Nonagenarian volunteers to help younger seniors 九十多歲阿嬤志工 服務年輕老人

TODAY’S WORDS 今日單字

1. enthusiastic adj. 熱情的；熱烈的

例: Investors are enthusiastic about the new free trade agreement.

(投資家熱烈期待新的自由貿易協定。)

2. optimistic adj.樂觀的 

例: We are optimistic about the future. (我們對未來樂觀。)

3. depressed adj.沮喪的；憂鬱的 

例: Since Helen’s cat died, she just lies in bed all day. I think she’s depressed.

(海倫的貓死了之後，她每天躺在床上都不起來。我覺得她很憂鬱。)

At the ripe old age of 91, Ho Chao-chih is one of the most enthusiastic volunteers serving at the local care center in Liouying District’s Bawong Village in Greater Tainan. She cheerfully wields a hoe to plant fruits and vegetables, which are administered to the needy. “She’s the oldest grandmother [here], and all of the people she helps are younger than her, but she’s more serious about her work than anyone.”台南市柳營區的八翁社區關懷據點志工何招治雖已九十一歲，仍積極投入志工服務，還拿著鋤頭栽種蔬果分送其他老人，樂在其中。「阿嬤的年紀最大，服務對象都比她小，但她當志工比誰都認真！」

Last week the Tainan City Government organized an educational training course about volunteering in Hsiaying District, inviting experts to talk about skills used when serving as a volunteer. Many volunteers from care centers in Siaying, Liouchia and Liouying registered and attended the event. Attracting the most attention, however, was “elder volunteer” Ho. 台南市政府上週在下營舉辦志工教育基礎訓練課程，請學者專家傳授志工服務技巧，不少下營、六甲、柳營等區的社區關懷志工報名參加，其中最受矚目的，就是「老志工」何招治。 八翁社區發展協會總幹事彭月葉表示，社區關懷據點在十二年前成立時，熱心助人的何阿嬤就擔任志工，幫人量血壓，並身兼環保志工，幫忙打掃社區環境；逢年過節也和大家一起做菜包和碗粿，再分送獨居老人和關懷對象。

Bawong Community Development Association president Peng Yue-yeh says that when the village’s care center was first established 12 years ago, the altruistic Ho began serving as a volunteer right away, helping people check their blood pressure and keeping the environment clean around the community. During the Lunar New Year and other festivals, she joins everyone in making vegetable steamed buns and bowled rice cakes, delivering them to seniors who live alone or people in need.
Ho says that staying optimistic naturally keeps you in good health. Her children have invited her to live with them, but she cannot bear to be separated from her neighbors of many years, so she still lives alone. No one has to worry about her and she even has enough energy to serve as a volunteer. She often jests, “Farming is an exercise for the others but for me it is labor,” but everyone knows that she actually enjoys doing it. 何阿嬤強調：「心情開朗，身體自然就會好。」子女邀她同住，但她捨不得老鄰居，迄今仍自己住，完全不用人操心，還有餘力做志工。她目前仍拿著鋤頭耕種二分地，種了不少蔬果，除了給自己和家人吃，還送給附近的老人。「別人種田是運動，我種田是勞動啦！」她常這樣調侃自己，周遭的人都知道其實她樂在其中。

Ho is always happy to help others. One time when all of her old neighbor’s children had passed away and the neighbor was depressed and stayed at home all day, Ho noticed this and would come up with any reason she could think of to visit the neighbor every day to lift her spirits. Ho spent a lot of energy taking her to participate in community activities or to chat with people at the care centers until finally the neighbor came out of her depression and made a social comeback. 樂於助人的她，先前看到一位老鄰居因為子女過世而陷入憂鬱，整天關在家裡。為免對方想不開，何阿嬤每天都找盡理由，強拉對方參加社區活動，或到關懷據點和大家聊天，費了不少心力，終於把老鄰居拉進人群，且慢慢變開朗。

(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat) （自由時報記者黃博郎）

Centenarian woman recites ancient Chinese poems in Hoklo 一百多歲人瑞 台語背古詩不跳針

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. well-versed adj. 熟知的；通曉的 例: 
I’m not well-versed in legal ethics. (我並不熟知法律倫理。)

