店铺开张的季节到了——罂粟花可以收获了。春丽懒洋洋地爬起床来，穿上衣服就来到自家经营的洗衣店的后院。
天上下着大雨，比起中国来，温哥华经常下雨，但这却给种植罂粟带来了方便。
春丽查看着一株株罂粟，看它们是否成熟了。果然，大多数的花瓣都脱落了，罂粟果明显地鼓起来。春丽熟练地把罂粟果割下来放进一个桶里并拎回屋内做下一道工序——用一把带有四只刀片的小刀在果实上划几下，然后把它们挂在一个采汁桶的上方。
接着，春丽把所有从罂粟果里采集的浆汁收集起来放在一边晾干。现在，她要为明天开张做一些准备。
春丽拿出一个装有40枚大烟泡的盒子，这是去年的存货。她重重地叹了一口气。
春丽的父亲特别在意他们出售的鸦片质量，所以他坚持自己种植并提炼鸦片而不是去买现成的。
可是，她父亲最近病了。听母亲说，父亲自从来加拿大淘金之后，健康状况每况愈下，当然那时春丽还没有出生。春丽的母亲整日忙于照顾丈夫，所以家里的生意就全靠春丽和哥哥飞龙打理了。
春丽拿起一个罂粟果并把它撬开，开始了漫长的制作鸦片的工序。
她把所有果实里粘糊糊的东西刮出来放在一边，然后把这样处理过的果壳放在一个大锅里煮，直到果壳都溶解于水中。接着，春丽又把这一锅东西倒入另一个容器中，之间用一种质地坚硬的纸过滤，这样鸦片就分离出来了。她再把鸦片和之前从果壳中刮出来的粘糊糊的东西混在一起。
春丽和哥哥一整天都在这样烧煮提纯鸦片，重复着一道道工序直到鸦片的质量符合父亲严格的标准。
经过一天的劳作，春丽的面前出现了几块干了的可供吸食的鸦片——明天可以卖钱了。春丽这时已经精疲力尽了，她上床倒头便睡，对于第二天开门营业没有半点期待。
第二天，春丽还是不由自主地去整理那间供客人吸食鸦片的宽敞舒适的屋子。她一走进屋里，不禁皱了皱鼻子，去年留下来的烟味儿还没有完全跑掉。她把一个个枕头放直，安放好躺椅和靠背，同时摆出各种吸食鸦片所需的工具：烟灯——点燃鸦片的油灯；水泡——一块海绵；烟斗——烟枪上的小碗；烟刮——碗刮子；最后是好几杆烟枪。一声叹息之后，春丽打开了店门。
第一个进来的是常客秦先生。比起上一次春丽看到他，秦先生显得更加憔悴：越发的瘦弱，眼中一片空茫。他跌跌撞撞地走向春丽，双腿打着哆嗦，但是对自己即将会感受的经历充满了快乐的期待。
“老样子，来一份。”他用微弱的声音粗声粗气地说，一边把几枚硬币放在柜台上。春丽打开一个盒子，抓了一把鸦片 称了一盎司。
“秦先生，给你”，春丽说着一边把鸦片递给了他。她收起那些硬币，伤感地看着秦先生走进里屋。自从去年他老婆死后，抽大烟就成了秦先生的生活，只要有可能，每一分钟他都在烟雾中度过，借以摆脱烦恼。
这时，飞龙走了进来，他来接替春丽，使春丽腾出身来去洗衣服。
几个小时过去了， 春丽又回来接替哥哥。她走进里屋去招呼那些客人。她环顾四周，那些曾经是鲜活的生命此时已如同鬼魅一般，不省人事了。她厌恶地摇了摇头，觉得这些人根本不应该来这里把命抽掉。她自己绝不会和这些人一样的。
忽然她发现屋里有些异样，今天的客人比往常多了许多，好多人都不是中国人。这些陌生人占据了屋子的大半空间，有的嘟嘟囔囔地说着奇怪的语言，有的和其他人一样昏睡着。
春丽从屋里退出来，看着哥哥问道：
“这些外国人是从哪里来的？他们为什么来这儿？”
“我听说他们在修一条铁路，”飞龙回答。“他们招了不少工人，也有中国人。”
春丽感到很惊奇，平时并没有多少外国人来他们这里。不过她也没办法，只能回到屋里去照顾那些烟客。
她清理了烟灰缸，重新点燃熄灭了的烟灯。就在她来回走动的时候，不知从哪儿伸出一只手拽住了她的胳膊。惊慌中，春丽手中的烟灰缸掉在了地上，怦然一声摔成了碎片。这突如其来的响声并没有惊动屋里其它的任何人。春丽看了一眼那个碰她的人，这是一个年轻的中国人，普普通通没有什么特别之处。可是，当春丽朝他的腿部看去时，才惊恐地发现他的一条腿因骨折而完全扭曲了。
“看见了吗？”那人轻声地说。
春丽点了点头，两眼睁得大大的。
“都是修那铁路造的孽。那可不是一个好兆头，我是说那条铁路。 刚才我看见你哥哥了，那些外国人想让他也去修铁路，让他别去，否则他也会像我一样。”
春丽感到一阵的恐慌，她立刻转身跑出屋子去找她哥哥。
“快去！去啊。”那人轻轻地说了一句又昏睡过去了。
春丽飞快地跑上自家起居的二楼，冲进她和哥哥合用的卧室，没错，哥哥正在收拾着行李。
“哥，你在干什么？”她大声叫道。“你真的要走？”
“我觉得这个主意不好，”春丽生气地说道。“你叫我一个人来应付家里所有的活儿？”
“我挣完钱回来，我们就不必做这个了，我们还可能有足够的钱回中国去呢！我会给你写信的。”飞龙答道。“况且，这是我自己的决定，不用你管！”他说着就冲出房门朝楼下走去。
春丽坐在床上想象着将会发生的一切。哥哥很可能会受伤，那样的话爸爸妈妈要担心死的！她听见哥哥在楼下和那些外国人说着话，她着急得直想哭。
几个月过去了，春丽一直没有哥哥的音讯。一天，她正在打扫烟馆为第二天开门做准备时， 一个外表疲惫不堪的人走了进来。
对不起先生，我们关门了。春丽说道。
“我不是来抽鸦片的，”那人回答。“我来把这个给你。”他把一个布包递了过来。
“这是什么？”春丽问道。
“骨头，”那人回答。“你哥哥的骨头。几个月前工地塌方，他死了。我们都不准离开工地，所以没能通知你。我自己也在另一次塌方中受了伤，被开除了，所以我决定把你哥哥的骨头带回来。”
春丽浑身麻木了，她曾预感到什么事会发生！哥哥怎么完全不顾自己对他的警告！自己怎样对爸爸妈妈说呀？
那个中国人离开之后，春丽绝望了，她什么都不在乎了。
