story 东华大学 杨丹 新东方

东华大学 杨丹 新东方

For A Better Day

Arthur’s life is a narrow room, waiting to be lightened by a magic wand. But up to now, he is accustomed to the confining and static school life in the remote village, which from one angle is not a bad thing. Gut, on the other hand, runs every day in the open air, to the brook, to the plain, where the nature endows him all talents. However, the seemingly freedom traps him when fences are brought to the not-so-green meadow. He is frightened but has nowhere to hide. Different as they are, ----in living conditions, in individual traits ----they have much in common.

On July 10th, 2009, the second day of our arrival at Arthur’s village, we commenced the well-scheduled research and teaching program. The primary school my teammates contacted before our official start was the core education institution in the town; as a result, the students there were out of question of higher quality. Indeed, from the equipment installed in the classrooms, it was not hard to figure out this fact objectively. After our introduction, we received a hearty welcome by both students and their parents. Among the around-10-year-old boys and girls stood Arthur, an introvert but eloquent young gentleman if required.

“All my little friends,” I asked, “what do you know about the Przewalskit Gazelle?” “They are our friends and they are lovely animals.” One boy said immediately.

Others became active. “Yes, and they live on the steppe to look for food. But sometimes, they go up to the hilly areas.” Another girl added, approved by several voices.

“Great!” I responded, “So you’ve got bunch of knowledge about them, right? But except taking the risk to climb the slip hill, do you know other features of this animal? The most unique and conspicuous ones?” I was wondering if I had pushed too many questions to these cute primary school students. It must be my fault if they were not interested in the knowledge and lessons.

There was a murmur of discussion amidst them but no answer.

Right at the moment when I decided to give them the answer, a boy started his statement as follows: “They are acute to possible enemies thanks to their ears and noses as well as their way of living and they run very fast, which helps them avoid being caught by ferocious wolves, especially in summer.” Not even before he finished his short speech, I was already astonished at his extensive knowledge about this mammal.

Though this particular species is in desperate danger with a total population of only about 600 worldwide, far less than the Tibetan Antelope, and has been recorded years ago on the endangered list, the major factitious threat----the thorny steel fences----has not been reported frequently so as to raise sufficient public concern, let alone its profiles or other facts. Local farmers and herders are not to blame. It is the government’s responsibility to take effective measures and to permeate the mentality of maintaining the variety of animal species. Education without doubt is the first and presumably the most crucial step one nation as a people can take.

东华大学 杨丹 新东方

“And most of their fur is brown except the hips where white distinguishes them from other gazelles.” My wandering mind was pulled back by the boy’s clear voice. “The most beautiful and valuable part is their asymmetric curving horns for which their name is given.” His name, which I picked up later, was Arthur. What a boy! What else should I say to Arthur other than “marvelous”.

Later, we made use of a video that could be up and doing classroom mood as we continued our teaching process. When it was time to take a break, the “Firefly Song” really played its part.

It seems that I have neglected Pet for a long time. Now here comes his story. Gut was 3 years old, in our view a suckling age. But as I have previously claimed, he jogs and gallops, vibrant but vulnerable. So you must be a good guesser if gazelle is your final answer. Today Gut was the young force of his family. He was the presence of the past, of what he had been through.

On one day a year ago, when the sun shined, the stream gushed, he was playing with several male partners. It was not necessary then for Gut to worry about future at all since he was always the apple of his big brothers’ eye. Suddenly, Wind, his third senior brother, roared intensely anguished. What happened? Why Wind was hung in mid air? What did he just cry out? A help signal? So many question marks surged abruptly from Gut’s mind. In less than 24 hours, he was forced back home, had dinner, washed himself and rested. Routine however could not let the scary voice of Wind fade away. Gut no longer took love from families granted since then; instead he fostered himself the sense of responsibility to guard his homeland. He knew from that very moment that his big brother sacrificed to assure their safety and he should be the successor to hold the torch in the dark.

For all these years, his family has been witnessing a die-off of the group through lack of food, ever-growing population of natural enemies, grand construction of railways and primarily the import of chaining fences whose original purpose was to support the establishment of the meadow, to protect the sheep and stocks from being attacked by wild preyers. The ironic fact is that you cannot plan everything in a perfect way, can you? Excuse like this is easy to make. But when we traced back to the days when life was so equal that human as a group was no superior to other forms of creatures, we should be ashamed of what had been done.

Fortunately, not all are blind to Gut’s suffering. Arthur was not nominated as a genius or extremely talented person compared with his classmates, but he who had the descent of a brave, adaptable and artless minority----Tibetan, was confident enough to announce that he would be the person to change his own town into a better place for people and animals alike. The guts in this boy touched me just like what Gut’s decision influenced me, both strongly and enduring, and drove me to the meadow. Daring and reliability they have, as I believe, will definitely make tomorrow a brilliant day.

By Sun Mei

2011/5/30

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