记得儿子Kindergarten学年结束的时候，背回来了大摞大摞的各种课堂练习。其中有一个几句话的小故事很有意思，题目叫The Bird Who Wanted to Fly。故事大意就是：“从前有一只鸟想学游泳。学游泳很难，他很努力地学，终于学会了。可是当他学会游泳的时候，他发现他不会飞了。The End。”学前班的小朋友，遣词造句都很简单幼稚，但是读到这篇小文的时候我确实感觉眼前一亮。过后想起来，儿子那段时间很喜欢成语。天天拉着我们比赛成语接龙，也听了不少成语故事。写那个故事之前应该是我们刚刚给他讲了邯郸学步。
呼得一晃，儿子就上了二年级了，还被老师选上，去参加学校PTA组织的Junior Great Books的活动。整个活动历时一个学年。每个参加的小孩发一本书。据说里面有很多精选的短篇故事。每个星期，参加的孩子要自己先读好指定的文章，然后大家讨论。
这个活动听起来好像很高大上的样子，我们大人跟着激动了半天。结果儿子去了几次，每次回来我都问不出个所以然。就知道是一个家长志愿者带领他们讨论。怎么讨论？反正就是讨论呗！再刨了半天根，我也就听到了老师（家长志愿者）说如果你要是事先忘了读，当周的活动就不用参加了。还有，该活动占用了每星期四早上的音乐课时间，儿子很不爽。。。总之，我理解，这个活动就跟学校组织的大多数活动一样，噱头有，实际就那么回事。我也就不上心了。书，儿子一直留在学校里。每个星期二、三我会说一句“别忘了读这周的故事啊”。里面具体有什么“经典”我也没有看过。
这样一直到了五月份。某天我照常提醒。结果小子说：“我们所有的读完了。后面要每人写一个故事。老师给打印成一本书。写什么都行，随便。”一听这个，我又兴奋了，跳起来打算给娃提建议。还没等我说话，儿子就说：“我知道写什么。你还记得我Kindergarten写那个The Bird Who Wanted to Swim吗？我就写那个。”
我一边提醒自己不要管的太多，一边提建议：还写那个故事当然可以。那个故事很有想法。但是你现在大了，不能那么简单的写。很多地方要be descriptive。小子听了，马上说：“我知道。比如说，instead of a bird, I'll write a brown bird。”
就这么就开始写了。写了好几天，改了好几次。我也帮着改了一下语法的小错误。就是下面这个故事了。我怎么觉得还没有当初那个三五句话的好？问儿子他要想表达什么，儿子说：不是所有的故事都需要moral。。。
Once upon a time, there was a bird named Joe. He was usually laughed by other birds because he wanted to learn swimming. Only his mother believed that he could swim.
She found a fish to teach him swimming and diving. First he learned how to dive. Diving was very easy for him because all he had to do was fly into the water.
But swimming was very difficult. His coach told him to come at 7AM every day and go home to eat lunch at 11AM. Then he wanted him to come back at 12:30PM. He only allowed Joe to leave at 7PM.
First Joe learned freestyle. It was hard at first but he got the hang of it. Next he learned backstroke. This was very hard for Joe. He practiced and practiced and finally learned backstroke.
He was a very good swimmer now. He wanted to swim ten miles. He swam one mile first. Then he swam two miles. Then five miles. Then finally ten miles!
After he mastered swimming, he heard that there’s was a swimming race for any kind of animal and the swimming race was going to be tomorrow. He immediately signed up.
There are four obstacles in the race. The first obstacle is a maze. The racers had to go through the maze in order to pass the first obstacle.
The second obstacle was a moving fire ring that was twelve feet wide and twelve feet tall. They had to go through the ring to pass the second obstacle.
The third was an iceberg that came from the South Pole. The last obstacle was an air tunnel that didn’t have water.
The next day, Joe woke up bright and early and went to the starting line of the race. There were jellyfish, pufferfish, a school of fish, a shark and a dolphin. They were all in tanks of water waiting to start.
When the whistle blew, all the animals (except Joe) jumped out of their tanks and leaped into the water. Joe flew into the water and the race started.
The first obstacle was in sight. The dolphin and the shark were first. Joe was second. They were getting closer to the maze. Joe was very excited because it was the first race he had ever been in. He was concentrating so hard on his swimming that he forgot to look for paths.
Whenever he saw a new passage, he went in it. In a minute, he was lost. He forgot where he came from and he didn’t know what to do. It was ten minutes before he thought of something, “Why don’t I fly over the walls and look for a path that leads to the end of the maze.”
At that point, Joe looked to see if anybody was watching and then he flew into the air. He saw a path that led to the end of the maze and then he flew down. He swam out of the maze.
The shark and the dolphin were a little ahead of him. He saw the school of fish right behind him. Last came the jellyfish. The pufferfish was nowhere to be seen.
