clinic

I went to a clinic this afternoon to get my immunization shots. Rebecca was so excited and couldn't stop walking all the time.
A lady told me that since I am breastfeeding Rebecca right now, she couldn't give me the shots but would write me a waiver instead. That was fine to me. But she was kind of rude.

Getting through to each other

Geneva vs. Kim, Round 1. Geneva stormed out of her daughter’s room. As usual, clothes were on the floors, on the bed, under the bed—everywhere but where they should be. Some were dirty, some were clean, and some Geneva wasn’t sure about, but she did know they were hers. A half-eaten sandwich and a milk glass from last night’s snack decorated the window sill. Magazines about rock singer littered room.

Geneva stomped into the living room, anger flashing from her eyes. Kim lay on her back on the floor, with her feet on the couch, and the telephone to her ear. Geneva didn’t know who Kim was talking to, but she did know that a dirty room was not being cleaned. She also knew Kim had promised yesterday to get started right away.

Geneva grabbed the phone from Kim and slammed it down on the receiver. Before Kim could speak, the storm of words broke. “You lazy kid! What’s wrong with you?” Geneva shouted. “You never do one thing I ask. I told you to clean your filthy room! Now march right there and do it, or I’ll ground you for a month!”

Kim rolled her eyes at the ceiling and jumped to her feet. “I can never get it clean enough for you,” she replied. “You never give me a break. Anyway, I can’t do it now. I have to be at work in half an hour. Bye.” Kim was out the door in a flash.

Geneva groaned. What was she going to do with this kid? Nothing she did seemed to work. Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered to try. But just wait until Kim got home. She’d ground Kim for two months and take away her paycheck, too.

Scenes like this are played out in many homes. Parents and children would like to find a way to stop the fights. It can be done. However, Geneva and Kim need to learn a better way to talk to each other.

First of all, they need to accept the fact that they cannot change things overnight. It takes time and effort to set up good communication. If they really want to be able to talk to each other, they must be wiling to work at it for a long time. In fact, that is exactly why many people fail to set up good communication. They think it is too much work.

Let’s look at what’s wrong with the communication between Geneva and Kim. Then we can see how they might have handled things differently—and better.

Geneva’s first mistake was how she talked to Kim. Yelling at Kim and making threats made Geneva feel better. However, it only made communication worse. Kim knew that Geneva couldn’t stay mad forever. The storm would blow over. Kim knew that if she kept out of Geneva’s way for a while, she would get her way in time.

Also, when Geneva grabbed the phone and hung it up, she was not treating Kim with respect. People usually treat us the way we treat them. By being rude to Kim, Geneva was teaching her daughter to act the same way toward her.
Geneva’s second mistake was what she said. If Geneva often asks her child, “What’s wrong with you? ” Kim will finally believe something is wrong with her. She will then decide that if something is wrong with her, it will not help to do what Geneva asks. Kim will still be a bad person, so why bother? By calling Kim a lazy kid, Geneva was letting Kim know she expected Kim to be lazy.

Geneva’s third mistake was making unreasonable demands on Kim. Geneva knew that Kim had been studying hard last night for an exam. She knew it was almost time for Kim to go to work. It was just not a good time for Kim to clean her room.

Finally, Geneva set the wrong punishment for Kim. Grounding Kim for a month or two and taking away her money will just make Kim mad, and her room will still be dirty. In fact, Kim may decide that she won’t clean her room no matter what happens.

Geneva and Kim are not really fighting over a dirty room. They are fighting over power. Geneva wants to tell Kim how to run her life. Kim wants to run her own life.

Now let’s see how Geneva and Kim can improve the communication between them. Let’s see how they can stop the fighting. We’ll do so by “rewinding” the tape to the beginning of this story and playing out the scene a different way.

Geneva vs. Kim, Round 2. Geneva knocked at Kim’s door. She got no answer, so she peeked inside. The room was a mess. She’d asked Kim to clean it yesterday.

