable day. It was raining hard and the mud was deep. Following the funeral Carlyle went back to his home. He was taking it pretty hard. He went up the stairs to Jane's room and sat down in the chair next to her bed. He sat there thinking about how little time he had spent with her and wishing so much he had a chance to do it differently. Noticing her diary on a table beside the bed, he picked it up and began to read it. Suddenly he seemed shocked. He saw it. There, on one page, she had written a single line. "Yesterday he spent an hour with me and it was like heaven; I love him so."
Something dawned on him that he had not noticed before. He had been too busy to notice that he meant so much to her. He thought of all the times he had gone about his work without thinking about and noticing her. Then Carlyle turned the page in the diary. There he noticed she had written some words that broke his heart. "I have listened all day to hear his steps in the hall, but now it is late and I guess he won't come today."
Carlyle read a little more in the book. Then he threw it down and ran out of the house. Some of his friends found him at the grave, his face buried in the mud. His eyes were red from weeping. Tears continued to roll down his cheeks. He kept repeating over and over again, "If I had only known, if I had only known." But it was too late for Carlyle. She was dead.
After Jane's death, Carlyle made little attempt to write again. The historians say he lived another 15 years, "weary, bored and a partial recluse." I share the story with in the hope that you will not make the same mistake. While our loved ones must have the money we make to live, it is the love we have that they really want. Give it now before it is too late.
托马斯·卡莱尔（1795——1881）是苏格兰的散文家和历史学家，也是世界上一流的作家。但无论这位作家有多么地了不起，他毕竟也是一个凡人，凡人就免不了会犯错误。在1826年，10月17日，卡莱尔与他的秘书简·威尔斯结了婚。简的父亲是一位非常富有的医生，她聪明、美丽，但就是有点喜怒无常。虽然夫妇俩不时也会吵吵架，但感情还是蛮好的。结了婚后，简仍给卡莱尔当秘书。可是几年后，简却病倒了。但简还是继续带病工作了好几周，由于卡莱尔对写作非常地投入，所以，他并没有阻止简。简得的是癌症，虽然发作得比较慢，但最终，她还是病倒在床。尽管卡莱尔非常地爱简，但因为忙于工作，他很少抽时间来陪简。简死后，她的亲朋好友都到她的墓地参加葬礼。那是一个悲痛的日子。天上下着滂沱大雨，道路泥泞不堪。葬礼后，卡莱尔回到家里，心情非常沉重。他爬上楼梯，来到简的房间，坐在她床边的椅子上。回想起自己很少抽时间陪伴爱侣，卡莱尔非常地后悔，恨不得时间可以倒流。卡莱尔瞥见桌上放着简的日记本，便拿起来看。突然，他好象感到非常震惊。他看到了这样的一句话，“昨天，他陪了我一个小时，我感觉到了天堂般幸福。我喜欢他这样做。”他开始意识到一些曾被自己忽略了的事情。他一直以来都忙于工作，竟然不知道妻子是那么地需要自己。他回想起自己埋头工作，置妻子于一边的日子。翻看着简的日记，他留意到几句令他伤心欲绝的话：“我一整天都在留意他的脚步声，但现在为时已晚了，我想他今天不会来了。”卡莱尔再读了一会儿，然后丢下了日记本，冲出了屋外。朋友们在墓地里找到了他。他的脸粘满了泥浆，眼睛哭得红肿不堪，眼泪不停地在他脸庞上滑落, 他不停地念叨着, "如果我知道, 如果我知道……," 但一切对于卡莱尔来讲都太晚了，简已经不在人世了。自从简死后, 卡莱尔就没怎么再写作了。据这位历史学家称，在他妻子死后的15年, 他的生活完全变了样, 生活对于他来讲是 “苦闷、无趣、寂寞的”。我把这个故事告诉大家，就是希望大家不要重蹈覆辙，悲剧重演。爱人是需要我们努力工作赚钱，但其实他（她）们更需要的是我们的爱。趁还来得及，去关怀你的爱人吧。
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 大家来阅读啊,加内容,好凄惨啊~
Free to Soar 断线的风筝One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing in the heady atmosphere above the earth. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check.
Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow, facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, they seemed to say, "Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!" They soared beautifully even as they fought the imposed restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose. "Free at last" it seemed to say. "Free to fly with the wind."
Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. "Free at last" free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the ground, and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.
How much like kites we sometimes are. The Lord gives us adversity and restrictions, rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and (pardon the pun) never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.
Let us each rise to the great heights our Heavenly Father has in store for us, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.
回复： KAOKAO阅读版杂志 大家来阅读啊,加内容,好凄惨啊~
A World ApartI think I knew, at that moment, I would never love, or laugh again, or enjoy a cool breeze or sunset at the ocean villa. I would never have a baby of my own, or fall in love, not even have a husband. For weeks, I remained, sullen on my bunk, not eating, or caring, not working, until the CO finally gave in, and cut orders sending me home with a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I didn't care: I wasn't a person anymore.
As the motors of the airplane grew louder and carried me home across the Pacific, thirty years to the present, I kept reliving a dream-like scene over and over in my mind, it's message subtle, deepening, engraving, its mark on my heart. In my mind, I saw the small procession of mourners, as they followed a small child's casket, covered with an American flag, bathed with multi-colored flowers from the countryside of Vietnam. It sat on top of a small flatbed with wooden wheels, drawn by the yoked oxen from the field. I was there too, observing, unrecognized, a stranger among the people. From somewhere in the distance, a bell rang out, a salute, a walking tempo for the procession, which stopped to listen to the harmonic eulogy. Suddenly, appearing from the crowd, a young woman, clothed in black, her face covered with a transparent veil, asked to no one in particular: "For Whom Does this Bell Ring?" and, without warning, a faceless figure touches me on my shoulder, ever so lightly, and replies: "It tolls for thee, Maggie&ldots;it tolls for thee."
Morning colors of sunrise appeared on the horizon, heralding a new day of light blues, crimson reds and faded pinks. While tiny stars still adorned their beauty, high tide threw waves of blue and white crashing to shore, breaking the silence of the earlier calm and serenity of the coast. The old kerosene light flickered to and fro on the windows of the widow's peak, bringing me to reality, having dreamt of my days in Vietnam. I had been happiest as a child, here, in this old villa, filled with history and interesting things. Although my grandfather died while I was in Nam, the happiness he gave me, with fishing memories from this coastal refuge, lured me to end my life, as it had it's root in the beginning. It is indeed fitting that I should return to the place where some glimpse of happiness had not deserted me.
Over the years the memories of my tour in Viet Nam did not dim with age, but remained an immortal sin, unforgiving and eternal. As the years passed, my homecoming to a despising nation only reinforced my beliefs about myself, for I despised me too, and of course, they were right to call me a 'baby killer,' even in their ignornace of how significant that specific title was for me. They didn't know how right they were. It was time to stop the pain and accept my penance, if there was to be any salvation at all.
Raising the pistol, I quickly removed the safety lock and carefully pointed the barrel toward my temple. The cool steel against my head seemed reassuring, and I felt a little surprised that this was going to be easier than I thought it would be. But for the mirror of my deed, I might have pulled the trigger and ended my pain, but from the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of my desperate reflection in the window, and felt compelled to turn. It was then that the crumpled pieces of parchment caught my attention, only slightly visible, unobtrusively tucked between the old faded barn-boards of the walls. I heard a small and gentle voice within me say "Wait! Wait!."
Oddly drawn to the ill-placed and carefully hidden parchments, I placed the gun on the wicker table near the lamp, and carefully pulled the wooden planks away from the wall, retrieving the stained and yellowed letters. One in particular caught my attention, and raising the light slightly, I began to read the last letter of Captain Gordon Albright to his wife, Sarah. It read:
My beloved wife,
News has reached me that you have been taken gravely ill and are in great need of my help. Upon receiving this news, I have given instructions that we should sail, and having good winds, you should see me on the horizon in a few weeks.
