Boru Simanjuntak

Kisah cinta ini ditulis dalam dua versi, English and Indonesia.

An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world.
It is a story of a man and an older woman who ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half a century.

The 70-year-old Chinese man who hand-carved over 6,000 stairs up a mountain for his 80-year-old wife has passed away in the cave which has been the couple’s home for the last 50 years.

Over 50 years ago, Liu Guojiang a 19 year-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu Chaoqin..

In a twist worthy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, friends and relatives criticized the relationship because of the age difference and the fact that Xu already had children.

At that time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman.. To avoid the market gossip and the scorn of their communities, the couple decided to elope and lived in a cave in Jiangjin County in Southern ChongQing Municipality.

In the beginning, life was harsh as hey had nothing, no electricity or even food. They had to eat grass and roots they found in the mountain, and Liu made a kerosene lamp that they used to light up their lives.

Xu felt that she had tied Liu down and repeatedly asked him, ‘Are you regretful? Liu always replied, ‘As long as we are industrious, life will improve.’

In the second year of living in the mountain, Liu began and continued for over 50 years, to hand-carve the steps so that his wife could get down the mountain easily.

Half a century later in 2001, a group of adventurers were exploring the forest and were surprised to find t! he elderly couple and the over 6,000 hand-carved steps. Liu MingSheng, one of their seven children said, ‘My parents loved each other so much, they have lived in seclusion for over 50 years and never been apart a single day. He hand carved more than 6,000 steps over the years for my mother’s convenience, although she doesn’t go down the mountain that much.’

The couple had lived in peace for over 50 years until last week. Liu, now 72 years, returned from his daily farm work and collapsed. Xu sat and prayed with her husband as he passed away in her arms. So in love with Xu, was Liu, that no one was able to release the grip he had on his wife’s hand even after he had passed away.

‘You promised me you’ll take care of me, you’ll always be with me until the day I died, now you left before me, how am I going to live without you?’

Xu spent days softly repeating! this sentence and touching her husband’s black coffin with tears rolling down her cheeks.

In 2006, their story became one of the top 10 love stories from China , collected by the Chinese Women Weekly. The local government has decided to preserve the love ladder and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

Bahasa Indonesia:

Kisah cinta sejati baru-baru ini datang dari China dan menyentuh banyak orang. Kisah ini tentang seorang pemuda yang jatuh cinta dengan seorang wanita yang usianya jauh lebih tua darinya. Keduanya kawin lari dan dan hidup bersma selama lebih dari setengah abad.

Lelaki China tersebut meninggal di usia 70 tahun dan telah membuat 6000 anak tangga agar Istri yang dikasihinya kini berusia 80 tahun dapat naik ke gunung. Beliau meninggal di gua yang telah menjadi rumah tinggal mereka selama 50 tahun terakhir, yaitu sejAk Lu Guojiang pemuda berusia 19 tahun,jatuh cinta dengan seorang perempuan berusia 29 tahun, janda dengan anak bernama Xu Chaoqin..

Kisah ini mengingatkan kita akan cerita Romeo dan Juliet. Sepasang kekasih dari China ini kawin lari karena usia mereka jauh berbeda dan pada kenyataannya Xu adalah seorang janda dan memiliki beberapa orang anak.

Pada waktu itu, adalah tidak bermoral apabila seorang pemuda mencintai seorang perempuan yang telah menikah. Untuk menghindari gosip yang mencerca mereka, pasangan ini memutuskan untuk pergi dan beroisah dari komunitas mereka dan tinggal di gua di Jiangjin County Kota ChongQing.

Di awal tahun kehidupan perkawinan mereka, kehidupan sangatlah keras karena mereka k=harus hidup tanpa listrik bahkan tanpa makanan. Mereka terpaksa makan rerumputan dan akar-akar yang mereka temukan di sekitar gunung, dan Liu membuat sendiri lampu minyak agar dapat menjadi penerang di malam hari.

