孝敬父母

　　Directions: Write an essay based on the following drawing. In your essay, you should:

　　1) describe the drawing briefly,

　　2) explain its intended meaning, and then

　　3) state your point of view.

　　參考范文：

　　This is quite an extraordinary and meaningful picture. The old grandma, when alive, was fed poorly with a bowl of rice for every meal. In contrast, after her death, there is a memorial tablet set up for her, in front of which is a table of delicacies as tributes. Apparently, the grandma’s children merely want to show off how well they treat their mother while they were actually ingrates.

　　Ridiculous as it is, the phenomenon is not rare in today’s society. For one thing, enormous economic development brings not only wealth, but also the public obsession for material possessions, individual gain and loss which undermines the once sacred bond between parents and children. For another, people seem to be fond of boasting off how they abide by traditions through holding grand funerals for their parents. As a matter of fact, some even compete about the extravagance of the event.

　　I contend that those who practice as the picture reveals miss the essence and deep values of our traditions. Filial piety should not be expressed via superficial “performance”, but via children’s genuine care and love for their parents. Thinking about how parents have taken care of us when we were babies in cradles, we should realize that they all need due attention when aging.

　　譯文：

　　這是一幅非常特別而且有意義的圖畫。一位老奶奶在生前吃得非常簡單，每頓飯只有一碗米飯。相反，在她過世后，后人為她立了一個(gè)牌位，前面放了一桌的山珍海味作為她的貢品。顯然她的孩子們只是想炫耀他們對待母親有多么好，實(shí)際上他們只是忘恩負(fù)義之輩。

　　盡管這種現(xiàn)象非�；奶疲�但是在我們的社會中卻并不少見。一方面，經(jīng)濟(jì)的巨大發(fā)展不僅帶來了更多的財(cái)富，而且也使人們熱衷于物質(zhì)收益和個(gè)人得失，這些都破壞了過去那種父母與兒女之間的神圣關(guān)系。另一方面，人們似乎非常喜歡通過為父母舉辦豪華的葬禮來顯示他們有多么遵守傳統(tǒng)。實(shí)際上，有一些人甚至攀比葬禮的奢華鋪張。

　　不過，我認(rèn)為圖中揭示的這種做法沒有抓住我們傳統(tǒng)文化的本質(zhì)和深層價(jià)值。孝順不應(yīng)該通過表面的“表演”來表現(xiàn)，而是應(yīng)該通過孩子們對父母真正的關(guān)愛來表達(dá)。想一想當(dāng)我們還是在搖籃中的嬰兒的時(shí)候父母曾給過我們怎樣的關(guān)愛，我們應(yīng)該意識到在他們老了以后也應(yīng)該得到該得的關(guān)心。

　　閃光詞匯及詞組:

　　memorial tablet: 牌位

　　delicacy: n. 山珍海味

　　tribute: n. 貢品

　　undermine: v. 破壞

　　sacredbond: 神圣的關(guān)系

　　show off, boast off: 炫耀，自夸

　　abide by: 遵守

　　grand: adj. 盛大的，豪華的

　　extravagance: n. 奢侈，鋪張

　　essence: n. 本質(zhì)

　　filial piety: n. 孝順，孝道

　　genuine: adj. 真實(shí)的，真正的，誠懇的

　　句型:

　　This is quite an extraordinary and meaningful picture.

　　Ridiculous as it is, the phenomenon is not rare in today’s society.