Monday, October 21, 2024

　　Tuesday. October 22, 2024

　　Legend of Chang-Er, the Moon Goddess

　　The story begins around 2170 B.C. after the great flood in the Hsia dynasty. Yu, king of many kingdoms, was credited with stopping the flood, and with teaching farmers how to cultivate their fields, thus commencing a prosperous epoch.

　　At the same time in Heaven the Jade Emperor wished to help the farmers raise animals and cultivate their fields. He gave orders to his ten sons to become ten suns and travel across the sky one at a time, each taking one day. The ten young men disobeyed; all ten of them came out every day, and the heat from ten suns shining all at once made the earth intolerably hot. People and animals died of heat, rivers dried up, land became barren and forests scorched and burned.

　　The farmers prayed, giving sacrifices and burning incense to Heaven for deliverance. The Jade Emperor heard their prayers and saw the destruction caused by his sons. He sent Hou Yi, his bravest god, down to earth to solve the problem of the ten suns and end the catastrophe. Hou Yi was a good, courageous god with a beautiful wife, Chang Er. Deeply in love with each other, they were known as the Divine Couple. Chang Er didn't like the thought of going down to earth, but she was unwilling to be separated from her husband, so together they descended to earth and became mortals among the Eastern clans.

　　Hou Yi was a great archer and brought his magic bow from heaven with him. Knowing that Hou Yi came from heaven, the people of the clans proclaimed him to be their leader.

　　Seeing how much suffering and destruction were caused by the heat of the ten suns, Hou Yi climbed to the top of Tienshan mountain and began negotiating with the suns to have pity on the unfortunate people. He pleaded to the suns to take turns and make their journeys across the sky singly, one for each day, and explained the white blaze of ten suns is much too much for the land to bear. He also told them how much Heaven loves all living things.

　　But the ten audacious suns considered it dull and boring to go across the sky one at a time and that much more fun was to be had by coming out together, so they refused to listen. They increased their heat and caused even more suffering. This angered Hou Yi. He took out his magic bow and arrows and shot down nine of the suns; the last sun begged for his life and promised obedience at performing his task of separating night from day.

　　Finally the earth was at peace and people enjoyed their work and lives. However, when Hou Yi made his report to the Jade Emperor, he was furious at Hou Yi for killing his nine sons, and refused to let the Divine Couple return to Heaven.

　　As leader of the clans, there was much for Hou Yi to do on earth. He taught the people many ways to defend their land and themselves. He was so busy with his duties he became neglectful of his lovely and lonely wife. Chang Er was especially unhappy to be an earthly mortal with all of mortality's suffering, aging and death in particular. Also, she was angry at Hou Yi for shooting down the Jade Emperor's nine sons, and the couple became unhappy and estranged.

　　To avoid arguing with his wife, Hou Yi spent his time travelling about the land alone. He became familiar to its people, performing many good deeds wherever he travelled. He also killed a gigantic, 100,000-foot snake and a nine-headed monster that had caused much distress and thousands of lives. Many times he prayed to the Jade Emperor to let himself and his wife return to Heaven, but the Emperor refused his plead and so Hou Yi and Chang Er remained as mortals, suffering as ordinary human beings do.

　　In his travel he chanced to meet a beautiful mortal woman, Mi Fei. She was the wife of Feng Yee, the God of Water, who had a reputation as a womanizer and for ignoring his wife. Both lonelyd, Mi Fei and Hou Yi became friends and later lovers. In legend, such things never remain unpunished. When Feng Yee returned and discovered his wife's infidelity, he was furious and transformed himself into a white dragon, roaring and plunging in the water, destroying fields and killing many people. Hou Yi thought the dragon was an evil sea monster. He took up his bow and shot, blinding Feng Yee in one eye. Thereupon, the god of waters registered a complaint with the Jade Emperor. The Emperor considered all the good deeds that Hou Yi had done for the mortals, and since he was already under punishment, the Emperor merely ordered Hou Yi to go home to Chang Er and never see Mi Fei again.

　　Hou Yi had no choice but to return home. Chang Er was angry with him for his unfaithfulness and unhappiness came between the once "divine" couple. Hou Yi knew that he had wronged his wife and tried to soothe her, telling her that tears would make her age faster, as they were now mortals. Chang Er looked at her reflection in the water, for in those days there were no mirrors. She was terrified to see wrinkles appearing around her eyes, and demanded that Hou Yi find some way to restore her immortality.

　　Hou Yi was desolate and dared not stay at home, but he couldn't violate the Jade Emperorís order by going to Mi Fei. He became violent and drunk. In his drunkenness he treated the people cruelly. There were two men among the people who began to plot against him, Feng Meng and Han Cho. Both were opportunists. Han Cho told Hou Yi that the Royal Goddess resided on top of Kunlun Mountain and had a pill of immortality.

