昔日文章

Christians go to church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. Traditionally, Easter is also celebrated with chocolates. What kind of Easter chocolate has the longest history? The Easter Bunny（復活節兔子）with eggs is thought to have been very common since the 19th century. The Easter Bunny is also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare.  While people think that “rabbits” and “hares” are the same, they actually are two different species. We can see one of their differences in the expression, “as mad as a March hare”.  Hares are larger than rabbits. They have longer hind legs and longer ears. In the breeding season, hares behave strangely, such as leaping about, fighting and chasing each other. Sometimes a male and a female may stand up on their hind legs and have “boxing” with each other. Their crazy behaviour has thus given rise to the idiomatic phrase, “as mad as a March hare”. However, their mating period in fact is in March and April.  Part of the phrase first appeared in 1529 in the writing of Sir Thomas More, a personal adviser to King Henry VIII of England.  As mad not as a march hare, but as a madde dogge [mad dog].  The expression has become more popular since 1865, when an English writer, Lewis Carroll, created a famous character called the March Hare in his book, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”（《愛麗斯夢遊仙境》）.  Nowadays, people use this expression to describe someone who is irrational or extremely silly.  Tom was as mad as a March hare（發瘋）when he found out that he had lost his car key.  Glossary  Resurrection  復活 Hares  野兔 Species  物種 Hind legs  後腿   Breeding  繁殖 Leaping about  跳躍 Boxing  拳擊 Mating  交配 Irrational  不理智      

Whether we are students or working adults, we all feel stressed when we hear a phrase like “meet a deadline”. Why do we worry about deadlines? A deadline is a time or date before which we must finish a particular task. Teachers might punish a student who does not hand in his or her homework on time, and managers might fire a worker who cannot complete his or her project before the due date.  The earliest form of “deadline” c o n s i s t e d o f t w o w o r d s , “dead line”, referring to a fishing line which does not move. However, most scholars think that the current meaning of “deadline” comes from its usage in military prisons in the USA in 1864 during the American Civil War（美國內戰）. The American Congressional Record （《美國國會議事錄》）explains:  “The ‘dead line’, beyond which the prisoners are not allowed to pass.” One of the most notorious prisons was called Andersonville Prison. It imprisoned many more defeated soldiers than it could accommodate. The conditions were so bad that many prisoners died of hunger, poor sanitation and diseases. The “dead line”（死線）was a low rail fence. If anyone climbed over this boundary, he would be shot down.  Eventually in the early 20th century, the term “deadline” was used in the publishing industry as a guideline. Journalists were advised not to write beyond the “dead line” （印刷準線）, otherwise parts of their writing would not be printed properly.  Around that time, the meaning of “time limit” also started to gain popularity in newspapers. Nowadays, even young students understand the importance of “meeting a deadline”（遵守截止期限；在截止限期前完成）at school.     Glossary  Due date  到期日 Military prisons  軍事監獄 Notorious  臭名昭彰的 Accommodate  容納 Sanitation  衛生 Rail fence  柵欄 Boundary  界限 Publishing industry  出版業    

 “Let go of me!” Grace exclaimed（驚叫）and woke in the middle of a nightmare（惡夢）. She was shivering（顫抖）all over and was sweating （冒汗）. It was a big relief（解脫）to find out it was only a dream. She tried to go back to sleep but it was just impossible. The scary scenes kept popping up（出現）in Grace’s mind. There would be a Math test early the next morning. Without enough rest, Grace knew her performance would be severely（非常）affected. She could only think of two options. Crawling into her parents’ bed, she could find peace and could go back to sleep in no time, but she did not want her mom to think that she was still an immature（不成熟）girl. Staying in her own bed, she might just toss and turn（輾轉反側）till daybreak（天亮）, but then her mother would not be able to tease（嘲弄）her at all.    What would you do if you were Grace?  I would wake my mom and inform her of the situation and my preference（選擇）to sleep with her. All parents are concerned about academic performance. If she’d laugh at me, I’d use the Math test to refrain（抑制）her from doing so. I’d make sure my emotion would not be stirred（使激動）and she should not say a word but to welcome me with open arms（非常歡迎）.  I would wake my mom and discuss with her briefly（簡短地）the scenario（情況）, I’d also seek her advice and let her choose the best solution for me. Perhaps I had been too narrow-minded（目光短淺）and there might be more ways to tackle（應對）the issue, for example, invite her to say a short prayer with me, or she could watch me sleep back before leaving my bedside… Asking for more options would always be a good method if I ever got stuck（無法） 

“Put it right back!” mumbled（咕噥）Mom.  “I’m taking it home!” grumbled（抱怨）Dad.  Joshua was with his parents on a field trip to study the ecology（生態）of Lantau Island. They were at the waterfall of Mui Wo（梅窩）. The guide briefed（講解）everyone attending the tour that nothing should be taken away to keep the balance of nature. Even a piece of leaf could be food for another creature, so we need to protect the food chain. Yet, Dad found that perfect pebble（石春）which was just the right size for his small aquarium（魚缸）at home, with a tint（淺色）of reddish colour. Mom believed taking the stone away was violating（違反）the rule of the trip which was clearly explained by the guide. Dad thought a stone was not a living thing and would not hurt anyone at all, and there were millions of stones on the island. Mom and Dad were in a big conflict（衝突）.  What would you do if you were Joshua?  The best way of handling adult conflicts is not getting involved. I would pretend I heard nothing and wander（走開）off. It would be hard to support either stance（立場）. The consequence（後果）could not be calculated（計算）.    Instead of supporting anyone’s stance in this situation, I would bring the matter to the guide and seek his advice. I would never be the judge of such an arguable（爭議性）topic and the best way would be listening to the expert（專家）who is so handily available.