AT
THE WORKSHOP
C:
Well, am I
a person now?
No.
Why not? have a personal identity.
Yes, but it’s
not complete.
Why isn’t it complete, what else do I need to know about
myself? F:
Well, you
need to know how old you are.
C: What does that mean? F:
It means
you know when you were born. Let me show the picture of my children again. My
boy is just over ten years
old. My girl is just over five years old.
C:
They don’t look old. F:
No,
they’re not old. They’re young. But when we talk about a person’s age, we say he
or she is so many years old.
C: Oh ...
I see.
F:
Now look
at this picture.
C: Ha ...
ha
...
ha,
Koochi, Koochi, koo, really cute who is that? F:
It’s my
son.
C: You have two Sons, F:
No, I only
have one son, but this is a picture of my son when he was a baby.
C: Ah
..,
hmm, cute
baby? F:
Yes, this
is my son when he was exactly one day old, the day he was born, ten
years
ago.
C:
I see. He
was born ten years ago. F:
That’s
right. It was his tenth birthday this month; this was his birthday party,
C: Oh,
wow! Happy birthday. When is my bwthday? How old am I? When was I born?
F: Well, you were born today.
C: Then I’m a baby.
F: No,you’re a robot.
C: Uh, but it is my
birthday I’m one day old.
F: Yes, yours one day old. Happy
birthday.
C: Thank you.
F: I’ll mark your birthday on the
calendar.
C: Good.
F: Wow! What’s the date today; let me
see, the day is the ninth; it’s Wednesday the ninth. You were born
Wednesday the
ninth of August 1989.
C: Chips’ birthday, wow!
F: Oh.
C: I’m sorry. What else do I need to know about my
personal identity?
F: Well, you know your date of birth, when
you were born. Now you need to know your place of bfrth, where you were born.
C: I know that, I was born here, this place, your workshop.
F: That’s right.
C: What else do I need to know?
F: You need to know your nationality.
C:
Nationality? What’s that?
F: This is the world.
C:
The world! Very nice.
F: The world is made up of nations:
China, India, Italy, Germany, Spain, Brazil.
C: Lots of nations.
F: If you were born in China, you’re Chinese; if you were born
in India, you’re Indian; and if you were born in Italy, you are
Italian,
and so on. C:
I was born
in the workshop, so I’m workshopian. F:
Ha) ha,
ha, ...
No, the
workshop isn’t a nation) Canada which is a nation; so ..?
C:
So, I’m
Canadian.