Advanced Reading — 第二冊

🔊Lushan is a quiet, isolated community nestled in the mountains of Nantou County. I have been there 3 times and love the atmosphere. It is peaceful, quiet and cool. It is, or at least was, my favorite place to visit in Taiwan.

🔊During a typhoon earlier this summer (2008), Lushan was all but wiped off the map. Persistent heavy rains caused terrible mudslides. Large buildings fell over when the earth beneath them gave way and smaller buildings near the slopes were filled or completely buried with mud.

🔊As if things weren’t bad enough, sections of the incoming mountains roads were washed away leaving them impassable. This meant that any sort of disaster relief or aid from the outside world would be delayed, as the only way in or out was by helicopter or on foot. The situation was very dire.

🔊The community was devastated. Many residents lost everything they owned. Homes and businesses alike were destroyed in a flash. The resort village famous for its picturesque landscapes and mountain hot springs was reduced to rubble. It was a nightmare come true, especially for a place that relied on tourism as its main source of income.

🔊The larger hotels and more lucrative businesses will likely recover in time, but for some it is the end of a lifestyle and a dream. When you have put everything you have into building your small business, there is nothing left to start over with. And this is just what happened to my friend Wally.

🔊Wally had spent years and years building his small hot spring resort. It was constructed entirely in a Japanese motif and was beautiful. Each room had its own private hot tub with hot spring water piped right out of the mountain. The rooms were gorgeous, unique and built from one man’s dream.

🔊The service there was above and beyond the call of duty. Wally was the most gracious host and would cater to your every whim. And no matter how busy he was, he always made time to talk to his guests and make them feel as if they were a part of his family.

🔊I will never forget Wally’s wonderful retreat or his smile and I am not sure if I will ever return to Lushan. It just wouldn’t be the same without being able to stay at his place. I would rather just keep the memory of the little Japanese villa alive in my head as to see a friend’s dream covered in a heap of mud.

🔊Hopefully the people of Lushan will be able to rebuild their community to its former splendor. For those who lost everything and can’t afford to rebuild, I hope that the world holds something great in store for them. And for my friend Wally: good luck wherever you are and may a new dream fill your heart and inspire you to live life to the fullest. I will always remember your hospitality and kindness. Thank you.

🔊It was the first block of afternoon classes. Students had just finished having their after-lunch catnap and some were still a little weary. Regardless, the children filed down the hallways, groggily making their way to their respective classrooms.

🔊Two students lagged behind everyone else. It was the same every day. They were always the last into the classroom, especially on Tuesdays when it was time for music. Several trips to the office did little to curb their daily tardiness.

🔊The day’s class was already underway before they sat their lazy butts down. Mrs. Long kept her back to them and continued writing music on the board, pretending that she didn’t hear them come in.

🔊“The old crow doesn’t even know we are late,” Carl whispered to his partner in crime.

🔊“She’s such an airhead,” Lenny snickered.

🔊“Well, well,” Mrs. Long spoke, “look who has graced us with their presence.”

🔊The boys seemed surprised. They believed they had snuck in unnoticed. She must have eyes in the back of her head, they thought.

🔊“What do you boys have to say for yourselves this time?” she asked sternly, but knowing she wasn’t going to get a decent answer. “Abducted by aliens or did you get stuck in traffic?”

🔊Lenny gulped. He was aware that any trouble he got in at school would be twice as bad when he got home. He wondered if he should fall at Mrs. Long’s feet and beg for her mercy.

🔊His buddy, Carl, still figured he could talk his way out of it. He wasn’t going to give up without trying to weasel his way out of it first. And weaseling was his forte.

🔊“Actually, I have a perfectly good explanation for being late,” Carl proclaimed in a defense attorney sort of way. “I had seriously planned on being early to your wonderful class today, but on my way here I slipped and landed on my head. If Lenny hadn’t come along and performed CPR on me, I might not be alive at all.”

🔊A smile came to Mrs. Long’s face. She nodded as if she actually bought his story.

🔊“Oh my god,” she gasped. “Are you alright?”

