昔日文章

若望看見吱吱和喃喃不斷在爭吵。吱吱不斷說︰「聖母媽媽怎會痛苦呢？主耶穌是她的兒子啊！」 喃喃卻反駁說︰「不！聖母媽媽的一生，有很多受苦的時刻……」 若望看見牠們吵個不休，便走過來對牠們說︰「主耶穌雖然很愛自己的母親，但聖母媽媽也的確為了他而受過不少苦。最明顯的一次是她抱著嬰兒耶穌到聖殿奉獻時，西默盎向她預言，說小耶穌長大後，要成為受到眾人反對的標記，這使聖母媽媽感受到有如利劍刺心般的劇痛。」 喃喃問若望︰「你曾問過聖母媽媽，她一生中哪一件事感到最痛苦。她怎樣回答？」 若望說︰「我初時以為她會說是在馬棚生下耶穌聖嬰。可是她卻告訴我，主耶穌十二歲那年，在由京城回家途中走失了，是她一生中最痛苦的事。她和若瑟都以為自己沒有依天父的聖意，盡好照顧耶穌的職責。三天後找回小耶穌，才發覺他正在遵從天父的旨意，在聖殿裡和經師討論聖經。小耶穌還提醒聖母媽媽，他在履行天父要他做的工作，何須擔心呢！」         p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'MHeiHK Light'; min-height: 25.0px} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; text-indent: 23.0px; line-height: 11.1px; font: 11.0px 'MHeiHK Light'; color: #2c2728} p.p3 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 11.1px; font: 11.0px 'MHeiHK Light'; color: #2c2728} p.p4 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 11.1px; font: 30.0px MYuenHK; color: #a8a6a7} p.p5 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 30.1px; font: 30.0px MYuenHK; color: #6d91cb} span.s1 {font: 12.0px 'MHeiHK Light'; color: #000000}

Joachim had no idea why he had no school on 1st of May. Early that morning, according to what the holiday was named, Labour Day, he listed（列出）his parents many items that he had been wanting to get fixed by them. That included changing the light bulb（燈膽）in his room, hammering（揼）the broken bookshelf, screwing the leaking tap（漏水龍頭）in the toilet, shopping for new things and many more… In return, he only got a cold shoulder（冷淡而不瞅睬）from them.  With much doubt, Joachim looked up for the meaning behind Labour Day. He found out that it is an annual holiday to celebrate the achievements of workers. Labour Day has its origins（起源）in the labour union（工黨）movement, specifically the eight-hour day movement, which advocated（提倡）eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest. Happily he proclaimed（公布）to his parents immediately that going to school already took up eight hours a day and he would refuse（拒絕）to study any more at home. His mom and dad agreed but they also started not doing any housework from that day onwards, claiming（聲稱）that they had worked over eight hours at the office. For the whole week, the laundry was not done, no one cooked dinner and the house has been very messy.   What would you do if you were Joachim?  Said is said, I would insist my stance（立場）and see who could stand the mess longer. I’d guess my parents would give in（讓步）soon if I feed myself with the most unhealthy food.  I’d rethink why they could be so upset. In a family, it is very hard to calculate who is doing more and who less. Apologizing would be too disgraceful （丟臉）, I’d tidy up the house and that would show my sincerity（誠意）to end this cold war （冷戰）. 

Even though we are not weath e r forecasters, we can make simple predictions about the weather by looking at the clouds in the sky. White clouds mean that the weather is fine, but they turn grey before it rains. Since we are closely related to the natural world, we tend to make use of nature to describe our feelings about life in a philosophical way.  Don’t feel upset that you lost in the competition. Every cloud has a silver lining.  If we say “every cloud has a silver lining”, that means every bad situation has a positive aspect. In this poetic expression, the “cloud” is dark in colour, implying sad and gloomy times. When the sky is getting clearer and the sun is shining from behind the cloud droplets, we can always see a bright outline along the edge of the cloud. This “silver lining” represents hope and optimism. The origin of the phrase, “silver lining”, was found in a literary work written by John Milton, an English poet, in 1634.  “Was I deceived, or did a sable cloud  Turn forth her silver lining on the night?”  （是我被騙了嗎？還是烏雲在夜裡透出了銀邊？）  The current version probably first appeared in a book called “Struggles and Triumphs” by P. T. Barnum, an American politician and businessman, in 1869.  “‘Every cloud,’ says the proverb, ‘has a silver lining,’ and so I did not despair.”  If your friends are low-spirited in tough times, the beautiful image of “every cloud has a silver lining”（黑暗中總有一絲光明；逆境中總有希望）may cheer them up, encouraging them to look on the bright side of life.  Glossary  Weather forecasters  天氣預報員 Predictions  預測 Philosophical  富於哲理的 Cloud droplets  雲滴 Outline  輪廓線 Optimism  樂觀 Low-spirited  沮喪 Tough  困苦的    

Adelina has always been proud of her smooth silky （柔軟光潔）hair which flows（飄垂）all the way to her waist （腰）. She spends a lot of time brushing it daily, keeping it healthy. For many of her classmates who have hair touching just the shoulders, split ends （分叉髮梢）is a big issue quite commonly, so not everyone can grow hair to such an extreme length like hers. Adelina’s mom also takes pride in her daughter’s hair. She enjoys creating new hairdos（髮型）f o r Adelina.  Lately Adelina’s father stopped driving her to school because he has been relocated to another work district. Without a ride from dad, it takes 45 minutes extra to commute（通勤） between home and school, therefore braiding（鬢辮）a head of long hair becomes a luxury（奢侈品）in the morning. Without much choice, Adelina simply coil （蜷縮）her hair into a bun （髮髻）so as to save time. She is not happy because her friends all agree that she now looks like a middle-aged woman.  What would you do if you were Adelina?  • I would persuade（說服）my dad to drive me back to school again so life could be back to normal, even if I have to sacrifice waking earlier than before to allow him to drive back in the opposite direction. If that could not work out due to traffic issue, I would seek help from another source（來源）── my mother. Since she used to take pride in my hair, she could still do so just by waking up earlier to fix it. This would not be a selfish act as I had to sacrifice my sleep time too.  • Everyone loves to make oneself look the best in front of others. To give my hair a fresh look every now and then, I’d learn how to fix it from the internet videos. I’d keep practicing over the weekend and had it done in a short time, the more practice I had, the faster I’d get. Problem would be solved. I could start with the less complicated（複雜）styles first.