这学期在上一门课叫做Asian Literature in English
老师在课上播放了这部电影
然后要求我们从不同的人物角度来描述这个故事
我被分到用妈妈的口吻来说
刚刚写完
拿来分享一下 :-)
It all started after I chopped down the apple tree in the backyard. I just didn’t feel like it there, so I decided to chop it down. It wasn’t an easy task. My family, especially my mother-in-law, was quite against and angry about what I had done. It’s considered as bad luck to chop down a tree in traditional Chinese culture. I did know those conventions, but I thought there might be an exception. It seemed fine for a few months, and I felt good about the tree gone. But one day suddenly I had a miscarriage of my son. Was the bad luck coming to us? Were the Gods trying to punish me for my bad doings? I felt so sorry, for my son and my deed.
Not long after, my mother-in-law died of illness. I felt bad as it might be my fault, of the bad luck from chopping down the tree. During the memorial, I couldn’t attend all the services as I was sick after the miscarriage. But I had something to say to her, some confessions and farewells. So I quietly went into the living room, stood in front of her portrait and imitated her habit of pouring three cups of tea for spirits. In this way I felt a little relieved, and I hoped she can have a good after life.
My husband went back to China to bury his mother. One day after he had gone, two Canadians came to our house. I couldn’t speak English well so I let Karena handle it. They gave her a book. I never bothered reading those things, but Karena became drawn to it. I guess it was about Christianity and salvation. Anyway I didn’t understand it much. She took her little sister Eve to attend Sunday school together, but Eve didn’t seem to be engaged to it as much as Karena did. Eve accepted Jesus and Buddha at the same time, while Karena grew against Buddhism and once she even refused to burn sticks of incense to the family spirits. Anyway they are good children always, and I think two Gods are certainly better than one, so I encouraged them to learn about what they wanted to know. I put figurines of Buddha and Jesus Christ in the house, hoping to be protected by both.
Curiously our family seemed to get good luck afterwards. My husband won a prize in the lottery and got us a new car, the very expensive one. He had been buying lottery for ages but never won a thing. And he even got lucky in playing mahjong, which he was never good at. Surprised and curious, I felt happy about the luck the figurines had brought to us, and I have better faiths in accepting two religions in our family.
Believing is one thing, understanding is another. I still don’t quite know what these two religions about, and what their differences are. Once, my daughters dragged me to watch a movie about Christianity in the cinema. I would say Jesus and Buddha were somewhat alike, and they might even be good friends. But I know it should mean much more than this. Seeing that both of my little daughters learning and comprehending them, I became curious and even a little bit worried about why I had no comprehension. I heard that meditating might help, so I start doing it. It is difficult indeed, and I hope some expert can teach me how to do it.
