蓦然回首

蓦然回首：读李翊云的小说
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers

要修改,先撤下来. 谢谢大家阅读,评论.

To Swap, or Not to Swap :)

Did not like the game Yankee Swap from the first time I played it. I just don't get it. Why people have so much fun doing it is beyond me. :)

But I bought a present for the office holiday party any way and am still hestitating whether to participate in it or not. I'm a groupie - how could I miss such a great opportunity to make fun of the guys?

On the other hand, I've made quite a few enemies around the lab. :) Dealing with them one by one, they are not my match. But what if they all team up against me?　Then I would be in trouble. :) We'll see if I could gather up enough courage when it is the time. :)

Meanwhile, things are hectic around here. The holidays are coming but guys are all stressed out. The code ain't working, the boss is mad, and the presents they got for their wives and kids might not be to their liking.

C'est la vie. :)

为了女性，溜冰 :)

还真有神的，开玩笑说 Thoreau 如果活着会写Blog，结果Dean 还真找到一个Blog:

blogthoreau.blogspot.com :)

也不管发贴人是否开玩笑，正好自己也有感而发，就回了一贴。

http://my.cnd.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=42399&forum=2
Alibaba: 此期华夏文摘“冰上的飞翔”，霍桑溜冰，也许和他写书一样，是出于对女性的同情吧？

阿里巴巴，你这个问题带不带陷阱？

简单地回答，不是。

啰唆地回答，更不是。象我在我的短文里说的，他们三个就是在那里玩耍，having a good time, 象三个小男孩。和他同情不同情女性没有关系。

作为读者，我们往往容易把简单的事情复杂化，reading too much into 别人的作品。尤其是名人的作品。其实，读得越多，越发现他们作品中反映出来的与常人无异的平常之处。这些平常之处不是降低了他们在我心中的地位，而是把他们拉得更近。

其实，这三个人里，霍桑是最“俗气”的，尘心最重。梭罗最“出世”，爱默生在“出世”和“入世”间的平衡保持得最好，只有霍桑最摇摆，最两极：他的作品最浪漫、最出世，现实生活中却最“钻营”。他写作，好象是因为心中块垒太多，不得已而为之。他先是作了几年的海关官员，后来因为政府换届丢了职位；成名之后，因为大学同学皮尔斯当了总统，他又去英国作领事。

所有三个人都是十分 down to earth 的。霍桑和梭罗都穷，总是在为钱发愁；爱默生稍微富一些，但也经常干庄稼活：他每天中午之前读书写作，下午一点之后要么在菜园、果园里耕作，要么去林子里散步。他的日记里，除了高深的哲学，也有土豆的收成和新摘的水果的香甜。

如今的 Old Manse 门口，还保留着他们当年的菜园，种着蔬菜瓜果。霍桑搬来之前，梭罗已经帮他把菜园子种好；梭罗住在瓦尔登的时候，种的青豆，垄子有七英里长。

Woody Allen: Mighty Aphrodite

Woody Allen always (well, most of the time) chooses a tall blonde to be his heorine. And he makes her inevitably fall for him one way or another. :) Why not, he is not beefy or brawny enough to be her pick, but he is brainy and witty and blubbish and by some little twist of FATE she always falls for him. After all, he is the writer, the director and the leading actor - so why not play God and embezzle some good fortune. :)

In this one he made both Lenny and Linda feel like a couple of absolute losers after his wife told him that she was moving out and her boyfriend just found out her background and walked out on her. :) Loser consoles loser and it ain't your typical pity sex. :)

The Greek Chorus was indeed hilarious. My favorite was Zeus' answering machine. :) Reminded me of a joke: A Priest and a Rabbi were arguing about something. The Priest said he was going to call God to ask Him about what to do. The Rabbi said: Use my phone. It's local. ;)

So Lenny Weinrib played God and he made it all work out for every little people in the movie. Well, if God is not actually doing it, why not a short and skinny and awkward and cowardice Jewish movie maker. :)

Fourteen, thanks for recommending it. I'll go to bed with a big smile on my face and will be smiling when I dig myself out of the snow tomorrow morning. :)

如何糟蹋爱默生 :)

Oh boy. There are bad movies, then there are REALLY REALLY bad movies. :)

Le Divorce :) Kate Hudson is never going to be as good as her mother.

This is supposed to be one of the punch lines in the movie, and it's a quote of the omniscient Emerson:

"Lovers are a pastime one tends to outgrow. a hobby that finally becomes a bore." Got to check if he really said that. :)

"Every hero becomes a bore at last." Yes, he did say this, in "Uses of Great Men":

http://www.rwe.org/comm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=177

Pride and Prejudice

Never enough of the British drama, never enough of Jane Austin ... Darcy was handsome - he has to be. Liked his eyes. Cold but passionate. A little boyishly shy and charming at times.

The reason for his arrogance was not convincing. Don't know how to talk to strangers? :) The unpleasant social circumstances of Elizabeth makes her more sensitive. People feel inferior to him because he has all the reasons to be proud and arrogant.

Elizabeth has too much facial movement, thus not as elegant as the original one. But she is so young: Keira Knightley was born in 1985. :)

Donald Sutherland is superb. Always liked him, and like him still more in this role. His powerful presence has negated the disdain that people might have for the family. His wife is nothing new - you feel sorry for her, but I don't think she has contributed anything new to the story.