Geneva heard Kim’s laugh in the living room. She stood in the doorway and caught Kim’s eye. Kim was talking on the phone. Geneva pointed to her watch. Kim flashed her a thumbs-up sign and said to her friend, “Listen, I’ve got to go now. I’ll call you later.”

“What’s up, Mom?” Kim asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

Geneva sat down facing Kim. “Can you explain why you haven’t cleaned up your room?” Geneva asked. “I’d like to hear your point of view.”

“I’ve been really busy,” Kim said. “I have exams this week, and I’ve used all my spare time hitting the books. My after-school job has been hard, too. By the time I get home, I’m worn out. All I can do is study and crawl into bed.”

“I can see that you’re really busy right row,” Geneva replied. “I’m proud of you for studying hard and for earn your own money. However, your room has to be cleaned every week. Would you like to do it today or this weekend?”

“Oh, Mon, not this weekend!” Kim cried. “I was looking forward to having fun after all these exams. I just asked a friend to go skating this weekend,” she said, patting the phone.

“I’m sorry, but your grandparents are coming this weekend,” Geneva said. “I want the house clean for them. you need to spend some time with them, too.”


“OK,” Kim sighed. “But I really need sometime for myself, too.”

“I agree,” said Geneva. “What do you think you should do?”

“Let’s see,” Kim said. “If I cleaned my room right after school tomorrow, I could get most of it done before I leave for work. Then I could finish before Grandma and Grandpa get here Saturday morning. They’ll probably leave right after lunch Sunday as always. Then I could go skating Sunday afternoon.”

“That sounds like a good plan for me,” Geneva said. “Now you’d better hustle, or you’ll be late work.”

Geneva smiled to herself as Kim ran out the door. Geneva thought, Teenagers. Once you learn to talk to them, they can really be a pleasure to have around.

Kim let out a giggle as she ran down the steps. Kim thought, Parents. I’d already decided to clean my room Friday after school.

---from Directions book3

Idioms(2)

Black and white
To have two sides that are extremes: right and wrong, or good and bad, with nothing in between. Things can only be black and white if they have two sides to them; thus, concrete nouns (a house, a person, or a river) are not usually described as black and white, but issues, opinions, or ideas often are.
This phrase is used as an adjective.
Example: in my mind, the issue of abortion is black and white.

No ifs, ands, or buts
Absolutely, no excuses; without any doubt, dissension, or variance.
This phrase is always followed by about it.
Example: I have to be in class at seven o’clock tomorrow, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Rule out
Eliminate something
The object can be placed either after rule or after out; however, if the object is a pronoun, it must go after rule.
Examples: The movie was nominated for an Academy Award. However, the Director’s Guild didn’t like it, and so they ruled it out.
OR: the Director’s Guild ruled out that movie for an Academy Award.
The idiom is also commonly used in the passive voice.
Example: Any chances for that movie to win the Academy Award have been ruled out.

Have it both ways
To have two things at the same time that are incompatible with each other.
This idiom is usually used in the negative. Do not try to replace it with anything.
Example: I’d love to have the cultural advantages of living in the city without the traffic and congestion, but I know I can’t have it both ways.

Up in the air
Uncertain, unknown, undecided. Concrete nouns are not usually used at the subject of this phrase; issues, ideas, questions, or problems are more likely to be up in the air. You can paraphrase these as thins, or it.
Example: After her horrible accident, the doctors don’t know if she will live or die. It’s still up in the air.

Pros and cons
The advantages and disadvantages
Example: I’m planning to buy a new car. Do you know the pros and cons of this model?

Fine line
A very subtle distinction between two different things
This idiom is usually followed by between … and…
Example: there is a fine line between criticism and advice.

Not see the forest for the trees
To be overly preoccupied by the details and unable to see a problem as a whole
The idiom is always used in the negative form.
Example: I was so concerned about finding the two dollars I was missing that. I didn’t notice that the whole house had been robbed. I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Put/see something in a whole new light
To view or understand something from a different perspective
Example: You didn’t tell me they offered twice as much money to buy the jewels. That puts their offer in a whole new light.

