Entry1_Bùi Ngọc Bảo

Item 1 : The Mouse Trap (Short story)

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

(Source: http://www.thepathoftruth.com/teachings/sappystories/mousetrap.htm)

Message: The life always has many surprises. So when someone is facing a problem and we think it is not related to us, we may will be affected in some ways at the time. When someone calls on you for help, you might want to say yes next time!

Item 2 : Nowhere To Be Found (Poem)

I come to visit you

Amongst the tombstones and piles of dirt

To place some carnations and stones

Onto your new underground lair

To reminisce about the days that passed

And talk of days to come

I come to say hello

Come to say how much I miss you

How much I love you

My eyes scan for your name tag

But it is nowhere to be found

I wonder if you’ve been

Evicted from your new home

Or if I’ve simply come to the wrong address

Perhaps you’re still there in your old home

Lying beside your husband peacefully dreaming

Rhetorical devices: Repetition: “I come to”, “to”

Message: People whom we love can  leave us for the world beyond but theirthoughts are forever with us and they look over us until we meet again.

Item 3 : The Eagle and the Crow (Clip)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bym7tJBLJik

Message: We need to think carefully before doing anything. Don’t imitate others when we can not see the result of our action.Thoughtless imitation will probably lead to danger