她的家就这样毁了，自己一个人怎么能照顾得了爸爸妈妈？她像孩子般的绝望了。她走进鸦片馆并把门关上，随后在一个椅子上躺下。屋里鸦片的烟雾似乎让他放松了一些，安抚着她紧绷的神经。她眼睛盯着桌上的一支烟枪，旁边有一些自己亲手制作的鸦片，还有一盏灯。不，她马上想起自己发誓不会像那些鸦片鬼一样。
“我发过誓！爸爸妈妈会怎么想？哥哥会怎么想？”
一想到哥哥飞龙，春丽就止不住泪流满面。她痛楚而伤感地看着这些烟具，此刻，她突然什么都不顾了。她迅速点燃那盏灯，把烟杆凑过去深深地吸了一口。春丽好奇地睁大双眼，感觉真好！她不停地吸吮着，直到什么都无法感觉。所有的麻烦都没有了，担忧也消失了。
她闭上眼睛，一年来第一次真正的放松了。
*********************************************
以上是我上10年级的儿子写的一篇英文作文，我之所以把它翻译过来，不是因为这篇文章本身写的有多么好。 其实，这不是一篇英文课上的作文，而是一份社会研究课（Social Studies）上的作业。老师要求学生们在学完加拿大移民史之后根据学到的知识而编写一个小故事，儿子就发挥他的特长用两天时间完成了一个小小说。
偶然看到儿子的“大作”，我很高兴。喜欢他对人物的刻画和细节的描写，虽然整体上的叙述还很粗糙。我虽然不指望他成为作家，但谁知道他会不会“一不小心”写出《喜福会》这样的作品呢？或许会弄出个电影剧本什么的？
学历史的课上写小说似乎是“不务正业”，传统的教学也许是让学生死记硬背一些“时间、地点、人物”之类的“知识”，可如果知识不能理解运用，除了能“升学”还有什么用？
国内现在也提倡“素质教育”，似乎也只是局限于让学生学一些才艺类的额外课业，如何让学生充分发挥自身潜在能力，自由想象，发明创造，从这篇“作文”里，我们是否可以看出一点端倪？
The Dull Poppy
Chun-Li woke up to the rays of the rising sun. Business season had begun; it was time to harvest the poppies. She groggily got out of bed, dressed, and headed towards the backyard of her home turned laundromat. It was raining heavily; it rained a lot more in Vancouver than back in China, which was good for the poppies. She checked the maturity of the poppies; sure enough, most of the petals had dropped off, and the poppy capsules were swelling noticeably. She quickly cut off the heads of all the poppies in the garden into a pail, and brought them inside for the next step of the process. Once inside, she slit each poppy head multiple times with her nushtur, a special tool with 4 blades. She hung each poppy head up above a collecting bucket before leaving the room.
Afterwards, Chun-Li collected all the sap from the poppy heads, and set it aside to dry. Now, she had to prepare the goods for the customers of her family's business, as they opened for business tomorrow. She took out a chest filled with 40 balls of raw opium sap that was prepared last year. She sighed heavily. Her father was obsessed with the quality of the opium they sold; he insisted on growing and refining the opium themselves, instead of simply purchasing opium. However, her father had recently fallen ill; his health had been declining ever since he came to Canada for the gold rush, according to her mother, as Chun-Li hadn't been born at that time. Chun-Li's mother spent all her time caring for him, so the family business was left to Chun-Li and her brother, Fei Long. Chun-Li took an opium ball