【識書】《Duck, Death and the Tulip》
（撰文：鄭辰艷）
教育很少談及生死，但看了一本兒童書《Duck, Death and the Tulip》，感到不論兒童、青少年人或成年人，都很值得閱讀。
因為有很多提醒，面對死亡，我們會怎樣？怕嗎？還是未預籌謀？現節錄有關句子，看了後，引發我們思考生命是甚麼。
鴨見死神，感到害怕：誰能漠視她？
她說：「你是降臨，來捉我嗎？」
Duck was scared stiff, and who could blame her?
“You’ve come to fetch me?”
死神的回應：「噢！我已經時常都在你身邊，備著要來，就會來。」
鴨問：「備著甚麼？」
“Oh, I ‘ve been close by all your life–just incase.”
“In case of what?” asked Duck.
「備著在你身上要發生甚麼事時，如頑強的感冒，如意外……你永不知道。」
「你是否要在我身上造一些事？」鴨問。
“In case something happens to you. A nasty cold; an accidents……you never know.”
“Are you going to make something happen?”
「生命就是小心這些：咳嗽、感冒，和所有會發生在你眾鴨們身上的事，例如狐狸。」
鴨嘗試不再想這些。這讓她雞皮疙瘩。
“Life takes care of that: the coughs and colds and all the other things that happen to you ducks. Fox, for example.”
Duck tried not to think about that. It gave her goosebumps.
節錄至此，有不少的啟發……
死神一直陪著鴨，最後鴨還是死。
而死神想的是甚麼？
For a long time he watched her.
When she was lost to sight, he was almost a little moved.
But that’s life, thought Death.
