Basic Reading — 第14冊

🔊This man is writing a sort of prayer on a sky lantern. He writes things that he hopes will bring health and prosperity to him and his family. To make it easier for him to write the characters, his friend holds the balloon up. He uses white paint to really make the words stand out on the red balloon.

🔊Making sky lanterns is sometimes done on a deity's birthday. It is thought that messages floating high in the sky will be read by the gods. If the deity is pleased, then good luck will be bestowed on the family.

🔊The lanterns are made of very lightweight materials. Candles heat the air inside the balloons to make them rise into the air when released, similar to a hot-air balloon. The higher the balloons rise, the better because they are more likely to be seen by a deity. This also increases the chance of a wish being granted.

🔊Whether or not you believe in such things, it is still fun to participate. You get to make a cool lantern and watch as it disappears high into the night sky. So the next you hear about an activity like this going on in your community, go out and get involved. You never know…maybe your prayer will be answered.

🔊Ring toss is a popular game at many night markets and fairs in Taiwan. It is a game that is simple enough to play, but difficult to master. Many people at night markets line up just for a chance to win a prize or to challenge a friend to a little competition. The odds of winning some sort cheap prize is pretty good, too.

🔊To play the game, you first need to pay a small fee and get some rings from the attendant. Once you have the rings, you will need to find a place to stand where it isn’t too crowded—good luck with that—so that you have some room to move your arms and aren’t getting constantly bumped into. Now the object of the game is to toss a ring and get it to land on one of the prizes and stay there. If it does land and stay, you win the prize. If it doesn’t, you can only try again. It is probably best to focus on one target instead of just throwing the rings randomly. You can then hone in on it until you win it or until you run out of money…whatever comes first.

🔊The prizes are set up on boards arranged in a step-like fashion. The prizes that are closest to you on the lower boards are usually little trinkets, toys, key chains or even drinks. The prizes seem to become more and more expensive, and desirable, the further away they become. Usually, the best prizes are way in the back and the odds of winning one are nearly impossible. Though most of the prizes are very cheap—you can probably buy them for about the same price as playing the game or less—it is still fun to play. But whether you win or lose, at least you've had a good time.

🔊The old lady in this picture is peeling a piece of sugarcane. Holding the sugarcane firmly in her left hand, she uses a peeler to carefully remove the outside layer which is tough and inedible like the bark on a tree. She uses long even strokes to take off only a thin layer so that she doesn’t waste too much of the cane underneath. It is kind of like peeling an apple, as you don’t want to peel off a thick layer or it is just wasteful.

🔊Now she is packaging the sugarcane for sale. She puts one end of the sugarcane into a plastic bag and then cuts it off. By cutting it into sections this way, she can be sure that the pieces aren’t too long. The bags are then tied up and ready to be bought. You can see lots of sugarcane behind her, waiting to be peeled. I wonder how long it will take her to peel and package all of them?

🔊These boys are chewing on sugarcane. They can’t actually eat the sugarcane because it is too fibrous. Instead they only chew it and try to suck out the sweet juice. Then spit out the remaining woody pulp.

🔊If you look closely, you can see some rings around the sugarcane. These parts are particularly tough to chew, so most people just bite them off and discard them.

🔊The boys are having fun chewing on the sugarcane and spitting out the pulp on the table. It looks like they are to see who can make the biggest pile of pulp.

🔊The boy on the left is leaning over the table, trying to get all the little slivers of pulp out of his mouth. He is laughs while he does this.

🔊The boy on the right is waiting for his turn to spit out the pulp. He has a spent piece of sugarcane hanging out of his mouth.

🔊Dear Buddha,

🔊How are you? I am not so good. It is winter. The temperature has dropped almost 20 degrees in the last month. Everyone is bundling up before going outside. Scarves and toques have become a popular fashion accessory for most. Only teenage boys and the foolish dare to go out without a jacket on.

🔊I don't get out much when the weather turns cold like this. I hate winter. Even with a heavy winter coat on, I still get cold so easily. At night I sleep with my clothes on and four blankets so that I don't get a chill. On really cold days I even wear mitts to bed.

🔊Yesterday was so cold I thought I was going to die. I had the shivers something awful. My teeth chattered together so much that it gave me a headache. I spent the entire day crouched in front of a portable heater. It kept me warm enough to survive, but gave me terrible sunburn from sitting so close to it.

🔊Later that evening, I thought a hot bath might warm me up. I had set the heater on the edge of the tub before getting in. As I got in, I tripped on the cord and fell into the tub. At the same time, the heater fell in with me—electricity plus water equals a new hairdo.

