|
Fai
Barely two weeks into the new school year, Koppu struck. There was confusion at home.
Even though I returned to Hong Kong only about a year ago, I still have a vague memory of the school policies regarding typhoons from my younger days. I knew that when typhoon signal no. 8 is up, schools would be closed. I also knew something about(略知一二)the amber rain and black rain signals. But what am I going to do with my two sons who are suddenly given a day of free time? The older one had a backlog(積聚)of homework, and could easily use a day or two to catch up. The younger one, however, did not have much to occupy himself when school was out. The thought that he would spend hours watching television appalled(使驚恐) me. Luckily, my wife and I were able to come up with some activities for him at the last minute.
At the university where I work, the rules are much more complicated. Whether and when offices will be closed and classes cancelled depend on the time of the day the typhoon reaches the territory. The cut-off time is 7 a.m. If the signal no. 8 is hoisted before then, classes are cancelled. If it comes after 7, classes are held as usual. In the morning of the day of the typhoon, I happened to have to teach at 10:30 a.m. It took me quite some time to figure out whether I had to teach or not.
And that is not the end of the story. Many of my students are foreign students, who are not very familiar with the ways things are run in Hong Kong. They sent in email messages asking me what to do. They also wanted to know how the cancelled class would affect the progress of the course. It took the major part of(大部分的)the morning for me to answer their questions, to say nothing of the extra 30 minutes or so to revise the schedule for the rest of the term.
In the northeastern part of the US where I used to live, there is no typhoon. Instead, during the winter, there is heavy snow, and students can always hope that they can get time off from school when it comes. The slightest sprinkle of snow can make driving treacherous(危險的). The roads are slippery and cars skid(滑行)left and right on the road. They may even get out of control and end up crashing into each other. In the cold temperature, some car engines would not even start, or they may stall(拋錨)and die out as soon as they stop at a traffic light. Abandoned cars on the road side becomes a common sight. It is not much better to walk for the pavements are just as slippery. One can slip and fall, resulting in broken bones and other kinds of injuries.
To avoid these accidents, the government would declare snow days. Depending on the severity of the snow, schools or even public offices are closed. Normally, snow days do not go beyond 24 hours. As soon as the authorities have the time to clear the snow off the road, classes will resume. When the snow is particularly heavy, however, snow days can go on for days on end(連續的、由頭到尾). One year, the snow was so heavy that the state of Connecticut was declared closed for a week. All cars, except emergency vehicles, were banned on the major highways.
There is a major difference between typhoon days and snow days. When school is closed for a typhoon, the school year gets shorter. Not so for snow days. Students get time off, but they have to make up for the lost time at the end of the term by having extra classes. In a sense, snow days are like a borrowed item, which one can use for the time being only to repay later. Students rejoice when the snow days are here, but by the end of the school term, they grumble(抱怨)among themselves, and wonder why anybody in his right mind(頭腦正常)should want to have snow days in the first place.
kingfaitam@gmail.com
|