　　Hou Yi decided that for the saje of peace at home he would climb Kunlun Mountain and begg the Royal Goddess for the pill of immortality. The Goddess, taking pity on him, gave him her one remaining pill. She instructed Hou Yi that if one person took the pill he would ascend to Heaven, but if he cut the pill into two halves and shared it with another, they could live forever. The pill had to be taken on the 15th night of the eighth month when the moon was fullest. Hou Yi was very happy and thanked the Royal Goddess exuberantly and went home to Chang Er. They decided to divide the pill and take it at the proper time so that they could both attain immortality. Three days before the 15th day of the eighth month, Hou Yi heard of a medicinal solution called "jade elixir" that could be found on Tienshan mountain, an elixir that could could prevent women from aging and allow them to stay eternally beautiful. Hou Yi wished to please Chang Er and resume a happy life at home, so he decided that he could make the trip in three days to obtain this wonderful medicine and to surprise his wife. He left for Tienshan immediately.

　　On the 15th of the eighth month, Chang Er saw no sign of Hou Yi. She waited and later grew impatient, and sought out Feng Meng the schemer and asked where her husband was. Feng Meng lied and told Chang Er that Hou Yi had gone to see Mi Fei. Chang Er believed him and became furious at her unfaithful husband. As the moon rose Chang Er went into the garden, looking up to heaven and remembering the contentment in the life of immortality and the happiness of heaven, and then she thought of the sorrows of the earth. She was confused and filled with emotion. Thinking that Hou Yi had abandoned her, she swallowed the whole pill and at once she felt her body becoming lighter, rising upwards towards the sky. At this moment Hou Yi arrived back with the jade elixir and saw Chang Er ascending faster and faster.

　　The gods and goddesses in heaven despised Chang Er because she had abandoned her husband. Chang Er had to change her direction and head toward the cold palace in the moon. Hou Yi watched from the earth and took out his magic bow to shoot down the moon. He aimed but he could not bear to kill his wife. Frustrated and saddened, he destroyed his magical weapons and took to drink.

　　Hou Yi's enemy Feng Meng watch and waited until Hou Yi was senselessly drunk, then he attacked Hou Yi then and killed him. When Chang Er arrived at the cold palace in the moon and saw how her husband had been cruelly murdered she deeply mourned what she had done. She was cut off from the happy life in heaven and committed to eternity alone in the moon, becaming the moon goddess.

　　Each year on the 15th day of the eighth month, when the moon is at its fullest and brightest, people look at the moon and try to see in it the image of a beautiful maiden.

　　What you have learned from this reading:

　　Wednesday, October 23, 2024

　　The Old Woman in the Wood

　　A poor servant-girl was once travelling with the family with which she was in service, through a great forest, and when they were in the midst of it, robbers came out of the thicket, and murdered all they found.

　　All perished together except the girl, who had jumped out of the carriage in a fright, and hidden herself behind a tree.

　　When the robbers had gone away with their booty, she came out and beheld the great disaster.

　　Then she began to weep bitterly, and said, "What can

　　a poor girl like me do now?

　　I do not know how to get out of the forest, no human being lives in it, so I must certainly starve."

　　She walked about and looked for a road, but could find none.

　　When it was evening she seated herself under a tree, gave herself into God's keeping, and resolved to sit waiting there and not go away, let what might happen.

　　When, however, she had

　　sat there for a while, a white dove came flying to her with a little golden key in

　　its mouth.

　　It put the little key in her hand, and said, "Dost thou see that great tree, therein is a little lock, it opens with the tiny key, and there thou wilt find food enough, and suffer no more hunger."

　　Then she went to the tree and opened it, and found milk in a little dish, and white bread to break into it, so that she could eat her fill.

　　When she was satisfied, she said, "It is now the time when the hens at home go to roost, I am so tired I could go to bed too."

　　Then the dove flew to her again, and brought another golden key in its bill, and said, "Open that tree there, and thou willt find a bed."

　　So she opened it, and found a beautiful white bed, and she prayed God to protect her during the night, and lay down and slept.

　　In the morning the dove came for the third time, and again brought a little key, and said, "Open that tree there, and thou wilt find clothes."

　　And when she opened it, she found garments beset with gold and with jewels, more splendid than those of any king's daughter.

　　So she lived there for some time, and the dove came every day and provided her with all she needed, and it was a quiet good life.

　　Once, however, the dove came and said, "Wilt thou do something for my sake?"

　　"With all my heart," said the girl.

　　Then said the little dove, "I will guide thee to a small house; enter it, and inside it, an old woman will be sitting by the fire and will say, 'Good-day.'

