What's up?：Peace, please!

放大圖片

　■白鴿象徵世界和平。 資料圖片

　Do you know what a riddle is? A riddle is a question that is difficult to answer, and the answer itself is surprising, clever or funny. It can also be called an enigma or a conundrum. Riddles are often used as a game or pastime.

World jigsaw

　And do you know what a jigsaw puzzle is? A jigsaw puzzle is a puzzle formed by cutting a picture into small irregular pieces and mounted on a sheet of cardboard, and the players have to reassemble it back into a complete picture. It can also be called a jigsaw, and sometimes calling it a puzzle will do as well.

　So, please answer this riddle - Why is the world like a faulty ( = defective, not perfect or complete) jigsaw puzzle? And the answer is: Because there is a peace missing!

　Can you get it? No? Let me explain. The word "peace" has exactly the same pronunciation as "piece". A jigsaw puzzle is made of pieces, while what the world lacks is peace.

Peace Day

　Today, September 21, is the annual International Day of Peace, aka (= also known as) Peace Day, established by the UNESCO (pronounced you-NESS-koh), i.e. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. If you're interested in celebrating it individually or at school, you can browse the official website for inspiration: http://internationaldayofpeace.org/.

　The largest scale of peace is perhaps world peace - one of our commonest birthday wishes, while the smallest scale is probably what we call peace of mind - the calm and quiet in our hearts. And the two are intimately related in many ways. If we can't have the latter one, it's impossible to achieve the former one, don't you agree?

World peace

　To achieve world peace, or at least to stop violence among nations, world leaders often gather together to discuss important issues related to peace. We call such a meeting a peace conference, peace congress or even peace process; they can also be called peace negotiations or peace talks - but remember you must use the plural form "negotiations" and "talks" in this context. Hopefully, all parties will then agree on a peace accord / agreement / deal / pact / settlement / treaty, so that a lasting / permanent peace can be brought about.

　As for peace of mind, everybody of us wants it. But it can easily be disturbed by our negative thoughts and emotions, which lead to undesirable speech and deeds. Therefore, we have to try our very best to make sure we think and express positive and happy thoughts, and be charged with positive and healthy emotions.

　Sounds simple, and at the same time looks difficult, right? It depends on whether we're willing to do something, however small. Please give peace a chance

　■MT Ness

Questions

1. "May he / she rest in peace" - to whom do we express such a wish?

2. What is the "peace dividend" of a country?

3. Which famous author wrote the novel War and Peace?

Answers

1. "May he / she rest in peace" is a wish we express to those who have died.

2. The peace dividend of a country is the money saved and used for other purposes when it spends less money on weapons.

3. War and Peace was written by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy.