参考答案： Dongshan in Yantai was then a bleak and desolate place, often haunted by wolves at night hunting for food. Our cook often complained about wolves eating up our chicks the previous night after pushing off the heavy stone on top of the big bamboo coop. He suggested that a brick hen house be built to replace the bamboo coop. I had never seen a wolf, so didn’t take his words too much to heart.
One evening, father went up the platform again with a signal man, but he remained there long after the seaman came back. So I started running up to meet him. Then, in the midst of the deepening dusk, I became aware of something like a big dog following at my heels. All of a sudden, father gave a loud shout, “Come on! Quick!” I looked back and saw a pair of grayish blue eyes glittering piercingly. Meanwhile, there was a terrific bang as father’s slate was smashed to pieces on the ground. The dog-like big beast, with its fearful grayish blue eyes, immediately turned to scurry away with its long tail between its legs. All that lasted but a few seconds!
Up on the platform, father hugged me closely in his arms and said, “It was a wolf that pursued you just now! Had I not frightened it away by smashing the slate, it would have eaten you up. From now on, don’t come out by yourself after dark. Understand?” I giggled in his arms, not knowing what it was like to be eaten up by a wolf. Today, nevertheless, the small incident never fails to strike fear in me whenever I recall it.