Friday, August 31, 2012

The old lady from the new territories



The old lady from the new territories
(Favourite story from Chinese)

There was an old lady called Mrs. Wong who lived in the New Territories. She had two sons. The elder son worked in a laundry in Kowloon. The younger son sold umbrellas in a shop in Hong Kong. Whenever it rained, she worried about her elder son. “Oh!  He will lose his business if it rains,” she said. “how can he dry his clothes?” when there was no rain, she worried about her younger son. “Who will buy his umbrellas? How will he earn enough money to live?” it did not matter whether the weather was good or bad., she was never happy. After some time, she became ill. She could neither eat nor drink.
A young boy named Ah Foo lived next door to Mrs. Wong. He always used to play in front of her house. One morning, the old lady said to him, “It’s such a fine day, but there’s no rain. Who will buy my younger son’s umbrellas?” Ah Foo looked at her but did not say anything. In the afternoon, it poured with rain. The old lady looked up at the sky.
“How will my elder son dry his clothes?” she asked.
“Mrs. Wong,” Ah Foo replied, “Please don’t worry so much, if it rains, your younger son will be able to sell his umbrellas. When the rain stops, your elder son will be able to dry his clothes.”
Mrs. Wong was silent for a while. She then smiled.
“You are right,” she said. “There is a good and bad side to everything but we must always look on the bright side”

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Duck Hunting

Duck Hunting
 
He and a friend go duck hunting in winter, and of course all the lakes are frozen. These two guys go out on the lake with their guns, a dog, and of course the new vehicle. They drive out onto the lake ice and get ready. Now, they want to make some kind of a natural landing area for the ducks, something for the decoys to float on.
In order to make a hole large enough to look like something a wandering duck would fly down and land on, it's going to take a little more effort than an ice hole drill. So, out of the back of the nw Navigator truck comes a stick of dynamite with a short, 40-second fuse.
Now, these two Rocket Scientists do take into consideration that they want to place the stick of dynamite on the ice at a location far from where they are standing (and from the new Navigator truck), and they don't want to take the risk of slipping on the ice when they run from the lit dynamite fuse and possibly go up in smoke with the resulting blast. They light the 40-second fuse and throw the dynamite as far away as they can.
Remember a couple of sentences back when I mentioned the vehicle, the guns, and the dog??
Let's talk about the dog: it's a highly trained Labrador used for RETRIEVING. Especially well trained at retrieving things thrown by the owner. You guessed it, the dog takes off at a high rate of doggy speed on the ice and captures the stick of dynamite with the burning 40-second fuse about the time it hits the ice. The two men yell, scream, wave their arms and wonder what to do now. The dog, cheered on, keeps coming.
One of the guys grabs the shotgun and shoots the dog. The shotgun is loaded with #8 birdshot, hardly big enough to stop a Lab. The dog stops for a moment, slightly confused, but continues on. Another shot and this time the dog, still standing, becomes really confused and of course terrified, thinking these two geniuses have gone insane. The dog takes off to find cover, under the brand new Navigator truck..
The men continue to yell as they run away. The exhaust pipe on the truck is still hot, so the dog yelps and drops the dynamite under the truck, and takes off after his master.
Then --BOOM-- the truck is blown to bits and sinks to the bottom of the lake in a very large hole, leaving the two idiots standing there with this "I can't believe this happened"look on their faces.
The insurance company says that sinking a vehicle in a lake by illegal use of explosives is NOT COVERED. He still had yet to make the first of those $560.00 a month payments!!!
And you thought your day was not going well.
(Thanks Robert)

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The town called boring (Part II)

The town called boring (Part II)