and broke it open, starting the long process to produce opium for smoking. She scooped out the gelatinous mass within the opium ball and set it aside. After repeating this process for the rest of the balls, she took all of the shells, and boiled them in a large pot of water until they had dissolved. She then took the mixture and poured it through pieces of stiff paper, separating the opium, which she then mixed with the gelatinous mass from the core of the shells. Chun-Li spent the rest of the day boiling and refining the opium with her brother, repeating processes over and over until they met her father's strict standards. At the end of the day, she was left with many blocks of dried, ready to smoke opium, to sell the next day. Exhausted, Chun-Li went to bed, not looking forward to when she would have to open the business' doors.
The next day, Chun-Li found herself cleaning and preparing the large, cozy room that served as the opium den used for the business. She wrinkled her nose as she went in. The fumes from last season still had not completely cleared out. She straightened all of the pillows, readied the recliners and headrests, and set out the various tools the smokers required: The Yen Dong, the lamp used to light to pipes, the Sui Pow, a sponge, the dow, the pipe bowl, the Yen Ngow, the bowl scraper, and finally, multiple Yen Tshungs, the opium pipes. Sighing again, she reluctantly opened the doors for business.
The first person in the doors was a regular, Mr. Ching. He looked worse than the last time Chun-Li saw him; skinnier, weaker, with a hollow look in his eyes. He stumbled over to Chun-Li, knees quivering with the anticipation of the ecstasy he was about to experience.
"Give me the regular", he wheezed in a raspy voice. He placed some coins on the counter. Chun-Li opened a chest of prepared opium and took out a handful. Using a small set of scales, she measured out an ounce of the drug.
"Here you go, Mr. Ching", she said as she handed him the opium. Collecting the coins, she watched sadly as Mr. Ching lumbered into the den. Ever since his wife had died last year, he had been smoking his life away, spending every possible moment smoking to get away from his troubles. At that time, Fei Long came in, ready to take the till duties away from Chun-Li; now, Chun-Li could go do the laundry.