My dear and loving, Sarah, I regret the circumstances which have kept us apart, these last few months, and long to see your gentle face. Whatever illness has overtaken you, take great care, and resolve to live for my sake, for God does not require death of thee. Thou art my stonghold and my life, my dear Sarah. Be of strong spirits, and fear not, kind spirit, for know always that my love and thoughts are with thee.
Hear me, dear one, that our time apart has not been in vain, for I have seen many wondrous miracles in distant lands - the ungodly deeds of men who fear not the Almighty hand of the Living God. But, in you, I have found the forgiving grace of God, and shall haste my return to your side, and that of my children. Be brave, beloved, and look for my sails in the horizon. May God be with you, and watch over thee until my return.
I remain your dearest husband,
Gordon.
I sat quietly for a moment, hands holding the aged parchment, pondering the words of Sarah's husband, and the gentle and loving reassurance that he gave to his dying wife.
As the soft light of morning appeared across the waves, and cast shadows of morning on the glass, I saw a figure of a small woman. Shawl pulled tightly about her frail shoulders, blushed by fever, she was standing infront of the widow's walk windows, desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of her husband's returning sails. I watched, still bound, as she stood there, silently for a moment, her back toward me, contemplating, then she turned to me and smiling, pointed toward the horizon. I looked in the direction of the apparition's outstretched arm, and from the far distance, the white sails of a ship came into view, a clipper, just ever so slightly visible, across the waters. A longing smile lingered on the figure's face as she turned to me, and, placing her long and slender hand on my shoulder, I heard her say the words: "God's forgiving grace does not require death of thee, for your time apart has not been in vain."
She turned once more toward the ship, this time a single teardrop appeared on her cheek, as she pointed, one last time, to the advancing sails growing larger now across the horizon. Sarah wanted to live, and for the first time since my return from Nam, nearly thirty years ago, I realized that I, too, wanted to live.
It was then that the figure of the dying Sarah left me, never again to embrace the loving arms of her husband. I sat quietly for awhile; holding Gordon's letter in my hand, shaking a little, as I fully accepted the feeling of peace which filled my spirit. Sarah's words of: "God's forgiving grace", kept passing through my mind, as a final acceptance materialized. As a Registered Nurse in Vietnam, I did what I had to do, and for that deed, God did not require my death, but offered me a never-ending hope that there is, afterwall, some goodness in us all.
As I watched the sails of the ship turn toward Rockport, a new day, full of hope, filled my soul. Picking up the gun, I passed through the main dining-hall, as I had done the morning before, through the spider-webs, and dusty hall. I had not thought of my leaving the villa, but my steps, out of the entranceway, felt lighter and full of joy. I placed the pistol in the middle of the large dining table, and carefully covered it with Gordon Albright's letter to his wife. "Thank you, Sarah," I whispered to the old room, with its memories of life and near tragedy. "You gave me my life, and I will never forget you."
Turning, I once again saw the familiar figure of Sarah Albright, standing tall and proud near the large picture window. This time, with grace of dignity and acceptance, she smiled, nodded quickly to the door, and disappeared into the morning light. I walked to the old pine door and pulled it open, I was filled with a wondrous new understanding of my past, and what my life could mean for the future, having left my guilt behind. I had never forgiven myself for being human, for feeling the pain, which all of us have inside when life is taken without purpose, and without meaning. Sarah, in her pain and longing, made me realize that it is in tragedy that we continue to hope, and find the will to go on. Bravely stepping across the threshold of the villa and into the sunlight, I felt the warm and cleansing rays of joy once again on my face.
Then, closing the door to my past, and finally to my time apart from myself, I took the first steps into God's forgiving grace.
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