2. in the blink of an eye idiom 頃刻間；轉瞬間 

例: In the blink of an eye our daughter has grown up and is going off to college. (吾家有女初長成，轉眼間就要念大學了。)

3. humble v. 使地位降低；使威信掃地 

例: She was humbled after failing to win the competition. (競賽失利使她丟臉。)

At 103 Lee Liu Su is still bright-eyed and perky-eared, and many professors and university students concede inferiority as verses of antiquity flow from her lips. Lee garnered immense admiration from her audience when she recited, without the slightest bit of hesitation, Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s “Swallow song for Liu the elder” in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) at the Dounan Township Office’s auditorium on Aug. 3.

Lee was born in 1911 in Gukeng Township’s present-day Yongguang Village — formerly called Kantoucuo Village. She belonged to Yong Guang Elementary School’s sixth graduating class, which at the time was also called Kantoucuo Elementary School. Although able to speak fluent Japanese after graduating, having attended elementary school during Japanese colonial rule, Lee could still only read a limited number of Chinese characters. At the age of 17, she was married off to Dounan Township, where her father-in-law Lee Yun-tsong taught her to read Chinese characters.

Lee Shao-chu, Lee’s daughter, says that her grandfather appreciated literature and was well-versed in poetry. Lee first fell in love with poetry on her third day of marriage, when her father-in-law began teaching her Chinese characters, poetry from the Tang Dynasty and ancient verses. It seems like 80-odd years have passed in the blink of an eye. Lee read books and recited poems every day until she turned 100 and her eyesight began rapidly deteriorating. After many admonishments from her family, Lee gradually decreased the time she spent reading.

Lee demurely says that since she is getting on in years, she often remembers the title of a poem but forgets the first line when trying to recite it, so she either has to take a moment or ask someone standing next to her to remind her. Because she studied with her father-in-law for five years when she was young, she managed to memorize all 300 of the classic Tang poems in Taiwanese so well that she could actually recite them backwards and forwards.

Lee was voted model senior this year. At the commendation ceremony on Sunday last week, many present were humbled when Lee signed her name so carefully and neatly. Guests at the event requested that she recite Bai’s “Swallow song for Liu the elder.” This time she did not require any cues from anyone, and reeled off all 150 words of the poem at one go without any pause or stutter. Lee was on a roll and also fluently recited all 70 words from Li Bai’s “Drinking alone under the moonlight.” Everyone applauded and sang her praises.

(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)

一○三歲人瑞李劉肅耳聰目明，古詩朗朗上口，讓許多老師、大學生自嘆弗如；她八月三日在斗南鎮公所禮堂以台語背誦唐朝詩人白居易的「燕詩示劉叟」，一氣呵成令人讚嘆。

一九一一年出生的李劉肅為古坑崁頭厝人，是永光國小前身崁頭厝公學校第六屆畢業生，因當年是日治時期唸小學，畢業後雖然日語流利，但漢字認識不多，十七歲嫁至斗南後，才跟著公公李雲從學漢字。

李劉肅的女兒李韶珠說，爺爺喜歡文學，對詩詞很有研究，媽媽結婚第三天，就跟著爺爺學識字、讀唐詩及古詩，就此愛上詩詞，八十幾年如一日，每天都會讀書、吟詩，直到一百歲後因視力退化嚴重，在家人苦勸下，才減少讀書時間。

李劉肅則謙虛的說，現在年紀大了，雖記得詩名，但要背誦詩詞，卻常想不起第一句，常需要想一下或旁人提示；年輕時因為跟著公公讀了五年書，唐詩三百首以台語背誦，還真倒背如流。

李劉肅今年當選模範老人，上週日出席表揚活動時，自己拿筆簽名，字跡工整許多人都自嘆不如。在來賓要求下，她當場背誦「燕詩示劉叟」，這回不需任何提示，一百五十字的古詩一氣呵成，都沒有「跳針」，心花一開，她又吟唱李白的「月下獨酌」，七十字一樣很流暢，大家拍手叫好。

（自由時報記者黃淑莉）