曾祖父的荔枝園

以下是剛完成的模擬教案功課的一篇文章。內容絕對95%真實。至于哪些內容和真實不符，姓鄭的一定知道。假如英文是你的障礙，你很想知道它的內容，以后能問我或我弟弟。


In the year 1908, that great grandfather was born, the last emperor of the Ching Dynasty Puyi ascended to the throne in China. Grandfather grew up in a small village in Guangdong province in the south of China close to Shantou. Because of his diligence and wisdom, he and his family were able to purchase acres and acres of land.

At the time when my grandfather, the youngest child of the family was born, great grandfather was growing many different crops and had nearly 3,000 lychee trees. One summer afternoon, a thief who was also a neighbour and had been without food for days came to the lychee orchid. He hid himself in the branches of the tree and hungrily gobbled some of the red fruit. When great grandfather was entering the orchard to make an estimate on the quantity of lychees ready for sale, he saw seeds being spat to the ground from the trembling branches. Great grandfather immediately realised that there was a thief up in one of his lychee trees. Realising that many of the villagers were starving because of a prolonged famine in the province, great grandfather coughed near the tree and turned away from it. The startled thief understood that it was a signal to allow him to leave the orchard quietly without being caught.

The same kind of incident happened many times. Great grandfather became known throughout the village for his kindness and forgiving nature. I used to hear this story of great grandfather every summer when lychees were available on the market.

The orchards have been gone for decades, so has the wealth of the family. My grandfather lost all of the family wealth to gambling, drinks and opium. He used to say that, ‘It is a blessing in disguise that the entire wealth of the family dwindled away to nothing.’ If the family had remained wealthy, every family member would have suffered from repression and severe torture in a series of political upheavals in the 1950s and 60s.