The 30 Most Curious Environmental Stories for Primary School Students

Author: Jin Xiangshan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-08-01
Features: The Clean's House
In our village, there was an old lady who was particularly fond of cleanliness, so everyone called her the Clean. From morning till night, she never left her broom behind. She swept and swept, and her house and yard were always neat and spotless, free of a single speck of dust. Near her house, none of us dared to shout loudly or even play soccer, for if a ball accidentally landed in her yard, the entire village would erupt like a bomb had gone off.
"Whose child is this? So ill-mannered to kick a ball into my yard!"
After the Clean made such a fuss, we were all spared from being scolded by our parents. So, even though there was a spacious open space next to the Clean's house, none of us dared to go there to play for fear of getting into trouble.
However, unexpectedly, a few days ago, a notice with the words "House for Sale" was posted on the Clean's house. It turned out that she was moving to live with her son in the city. This made us all extremely happy. We could finally return to playing in that open space again, as if we had reclaimed our long-lost territory.
"Hey, let's go take a look at the Clean's house! See what kind of place it really is!"
"Didn't you see the door is locked? How are we supposed to get in?"
"Let's climb over the wall!"
"What if the Clean suddenly appears while we're climbing? What then? She might come to check on her house at any time."
"It won't happen. If we want to know about the house, we can just call someone."
"Maybe not. She's a particularly clean old lady, and she might come to tidy up her house at any moment."
After everyone heard this, they nodded in agreement. The Clean was already somewhat of a recluse, and no one knew when she might suddenly return to clean up her house.
Several more months passed, and the Clean's house still hadn't been sold. During this time, the Clean had indeed never returned to check on her house once. The yard of the Clean's house had lost its once spotless appearance, now overgrown with wild chrysanthemums, mugwort, and weeds.
"Let's go take a look!"
Finally, we decided to go inside. One person stayed outside to keep watch, while the rest climbed over the wall and jumped into the Clean's yard.
"Wow, look at all the snails!"
One of my friends, standing behind me, exclaimed as if he had discovered a treasure. Besides snails, the Clean's yard was full of all kinds of small insects. Look, there were frogs hopping around, butterflies playing among the flowers, and beetles chewing on the leaves. The place had become a paradise for insects.
"Wow, where did all these little bugs come from?"
"My yard doesn't have nearly this many bugs!"
We began to love the Clean's house. From that day on, we made a promise to come here every day to play.
A year passed, and the Clean's house was still not sold. This was even better for us. We were happy to have such a wonderful secret playground.
However, the good times didn't last. Suddenly one day, we saw someone coming to look at the Clean's house. It turned out to be a new teacher who had just transferred to our school. We all hid under the yard wall and listened in on the conversation between the teacher and the real estate agent.
"This house is great. I've decided to buy it."
"Alright, I'll get the purchase papers ready for you right away. But clearing the weeds in the yard will take some time. Could you please wait two more days?"
"What, clear the weeds? No, no, I love this yard and these weeds. I teach natural science, and I want a classroom just like this one. Do you see? There are beetles here, frogs, snails, and butterflies. I want to bring my students here to teach."
Upon hearing the teacher's words, we all jumped out from under the wall with a "Wow!" and cheered joyfully, rushing to the teacher's side. The real estate agent and the natural science teacher were taken aback by our cheers and looked at our little group in surprise.
P85-87