Jonas felt himself loosing consciousness and with his whole being willed himself to stay upright atop the sled, clutching Gabriel, keeping him safe. The runners sliced through the snow and the wind whipped at his face as they sped in a straight line through an incision that seemed to lead to the final destination, the place that he had always felt was waiting, the Elsewhere that held their future and their past. He forced his eyes open as they went downward, downwards, sliding, and all at once he could see lights, and he recognized them now. He knew they were shining through the windows of rooms, that they were the red, blue, and yellow lights that twinkled from trees in places where families created and kept memories, where they celebrated love. Downward, downward, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard prople singing. Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.
儿子学校老师为了提高孩子们的阅读，每天给他们读一章节的书，然后让孩子们回家读给父母。最近读的是The Giver（https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giver），是加拿大小学课堂阅读清单里的名著。讲某个世界里一封闭社区的孩子Jonas快乐地长到学习毕业后，同学们被分配的各式各样的工作。而他被被推举为Receiver，就是从唯一的长者Giver那里继承“智慧、记忆和知识”，以备在Giver死后为社区保留这些智慧。Jonas第一次知道了世界是彩色的，人受了伤是会痛的，战争是恐怖的。而社区里其他人是没有这些感觉和记忆的，大家只是做着自己被分配的工作，有的种地、有的做工、有的负责生孩子、有的做护士。每个家庭的孩子都是社区分配给的、没有缺陷的孩子。Jonas在看到了作为医护的爸爸杀掉了一个不够好的婴儿以后，觉得自己再不想回到这个家了。他家也有一个小婴儿，因为不够健康明天将要被“放出去”，Jonas知道那就是处死，于是他连夜带着小婴儿逃跑了。跑了好多天以后，终于又冻又饿死在了雪地里。
书到这儿就结束了，我强忍着破口大骂的冲动，问儿子：老师读完后跟你们说什么了么？儿子说没有，大家都难受的要哭了。我又问然后呢就没有然后了么？儿子说我站起来问了个问题：如果Jonas拥有了那么多的智慧，怎么没有野外生存的智慧呢？可老师没有回答我。
我差点笑出来，心说隔着这么远的时空我现在依然能听到你们老师咬着牙发出的怒吼：小明，滚~ 出~ 去~ ！
这孩子太像他老子了!
Jonas felt himself loosing consciousness and with his whole being willed himself to stay upright atop the sled, clutching Gabriel, keeping him safe. The runners sliced through the snow and the wind whipped at his face as they sped in a straight line through an incision that seemed to lead to the final destination, the place that he had always felt was waiting, the Elsewhere that held their future and their past.
He forced his eyes open as they went downward, downwards, sliding, and all at once he could see lights, and he recognized them now. He knew they were shining through the windows of rooms, that they were the red, blue, and yellow lights that twinkled from trees in places where families created and kept memories, where they celebrated love.
Downward, downward, faster and faster. Suddenly he was aware with certainty and joy that below, ahead, they were waiting for him; and that they were waiting, too, for the baby. For the first time, he heard something that he knew to be music. He heard prople singing.
Behind him, across vast distances of space and time, from the place he had left, he thought he heard music too. But perhaps it was only an echo.
The end.