昔日文章

“How to teach Grandma to wean off（戒掉）a bad habit ? Impossible! It's ingrained（根深蒂固）!” Ignatius talked to himself.  Ignatius' grandmother lives all by herself on the other side across the harbour. At her age, she is relatively（相對）healthy. She can take good care of herself and hikes off to the mountain every morning. As a matter of fact（實際上）, she walks fastest in the family as compared to Ignatius or his parents.  It's always a joy to visit Grandma every month or so, she will prepare a big meal with a lot of Ignatius' favourite dishes. The only thing is that she always repeats the same old stories of her younger days, especially how people survived（求生）during World War ll.  Today is the day of visit again. Right after dinner, Grandma sautéed（煎）a plate of New Year Coconut Rice Cake（椰汁年糕）. Everyone stared（瞪眼注視）at the dish speechlessly （無言地）, wondering how long she had kept the pudding. It has been already three weeks away from the Chinese New Year. Ignatius' dad broke the silence（打破沉默）by asking Grandma if that was the same pudding he gave her weeks ago. Without saying yes or no, Grandma started again how people starved（捱餓）during the war and no food should be wasted（浪費）.  What would you do if you were Ignatius?  I’d tell my grandma right away that health would be most important of all. Eating expired（過期）food might make us sick. There might be moulds（霉菌）which might be invisible to the naked eye（肉眼看不見）I’d convince（說服）her to throw it away. I would not touch a bit of it whether she liked it or not.  I’d pretend I was very full（好飽）and then ask for a container to pack the pudding home, of course I’d throw it away on the way. In order to clear up Grandma’s refrigerator （雪櫃）, I’d go visit her more often and help eat up her leftovers（剩飯菜）. This way, I could see her more and make sure she’d not be saving up（儲起）food that was about to expire. 

“Should I say less so I can do less and Mother worries less?”wondered Harry while talking to Mother.  Harry is the eldest at home. After him, there is little Harrietta, who is five years younger. Harry always has the flair（本色）of being a big brother. When his parents are tied up（忙）, he tries his best to take care of Harrietta, so as to lessen（減輕）his parents' load（工作量）.  Harry's mother will be giving birth to another child again. The new baby is expected（預產期）anytime this week. Even though there is no sign of delivery（分娩）, to play safe （安全起見）, she went t o the hospital to wait for the moment to come. It can be any minute, or it can take days. Mother prepared a list of things for Harry to handle. She trusts him a lot and she went over（察看）it item by item carefully. Most of the tasks are just a piece of cake （易辦的事）, like bringing his own keys, reminding their helper to cook meals, checking all electrical appliances（電器）before going out. As a matter of fact（其實）, Harry has been doing that a lot of times. Among all, there is one that really challenges（挑戰）Harry, that is to practise the flute（長笛）nightly（每晚）for 20 minutes with Harietta. Harry never learns how to play the flute, he actually dislikes learning any musical instrument; no musical genes（基因）at all.  He does not want to fail his mother's request, yet, he does not want to keep a promise which cannot be carried out（履行）.     What would you do if you were Harry?   If my mother did not specify the definition of “helping my sister with her practice”, I could just make sure that my sister practises for the time mentioned and my duty（責任）would be completed. That would be the most I could help and I should not clarify（澄清）too much.  I'd be honest with my mother that I might not have the ability to teach my sister anything, even if she made any mistake, I would not be able to tell（知道）. Still, I would be willing to help and let my mother decide what I should do with my limitation（局限） 

"I know he cares a lot about me but how I wish he could stop pushing his help on me!"  James and John have the closest tie of brotherhood（手足情誼）at school. They like to claim（聲稱）that they are just as close as the biblical（聖經中）James and John, Jesus' beloved apostles（宗徒）. You seldom see them being apart from each other. They take classes together, have lunch together, as well as going to school and going home together.  Personality-wise（氣質上）, James and John are not that identical（相同）. James is the helpful type, but sometimes he overdoes（做得過分）it by forcing（強迫）his help while others do not really need it. He feels good whenever he gives a helping hand（伸出援助之手）. As for John, his image（形象）means the most to him ( just as many teenagers ). He cares a lot about how others see him. Before taking any action, he always thinks twice. For instance, he is shy to offer a seat on MTR and will withdraw（撤銷）from doing so. Both of them get a little vain（自負）at times but in a different way.  An unfortunate incident took place with John. He broke his leg over the weekend during soccer practice. Now he is wearing a cast（打石膏）and is very inconvenient. Not to mention（不必說）the daily soccer practice, he cannot even go up and down the staircase to his classroom keeping the same speed as others. Seeing him hopping around, James wanted so much to help, like supporting him by the arm（攙扶手臂）, or carrying John's school bag…… James just wants to be by John's side every minute, even going to the toilet. This embarrassed（使尷尬）John by far（非常）. John tried to refuse James' help, yet James insisted. The more John expressed himself, the more James asserted（堅稱）he must help.  What would you do if you were John ?  If I had expressed my needs and feeling a few times and my friend still could not get it（明白）, I'd say it one more time but in a very firm manner （強硬態度）. I'd carry（擺出）a stern look（嚴峻樣子）on my face and my tone（語調）would not be nice and polite anymore so as to make the other person hear me.  I'd explain what my needs would be. Though crippled（跛腿）, I'd need my friend to respect that I’d feel uncomfortable（不自在）to have him beside me like a nanny（保姆）, that would make me feel embarrassed. I'd invite him to understand that pushing his help on me would be his need, not mine. I'd share my thoughts sincerely（誠懇地）and politely.   

“How can I resolve（化解）my brother's misunderstanding（誤會） against me?”  The examination week always follows right after the Christmas holiday. For some students, they make good use of the break（假期）to study. For others, they prefer not touching on any revision till school resumes（復課）. This is the same with Samuela and Samuel. Samuela is totally the former（前者）type. She plans everything in advance（預先）and schedules（安排）her time well between work and play. Samuel, twin brother to Samuela, is just the opposite. He leaves everything to the very last minute and never makes a plan. Sometimes their mom unintentionally（無意地）compares their strength and weakness which creates sibling rivalry（手足競爭）.  Samuela understands that her brother is just less mature（成熟）as a boy of the same age as her. She believes as a responsible person, she needs to try her best in everything. Whether it's school work, playing a musical instrument or a sport, Samuela puts in all her effort. She has no intention to win over Samuel at all. Since she pays attention in class, she needs to spend less time in her revision. As for Samuel, he gets distracted（分心）in class, he doesn't take notes（做筆記）, and it takes him much longer time to prepare for quizzes or exams. He is very jealous of Samuela’ s success and blames himself for not being as clever. It is time to prepare for the school examination again and he is getting very disagreeable（難相處）.   What would you do if you were Samuela?  I'd take no notice（不理會）of my brother at all. As time goes by, he’d be more mature and would understand that it was not my fault that I performed better than him.    I'd share my schedule（時刻表）with my brother and invite him to study while I did so, so we could also have the same rest time and play time. I’d offer to walk through（解釋一遍）all things learnt because when I said it out once, it would also be part of my revision. That would benefit both of us for sure.