Translation:

Last summer a 56-year-old yachtsman, who was rescued for the eleventh time in one year, drove British rescuers to the edge of madness. He had gone aground outside the Welsh seaport Rhyl and afterwards said this: "I wont give up, get the champagne!" He had no proficiency certificate, navigated after an ordinary road map and hadn't brought any provisions. Since it is fully legal for anyone to venture to sea - also without a certification - there is nothing that can prevent him in continuing. "I love life at sea - here I belong," as he proudly declared after his latest adventure.

Section B: Essay

In "The Highest Branch on the Tree" the narrator, Douglas Spaulding, describes an experience from his childhood in 1934 that has affected him throughout most of his adult life. He has never completely been able to forget especially one incident, where he led the bullying of a fellow pupil. It all happened during a period in 9th grade. A very intelligent boy named Harry (Hairy) Hands was the harassed in mention.
Harry's intellect was far more advanced comparing to other children his age. But unlike what most might have expected from a 14-year-old boy he didn't keep quiet about it at all. In fact, whenever he found the chance, Harry would burst out with the most intelligent answers to the teacher's questions. He often reminded the other pupils of their lesser intelligence, when they harassed him, by calling them "...dumb peasants..." And already on the first day - in gym class - he even went as far as fighting back by beating several other boys with his superior boxing talents, before the teacher finally stopped them all. Both verbally and sometimes physically he was above the other pupils. And all they could do to fight back was to get everyone against him. Through a solitary life in school with no friends at all, they thought, he would be beaten. But, in the end he won the struggle anyway.
Harry was different. He was very intelligent, sure... But that wasn't the only reason why it went the way it did. The main flaw of his personality was that he didn't mind showing it. Harry was new at Douglas' school, but you couldn't tell. He had confidence in himself, because of his superior intellectual abilities. Not only was Harry capable of solving any problem given by the teacher in a matter of seconds, which was enough to create jealousy among the other pupils, but he had to make it even worse by making a fool of the others by laughing and calling them "...dumb peasants..."
When harassed Harry had the ability to keep up the appearance of not caring. He even got more arrogant, when he saw that his methods worked. Even though his way of acting put him in a solitary life (anyone who even thought of trying to become his friend would be threatened with beating by Douglas and his cronies) he didn't change. Instead he continued being a smart-ass even though he knew the consequence; that the other children don't like him. Harry always wore masks concealing his real intentions. It is said, that he was always "...laughing and being a good chum..." and still the other pupils just got angrier. So there had to be something more to it - something underneath the cheerful and sociable exterior. When meeting Harry in downtown Chicago forty years later Douglas doesn't show any trust in the beginning. He feels unsure of himself and don't really know how to handle the fact that Harry is suddenly standing right there in front of him. For years Douglas has been thinking about Harry and how he used a year of his childhood bullying him. When realising that Harry Hinds is the same person that he bullied in 9th grade, his mind to some extend freezes. The name was a "...stone in his mouth..." and suddenly he smells pee in the wind. When greeting he only shakes Harry's fingers quickly as if they "...contained some kind of electric shocks..." His mind was racing. Old guilt that he'd finally got repressed after so many years suddenly came up into him again.
Back in 9th grade Harry did all he could to promote himself. He didn't lack the intelligence or the confidence as mentioned before. But it hasn't been an honest ride. As he so nicely puts it in reference to the six lap run in 9th grade gym class: he's "...been jumping from behind cars on the last lap..." to achieve his goals. Now forty years later, still all his success have been achieved through cheating and mischievous behaviour. But in his later years he seems to have gained a certain amount of unobtrusiveness. He hesitates when asked of Douglas what he has done with his life. This is the only time that Douglas has ever sensed a kind of reluctance from Harry's side. This could indicate, that maybe he's learned to think things through before showing off.
But other things points towards the understanding that they still have this strange thing between them. Several incidents give the reader (and Douglas) the clue that maybe Harry still feels angry about the harassment. Just the fact that he mentions how thankful he with an ironic tone is for having been bullied, calling the day forty years ago spent in the treetop the "...happiest day..." of his life. He also plays on the fact that Douglas is starting to feel guilty once again even though many years have passed and Harry has achieved success anyways. When asked by Harry if he can see anything in the top of the tree in the lobby of Harry Hinds' building Douglas replies with a "nope". Of course there's nothing there, but still Douglas sees the outline of a pair of pants, remembering Harry's pants on the highest branch of the schoolyard tree. By saying that he sees it clearly, Harry insinuates a kind of testament to the fact that he has remembered the episodes of bullying even better than Douglas. This also comes to show in the end where Harry most conspicuously tells Douglas that he hasn't lived a day without thinking about it. He has been affected for life, and maybe this is what keeps the resentment alive.
When Harry suddenly disappeared from one day to another the 9th grade bullies experienced scruples, which they had never felt before. Douglas, the narrator, regrets being responsible for what consequently led to the episode, where Harry peed the other pupils from the highest branch of the schoolyard tree. When telling the story many years have passed and Douglas is no longer young. He's turned the corner of five decades some time ago and is now an old man. It's not said how old he really is, but when confronted with Harry many years later, he mentions that it has been over forty years, since they last met. Douglas says in the story that he doesn't know whether Harry had planned the whole incident down to every detail. It might as well have been an act of pure and sudden genius. But he is sure of the affect it had on the boys who had bullied Harry. Suddenly the conscience came into play. The children who used to make fun of Harry and harassing him begin to feel sorrow. Their conscience hasn't been a factor before, because Harry didn't give it any reason to make the others think twice about their actions. To some great extent it was his own fault, since he didn't keep the rules. The main trigger that Harry had broken the absolute rules. These rules have to be obeyed if one wants take part in some kind of social environment. Harry, as well as any other person, had to limit himself so that others won't feel disturbed by his presence.

