From Spark To Flame

1. From Spark To Flame 滅火要趁早

2. Act 1 第一幕

3. It’s a beautiful morning in rural Taiwan; the birds are chirping, and the sun is shining bright. It’s the perfect day as two farmers prepare their work ahead. 在台灣的鄉村, 某個美麗的清晨, 鳥兒輕快地歌唱. 兩戶農家準備要開始一天的工作了.

4. Grandpa Mai: Wow! The weather is great today! Good morning, Grandpa Gao. 麥爺爺：哇！今天天氣真好啊！早安啊高爺爺 Grandpa Gao: Good morning! Let’s do our best today! Let’s go! 高爺爺：你也早啊！我們一起為今天努力！加油！ Grandpa Mai: No problem, let’s go! 沒問題！一起加油！

5. The Mai and Gao family had a great relationship and bond. They believe it would stay that way forever... But slowly things started to change. 原本兩家人感情可好呢，他們也相信這份情誼會一直延續下去。但是, 事情漸漸發生了改變。

6. One summer day, Grandpa Gao unfortunately died of a heart attack. Meanwhile, Grandpa Mai was feeling sick so that he had to lay bedridden, and he still is to this day. As one generation seem to pass, both families left their farms to the next generation. 可惜好景不長,在一年夏天, 高爺爺因為心臟病過世了. 麥爺爺也生了重病成天躺在床上。 因此，兩家的農務也就交給了下一代來處理。

7. Act 2 第二幕

8. Mary is a hard working woman. She takes care of her hens as if they were her own children. Each day her hens lay eggs. Her favorite thing to do each day is picking up those eggs. Everyday her favorite hen " Oldie" lays her eggs at 11 AM in the same corner. Until one day…. 馬利是個認真工作的女人, 她照顧家中的母雞就像照顧自己的孩子一樣, 每天他們家的母雞都會下蛋. 她最喜歡做的事情就是每天去撿母雞下的雞蛋. 她最疼愛的老母雞在早上十一點都準時把蛋下在同一個角落. 直到有一天....

9. Mary: Ah! It’s 11 0‘clock! My favorite time of the day. Time to pick up Oldie’s eggs. WHAT!? Huh? Where are the eggs? Did she not lay eggs today? That’s so strange. Mary: 啊！十一點了！我最愛的撿蛋時間到了！雞蛋呢？老母雞今天沒下蛋嗎？這也太奇怪了！

10. Mike: Hey, Mary, I think your hen laid her eggs in the yard next door. I actually heard her cluck a few times over there. 麥可說：馬利, 我想你那母雞把雞蛋下在隔壁家的院子里啦！我還聽見她下蛋之後咯咯地叫了幾聲呢！ Mary: You said that Oldie went to the next door to lay her eggs? Oh man! That’s weird. I better go check it out! 馬利說：你說老母雞跑到隔壁家下蛋？那真的是太奇怪了！我最好去看一下！

11. Grandma Gao: What the heck are you looking at? 高奶奶問：你到底在看什麼東西啊？ Mary: Well, it seems like our Oldie ran over here to lay her eggs.. so... 馬利說：我們家的老母雞似乎跑到你們家下蛋了，所以我。。

12. Grandma Gao: Ha ha ha! That’s funny! Did your hen come over here to look for eggs since she forgot to lay her own? Our hens do a great job of laying their eggs. Even if they didn’t lay eggs, I wouldn’t be like you, coming here trying to rob other people’s eggs. 高奶奶笑著說: 哈哈哈, 太可笑了！你們自己家的母雞沒生蛋，就跑來我家找蛋嗎？我們家的母雞可很會生呢，要是有天她們沒有生，我也不會像某人一樣跑到別人家來搶蛋！

13. Mary: Grandma Gao, I think you’re being a little over the top! I heard you’ve been having trouble with memory lately.. maybe you took our eggs and forgot about it!! 馬利：我說高奶奶啊，您說這話就有點過分了吧！我聽說您最近老是忘東忘西的，搞不好就是您拿了我們家的蛋結果自己忘記了呢！

14. As Grandma Gao and Mary continued to argue, at the same time, Mark , Mike and Gavin came back from the field. They heard the yelling and naturally joined in and supported their respective families. As a result, the argument grew more fierce and loud. 隨著高奶奶和馬利的持續爭吵中, 與此同時, 馬克，麥可和高文都從田裡回來了. 他們聽到了爭吵後自然而然地支持自己家的一方, 加入了這個爭吵的戰局。 然而，這局勢越演越烈，也越來越暴力了。

15. Mark: I don’t believe you guys, you’d do just about anything to cover the truth. 馬克說：你們太過分了！竟然打死不認賬啊！ Gavin: I can’t believe YOU guys. You’re the ones that came to my house to steal the eggs. Who on the earth does that? 高文說：才不呢，你們才過分！竟到我家來偷雞蛋啊。 有誰會做這種卑鄙的事情！？