The parents did not know that the shopkeeper also secretly sold infra-red detectors that could catch any secret message on any surface. The children ended up getting caught by teachers and so the parents were forced to return to The Marks Bazaar to buy better 'secret messengers', as they were called.
Grandma was shocked to see all this. "I must do something so that the people of Boring learn to be happy," she thought to herself. It was time to use her secret weapon!
This secret weapon had changed Grandma's life in childhood. As a young girl she always complained about everything and anything. She thought her parents would give her more things to try and make her happy. Then one day Grandma's cousin sister Haasya decided to change things. She came up from behind and tickled Grandma hard. Without her knowing it Grandma squealed and giggled. "Ah, so you can giggle like other children," said her cousin. When Grandma laughed she felt very happy. Grandma's parents named Haasya the 'Goddess of Laughter".
Haasya was such an expert at tickling that people could not but laugh. She knew more jokes than there were stars in the sky. Good jokes, funny jokes, that made people laugh with each other. Once they laughed together they felt warm towards each other. They made friends for life.
Once Grandma laughed the whole day -- so much so that her dentures fell out! But she made the people of her neighbourhood laugh with her. Since then there had been very few fights in that area.
Grandma had never forgotten Haasya's words. "You can have power over all the world's laughter. But that power willwork only if you wish to do something to make people come close to each other." That day Grandma learnt that laughter was the most powerful weapon in the world, though very few people understood its strength.
"I need to use the secret weapon for my granddaughter Ekta as well as for the people of Boring," Grandma told herself.
Next morning as Ekta got ready for school, Grandma played a clever trick on her. "Ekta, there is something under your chin, let me rub it off. As Ekta stood obediently, Grandma came up to her and tickled her hard. Something happened. It was like an electric shock. "Aiyeeee, Ekta squealed and then a laugh escaped her lips."
"What did I do just now," Ekta asked her grandmother in surprise. "This," said Grandma and tickled her again, making Ekta laugh some more. Her head had never felt so light before. From the window Ekta saw her puppy bark angrily at two crows making a big racket perched on the neem tree. She laughed.
Grandma took her to the garden. "How come I have never seen these blusing pink roses and the many greens of grass and leaves before," Ekta wondered. That day she went to school with the plan Grandma had told her."You just have to tickle one girl. The tickle travels by touch from person to person."
By afternoon, all the children in school were giggling. Each time they uttered the word m-a-r-k-s, they giggled! Each time they spoke of 'secret messengers', they went into whoops of laughter. And when somebody spoke of the teacher's treasure chest of marks, they toppled over asking each other: how could anyone store marks?
And then something wonderful happened. The same children who could never get a sum right did not do anything wrong that day. Asked to add two and two, they went out to the garden, touched two roses and two champa flowers and said there were four flowers! They said it with a giggle!
Even the teachers started smiling. It happened when one teacher tried to cane a student. He thought the student had cheated to get the right answer. As he held out the infrared detector menacingly over the student's knee, the student said, "Sir, there is a speck of dust on your trouser. Please let me remove it." Saying this he tickled the teacher on the back of his knee. The teacher started smiling and broke the cane.
The tickle revolution continued. By evening the parents had started smiling, laughing and guffawing. Next morning, the local radio station broadcast an interesting bit of news about some strange sounds having invaded the town! Nobody knew what the announcer said next, for he too started giggling! The tickle must have got to him too.
Grandma was satisfied. Her work was done. She returned home. Since then, wherever children have laughed and played with each other, those villages, towns and cities have never seen any misfortune...
Sumber Pitara.com

The town called boring (Part I)

The town called boring story

Once upon a time in India,there was a town called Boring. It was by the side of Dull Lake. The people of Boring never smiled; they did not know how to -- Whether it was grownups or children.
All the children ever did was study. They studied in school all day. On returning home they got busy with homework and with revision for class tests in school. No one played any games -- there were no playgrounds in the town.
It was a strange town. The children were never happy to meet each other. Sometimes they would try to avoid each other's eyes. Or they would try to pretend that they had not studied much for tests. That was not all. They also lied to each other about which chapters were important for the coming test. All that the children wanted was marks, marks and more marks.
What a town Boring was! No one knew how to smile let alone giggle or laugh or crack a joke. Life was really dull and boring.
One day the town had a visitor. Ekta's grandmother had come visiting. It was her first time in Boring. She had silvery hair and a smile that stretched from ear to ear. Even her eyes smiled. The people of Boring found her very odd.
At the end of her first day in Boring Grandma understood that something was terribly wrong with the townspeople -- even her own family. When she smiled and nodded, people moved away with alarm. When Grandma told Ekta with a smile that she had made mouthwatering gajar ka halwa for her granddaughter, what did Ekta do? She said: "The history teacher cut three marks in the test. God knows how many marks she has cut over the years. By now she must have a treasure chest full of marks. I wonder what she will do with all those marks? Maybe I should steal her trunk some day. I will be a very rich girl indeed". She did not touch the gajar ka halwa.
Grandma was amazed. How could anyone talk about marks all the time? But she heard this nonsense day after day not only from Ekta but from every other boy and girl -- and as if that was not bad enough,from the parents as well!
If anything the parents were worse.They were always pushing their children to get more marks so that they could get ahead of others. Just as people go to temples to pray, the parents of Boring went to a shop called The Marks Bazaar. The shop sold a special type of pen with which one could write secret messages. The parents would buy these pens for their children who would then scribble answers on their thighs, ankles and elbows during exams. It was called preparation for exams.
To be continued .........
Sumber Pitara.com

Cerpen Bahasa Inggris



A light for a lamp
(Favourite story from Chinese)