Right under one’s nose
In plain view, in a place where something or someone might be easily noticed
Example: I’m sure that cars will soon be obsolete. A more efficient mode of transportation is right around the corner.

Change one’s tune
To change how one feels or what one says about a particular issue
Example: she said she hated the book until she found out I was the author. Then she changed her tune.

Make a plug
To speak out in support something or someone; to publicize something
Be sure to say what you are making a plug for
Example: The owners of The Pasta Pot were at the food fair to make a plug for their new restaurant.

A Real Bargain

A Real Bargain

A few years ago Ed Jones was shopping at a thrift store in Indianapolis, Indiana. He walked past the used clothing and stopped at the used books. He looked at the books and then at some old dishes. Mr. Jones was looking for something that might be valuable. If he found something valuable, he would buy it cheaply and then resell it, perhaps to an antique dealer. But today Mr. Jones didn’t see anything he wanted, so he started walking toward the door. Then something caught his eye. Leaning against the wall there was a large cardboard map.

Mr. Jones walked over for a closer look. The map was covered with dust, so Mr. Jones wiped it with his handkerchief. Under the dust was a color map of Paris. It looked old. On the back of the map, someone had written the price: $3. Mr. Jones was quite certain that the map was worth more than three dollars, so he bought it. He thought he could probably sell it for $40.

Later, at home, Mr. Jones looked more closely at the map. He decided it might be very old. Maybe it was worth even more than $40.

The next day Mr. Jones took the map to a geography professor at a nearby university. The professor was a map expert. After looking at the map for a few minutes, he became very excited. “I’ve read about this map!” He exclaimed. Then he told Mr. Jones what he knew.

In 1671 the king of France, Louis XIV, asked a cartographer to make a map of Paris. The cartographer worked on the map for four years. The map he drew was beautiful—it was not just a map, but a work of art as well. The cartographer made several black and white copies of the map. Then he carefully colored one of the copies, using blue for rivers, green for trees, and brown for buildings. The professor said that one black and white copy of the map was in the British Museum in London, and another was in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. “I think, ” the professor told Mr. Jones, “that you’ve just found the color copy of the map—in a thrift store in Indianapolis!” the professor suggested that Mr. Jones take the map to New York City. Experts there could tell Mr. Jones if the professor was right.

The New York experts said the professor was right. They told Mr. Jones that he had the only color copy of the map and that it was extremely valuable. “How much do you think it’s worth?” Mr. Jones asked the experts. “Millions,” they replied. “It’s impossible to say exactly how much the map is worth. It’s worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it.”

Soon Mr. Jones found how much people were willing to pay for the map. Someone offered him 10 million dollars; then someone else immediately offered him 12 million dollars. The most recent offer was 19.5 million dollars. Mr. Jones hasn’t decided whether he will see his three-dollar map at that price or wait for a higher offer. He is thinking it over.

But how in the world this map find its way to a thrift store in Idianapolis? Here is what some experts think: The map was probably in a museum or in the home of a wealthy family in France. Then a thief stole it, perhaps during the confusion of World War I or World War II. The thief sold the map to an antique dealer in France. The French antique dealer, not knowing how valuable the map was, sold it to an antique dealer in Indianapolis. That antique dealer, who also did not know its value, gave it to a neighbor. For ten years the map hung on a wall in the neighbor’s house. Then the neighbor got tired of it and sold it to the thrift store. The map sat in the thrift store for months. Finally, Mr. Jones discovered it.

When Mr. Jones went shopping at the thrift store, he was looking for a bargain. He wanted to find something that was worth more than the price he paid. He paid three dollars for the map, and it is worth at least 19.5 million dollars. Now that’s a bargain.

Leaf and Loaf

Leaf and Loaf

--- William Saroyan

LEAF

At last we went out and stood on the lawn and watched the sun go down, and my father said, “If it weren’t for art, we’d have vanished from the face of the earth long ago.”

What art really is, though, or what human being really is, and what the world really is. I just don’t know, that’s all.