🔊As I write this letter from my hospital bed, I can only hope that you can help me, Buddha. Please turn the earth's thermostat up about 20 degrees or I fear that I might not live long enough to see the flowers of spring. Thank you for any help that you can provide.

🔊Yours truly,

🔊Luke

🔊It was my first day in Taiwan. My stomach was making grumbling sounds as I walked down the street. I was so hungry that I would've eaten anything, but I couldn’t find anything that looked like a restaurant to me. Everything was so different. What would I do?

🔊A man saw me holding my stomach and walking around like I was lost. He stopped me and asked if there was a problem. I was so happy that he spoke English that I didn't respond for a minute. I could only shake his hand and thank him for stopping.

🔊I told him that I was from another country and didn't know where or what to eat. He pointed to a street down the road and told me that I would find many places to eat there. Then on a scrap of paper that he pulled from his pocket, he scribbled a couple of Chinese characters and handed it to me. Just show this to the cook he told me and I would be fine. I repeatedly thanked him and then moved along.

🔊On the street he had pointed out to me were many places to eat, just like he said there would be. I wasn't in a mood to be picky and sat down at the first one I found.

🔊A lady wearing an apron approached me and said something that I didn't understand. I smiled shyly and handed her the paper. She read it and nodded. Disappearing into the back I could only hope that she was going to return with some food.

🔊While I waited, I looked around. There were some foreign condiments, napkins and a container of chopsticks on the table. I had always liked using chopsticks, but I had never actually used them in a country where they were the norm.

🔊I took a set of chopsticks out of the container and removed the paper covering. The chopsticks were stuck together and I thought they were defective. I set them on the table and took out another set. How odd, they were stuck together too, as was the next pair, and the next, and the next. I emptied the entire container, but there wasn't a good pair in the lot, so I moved to the next table. Again, they were all deformed, so I moved to another table. I couldn’t find a good pair in the entire place. I laughed to myself; they must be made in Taiwan.

🔊The lady finally returned from the kitchen and walked toward my table. She suddenly stopped and with wide eyes looked around. The happy face she had worn now turned to a frown and she began to yell. I looked behind me to see who she was yelling at, but there was no one there. People here sure are strange, I thought.

🔊As she continued to yell it became apparent that it was directed at me, but why? Then she stopped directly across from me and picked up one of the pairs of useless chopsticks. Grasping each of the connected sticks from the bottom, she pulled. With a snap they separated and she handed them to me.

🔊My face must have been pretty red when I realized what I had done. What an idiot, I thought. When I left I made sure to leave a huge tip that I hoped would cover the cost of the wasted chopsticks. If it didn't, at least she would have a good story to tell her friends. And I had learned my first lesson about eating out.

🔊"Why do I always have to wash the car?" I screamed.

🔊"Because you do such a good job," my father replied, as he sat at his desk fumbling through papers.

🔊"Billy never has to do anything," I whined. "It's just not fair."

🔊"Life isn't fair, Jill," he calmly stated. "And the sooner you learn that, the sooner my car will get washed."

🔊Out to the garage I stomped thinking about how badly he treats me sometimes. Maybe he isn't my real father, I thought.

🔊I took a bucket off the shelf and filled it with water and a little soap.

🔊"Where is the darned sponge?" I shouted out loud thinking that I was by myself.

🔊"Next to the toolbox," a voice answered.

🔊Surprised, I turned to see who had answered me. It was my older brother, Billy.

🔊I spun back around and found the sponge, right where he said it was.

🔊"Why don't you take a hike, Billy?" I rudely asked hoping that he would just leave me alone.

🔊"What's your problem? Who peed in your cornflakes?" he asked while his smile disappeared.

🔊"I don't get it. Why doesn't that old fart ever ask you to do anything?" I asked looking for sympathy.

🔊"Are you nuts?" he snapped. "He never lets me have a second to myself. He always has me running some stupid errand."

🔊My question seemed to have hit a nerve with him.

🔊"Who do you think takes out the garbage?” he continued. “Who do you think sweeps the garage? Who do you think mows the lawn? Who do you think does just about everything around this stinking place?"

🔊"Ok. Ok. Take a deep breath and calm down," I said trying to cool him off, but it wasn't working.

🔊His face grew more and more red. I could feel he was about to blow his top. Now I wished that I had kept my mouth shut.

🔊"Listen, you poor spoiled little brat!" he yelled while shaking his finger at me in obvious anger. "If you ever want to change all my jobs for your once-a-week car washing, you just let me know. Until then, you better wake up and realize just how easy you have it around here!"

🔊And then he was gone.

🔊"See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya," I whispered as he left.

