昔日文章

你喜歡到郊外遊玩嗎？還是喜歡留在家中，窩在沙發上打電玩？都市人似乎都習慣了家的舒適與便利，即使到了假日，也沒有甚麼動力外出。今次共讀繪本中的小女孩身處室內，卻仍然感受到大自然的存在。究竟她會否接受邀請， 走到郊外去呢？   人類的祖先曾經在野外居住，人是郊外的一部分，郊外也是人的一部分，我們毫無阻隔。時代不同了，現在即使我們偶爾外出，也會乘坐交通工具代步，某程度也是被困在裡面。我們好像已忘掉了外面的世界，大自然卻沒有忘記我們，它反過來提醒我們，像是透過窗戶閃耀進屋內的陽光、窗外一隻剛剛孵化出來的蝴蝶、黃昏時分映照進屋內的影子、窗外啾啾的鳥鳴和屋頂滴答的雨聲、陣陣的花香甚至是神秘的氣味。太陽和雨水在外面孕育了種子，最後變成水果和麪包來餵養我們。我們身上穿的衣服，曾經是一團柔軟的棉花。木椅子曾經是樹木。外面的太陽和月亮告訴我們作息應有時。小蜘蛛在窗外攀爬、小蟲在浴缸邊走過、小蝸牛在菜莖上匍匐、洗手盆裡的水匆匆流過，急欲投奔大海。大自然正向我們呼喚：我想念你。外面的世界一直向我們招手，等待我們的回應。   共讀指引   這是一本短小而雋永的繪本，字數不多，像一首詩，配上圖像後帶來深刻的意象。作者從書名到內容，都用上了顯淺易懂的字。以書名為例，繪本名字為《Outside In》，讓人想到另一個慣常的用語 - "Inside Out"。若說 I know the person inside out，意思是我對他非常了解。"Inside Out" 也解作物件的內外反轉了，像是衣服穿反了。此外，一齣動畫電影也以此命名，電影名稱香港譯作「玩轉腦朋友」。"Outside In"字面上的意思跟"Inside Out"差不多，也是指物件反轉了。當配合書中內容，也可以理解成「外面進來」，提醒我們即使我們身處室內， 外面的世界仍然滲透在我們生活當中，且不斷邀請我們再次投入它的懷抱。疫情過後，大家的生活模式有了顯著的轉變，甚至已習慣足不出戶也能滿足生活需要。事實是，我們仍然需要大自然，我們不但從大自然中獲得生存資源，也在其中經歷洗滌心靈的恬靜與安逸。研究也發現，多接觸大自然能使人擁有較穩定的情緒。家長跟孩子共讀繪本後，可一起到郊外去遊玩，重新投入大自然的懷抱，感受它的奇妙和美好。   童心讀繪本 哥兒倆讀過繪本， 分享了他們的看法：   我不喜歡到郊外，因為外面很熱，還有很多蚊蟲。留在家裡實在太舒服了， 我根本不想到外面去。不過，在秋天和冬天行山還是可以接受的。戶外露營則不必了，因為睡在帳幕裡很不舒服。如果有一天手機壞掉，而且持續一段長時間無法使用手機，我也許會到外面逛逛。   我喜歡到郊外遊玩，但一般的活動如行山和露營等，我已不大感興趣，我希望可以參與更具挑戰性的户外活動，或造訪具有歷史價值的建築物，甚至到一些流傳都市傳說的神秘地方，不過媽媽有點擔心，叮囑我不要進行危險的活動。   《Outside In》   作者: Deborah Underwood 繪者: Cindy Derby 出版社: Clarion Books ISBN : 978-1328866820  

It’s summer, Rose and her brother and sister are on their summer holidays from school. It is usually very hot in July and August and today is no different. Rose is at home with Mum. Can I go outside to play, Mummy?’ asks Rose. ‘Not now,’ says Mum, ‘the sun is too strong. Stay inside and help me to bake a cake for lunch.’ Rose is unhappy because she wants to be outside where she can run and jump and play.   Rose helps mum to add eggs and flour to the mixing bowl. They add sugar and butter and stir the batter until it is nice and smooth. Mum puts the cake in the oven to bake. Rose looks out at the garden and asks, ‘Mummy, can I play outside in the sun?’ Mum shakes her head and says, ‘It’s still very sunny, Rose. You will get sunburned playing in the sun.’ Rose is disappointed but she sits down with a book instead and starts to read quietly. Fluffy, the family cat, slowly walks over to Rose and lays down on her lap, purring loudly. Mum sees how disappointed Rose is and she has an idea. She goes to the girls’ bedroom and comes back with sun cream and a sun hat. ‘Here you go, Rose,’ says Mum, and she begins to rub sun cream over Rose’s face, arms and legs. ‘You can go outside but put on your sun hat.’ Rose nods at her mum and happily skips out to the garden. Fluffy follows closely behind. Ten minutes later Rose and Fluffy run back into the house. Rose says, ‘Fluffy needs a sun hat!’   Message This reminds us that we must honour our mother and father and show respect for them in our daily lives.   Action Listen to what our mother and father say and follow their advice.   Glossary batter (noun) : a mixture of flour, eggs, and milk or another liquid, used to make pancakes or to cover food before frying it . 用麵粉、雞蛋和牛奶混成的麵糊。   sunburn (noun) : a condition in which your skin is sore and red because you have spent too long in the strong heat of the sun. 曬傷   disappointed (adjective) : unhappy because someone or something was not as good as you hoped or expected, or because something did not happen. 失望的   purring (verb) : to make a quiet, continuous, soft sound. 發出平穩低沉的聲音   This story if taken from CEO Project 1.0 — Family (Level 1) Unit 1 The Four Seasons —Summer

“ I cannot focus with all the singing and chatting outside in the sitting room no matter how hard I try. Oh dear, it will be hours like this. How can I ever finish my homework ! ”  Rosette is a very earnest（認真）girl, she cares for（關注）her studies a lot. Just that she also has ADD, which stands for Attention Deficit Disorder（注意力缺失症）. She can be distracted（分心）by a fly flying by or the noise of a dripping tap （滴水的水龍頭）. Music to her is also a distraction, she needs complete silence. Still, she works triple hard to overcome（克服）her symptoms（症狀）. She has very high achievement at school.  Rosette comes from a devoted（虔誠） Catholic family. Every third Saturday of the month, her parents organize a prayer meeting at home for other Catholic neighbours to worship（敬拜）together. After that, there is always a casual（簡單）dinner with simple food for fellowship（聯誼）. Since they have no maid, her mother is the cook. She always starts preparing food after worshipping, which takes her an hour and a half. While she is cooking, the group will sing and talk, creating much noise, which of course disturbs Rosette from her revision. So every third Saturday night, Rosette knows she cannot focus and finds it a headache. Since the gathering starts at 6:30pm, one hour of worship, one and a half hours of chatting（mainly waiting for food）. People then slowly disperse（散去）after ten.  Rosette is always a generous（慷慨） person, and she doesn’t blame her parents for entertaining Christian neigbours. Of course God likes it when we share, whether it’s our place, food, time or our talent（才能）. But she doesn’t know what to do if the flat is so noisy for the whole night.     What would you do if you were Rosette?   I’d honestly tell my parents to control the noise level and put on a headphone so I might cut off all the noise from the sitting room. I’d read out（讀出聲）everything I would be reading or writing so I could hear nothing but my own voice.  Since I could not focus on my work anyway, I’d help my mom to prepare the simple dinner and once they finished worshipping, dinner could start immediately and they could leave earlier. This way I’d also make the neigbours feel more welcome.