Standing there, watching the sun go down the sea, my father said, “In every house there ought to be an art table on which, one by one, things are placed, so that everybody in that house might look at the things very carefully, and see them.”

“What would you put on a table like that?”

“A leaf. A coin. A button. A stone. A small piece of torn newspaper. An apple. An egg. A pebble. A flower. A dead insect. A shoe.”

“Everybody’s seen those things.”

“Of course. But nobody looks at them, and that’s what art is. To look at familiar things as if they had never before been seen. A plain sheet of paper with typing on it. A necktie. A pocketknife. A key. A fork. A cup. A bottle. A bowl. A walnut. ”

“What about a baseball? A baseball is a beautiful thing. ”
“It certainly is. You should play something on the table and look at it. The next morning you would take it away, and put something else there—anything, for there is nothing made by nature or by man that doesn’t deserve to be looked at particularly. ”

Now, the sun was gone all the way into the sea. There was a lot of orange light on the water, and in the sky above the water. Legion of Honor Hill grew dark, and my father brought out a cigarette and lighted it and inhaled and then let the smoke out of his nose and mouth, and he said, “Well, boy, there’s another day of the wonderful world go forever.”
“New day tomorrow, though.”
“What do you say we drive to the Embarcadero and look at the ships from all over the world?”

LOAF

We loafed through the whole town, because that was what we had planned to do. It was nothing more than just another little town with another bunch of people living in it. we saw some of the people. All of a sudden I noticed their eyes.

This made me laugh.

“Tell me about it,” my father said.

“Eyes,” I said. “We sure have got eyes, haven’t we?”

“Very good,” my father said.

He began to sing, “I saw your eyes, your wonderful eyes.”

Pretty soon he stopped singing and began to breathe deeply.

“Somebody’s baking bread somewhere. Would you like some fresh bread?”

“I sure would.”

We walked to the corner, then around the corner, but we didn’t find a bakery there, so we went back to where we had been, and near there we found the place, but the door was locked.

My father knocked, and then we saw a man in a baker’s white coat with flour on his hands and face come to the door and open it.

“We open at seven,” the man said, “It’s not six yet.”

“What are you baking back there?”

“Bread and rolls.”

“How about letting me buy some? I don’t often get a change to eat freshly baked bread.”

“You want to come in, then?” the baker said, so my father and I went in. we followed the man to where he and his wife were baking bread. It was clean and warm back there. The metal racks had new loaves on them and new rolls.

“Help yourself,” the baker said.

My father took a loaf of French bread from among half a dozen the baker’s wife brought out of the oven on a long wooden spade and held out to him, and then she brought him a lot of rolls on the spade. My father took half a dozen rolls, too. He gave me one, and he took a bit out of another. The big loaf he put in his coat pocket just the way it was.

“Sit down,” the baker said. “There’s some cheese over there on that little table. Help yourself.”

My father and I went to the little table where the baker and his wife sat and ate bread and cheese, and we sat there.

“Do you know the baker?”

“Never saw him before in my life.”

The baker came over and broke open a roll and put some cheese in it. I thought he was going bite into it himself, but he handed the roll to me and said, “Always remember bread and cheese. When everything else looks bad, remember bread and cheese, and you’ll be all right.”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s why I’m a baker,” he said. “I tried a lot of other things, but this is the work for me.”

THE ALL-IMPORTANT PUMPKIN

THE ALL-IMPORTANT PUMPKIN

For American, the simple pumpkin has come to symbolize everything that is important and meaningful about autumn. Everyone knows it is autumn when pumpkins begin to appear at roadside stands. Soon afterward, pumpkins will decorate doorsteps at Halloween. Then they will be part of Thanksgiving holiday decorations. They will also be baked into breads and pies. Farmers will know winter is near when morning frost is on the pumpkin.