16. Mark: What did you just say !!!!!???? 馬克：你.. 你剛說了什麼？？！ Mark suddenly got really angry so that he ripped out Gavin’s beard. 馬克突然非常地憤怒, 一氣之下就把高文的鬍子給拔了。 Gavin: Ouch!! that hurts..... How dare you touch my beloved beard!!! That’s awful!!!!!!! You’d better watch out! 高文：疼。。疼死我了。你。。竟敢把我的寶貝鬍子給拔了！！這太糟糕了，你最好給我小心點。

17. Act 3 第三幕

18. Next morning, Gao family angrily went to the court to plead a case against Mark’s family for ripping out Gavin’s beard. 隔天早晨, 高家怒氣沖沖的跑到法院要告馬克一家傷害罪，因為他們把高文的鬍子給拔掉了！

19. Judge: May I ask who you are filling your lawsuit against? 法官大人：你們這次要告誰呢？ Gavin: This Guy! He ripped out my beloved beard and went to my house without my permission just because his hen couldn’t lay her own eggs!! 高文：這個傢伙！他拔了我的寶貝鬍子，而且他們一家沒有經過我的同意就跑到我家胡鬧，就因為他們家的母雞沒有生蛋！

20. Mark: What!? That’s a lie! I’m not here to listen to any of this nonsense. Plus, I didn’t rip out his beard, and he’s the one who stole my eggs. 馬克說：什麼！？別聽這些胡言亂語。我才沒有拔他的鬍子。是他偷了我家的雞蛋。

21. Judge: Alright!! That’s enough! Knock it off. Now that I know everything. Let me think about it and I’ll see you guys at the next hearing. 法官：好了好了，別吵了！我要想一下再判決。下次再開庭吧！ Gavin: Just wait and see, justice will be served. Hmm!!! 高文：你等著瞧吧，哼！ Mark: No one’s afraid of you! 馬克：沒在怕你的！

22. Act 4 第四幕

23. Mark: Hello? Papa, What’s up? 馬克問：喂，老爸，找我有事嗎？ Grandpa Mai: Son, I heard you took the case to the court today!? 麥爺爺：兒子啊，我聽說你跟隔壁的高文鬧到法庭上去啊？ Mark: Yes, I did. They’re crossing the line! 馬克：是啊，他們太過分了！

24. Grandpa Mai: Son, it’s not a big deal. Let it go. Why are you guys in this mess over some small eggs. You just go apologize to them and everything will be fine. 麥爺爺：兒子啊，並不是什麼大不了的，就讓事情過去吧。不要為了一些小雞蛋而傷了我們兩家的感情。快去跟他們道歉吧！

25. Mark: Seriously!? You want me to apologize to them? Why would I have to do that? They’re wrong! They should apologize to us. Dad, you’ve been lying on the bed for so long, you have no idea what happened. 馬克：真的假的？您要我去跟他們道歉？憑什麼啊？是他們的錯，他們才應該跟我們道歉呢。老爸啊，你每天都躺在床上，根本不知道外面發生了什麼。

26. Since then, both family continued to fabricate false evidence against one another, and they’ve appeared in court again and again. Multiple accusations were thrown, some in favor of the Gao’s family and some in favor of the Mai’s family. Each time they had to pay their fines, both families were in agony. 從此以後，兩家人不斷持續責難對方。因此他們也不斷的在法庭上出現。一下麥家獲勝，一下高家獲勝，他們每次都互賠罰金，對兩家來說真是折磨啊。。

27. No matter how many time grandpa Mai told Mark to apologize to the Gao family, Mark wouldn’t listen. It was as if his ear had fallen deaf. 縱使麥爺爺再三叮囑馬克去跟高家道歉，但馬克都把高爺爺的話當成耳邊風。

28. Grandpa Mai: Sigh, It makes me really sad to see the younger generation fighting with each other. Remember the times back when the two families were full of love and joy. I just can’t believe it had turned out this way. I feel sorry for grandpa Gao. 麥爺爺感嘆到：唉，看到你們這一代這樣爭執不休，真是讓我痛心啊。想當初我們兩家是多麼的友好和睦。如今卻成了這種局面。我真對不起高爺爺。

29. Act 5 第五幕

30. For two full days both the Mai’s and Gao’s seemed to be at peace and had put everything behind them.. But on this day... 兩家人風平浪靜了幾天，本以為兩家人已把事情拋到腦後。。。但就在這一天。。

31. Molly: Your honor, this man stole our horse ! I saw it with my own eyes! 茉莉：法官大人，就是這個人偷了我們的馬！我親眼看見的。 Gavin: That’s nonsense! 高文：真是一派胡言！