A long, long time ago, a kind old woman lived next door to a young woman. The young woman had a very fierce mother-in-law. One day, the mother-in-law chased the young woman from the house. She said she had stolen some food. The young woman went to see the old woman living next door.
“Don’t be unhappy!” the old woman said. “You can stay with me. I will think of a way to make your mother-in-law ask you to return.”
A few evening afterwards, she called at the mother-in-law’s house. She carried a lamp in her hand.
“Ah!” she cried. “My dogs have stolen some food. Can you please give me a light for my lamp! I want to go and look for them. When I find them, I shall give them a good beating. They have given me a lot of trouble.”
Afterwards, the mother-in-law thought about what she had said. “Perhaps my daughter-in-law did not steal the food,” she said. “Anyway, she really does not look like a thief”
She decided to ask her to return home.
Several days later, the young woman met the old woman again. She thanked her for her help. “It is nothing,” the old woman replied. “But now you will understand that-it is not always easy to make people believe the truth.”

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Farmer, his buffalo and tiger story



The water buffalo and the tiger
(Favourite stories from Chinese)

A farmer was ploughing his fields. “Why are you so lazy?” he asked his water-buffalo pulling the plough. “You are very slow and you have no strength. Look how quick and strong the tiger is! If only you could be like that.”
“Do you really think the tiger is stronger than I? take me to one now and I shall show you,” replied the water-buffalo. He was angry that his master thought he was lazy.
A few days afterwards, the farmer took him to meet a tiger. The tiger roared when he saw the buffalo coming. “What a nice meal!” he thought.
“Mr. tiger,” said the water-buffalo, “Let us see who is stronger. You can bite me three times if you will allow me to butt you three times.”
The tiger agreed. While the tiger sharpener his teeth, the water-buffalo sharpened his horns. The water-buffalo then rolled in the mud and covered himself with leaves. The tiger could not understand why. He asked the water-buffalo but the water-buffalo did not answer him.
“Come, Mr. tiger,’ the water-buffalo said, “You can bite me first.” The tiger bit him three times but he could not bite through the mud and leaves. The water-buffalo then butted the tiger. With the first butt, he tossed the tiger over his shoulder. With the second butt, he killed him.
After that the farmer treated the buffalo very well. He did not dare call him lazy and useless again.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Dongeng pendek bahasa inggris



The woodcutter and the fox
(Favourite stories from Chinese)

A pack of dogs chased a fox up a hill. It rain into a woodcutter’s hut.
“Help! Help!” the fox cried out. “Mr. Woodcutter, please let me hide in your hut. I’m afraid the dogs will catch me and eat me up,” he bowed deeply to the woodcutter.
“All right,” the woodcutter replied. “You can hide in the small room at the back of my hut. But be quick!” the woodcutter opened the door of the room and the fox hid himself inside.
A short while afterwards, a hunter arrived carrying a gun. He was followed by the pack of dogs.
“Ah, Mr. Woodcutter,” the hunter said, “we are looking for a fox. We chased it up the hill but it has now disappeared. Have you seen it?”
“No,” answered the woodcutter. But at the same time, he pointed towards the small room the back of the hut.
Fortunately, the hunter did not understand what he meant.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Woodcutter,” he said. “We shall have to look elsewhere.”
As soon as the hunter and his dogs had left, the fox came out of the room. He walked out of the front door without saying a word.
“Where are you going?” the woodcutter called out. “You’re a fine fellow! I saved your life and you don’t even stop to thank me.”
“Your words sound fine,” the fox said. “but your heart is evil. You say you want to help me, but you really want to harm me. How can I feel grateful to you?”

Friday, August 10, 2012

Cerita singkat bahasa inggris


Salam Super Narrative Text....
Cerita singkat bahasa inggris (Narrative text) memiliki banyak pesan-pesan moral yang bisa jadi pelajaran dalam hidup kita. Meski cerita singkat bahasa inggris ini hanyalah fiktif , bisa saja memberikan motivasi tersendiri.
Memilih orang dalam menjalankan tugas penting harus selektif, karena bisa jadi orang itu sendiri yang akan mengacaukan tugas tersebut. Cerita singkat bahasa inggris berikut seperti judul lagu "Pagar Makan Tanaman"  penasaran........ langsung saja ke cerita singkat bahasa inggris berikut.
Two bottles of water
(Favourite stories from Chinese)