🔊All the students in the room realized she was being sarcastic. Carl, though, was still under the impression that he had pulled the wool over her eyes. He turned and winked proudly at Lenny, as if to say ‘I told you she’d fall for it’.

🔊“Well, we better get you to the infirmary to have you checked out,” Mrs. Long insisted.

🔊“No, that’s okay. I’ll be fine. It’s just a little bump that’s all,” Carl said.

🔊“Bumps on the head can be quite serious you know,” Mrs. Long added. “You can never be too careful about head injuries. I think there is a shot they can give you just to make sure that you’ll be okay. It will help with the swelling.”

🔊Carl stiffened in his chair. He hated shots more than anything in the world, but if he was to continue with this charade he might have to bite the bullet and take one for the team. Slowly, he rose to his feet and walked to the door to go to the infirmary. He reached out and began to turn the doorknob. Just as he was about to open the door, Mrs. Long spoke.

🔊“You are so gullible,” she laughed. “You didn’t think I actually believed a word that came out of your mouth, did you?”

🔊“Uh,” Carl started.

🔊“Don’t bother answering, but as long as you’re on your way out, why don’t you and Lenny go and have a talk with the principal. I’m sure he’d be overjoyed to see you.” She added, “Now scoot. Off you go.”

🔊The two boys left for the principal’s office with their tails between their legs. Carl had just been humiliated in front of the entire class. It was the last time that they were ever late for class.

🔊Yesterday I went shopping at RT-Mart with my father. We don’t go that often so I was really excited. It is such a cool store and really big. You can buy almost anything there. My mom buys all of our groceries there because she says Rt-Mart is the cheapest place in town to buy them. Dad also buys a lot of automotive stuff there for the same reason. I like to shop here just because it’s convenient; you don’t need to go from store to store to get everything you want. It’s a one-stop kind of shop.

🔊We pulled the car in near the big P sign for the underground parking lot. Dad made a right there and we parked in the lot on the main level at the rear of the store.

🔊Once inside the store we took the escalator to the second floor. Between the up and down escalators there were hundreds of bags of chips. Maybe they ran out of room on the shelves or something and had to store them here. I grabbed a couple of different kinds of nachos and placed them in the cart. My dad doesn’t think they are good for me, but occasionally he allows me to eat them.

🔊Dad and I patiently chatted as we climbed toward the next floor. We couldn’t have pushed the shopping cart past the other customers even if we wanted to because its wheels fit into the grooves on the escalator to prevent it from rolling backwards. I guess it’s a safety feature or something.

🔊The first things to catch my eye on the second floor were the CD’s. RT-Mart has thousands of CD’s to choose from in the music and movie section of the store. The most current and popular albums are usually displayed on the walls. Posters on the walls advertise new releases for big name bands and artists. There is a bargain bin, too where you can always find a good deal if you are looking for older stuff or albums that didn’t sell so well.

🔊I love music and am always looking for something new to listen to. What is cool about RT-Mart is that they have listening stations set up so that you can demo certain CD’s (mostly new releases). I like the idea because I can check out a CD before buying it to make sure that it is going to be worth my money.

🔊Dad and I put on some headphones and scanned a few tracks to see if there was anything we liked. Unlike a lot of fathers, he actually likes the music that we kids listen to.

🔊In the produce section on the third floor we ran into my Aunt Claire and her daughter Carla. They go there all the time to buy groceries just like my mom. I think they must have been going to make a salad or something like that because they sure had a lot of vegetables in their cart. I don’t like that part of the store because it is too cold, but Dad and Aunt Claire didn’t seem to mind the temperature; they stood there for about 15 minutes talking about work and stuff.

🔊When Carla and I finally dragged our parents out of the produce section, it was time to go. Dad and Aunt Claire pushed the carts to the checkout. We had to stand in line for a while before it was our turn and I browsed around with Carla while Dad and Aunt Claire waited and continued their lengthy conversation about nothing.

🔊Aunt Claire was the first to the cashier. She emptied the contents of her shopping cart on the counter. The cashier quickly scanned everything in, totaled it up and then Aunt Claire paid. I helped Carla to bag everything and she helped me when it was Dad’s turn.

🔊We said our goodbyes, headed back down the escalator to the ground floor and out to the car. Dad popped the trunk and we filled it with groceries and other things that we had bought. I then took the cart back to the entrance and put it with the others.

🔊If you ask me, Dad and I don’t come shopping here nearly enough. I like shopping with him when Mom isn’t around. He lets me buy junk food, CD’s, comics and other things that Mom wouldn’t even consider letting me have. And besides it gives me a chance to catch up with the old man.

🔊Carol zipped her parka all the way up and then pulled on the warmest, thickest toque she had. By the time she wrapped her wool scarf around the outside of the collar, all you could see off her were her eyes.

🔊The bitter wind howled as she opened the door of her small house in Japan. The weatherman had suggested that there would be scattered flurries today, but he forgot to mention anything about the wind, she thought. It was a less than warm welcome, but regardless she had to go downtown to work. She closed the door behind her and fumbled with the keys as she tried to lock the door without taking her gloves off.

🔊Outside the snow blanketed everything, cars, trees, homes and even dogs that were too cold to move. If it wasn’t so cold she may have noticed the beautiful winter landscape, but she didn’t. The wind and snow nipped at what little was exposed off her face as she crossed the street and she took little notice of anything except for the wind whipping at her face. She tried to pull her scarf up further, but there was only so far it could go; otherwise, she couldn’t see where she was going.

🔊With her head down, and moving awkwardly because of all the clothes she was wearing, not to mention the heavy winter boots that made her feet feel like blocks of cement, she moved like a penguin trying to avoid being seen by a hungry leopard seal.

🔊Suddenly, her feet shot out from underneath her. The snow on the street had been packed into ice by the passing cars and was then concealed under a fresh layer of snow. She didn’t see it. Thankfully all the winter clothes she had on cushioned the blow. Her rear end would probably be sore for a couple days, but other than that she was fine. She climbed to her feet again.

🔊She struggled through the deep drift on the edge of the street and then disappeared into the distance on the nicely shoveled sidewalk with little more than her pride injured. God, I hate winter, she thought.

🔊Thousands of spectators filled the Yuanlin Community Auditorium for the National Prague Music Contest. The dull roar of the crowd’s muttering hung in the air and sounded somewhat like a massive swarm of bees migrating to a new hive.

🔊The lights slowly dimmed and darkness fell over the vast room. Latecomers, now waiting for their eyes to adjust, either stood still or had to feel their way down the aisle to find their chairs. The murmurs sank into the darkness and the auditorium became quiet.

🔊Simon sat on the hard piano bench and slid it forward to a comfortable position. It made a scraping sound like someone dragging a heavy coffee table across the living room floor. In the dark people couldn’t see what was going on, but they knew the performance was moments from starting.

🔊The spotlight came on as the young prodigy struck the first chord. Simon, in a new white shirt and dark vest, was now the center of everyone’s attention—as were his white high-top basketball shoes that stuck out like a sore thumb against his black jeans. But soon the music would gain the discriminating crowd’s focus.

🔊Music floated out of the piano like a melodic spring breeze, as Simon’s hands delicately danced across the keys. The white-shoed piano player mesmerized the crowd and soon any idle chatting that had been going on was now finished as all eyes focused on center stage.

🔊The tempo of the composition quickened and went from a simple subtle piece to one bursting with emotion and a strong undulating flow. The crowd held their breath as if they were being lifted high above their seats. Simon’s unaccompanied piano was like listening to an entire symphony orchestra; yet he played alone.

🔊When the last powerful chord was struck, the audience sat awestruck in silence for a moment, but as Simon stood to bow, they jumped to their feet to give him an overwhelming applause. It was an amazing performance by any standards and everyone knew they had just witnessed something very special. Needless to say, Simon won the competition hands down.

🔊“Hey, Bob? Do you know where cut flowers come from?” Dan asked.