Pumpkin and squash are believed to be the first food plants cultivated by the Native Americans. New England natives called them both askootasquash. The pilgrims, who were the first English settlers, shortened it to squash. Then they named the pumpkin from a Greek word, pepon, meaning a large melon. The natives cooked pumpkins in stews and fed uncooked pieces to their horses. They planted pumpkins around their corn. The natives taught the settlers how to plant it and eat it. Very quickly the pumpkin became a favorite and important garden vegetable. It was a healthy addition to the settler’s diets because it is rich in vitamins and minerals.

Eighteenth-century Americans used pumpkin seed tea for medicinal purposes. But of all the uses of pumpkins, none is as amusing as the way it was used by New Englanders, or “Yankees.” Yankee men used the pumpkin shell as a guide for cutting their hair! They put the pumpkin on their head and trimmed around its base. This gave rise to the expression “pumpkinhead,” which at first meant New Englander, and later meant someone who looked silly or stupid.

Every autumn there are pumpkin festivals held all over the country. They are a type of harvest celebration. Pumpkin queens and kings are named. Prizes are given for the biggest or the best-decorated pumpkin, or the best-tasting pumpkin pie. With the help of fertilizers, some pumpkins have been grown to the size of a small car.

Pumpkins are popular with children, not so much for eating as for making jack-o’-lanterns at Halloween. Most Americans don’t realize that this tradition comes all the way from Ireland and Scotland. It originated over 2,000 years ago with the Celts who lived in what is now France and the British Isles. They celebrated a harvest festival on October 31. It was a joyous occasion, but also in some ways a sad one. It marked the beginning of long, dark, cold winter. They believed that in the darkness, the spirits of the dead walked upon the earth. Great fires were built on the hills to protect the people from bad spirits. People hollowed out turnips, a root plant, and put a candle inside. They carried them if they went outside to protect themselves from evil spirits.

When the settlers came to the America, they brought their customs with them. They didn’t have turnips, so they use pumpkins instead. Today, of course, children look forward to Halloween and the carving of pumpkins. First the pumpkin is hollowed out and the seeds and pulp taken out. Then funny or scary faces are curved into the side. In the evening, a candle is put inside and the face glows in the dark. Sometimes pumpkins are painted and decorated. As Halloween approaches, jack-o’-lanterns pop up on doorsteps everywhere.

After Halloween, Americans look forward to the Thanksgiving holiday. Pumpkins and corn plants are often used as decorations during this time. They symbolize autumn and the spirit of the season. It is a time of giving thanks for the harvest, for the family, and for all the good things that families enjoy.

But pumpkins don’t only serve as symbols. They’re eaten too. The first settlers who depended on the pumpkin for food would be amazed to see how many ways it’s eaten today. Pumpkins are boiled, broiled, and baked. They are put in bread, cakes, pies, muffins, doughnuts, ice cream, pancakes, cookies, soups, and even hamburgers! Sometimes there seems to be no end to the uses of pumpkins. Who would ever have thought this simple little plant would get to be so popular!

--- From more about the USA

The plain people

The Plain People

It is still dark when Elizabeth wakes up. She gets out of bed and shivers when her feet touch the cold, bare floor. The bedroom is not heated, and it is so cold that she can see her breath. She quickly puts on her long dress, black apron, and black shoes. Then she hurries downstairs to the kitchen.

The only light in the kitchen comes from Kerosene lamps; Elizabeth’s husband lit the lamps earlier, before he went out to milk the cows. Elizabeth puts a few pieces of wood into the stove and starts the fire. Then she begins to prepare a big breakfast for herself, her husband, and their six children. It is a beginning of a typical day of Elizabeth.

Although Elizabeth’s day will be typical, her life is certainly not typical of modern life in the United States. Elizabeth belongs to a religious group known as the Amish. The Amish are often called the “Plain People” because they live and dress very simply. Their homes have no carpets on the floors, no pictures on the wall, and no soft, comfortable furniture. The men wear dark pants and white or blue shirts, and the women wear long dresses in dark colors. The women never wear makeup or jewelry.

