[p] my grandmother’s first trip on the freeway[br] 奶奶初走高速公路[br] usually my grandmother comes to taipei on a slow train three or four times a year. she is eighty-three years old and still very healthy and active. her eyes and mind are still as clear and fast as her small great-grandchildren. one day we agreed to go home with my grandmother by car on the freeway. she was very excited and kept talking about everything she saw and heard. she talked about the flowers on the small bushes we passed and how smooth the car ride was. she commented about the toll charge and that the freeway was the best road she had traveled on in her life. by the time she got home she was still talking about how fast she got home.[br] my friend hsiao-mei[br] 我的朋友小梅[br] whenever i have a party, hsiao-mei is always the first person i invite. she is such fun. i know that she will be able to make my other guests laugh. she does not get upset if somebody tries to tease or make fun of her, either. hsiao-mei can also be very serious and can discuss almost anything you can think of. if it gets late before the party ends, i can always depend on hsiao-mei to clean up the house. she never says no, even if she is very tired and would rather go straight home to bed.[br] the fox and the grapes[br] 狐狸和葡萄[br] some of the stories we know and like are many hundreds of years old. among them are aesop’s fables. a fable is a short story made up to teach a lesson. most fables are about animals. in them animals talk. many of our common sayings come from fables. “sour grapes” is one of them. it comes from the fable “the fox and the grapes.” in the story a fox saw a bunch of grapes hanging from a vine. they looked ripe and good to eat. but they were rather high. he jumped and jumped, but he could not reach them. at last he gave up. as he went away he said. “those grapes were sour anyway.” now we say, “sour grapes!” when someone pretends he does not want something he tried to get but couldn’t.[br] folk dancing[br] 土风舞[br] my sister belongs to a folk dancing club in college. they meet twice a week at night. their club has about thirty members from varying classes and departments. all the members love to dance because it is good exercise and fun. also by studying folk dance they get to know each belong to this club, and they study together, too. my sister seems quite happy with her life in college, but she always says that college education is much more than folk dancing or going on a picnic; there are lots of serious things to learn[br] going to feed the ducks [br] 喂鸭子[br] not very far from our house there is a small river that has many wild ducks. the ducks are very colorful during the spring mating season. male ducks have multiple colors of green. gray, red, and blue; the female ducks are brown all the year round. this section of the river is also part of a small island park where people picnic and play ball. wooden tables and chairs, metal boxes for cooking, and big trash cans are available. sometimes the ducks will leave the water and walk ashore looking for food among the picnic grounds. quite often my sister and i like to bring old bread there to feed the ducks. if is really a very peaceful place to relax and play, and study, too.[/p]