Joe started swimming again. The fire ring was moving toward them. When the school of fish saw the fire ring, they all forfeited at the same time.
The dolphin, the shark and the jellyfish just went through the fire ring. Joe closed his eyes and flew through the fire ring. Now there was only the shark, the dolphin, Joe and the jellyfish.
The shark was first but he didn’t see the third obstacle coming: THE ICEBERG! The shark crashed into the iceberg and fainted. The dolphin and the jelly fish passed the iceberg in a second but Joe felt him getting weak from the cold. He tried to flap his wings but his wings were frozen. He tried one last time and managed to pass the iceberg.
The last obstacle was the air tunnel. The jellyfish, the dolphin and Joe all jumped into the tunnel. The dolphin leaped so far that he jumped out of the tunnel right away. The jellyfish wasn’t so lucky though. He got stuck in the tunnel and had to be rescued.
Joe just flew through the tunnel and kept on going. Joe was ahead of the dolphin but he realized he had a sprained leg! He used all his might and he WON!
He got a shiny cup that read: “Joe, The Winner of 2015’s Swimming Race!” Ten years later, Joe was the champion at almost all swimming competitions, but he forgot how to fly.
就这么就开始写了。写了好几天，改了好几次。我也帮着改了一下语法的小错误。就是下面这个故事了。我怎么觉得还没有当初那个三五句话的好？问儿子他要想表达什么，儿子说：不是所有的故事都需要moral。。。
Once upon a time, there was a bird named Joe. He was usually laughed by other birds because he wanted to learn swimming. Only his mother believed that he could swim.
She found a fish to teach him swimming and diving. First he learned how to dive. Diving was very easy for him because all he had to do was fly into the water.
But swimming was very difficult. His coach told him to come at 7AM every day and go home to eat lunch at 11AM. Then he wanted him to come back at 12:30PM. He only allowed Joe to leave at 7PM.
First Joe learned freestyle. It was hard at first but he got the hang of it. Next he learned backstroke. This was very hard for Joe. He practiced and practiced and finally learned backstroke.
He was a very good swimmer now. He wanted to swim ten miles. He swam one mile first. Then he swam two miles. Then five miles. Then finally ten miles!
After he mastered swimming, he heard that there’s was a swimming race for any kind of animal and the swimming race was going to be tomorrow. He immediately signed up.
There are four obstacles in the race. The first obstacle is a maze. The racers had to go through the maze in order to pass the first obstacle.
The second obstacle was a moving fire ring that was twelve feet wide and twelve feet tall. They had to go through the ring to pass the second obstacle.
The third was an iceberg that came from the South Pole. The last obstacle was an air tunnel that didn’t have water.
The next day, Joe woke up bright and early and went to the starting line of the race. There were jellyfish, pufferfish, a school of fish, a shark and a dolphin. They were all in tanks of water waiting to start.
When the whistle blew, all the animals (except Joe) jumped out of their tanks and leaped into the water. Joe flew into the water and the race started.
The first obstacle was in sight. The dolphin and the shark were first. Joe was second. They were getting closer to the maze. Joe was very excited because it was the first race he had ever been in. He was concentrating so hard on his swimming that he forgot to look for paths.
Whenever he saw a new passage, he went in it. In a minute, he was lost. He forgot where he came from and he didn’t know what to do. It was ten minutes before he thought of something, “Why don’t I fly over the walls and look for a path that leads to the end of the maze.”
At that point, Joe looked to see if anybody was watching and then he flew into the air. He saw a path that led to the end of the maze and then he flew down. He swam out of the maze.
The shark and the dolphin were a little ahead of him. He saw the school of fish right behind him. Last came the jellyfish. The pufferfish was nowhere to be seen.
Joe started swimming again. The fire ring was moving toward them. When the school of fish saw the fire ring, they all forfeited at the same time.
The dolphin, the shark and the jellyfish just went through the fire ring. Joe closed his eyes and flew through the fire ring. Now there was only the shark, the dolphin, Joe and the jellyfish.
The shark was first but he didn’t see the third obstacle coming: THE ICEBERG! The shark crashed into the iceberg and fainted. The dolphin and the jelly fish passed the iceberg in a second but Joe felt him getting weak from the cold. He tried to flap his wings but his wings were frozen. He tried one last time and managed to pass the iceberg.
The last obstacle was the air tunnel. The jellyfish, the dolphin and Joe all jumped into the tunnel. The dolphin leaped so far that he jumped out of the tunnel right away. The jellyfish wasn’t so lucky though. He got stuck in the tunnel and had to be rescued.
Joe just flew through the tunnel and kept on going. Joe was ahead of the dolphin but he realized he had a sprained leg! He used all his might and he WON!
He got a shiny cup that read: “Joe, The Winner of 2015’s Swimming Race!” Ten years later, Joe was the champion at almost all swimming competitions, but he forgot how to fly.
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