Xu merasa bahwa dia terikat dengan Liu dan berulang kali bertanya kepadanya “Apakah kamu menyesal dengan hidup seperti ini?” Liu selalu menjawab, ‘Sepanjang kita terus bekerja dan berkarya, maka kehidupan kita akan lebih baik.’

Di tahun kedua hidup di gunung, Liu mulai dan tak kenal lelah selama lebih 50 tahun membuat anak tangga sehingga istri yang dikasihinya dapat turun naik gunung dengan mudah.

Setengah abad kemudian, di tahun 2001, sekelompok pendaki gunung menemukan keluarga ini dengan 6000 anak tangga yang terbuat rapi. Liu MingSheng, salah satu dari tujuh anak mereka berkata, ‘Orang tua kami sunguh sunguh saling mencintai dan mereka rela untuk hidup terpisah dari komunitas mereka selama lebih dari 50 tahun dan tidak berpernah berpisah walau hanya seharipun. Ayah kami telah membuat lebih dari 6000 anak tangga selama bertahun tahun untuk Ibu kami agar dapat turun naik gunung dengan mudah, walaupun pada kenyataannya Ibu jarang turun gunung.’

Pasangan ini telah hidup dengan bahagia dan damai selama lebih dari 50 tahun sampai ketika usia Lu mencapai 72 tahun, beliau meninggal jatuh ketika sedang bekerja dan istrinya duduk dan merangkulnya tangan mereka saling menggengam. Liu sangat mencintai Xu sampai tak seorang pun dapat memisahkan istrinya dari genggamannya bahkan sampai dia meninggal.

‘Kau berjanji kepada ku kalau kau akan menjagaku terus, kau berjanji akan selalu bersamaku sampai hari aku mati, namun sekarang, kau pergi meninggalkanku, bagaimana aku dapat hidup bersama mu?

Xu berulang-ulang mengucapkan kalimat tersebut dengan air mata berurai, sambil menyentuh mayat suaminya.

pada tahun 2006, kisah cinta mereka menjadi satu dari 10 kisah cinta terkenal dari china. Kisah ini di publikasikan juga oleh the Chinese Women Weekly. Pemerintah setempat memutuskan untuk mengabadikan tangga cinta dan lokasi mereka tinggal dilestarikan sebagai museum sehingga kisah cinta ini dapat hidup selamanya.

(My eyes re wet while typing this)

Final test will be on Monday. I am sure that all my students are preparing themselves. Some asked me questions regarding to this test. Well. some hints I hope can be any help to every body who are taking Business Correspondence. They are connected to four-point plan. In business letter, there is a four-point plan to follow. So focus on it including the common expressions according to each point.

In business letter, we also need to build up good relationship with our clients, so we have to watch out the tone of your letter. Pay special attention to letter of inquiry.

Finally, be master in making report. Follow the guidelines of report need to be reviewed too.

Good luck

Academic writing is a special kind of writing for college and university work. It is intended for a specific audience (primarily your instructors and professors). Academic writing is formal in tone.
The purpose of academic writing is usually to explain or to persuade. The purpose of a piece of writing will determine its rhetorical form. Prewriting activities are useful for narrowing a topic and generating ideas.

Three useful brainstorming techniques are:

– listing,
– free writing,
– and clustering.

Read More…

from John Hopkins Hospital

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion.
When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime.

Read More…

causatives

By Richard Leblanc, York University, Ontario This article appeared in The Teaching Professor after Professor Leblanc won a Seymous Schulich Award for Teaching Excellence including a $10,000 cash award. Reprinted here with permission of Professor Leblanc, October 8, 1998.

One. Good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason. It’s about not only motivating students to learn, but teaching them how to learn, and doing so in a manner that is relevant, meaningful, and memorable. It’s about caring for your craft, having a passion for it, and conveying that passion to everyone, most importantly to your students.

Read More…