🔊“That’s a strange question to ask someone right out of the blue,” Bob replied suspiciously.

🔊“It’s just that I was at the flower shop the other day to buy a bouquet for my mom’s birthday and it got me to wondering where all the flowers came from,” Dan told his friend.

🔊“Hmm. I’ve never really thought about it,” Bob admitted. “I guess your question wasn’t so stupid after all.”

🔊“There is no such thing as a stupid question…or something like that,” Dan recalled.

🔊“Listen, my uncle grows chrysanthemums in Tienwei. Why don’t we go ask him a few stupid questions while we’re at it?” Bob laughed. “He can give us a tour of the area and explain everything.”

🔊“Sounds good to me, let’s go!”

🔊Later that day, they meet up with Bob’s uncle Melvin at a flower packaging plant in Tienwei.

🔊“This is where the magic happens, boys,” Uncle Melvin began in a boastful way. “This plant supplies flowers to countries all over the globe, but our primary market is Japan followed closely by Hong Kong.”

🔊The smell of flowers was amazing. It reminded Dan of his old Auntie Elaine who always reeked of cheap perfume, but this smell was strong in a good way.

🔊“But where do all the flowers come from?” Dan inquired looking around the busy plant.

🔊“They don’t grow here.”

🔊“Yes, that’s true. The flowers are grown in local field and then brought to the plant by the farmers. I would guess that we take flowers from a hundred farmers or so,” Melvin informed the curious boys. “They bring them to us in bundles of tens and are already wrapped in cellophane.”

🔊“So, ten flowers per bundle. Got it!” Bob stated. He had already noticed that all the flowers were wrapped in clear cellophane.

🔊“Actually, each stem produces more than one flower. In reality, there are many more than ten flowers in each unit,” Melvin informed them.

🔊“Then you throw them in a box and off they go, right?” Dan guessed.

🔊“I wish it were that simple,” Melvin told them. “Some of the flowers are then soaked in a water and dye solution to give them color. Chrysanthemums are naturally white, so we dye them to give consumers more choices.”

🔊“Then what?” Bob asked after taking a look at the flowers in the big tubs that were soaking in the dye solution.

🔊“Then they are placed into the walk-in cooler until we have enough to fill an entire box car for shipping. We can’t just send it half full, as it wouldn’t be cost effective,” Melvin said as he opened the door. “Why don’t you look inside?”

🔊The boys stepped into the cooler. It was very big and very cold. It was like walking straight into the Arctic without a jacket on.

🔊“Burr,” Bob muttered. “Doesn’t this cold kill the flowers. I thought they would like it hot.”

🔊“Flowers grow when it is hot, but when it is cool their growth slows down. In effect, they are kind of hibernating or in a dormant stage,” Melvin explained. “If we didn’t refrigerate the flowers, they would bloom and die too quickly. Without refrigeration, exporting flowers would be nearly impossible.”

🔊The boys ran out of the cooler and closed that door behind them. They’d had enough of the cooler and had the shivers.

🔊Uncle Melvin led them to the packaging area and showed them the different machines used to package the flowers. One machine taped the boxes tightly shut. The other wrapped a fiberglass ribbon around the box to ensure that it stayed shut during transport. The packaged boxes were then stacked back in the cooler to await shipping.

🔊“Wow, there sure are a lot of people involved in the process. I thought the one man would just throw a bunch of flowers in a box and stick it in the mail,” Dan laughed.

🔊“I wish it were that easy,” Uncle Melvin admitted. “But it isn’t so bad. It’s only really, really busy prior to holidays and festivals. The rest of the time things are pretty relaxed around here.”

🔊“Thanks for showing us around,” Dan and Bob said.

🔊“No problem, boys.,” Uncle Melvin replied. “Come back anytime. I enjoy the company.”

🔊“We will,” the boys promised.

🔊Dan and Bob hopped on their bikes and pedaled for home. They waved back to Uncle Melvin as they rode away. It had been a very informative day and the boys were very grateful. Tomorrow they could tell their friends all about it.