A few hours later, Chun-Li came back to switch duties with her brother. She went inside the den to attend to the needs of the smokers. She looked around the room, filled with ghosts of once-healthy human beings, many of them passed out. She shook her head in disgust; these people shouldn't be here, smoking their lives away. She for one definitely wouldn't end up like these people. However, on closer inspection, Chun-Li noticed something strange. There were a lot more people in the room than usual, and many of them were not of her race. These unfamiliar people were taking up most of the room, mumbling in their strange language or simply passed out like many others. Backing out of the door, she asked her brother:
"Where did all these foreigners come from? Why are they here?"
"I heard they are building a railway," Fei Long replied. "They've hired many workers to work on it, including Chinese."
Chun Li was quite surprised; not many foreigners came to their business. There wasn't much she could do except adjust, so she went back in to attend to the needs of the smokers. She emptied the ashtrays, and relit any lamps that had been snuffed out. As she moved around, a hand reached out and caught her arm. Surprised, she dropped the ashtray she had been holding, which shattered with a loud sound. No one in the room even stirred from their state of oblivion. She looked at the person who had touched her. He was a young Chinese man, with nothing exceptional about him; however, when Chun-Li looked at his legs, she saw in horror that one of them had been terribly mangled and broken.
"You see that?" the man whispered. Chun-Li nodded, eyes wide open. "That's what happened to me from working on that railroad. It's a bad omen, that railroad. I saw your brother come in earlier. The foreigners were trying to talk him into going with them earlier. Try to talk him out of it, or he may just end up like me."
Chun-Li felt fear rising up in her. She quickly turned to back out of the room to find her brother.
"Go girl, go", the man whispered before passing out.
Chun-Li raced out of the den, and upstairs to where she and her family lived. She burst into the room she shared with her brother. Sure enough, she found Fei Long packing his things.
"What are you doing, brother?!" she cried. "Are you seriously thinking of leaving?"
"Calm down, sister," he replied. "The foreigners say it's a great job! You get food, housing, and a dollar a day, working with other Chinese people! A dollar a day! That would be almost doubling our income! Besides, it's boring running this laundromat; it's no work for someone like me."
"I still don't think it's a good idea," Chun-Li retorted. "You're just leaving me to do all this work?"
"When I come back, we won't need to run this business! We would even have enough to go back to China if we wanted! I'll write to you if I can, to see how you're all doing." Fei Long replied. "Besides, it's my decision, and you can't stop me!" He ran out the door, heading downstairs.
Chun-Li sat on the bed, thinking of what might happen to him. He could very likely be hurt, and her parents would be worried sick! She could her him conversing with the foreigners downstairs. She felt almost ready to cry.
Months passed, and Chun-Li still had not heard from Fei Long. One day, as she was readying the den for business the next day, someone came in. It was a Chinese man, worn out and tired.
Sorry, sir, but were not open yet, Chun-Li said.
Im not here for your services, the man replied. Im here to give you this. He held out a wrapped cloth bundle.
Whats this? Chun-Li asked.
Theyre bones. the man replied. Your brothers bones. He was killed in a cave-in a few months ago. We arent allowed to leave the workplace, so no one could tell you about this. I was hurt in another cave-in recently, and I was discharged, so I decided to take your brothers bones back home.
Chun-Li was numb. She knew something would happen! How could he have completely disregarded all the warnings she gave him! How could she tell her parents? The Chinese man left. Chun-Li didnt care. She didnt care about anything anymore. Her family was in ruins; how could she support her parents all by herself? She felt completely hopeless, like a small child again. She went into the opium den and closed the door, lying on one of the recliners. The fumes in the room seemed to calm her a bit, soothing her frayed nerves. She looked at a pipe on the table next to her. There was some of her opium next to it, as well as a lamp. No, she thought, I promised myself I would never be like these people. I PROMISED! What would my parents think? And my brother?
Just thinking about Fei Long made her tear up. She looked at the items wistfully. At that moment, Chun-Li decided she simply did not care anymore. She quickly lit the lamp, as well as the pipe, and inhaled deeply. Chun-Lis eyes opened in wonder. How good this felt! She kept inhaling on the pipe until she could feel nothing. No troubles, no worries to bother her. She closed her eyes and relaxed for the first time in almost a year.