🔊I picked up my bucket and sponge and slowly began wiping the windshield of the car. I also thanked God that Psycho Boy was gone. Maybe washing the car once a week wasn’t so bad after all.

🔊It's a cool winter day outside, but still the classroom is quite warm. Brett sits in his classroom with his winter coat zipped all the way to the top. His teacher, Mr. White, enters the room, glances at him and then continues on to his desk. Halfway there, he stops dead in his tracks, raises a brow and turns back to look at Brett who now has sweat dripping off the end of his nose.

🔊"Is everything okay?" Brett’s teacher asks.

🔊Brett, not wanting to make a scene, replies, "Sure, never better."

🔊"Do you have the flu or something?" his teacher curiously inquires.

🔊"Nope," he exclaims. "I’m as healthy as a horse."

🔊Unsatisfied, Mr. White goes to his desk, sits down and proceeds to organize the papers on his desk. He stops abruptly, takes a deep breath and looks up at Brett again. His curiosity has got the best of him.

🔊"Okay. Okay. What’s up with the jacket?" Mr. White asks.

🔊"If you really must know, I zipped up my jacket too far and the zipper got stuck," Brett replies reluctantly.

🔊Mr. White walks over to see if he can be of assistance. He gives the zipper a little tug and miraculously it easily unzips.

🔊"That wasn’t so difficult." Mr. White chuckles and then the whole class bursts into laughter.

🔊"My god, I have been trying to get this stupid thing off for an hour!" Brett, now half embarrassed and half relieved, shouts. He quickly rips off his jacket and throws it on his desk, revealing a sweat-covered shirt underneath. Then they sweaty boy sighs deeply, "Ahh! That is so much better."

🔊The laughter eventually dies down and the class begins. Maybe next time Brett will not be so reluctant to ask for help when he needs it.

🔊It is Sunday in the Liu household and that means it’s time to clean the house. Every Sunday, Randy's mother gives each of her children a couple of chores to do. But once the chores are finished, the children are allowed to do whatever they want.

🔊Paula, Randy’s oldest sister, has been assigned to do the laundry. She doesn't mind the job at all. The job is quite simple. She just has to gather the dirty laundry from all the bedrooms, sort it into piles (darks, colors, whites, etc.) and then load the washing machine. While she is waiting for the clothes to wash, she folds the clean laundry that was washed on Saturday. It is not a difficult job and she happily goes about her work. Within an hour, Paula is finished and can leave the house to play with her friends.

🔊Meanwhile, Randy has found a comfortable bench to sit on. His job is easy, too. He only has to take out the garbage, but it can wait. He wants to relax for a while long before he starts.

🔊In the kitchen, Rhonda, his younger sister, is doing the dishes. Her job is dirty and not so much fun, but she knows the faster she works, the faster she can go outside. She makes the job even easier by listening to her MP3 player and singing along to it. Within half an hour, she, too, is finished.

🔊An hour after his sisters have finished and left the house, Randy is still sitting on the bench. He has his legs crossed and he's twiddling his thumbs in a daze. He hates taking out the garbage and doesn't want to, but he knows he can't leave until it is done. Just a minute more and I'll do it, he thinks.

🔊Three hours later, Randy wakes with someone tapping him on the shoulder. It's his mother and she asks if he is finished, yet. Randy shakes his head no and stands to finally go and take out the trash.

🔊After about 4 hours of putting it off and another hour of reluctantly doing his chores, he is finally finished. Now he can go to the park and play basketball with his friends… if they are still there.

🔊On his way out the door, he runs into his younger sister. She tells him that she had garbage duty last week and it only took her 20 minutes. She tries to make him understand that he would have more time for fun if he wouldn’t put off his chores for so long But Randy doesn’t listen. He just ignores her and continues on out the door.

🔊Now the day is almost gone and it is already starting to get dark. When Randy finally gets to the park, he finds that his friends have already left. He is very disappointed. Maybe next time I should do my chores faster, he thinks.

🔊The massive wooden carving shown above was made by a Bunun artist. It is of several Bunun men standing in a circle with their arms interlocked—kind of like a big group hug. This pose is a typical one and is often seen in all kinds of Bunun art.

🔊All the men are depicted in traditional clothing that is mostly white and black with a wide patterned strip wrapping around their wastes and down their backs. They also don headbands made of long scarf-like cloths that they tie in the back. But no shoes or socks for these guys; barefoot was the way to go back then (and still is for some).

🔊I think this sculpture really shows how closely bonded the Bunun people must’ve been and perhaps still are. Their sense of community is great and this piece definitely represents the unity that they have. Maybe we should all learn from them and have a big group hug with our neighbors once in a while. It might not solve all our differences, but it may unite some of us at least.