Mr. Collins is certainly comic. And disgusting. Oh life is so unfair. It has made many Mr. Collinses and then one Mr. Darcy to make them all look ridiculous and ugly. :)

Keira Knightley: Elizabeth Bennet
Donald Sutherland: Mr. Bennet
Matthew MacFadyen: Mr. Darcy

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414387/quotes

张爱玲译爱默生选集

张爱玲译爱默生选集

第五章 书信 一 寄丽蒂亚-杰克逊 (1835年2月1日，于康柯德)

我的一个智慧的导师爱德门-柏尔克说：“一个智慧的人，他的话虽然是 真理，他总把它说得不太过份，那么他可以说得时间长一点。”你在我 心中唤起这种新感情，它的性质也许会使别人害怕，却使我喜欢，它这 种安静，我认为是保证它能够永久不变。

我在星期五非常愉快，因为我 现在的地位仿佛是你家庭的一员了，而我们彼此间的了解一直在增长着，然而我去了又来了，而始终没有说出一句强烈的话---也没有作过一次热情的表示。这并不是预先计划好的，我仅只是顺从当时的倾向，顺从事实。

有一种爱情，因为对真理与博爱感到关切，反而把个人放在一边，不断地暂缓实现个人的期望(其实这种期望或者也似乎是合理的)，因而音调转变了，这样的爱我觉得它有一种庄严伟大。你不要以为我是一个抽象的爱人。

我是一个人，我憎恨并且怀疑那些高雅的过份的人；大自然，我们善良的养母，她利用最家常的愉快享受与吸引力将她的孩子们拉拢在一起，这家常的一切都引起我的共鸣。然而我还是非常快乐，因为在我们之间，最持久的联系是最先造成的；以这为基础，无论人性要生长出什么别的关系，都可以生长出来。

我母亲非常喜悦，问了我关于你的许多话，有许多问题都是我不能答复的。我不知道你可会唱歌，可会读法文，或是拉丁文，你曾经住在什么地方，还有许多别的。所以你看，没有别的办法，你必须到这里来，在战场上忍受她的询问的炮火。

在今天早晨的凛冽但是美丽的光明中，我想着，亲爱的朋友，我实在不应当离开康柯德。我必须争取你，使你喜爱它。我天生是一个诗人，无疑地是一个低级的诗人，然而仍旧是一个诗人。那是我的本性与天职， 我的歌喉确是“沙哑”的，而且大部份全是以散文写出来。然而我仍旧是一个诗人---这里所谓诗人只是一个人，他能够感觉到而又挚爱灵魂与物质中的音乐，从尤其是---与物质的音乐之间相符之处。落日，树林，风雪，某一种河上的风景，在我看来比许多朋友都重要，它们通常与书籍分占我一天的时间。像康柯德这样的城市总有一百个，在那些城里我 都可以找到这些必须的东西，但是我恐怕普利茅斯不是这样的城，普利茅斯是街道；我住在广阔的郊野里。

但是这件事留到以后再说吧。如果我能够顺利地预备好星期四关于布纳罗蒂的演词，我就在星期五到普利茅斯来。如果我失败了---不能达到这 人的“意象”---我星期四就说一点关于路德的事，那我就不知道我什么时候能偷闲来一次了。

最亲爱的，原宥这整个一封信里的自大。他们不是说，“爱情越多，越 是自大”？你应当用同样的自大，用更多的自大作为报复。写信，写信 给我。我还要请求你，亲爱的丽蒂亚，在这件事上也听从我鄙陋的劝告，不要去想眼前的事，让天风吹去你的消化不良症。 华尔多-E

http://www.xys.org/xys/ebooks/literature/prose/Emerson/letter.txt

秋收季节 —— Code Freeze :)

总算马上要“冻码”了。

突然觉得自己象个老农：看看天，耙耙地，撒撒肥，浇浇水，然后就等着秋收季节。

“收获季节，谷子成堆。各家各户，鸡鸭小心。”忘了是哪个电影里的了。:)

可是，我们收获不到麦子。收不到金黄灿烂的麦子，闻不到馨香扑鼻的稻花香。

海子总是梦想着金黄的麦田里，那金黄的麦浪。:)

Turandot

昨天又看了一遍 Turandot。张艺谋导演的，在故宫里演出。还不错啊，最大的感想：歌剧还是应当去歌剧院里看。或者镜头不要对着演员那么近。:)

最大的收获，是娃娃们也跟着看。看到 Liu 死时，大毛竟热泪盈眶。二毛不断地说：这是在北京，不是在长城。:)

其实，真正的中国童话，最后胜利的往往不是男女之间的爱情，而是亲情、人伦、忠孝。

http://www.operaitaliana.com/opera_italiana/schedaopera.asp-ID=6&IDOp=36&Lingua=0.htm

A CHINESE FAIRYTALE
ABOUT THE VICTORY OF LOVE
……

Act Three
Turandot uses all her power and cruelty to find out Calaf's identity. Timur and Liù, who have been seen together with the Prince are bound and tortured.

Turandot witnesses Liù's determination not to betray Calaf even under torture - after proclaiming that only she knows Calaf's name but will not say it out of love for him, she stabs herself. Her death shocks all, including the Princess.

Turandot still fights her feelings of love. The stranger kisses her passionately and she realizes that, in fact,she loved him from their first encounter.

Calaf tells her his name, placing his fate in her hands. She announces that she has the answer she has been looking for "His name is Love".

Liù's death was not in vain - the people of China celebrate!