32. Mike: And he hit my wife too. Your honor, my wife is a pregnant woman, he can not treat her like this. You have to punish him! 麥克：法官大人，他還打了我太太，你看這個傢伙竟敢這樣對待一個孕婦！必須重重懲罰！ Grandma Gao: My son didn’t hit anyone! She’s the one who hit my son. Look at her, she doesn’t even look hurt. You can’t blame us for everything that goes wrong in your lives! 高奶奶：我兒子才沒打人呢，是那女人打我兒子的頭。看看她，身上一點傷都沒有。你不要把每件事都推給我們，是他們先引起的。

33. Judge: Order! Order! Order in the court! Either physical assault or battery is a violation of the law. Harming a pregnant woman deserves even more severe punishment. The court finds Gavin guilty with a sentence of one week in prison and a total whipping of three times. Case dismissed! 法官：肅敬肅敬，無論如何，動手打人就是違法，特別是傷害孕婦，罪行更加嚴重！我判決高文坐一個禮拜的監獄，並且鞭打三下。

34. Gavin: Unfair! This is unfair! You hateful family! I will take my revenge on all of you! 高文：不公平！這真的是太不公平了！這可恨的一家！我一定會報仇的。

35. Molly: Mike, what should we do? It seems like we’ve gone too far this time. He said he’d take his revenge on us.. It didn’t sound like an empty threat.... I’m so scared! 茉莉：老公，怎麼辦？這次好像有點鬧過火了，他說他要報仇啊。。聽起來不像是開玩笑的。我好害怕！ Mike: Let’s go home and tell dad what happened. 麥克：我們快回家告訴爸爸吧。

36. As Mai family grows more and more uneasy, Gavin got out of jail. That night he carefully went to Mai family’s backyard and hid there. 當麥家正在擔心地時候，高文從監獄出來了。那天夜晚他偷偷摸摸地跑到麥家後院。 Gavin: hmm! This is a family full of demons. They’re not going to get away so easily. I’m gonna set their house on fire! 高文：哼哼哼，這一家人都是惡魔。我不會這麼簡單放過他們的。我要燒了他們的房子！

37. As the fire burned more and more severe, Mai family escaped from the house, and hurried to put out the fire. The fire was eventually extinguished, but the family were exhausted. 火勢越來越旺，麥家人都從家裡逃了出來了，手忙腳亂地將火熄滅。最終, 火終於熄滅了，但搞得他們一家人狼狽不堪。

38. Act 6 第六幕

39. Grandpa Mai: Who’s the one that set our house on fire? 麥爺爺：是誰放火燒了我們家啊？ Mark: Of course it was Gavin. I saw it with my own eyes. 馬克：當然是高文啊！我親眼看見的。 Grandpa Mai: I’m not well, please don’t lie to me anymore. Who’s fault is this? 麥爺爺：我已經快不行了，不要再撒謊了。到底是誰的錯？

40. Mark told his father how he fabricated false evidence against the Gao family. He didn’t apologize to Gao’s but created more slander to circumvent them. All of which led to how everything turned out. 馬克將前因後果一五一十地告訴了麥爺爺，他也痛恨自己當初不知悔改，不願跟高家道歉，反而造就更多的毀謗去陷害對方。才導致今天會有這種後果。

41. After listening to Mark, grandpa Mai earnestly said to him: 麥爺爺聽後，語重心長地對馬克說： My dear son, Matthew 6:14-15 tells us that if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. 我親愛的兒子，馬太福音第六章十四和十五節說到，你們饒恕人的過犯，你們的天父也必饒恕你們的過犯；如果你們不饒恕人的過犯，你們的天父也必不饒恕你們的過犯。

42. Grandpa Mai: Listen carefully son, you must not tell anyone who started the fire. Do you understand? Forgive others because God has forgiven you from all your sins. 麥爺爺：聽好了兒子，你絕對不可以告訴任何人誰放了火。你明白嗎？我們要原諒別人因為上帝已經原諒我們所有的罪行了。

43. As grandpa Mai finished talking, Mark nodded his head in agreement. Grandpa Mai took his last breath, and Mark knew what he had to do. 就在麥爺爺附屬完馬克後，馬克點點頭。麥爺爺微笑著斷了氣了。然而馬克也知道他該怎麼做了。

44. Act 7 最後一幕

45. Mark listened to his dad and did not tell anyone what Gavin did. The people of the village never knew who caused the fire that day. At first, Gavin was very worried that Mark would tell the secret , but he was surprised to see Mark not only kept the secret but also worked harder on the farm. 馬克聽從了父親的教導並沒有告訴任何人是誰放的火。全村的人也都不知道導致這場火的原因。剛開始高文很擔心馬克會說出祕密，但他很驚訝地發現馬克並沒有說過祕密，反而在農場里工作得更努力了。

46. Since then, the two families resumed their rapport, and worked hardly alongside each other. And no one ever cared about where the hen laid her eggs. 就這樣，兩家人又恢復了以往的和睦，更沒有人會去在意母雞到底在誰家下了蛋。

47. The End