The Amish have a saying: “The old way is the best way.” Although the Amish accept some new ideas—they use new medicines, for example—their way of life has not changed much in 300 years. They do not use electricity, so Amish homes have no electric lights, no TVs, and no kitchen appliances like refrigerators. The Amish don’t own telephone, either. They ride in buggies pulled by horses, and they speak German, the language that the first Amish people spoke.

The first Amish people lived in Germany and Switzerland. They were called Amish because their leader was Jacob Amman. The Amish were persecuted in Europe, so around 1700 they came to the New World. They settled in what is now the state of Pennsylvania.

Most of the Amish still live in Pennsylvania, although there are large communities in other states, too. All Amish, no matter where they live, have similar beliefs.

The Amish believe that life in the countryside is best. Almost all Amish live on farms. Amish farmers do not use modern machinery, yet their farms are successful because the Amish work hard and take good care of their land and animals. Their farms are always small. The Amish think it is wrong to have more land or more money than they need to live. A few years ago some Amish farmers discovered oil on their land. Was there a lot of oil under the ground or just a little? The Amish farmers didn’t want to know. They immediately sold their land and moved away, without telling anyone about the oil. They didn’t want to be rich.

The Amish, who are Christians, believe they should follow the peaceful example of Jesus. Amish men will not fight in the wars or served in the army. They will not even wear coats with buttons, because military uniforms often have large gold or silver buttons.

The Amish will not buy insurance of any kind. When there is trouble, they help one another. If an Amish farmer gets sick, relatives and neighbors will milk his cows, plant his fields, and harvest his crops. If a barn burns down, as many as 200 men will come and build a new barn in one day.

The Amish are not allowed to marry people who are not Amish. That has caused a peculiar problem. The 500 or so Amish who came to the New World in the 1700s had about 40 last names. The 100,000 Amish who live in the United States today are the descendants of those people—and have the same 40 last names. In one school in Pennsylvania, 95 percent of the students—and their teacher—have the last name “Stolzfus.” The Amish custom of choosing first name s from the Bible adds to the problem. In one small Amish community there are 11 men named Daniel Miller!

To avoid confusion, the Amish give nicknames to people who have the same name. Some nicknames have an obvious explanation: “Chicken Dan” sells chicken, for example; “Curly Dan” has curly hair. But what about “Gravy Dan”? How did he get his nickname? At dinner one evening this Dan want to pour some cream into his coffee. He reached for the pitcher of cream but took the pitcher of gravy by mistake and poured gravy into his coffee. Ever since that evening, his nickname has been “Gravy Dan.”

People are curious about the lives of Amish like Elizabeth and Gravy Dan. Every year thousands of tourists visit the part of Pennsylvania where most Amish live. They take pictures of the black buggies and the plain white houses. They watch Amish children as they walk to school and Amish men as they work in their fields. Most Amish are not happy about the tourists, but they tolerate them. Perhaps the Amish understand that the tourists want to experience, at least for a few days, the quieter, simpler Amish way of life.

The Spirit Of The Wolf

The Spirit Of The Wolf

The Native Americans had great respect for nature and all its creatures. They depended animals for food, clothing, and shelter. They also admired animals for their cunning, strength, and agility. Newborn babies were often named after an animal, such as Running Deer or Little Eagle. An important chief of the Cheyenne people was named High Backed Wolf. To Native Americans, the wolf was a very special animal.

The Native Americans believed that the world was filled with spirits that controlled their lives. All things in nature, such as the sun, the mountains, the snake, eagle, and wolf had a spirit within it. To honor the spirits and ask them for help, ceremonies were performed. One of them was the animal dance of the Cheyenne. For this ceremony, many special rites were performed. One was the painting of a wolfskin in a certain manner. Another was when the man put on skins of various animals, including the wolf. They danced around a special fire. It was believed this ceremony would bring the tribe good fortune when they went out to hunt. It was important to have the spirit of the wolf with them. The natives knew the wolf was a great hunter. They also admired its many other qualities.