　　But on thy life give her no answer, let her do what she will, but pass by her on the right side; further on, there is a door, which open, and thou wilt enter into a room where a quantity of rings of all kinds are lying, amongst which are some magnificent ones with shining stones; leave them, however, where they are, and seek out a plain one, which must likewise be amongst them, and bring it here to me as

　　quickly as thou canst."

　　The girl went to the little house, and came to the door.

　　There sat an old woman who stared when she saw her, and said, "Good-day my child."

　　The girl gave her no answer, and opened the door.

　　"Whither away," cried the old woman, and seized her by the gown, and wanted to hold her fast, saying, "That is my house; no one can go in there if I choose not to allow it." But the girl was silent, got away from her, and went straight into the room.

　　Now there lay on the table an enormous quantity of rings, which gleamed and glittered before her eyes.

　　She turned them over and looked for the plain one, but could not find it.

　　While she was seeking, she saw the old woman and how she was stealing away, and wanting to get off with a bird-cage which she had in her hand.

　　So she went after her and took the cage out of her hand, and when she raised it up and looked into it, a bird was inside which had the plain ring in its bill.

　　Then she took the ring, and ran quite joyously home with it, and thought the little white dove would come and get the ring, but it did not.

　　Then she leant against a tree and determined to wait for the dove, and, as she thus stood, it seemed just as if the tree was soft and pliant,and was letting its branches down.

　　And suddenly the branches twined around her, and were two arms, and when she looked round, the tree was a handsome man, who embraced and kissed her heartily, and said, "Thou hast delivered me from the power of the old woman, who is a wicked witch.

　　She had changed me into a tree, and every day for two hours I was a white dove, and so long as she possessed the ring I could not regain my human form."

　　Then his servants and his horses,

　　who had likewise been changed into trees, were freed from the enchantment also, and stood beside him.

　　And he led them forth to his kingdom, for he was a King's son, and they married, and lived happily.

　　What you have learned from this reading:

　　Thursday, October 24, 2024

　　This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

　　Much of Pakistan faces more storms in the coming days. Heavy rains have already caused more than two weeks of record flooding. Health officials worry about disease spreading because of a lack of clean drinking water.

　　The United Nations wants four hundred sixty million dollars to provide immediate help to fourteen million people affected by the flooding. The appeal this week came as estimates put the number of dead at about one thousand six hundred.

　　The Pakistani ambassador to the U.N. says the floods could limit his country's economic growth this year. The cotton industry has been especially hard hit.

　　Pakistan has cancelled official Independence Day celebrations that were set for Saturday.

　　The United States military has been helping rescue people and transport emergency supplies by helicopter.

　　The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry, is expected to visit Pakistan next week. He helped push for a big program of civilian aid that Congress approved last year for Pakistan.

　　Separately, Russian officials are reporting progress against wildfires that have blackened parts of the country and polluted the air. Russia has requested technical assistance. President Obama called President Dmitri Medvedev on Thursday to tell him that American firefighting equipment is on the way.

　　The fires are not the only problem. President Medvedev says Russia has lost about one-fourth of its grain crops this year to heat and dry weather. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has banned grain exports until the end of the year.

　　Russia is a major wheat exporter. But crops have been hit hard by the record heat this summer. During the past week, bread prices in Russia have jumped by twenty percent. But skies cleared over Moscow after days of heavy pollution, and there were cooling rains. The city set a new record for itself when temperatures reached thirty-nine degrees Celsius on July thirtieth.

　　American scientists reported Friday that this July was the second warmest worldwide in records dating back to eighteen eighty. The government report said the average temperature for January through July was the warmest on record.

　　In China, heavy rains on Friday interfered with efforts to reach people trapped by new flooding and landslides in the northwest. Weeks of flooding have killed at least two thousand people across China.

　　What you have learned from this reading:

　　Friday, October 24, 2024

　　Aries Forget about someone killing you softly. This man had better be ready to take you, caveman-style.An Aries animus reeks of raw, heroic power – the kind of man who will barge in, seize the moment and save his damsel from distress, all while leaping tall buildings in a single bound。

　　白羊座——白羊座女性對那些溫柔的男人沒有興趣，而大男人往往更能捕獲她的芳心。她的男性意向具有勇猛的、英雄般的能力——那類男人會突然出現，輕輕一跳便能越過高樓，同時抓住機會將他的姑娘從危難中解救出來。Taurus This man had better understand all the nooks and crannies involved Your Inner Masculine Side in sensual pleasure when it comes to magnetizing a Taurus woman. Her inner male counterpart wrote the book on celebrating the body beautiful. With a voice like velvet and a Rock-of- Gibraltar personality,nothing short of the perfect gentle beast will do for this stubborn beauty。