There was an old school teacher who liked to drink wine. He always kept several bottles of good wine in his mouth. As he had to go out one day, he was worried that his servant would drink his wine. Then he thought of a way to stop him from doing so.
“I am going out for the day,” he told his servant. “Please look after the house for me. There is some ham and two bottles of water in the cupboard. There is also a chicken in the kitchen.
cerita singkat bahasa inggris - two bottles of water
But as soon as he left, his servant killed the chicken and cooked it for dinner. He then ate both the chicken and the ham and drank the two bottles of wine. He felt sleepy and went to bed.
The school teacher returned home later that evening. He was surprised to find that the chicken, ham and two bottles of wine had disappeared. He then saw his servant lying asleep in bed. There were two empty bottles by his side. He shook him by the shoulder.
“What has happened?” he asked.
“I am very sorry,” his servant replied. “As soon as you left, a cat jumped in through the window and ate the ham. A dog then chased and caught the chicken. I knew you would be very angry with me when you returned, so I tried to kill myself by drinking the poison. Please excuse me.”
The old school teacher did not believe him but there was nothing he could do.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Aioga (Amur)

Aioga (Amur)
(Favourite Stories From Central Asia)

Everybody agreed that Aioga was a very beautiful girl. In fact, the villagers told her that she was the most beautiful girl in their village. This made Aioga vain. She became proud of her beauty and each day looked at herself in the mirror. She liked  her looks so much that daily she went to look at herself in the stream that ran past her house.
One day, her mother asked her to wash the dishes. Aioga spent so much time admiring her reflection in the dishes that her mother was annoyed, “Aioga, you’re becoming too vain and lazy. You do nothing but admire yourself each day. This has got to stop. Even our neighbours are complaining. They say that you’ve become proud and won’t even talk to their daughters. You make me so ashamed.”
Aioga sulked and refused to do any more work. She thought her mother was treating her badly. She became even lazier. Each day, she lay in bed until the sun was high in the sky. Her mother did not know what to do with her.
“Aioga, please go to the stream and fetch some water. I want to bake some cakes for tea,” said her mother.
“but I may fall into the water,” said Aioga.
Her mother sighed. She was slowly losing patience with her daughter. “Hold on to a bush and you won’t fall in.”
“But the bush may fall into the stream,” complained her daughter.
“But all the bushes by the stream have thorns and I may scratch my pretty hands,” said the girl.
Her mother grew steadily more impatient. “Aioga, put on your mittens. They’ll not only keep you warm but will also stop you from getting scratched,” Aioga then complained that her mittens were torn. Her mother then handed her a needle and thread.
“What if the needle breaks?” asked the girl. Aioga did not sew her mittens but instead spent the time looking at herself in the mirror.
Her mother was very angry with her, and when her husband returned from work, she spoke to him about their daughter . he was angry too, when he heard what his wife had told him, so he sent for Aioga. “Aioga, go this minute and get a really thick needle from the workbasket and mend your mittens,” he said.
“But, Papa, what if the needle pricks my finger?”
“You can use a thimble is pierced I’ll hurt my finger,” said the girl.
Aioga’s younger sister, who was good and sweet-natured, came into the room. Cheerfully, she offered  to fetch the water. She ran to the stream, filled the bucket and then helped her mother bake some cakes. When Aioga saw the lovely golden cakes, her mouth began to water. They looked delicious.
“Mother, give me some cakes,” she said.
“They’re hot and you’ll burn your fingers,” said her mother.
“I’ll put on my mittens.”
“But your mittens are torn. Besides, they’re damp as you did not dry them out yesterday after playing in the snow,” said her mother.
“I’ll dry them now before the fire,” said the girl.
“No, drying them out too quickly will make them stiff. And you won’t be able to hold the cakes,” said her mother.
Aioga was hungry and the cakes smelled so delicious. “I’ll soften them with some wax,” she said.
“But your hands will get dirty. Why should you work and spoil your looks? It would be better if I gave the cake to your sister who doesn’t mind using her hands.” Said Aioga’s mother.
When she saw her mother give her sister the cake, Aioga ran out of the house to the stream. She was very angry as she thought that her mother was very unfair. She saw her sister enjoying the cake and turned to stare angrily at her. “Aioga, please don’t be angry. I’ll share my cake with you,” she said. Her sister was only trying to be kind but Aioga was proud. How could she, the village beauty, accept a half-eaten cake! She turned round and slapped her sister hard.
“Go away, I don’t want anything from you. Just leave me alone,” Aioga began to hit her sister again. Suddenly, she lost her balance and fell into the stream. The Goddess of the Stream who had seen Aioga treat her sister badly, changed her into a goose, all day long Aioga, the goose, swam around in the stream. “Ga! Ga! What a beauty I am.” She said, looking at herself in the stream.
As time went ny she forgot how to speak. All she remembered was her name, and whenever she saw anyone, she would say, “Ai-oga! Ai-oga!” so that all would would remember the village beauty who turned into a goose.
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