In the wild, wolves have great strength and endurance. Their thick fur protects them from temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero. They travel in family groups called packs and are intelligent, loving and loyal. There are a number of wolf species. In America, Arctic wolf and timber wolf are found, as well as smaller and darker red wolf of Texas, and the Mexican wolf. Wolves can adapt to a variety of habitats.

The northern wolf is a very handsome animal that looks like a big, friendly dog. In the far north, it is often white. In the south, it is gray. Wolves are very social animals. They travel, hunt, and perform almost all other activities in the company of other wolves. A pack usually consists of a male and female that will stay together for life and have babies, or pups. They are constant and loving companions. The other members are usually their young, ranging in age from tiny pups to two- and three-year-olds. Most packs include six or seven members but have been known to include as many as 15.

The parent wolves are the leaders. The rest of the wolves, depending upon their age and strength, all have their own places. Their relationships are very complicated. Scientific studies have shown that wolf packs have complex rules that govern their behavior and the way they relate to each other. Their methods of communicating are also very elaborate. Although wolves make many different kinds of songs, the most famous is the howl. Wolves howl at any time, not just at night. It’s a way of sharing their closeness as a group. One wolf will point its nose toward the sky and start to howl. Immediately the other pack members will rush over and join him. The whole group is expected and happy. Packs also communicated with each other this way. They tell each other to stay out of their territory.

In wolf families, everything is done as a group, including the raising of the young. They trust and depend on each other from birth. Probably the most important activity in the life of the pack is hunting. Wolves are carnivorous, or meat eaters. They live on a variety of foods, from mice to fish to the larger deer and moose. Wolves only kill what they can eat. Hunting in packs is necessary for chasing and killing large prey. Wolves are never attack a large, healthy deer or moose, which can easily defend itself with sharp kicks. Wolves pursue herbs to find the sick or weak members. This may cruel, but they are actually doing the herd good by keeping it strong. Also, without the natural enemies, herds will overpopulate their territory and use up the food supply. Many will eventually starve. Wolves are needed to keep the balance of nature.

Unfortunately, the people who settled the America did not respect the wolf like the natives did. Over the years, wolves were hunted, poisoned, and destroyed in great numbers. They are now rare in North America. However, many people now believe the wolf has a rightful place among America’s wildlife. In some places, like the Yellowstone national park, they have been put back into the wild. There is much controversy about this. Ranchers believe the wolves will attack their herds. Hunters also don’t like the wolves in the wild. They want the deer to overpopulate so they can hunt them. At the same time, there are many people who are fighting to let the wolf once again roam freely in the remaining wild lands of America. The argument over putting wolves back into the wild is certain to continue for many years. Only time will tell whether they will one day be allowed to do that, and if the spirit of wolf will live on.

DEATH SPEAKS

DEATH SPEAKS
-- W. Somerset Maugham

There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions and a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me. The merchant lend him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning? That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

LUCY

LUCY
－－－Jamaica Kincaid

It was January again; the world was thin and pale and cold again; I was making a new beginning again.

I had been a girl of whom certain things were expected, none of them too bad: a career as a nurse, for example; a sense of duty to my parents; obedience to the law and worship of convention. But in one year of being away from home, that girl had gone out of existence.

The person I had become I did not know very well. Oh, on the outside everything was familiar. My hair was the same, though now I wore it cut close to my head, and this made my face seem almost perfectly round, and so for the first time ever I entertained the idea that I might actually be beautiful. I knew that if I ever decided I was beautiful I would not make too big a thing of it. My eyes were the same. My ears were the same. The other important things about me were the same.

But the things I could not see about myself, the things I could not put my hands on—those things had changed, and I did not yet know them well. I understood that I was inventing myself, and I was doing this more in the way of a painter than in the way of a scientist. I could not count on precision or calculation; I could only count on intuition. I did not have anything exactly in mind, but when the picture complete I would know. I did not have position, I did not have money at my disposal. I had memory, I had anger, and I had despair.

