At the meeting yesterday our principal had told us that an inspection party would first come to our school at about 8:30 today. Under such circumstances, I should go to work early. But unluckily I had to be late for I must stew the carob picked last night before breakfast. I rode my old bike rushing to school without stopping on the whole journey. I arrived at school when the first period was over. The inspectors didn’t come until the third period .
I accumulated a trike load of the recyclable at school. Tomorrow’s weather can permit me carrying them back.

It’s unfavorable to sell the watermelons in such overcast and rainy
weather and futile to reduce the price.

天隂雨濕賣西瓜，時不利兮徒降價。No one gives a glance at the stall among
the passers-by. Only the hoarse advertising can be heard over the loudspeaker.

攤前過者無人顧，但聞喇叭近嘶啞。

Tomorrow is the beginning day of Winter Solstice, a day with the shortest period of daylight and the longest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This day comes on the twenty-first or either of the following two days of the twelfth month by the Chinese lunar calendar, when the sunlight shines straight down on the southernmost latitude it can reach directly, the Tropic of Capricorn. At this time the northern hemisphere only gets half the sunshine the southern hemisphere receives. The closer to the north, the shorter the daytime. The shadows cast by the sun turn the longest of the year.

As soon as I step
in the front gate, I hear wailing with grief because my youngest son has died
of starvation.

入門聞號啕，幼子飢已卒。How can I suppress
my sorrow any more when my neighbors are also sobbing with sadness?

吾寧舍一哀，里巷亦嗚咽。As a father, I feel
deeply ashamed at being unable to raise my children.

所愧為人父，無食致夭折。I wonder that the poor families
can hardly feed themselves in spite of the fair harvest this autumn. 豈知秋禾登，貧窭有倉卒。

In 2009, Huang Ling, an examinee from
Mianyang, was specially admitted to Sichuan University because he wrote his Chinese
composition with the style of calligraphy as that of oracle-bone inscriptions of
the Shang Dynasty. Up to now, no other person has ever tried to use that ancient
writing style in his college entrance examination. He got only 428 marks in
total, scoring 8 in the composition. The scores can make him enrolled in one of
the third-class colleges. But a palaeographer in Sichuan University took a
fancy to him for his talent. He applied to the school authority for Huang’s admission to his
instruction.

Du Fu had planned to go back to his
homeland Henan
from Shu after hearing that the government troops had recaptured the region. But
later he cancelled the trip and never returned to Luoyang until his death. Why? Because just
before he was leaving for his hometown, his patron General Yan died, who was
commissioner of Jiannan military prefecture. For Yan had recommended Du to the
imperial court as assistant to him when he was transferred to the prefecture
near the capital. Moreover Du couldn’t stay in Shu any longer for a military rebellion
broke out there just after Yan’s death. Now he reluctantly departed sailing down the Yangtze River with his family.

The moon tonight is comparable to that on Mid-autumn Festival night for brightness.
Knowing the minimum temperature will be -14 degrees centigrade, I added two more quilts to the coverings on the cabbages left outside.
The discipline at Grade Four has greatly improved owing to the efficient management of Ms F. In addition, to the satisfaction of all teachers concerned, one of the troublemakers of the class has transferred to another school recently. In the meantime, the discipline at Grade Five has deteriorated.
The blackboard at each classroom has been changed for one furnished with a large computer screen on which a teacher can write without need to use chalks.

A 50-year old single mother killed her 17-year old son. How could this tragic event have happened? The juvenile had ganged up with some tough boys, smoking, drinking, gambling and fighting. Without any intention to earn a shilling, he just kept squandering his mother’s savings, enjoying good food and wearing fashionable clothes. When his mother failed to hand enough money to him in time, he would smash the furniture to pieces, beat and scold his mother or set the bedding on fire. The pitiful mother lived in fear and trembling all day long. No longer able to contain herself, she stuck him on the head in his sleep and ended his life.

The hidden villages come into view again after
the harvest of the crops. All of a sudden the fields stretch far and wide without
obstructions.

谷刈村復現，境界忽超逺。

The gentle breeze didn’t feel any cold when
touching my face on this sunny day of late autumn.

暮秋艶陽天，微風不覺寒。

Rainy, first at school, later at home. The rain should have poured down in this season.
Mother urged me to send the trousers to brother, after shortening their legs as he had asked yesterday. Outside, the darkened menacing sky predicted the approaching of a shower and making the nightfall come in advance. Soon a heavy rain came down. I didn’t start off until some time after the end of the sharp shower. The lane behind brother’s house had turned into a stream which I have to wade across. As a result, both my shoes and socks had got wet through.