The title has various purposes and significances. To begin with it gives the reader an insight knowledge that some way a tree is going to play a part in this story. It could be either literally or in another more figuratively way. The tree is like the centre of both the most important part in Douglas' as well as in Harry's life. This is where their future life was moulded. The significance is overwhelmingly clear. It's where everything changed, when Harry taught his pesky fellow pupils a lesson in bullying by peeing on them. When deciding to pee on the ones below him, Harry abandoned the chance of him living a normal life. From now on he would be making his victories by not caring about the ones below him. Douglas was affected when his conscience made him suffer in the painful ignorance of not knowing what happened to Harry. If it had not been for the tree, their lives and careers would have looked very different.
Another interpretation of the tree could be that it depicts Harry's intellectual position. He's without comparison the most intelligent boy in his school. All the others are inferior to him. Thus they are under him in the tree of intellect, hence: Harry being "The Highest Branch on the Tree".

Bullying is not unusual and can be motivated by a great variety of causes. People are easily provoked to harass others. It is mainly known among school children but it happens among adults as well. As soon as a person is different from the majority it can cause others to become antagonistic. In the case of this story Harry was intellectually more advanced than other children at his age. And not being the least discrete about it caused jealousy to arouse. Soon it got even worse, because he responded by being arrogant. Instead of showing some kind of inferior behaviour, which might have ended the harassment, he grew to a state where the others became so annoyed by his superior behaviour that they went all the way. But Harry still won, because he never showed his defeat. He didn't ever come back to the school.

Section C: About displaying one's intellect

Most of the time people tend to dislike men and women who start out by openly showing their superior intellect, when meeting new people. They seem to be offended by what they see as self-important behaviour. It's never a good idea to begin new acquaintances by telling people how stupid they are. And this is exactly what one does when openly declaring his or her superior intelligence. There are certain unwritten rules to be thought of when people try to get on with each other without disturbing any. If some kind of disturbance takes place on the expense of others people will not hesitate to, often indirectly, make the person causing the disturbance aware of this. Throughout our lives we learn to intercept these signals and we thereby get better at behaving in a social environment. But under some circumstances people either don't care what the norms of the group, which they try to be a part of, are, or they simply don't notice the indirect hints given. This could cause harassment because the others get so annoyed they begin to feel anger.
Thus, displaying one's intellect should be allowed to some extend depending on the circumstances and the signals sent by the surrounding environment. As people get more familiar with the person having for instance a higher IQ, they will be more receptive to their acquaintance showing his or her intellect. Among friends it shouldn't be a problem at all.

Most people with unusual (the Mensa percents) high IQ than average have a tendency to think less of themselves. They are more aware that some things they just don't have the qualifications to take active part in; that being for instance brain surgery, politics, sports or rocket science. It's like the Greek philosopher, Socrates, who said that he was of the wisest, because he was aware that he knew nothing compared to all the information there is. The more average person, however, tend to think too much of himself when asked. Only the people who have considered and understood their limited knowledge are truly wise. Intelligence is nothing more than a talent, like the talent to become a good carpenter, for instance. Intelligent people should always consider their limitations before they boast that they are so superior and show some modesty instead. Otherwise they'll have problems fitting in because people will tell them the hard way that they shouldn't brag.