I was born on an island, a very small island, twelve miles long and eight miles wide; yet when I left it at nineteen years of age I had never set foot on three-quarters of it. I had recently met someone who was born on the other side of the world from me but had visited this island on which my family had lived for generations; this person, a woman, said to me, “What a beautiful place, ” and she named a village by the sea and then went on to describe a view that was unknown to me. At the time I was so ashamed I could hardly make a reply, for I had come to believe that people in my position in the world should know everything about the place they are from.

When I told Mariah that I was leaving, she sail, “It’s not a year yet. You are supposed to stay for at least a year. ” Her voice was full of anger, but I ignored it. It’s always hard for the person who is left behind. And even as she said it she must have known how hollow it sounded, for it was only a matter of weeks before it would be a year since I had come to live with her. The reality of her situation was now clear to her: she was a woman whose husband had betrayed her. I wanted to say this to her: “Your situation is an everyday thing. Men behave in this way all the time. The ones who do not behave this way are the exceptions to the rule.” But I knew what her response would have been. She would have said, “What a cliché.” She would have said, “What do you know about these things?” And she would have been right; it was a cliché, and I had no personal experience of a thing like that. But all the same, where I came from every woman knew the cliché, and a man like Lewis would not have been a surprise; his behavior would not have cast a pall over any woman’s life. It was expected. Everybody knew that men have no morals, that they do not know how to behave, that they do not know how to treat other people. It was why men like laws so much; it was why they had to invent such things—they need a guide. When they are not sure what to do, they consult this guide. If the guides give them advice they don’t like, they change the guide. This was something I knew; why didn’t Mariah know it, also? And if I were to tell it to her she would only show me a book she had somewhere which contradicted everything I said- a book most likely written by a woman who understood absolutely nothing.

The holidays came, and they did feel like a funeral, for so many things had died. For the children’s sake, she and Lewis put up a good front. He came and gone, doing all the things he would have done if he were still living with them. He bought the fir tree, bought the children the presents they wanted, bought Mariah a coat made up from the skins of small pesty animals who lived in the ground. She, of course, hated it, but for appearance’s sake kept her opinion to herself. He must have forgotten that she was not a sort of person who would wear the skin of another being if she could help it. Or perhaps in the rush of things he gave his old love his new love’s present. Mariah gave me a necklace made up of pretty porcelain beads and small polished balls of wood. She said it was the handiwork of someone in Africa. It was the most beautiful thing anyone had ever given me.

The New Year came, and I was going somewhere new again. I gathered my things together; I had a lot more than when I first came. I had new clothes, all better suited to this new climate now I lived in. I had a camera and prints of photographs I had taken, prints I had made myself. But mostly I had books- so many books, and they were mine; I would not have to part with them. It had always been a dream of mine to just own a lot of books, to never part with a book once I had read it. So there they were, resting nicely in small boxes—my own books, the books that I had read. Mariah spoke to me harshly all the time now, and she began to make up rules which she insisted me to follow; and did, for after all what else could she do? It was a last resort for her—insisting that I be the servant and she the master. She used to insist that we be friends, but that apparently not worked out very well, for now I was leaving. The master business did not become her at all, and it made me sad to see her that way. Still, it made me remember what my mother said to me many times: for my whole life I should make sure the roof over my head was my own; such a thing was important, especially if you were a woman.

On the day I actually left, there was no sun; the sky had shut if out tightly. It was a Saturday. Lewis had taken the children to eat snails at a French restaurant. All four of them liked such things—and just as well, for that went with the life they were expected to lead eventually. Mariah helped me put my things in a taxi. It was a cold goodbye on her part. Her voice and her face were stony. She did not hug me. I did not take any of this personally; someday we would be friends again. I was numb, but it was from not knowing just what this new life would hold for me.

PUT HANDS ON: understand easily
COUNT ON: depend on
CLICHE: an idea or expression that has been used too much
CAST A PALL: produce a dark covering; create sadness
PUT UP A GOOD FRONT: face a situation with pretended confidence
A LAST RESORT: a last possibility
DID NOT BECOME HER: was not appropriate for her