莫平的英文私塾

有好一陣子沒有繼續這個系列了. 剛看完蔣勳的 "九歌: 諸神復活" 與新版 "吳哥之美," 覺得這個人看事情的角度真是有趣.

p. 46: 如果我們用先入為主的善惡觀去要求文學作品要 "文以載道" 時, 文學就會失去過程的描述, 只剩下結局. 我從小受的作文訓練就是如此, 先有結局, 而且都是制式的結局, 例如過去連寫郊遊的文章, 最後還是要想起中國大陸幾億受苦受難, 水深火熱的同胞.

If we require literature to bear doctrines composed of presumptions about good and evil, there would be nothing but conclusions left. The main body of the work would be lost. This is how I was trained to write my compositions when I was little. Conclusions - typical conclusions - predominated. For example, even when I wrote about an excursion, I had to end it with cliches like "We must remember hundreds of millions of our fellow Chinese in mainland China that are deeply suffering from tyranny and dictatorship."

p. 47: 現在小學生寫作文, 已經不寫拯救大陸同胞的八股教條了, 但是不是就有思考了呢? 我很懷疑. 事實上, 今日社會事件的報導...都還是先有結局. 一到選舉時更明顯, 都是先有結局再搜羅證據.

School children nowadays don't write such cliches as saving fellow Chinese in mainland China anymore in their compositions. Does that mean they are encouraged to think? I doubt it. In fact, in news reports about what happens in our society, the conclusion still precedes the development of the story. This is most obvious during elections. The conclusion comes out before any evidence-gathering begins.

個體的獨立性應該表現在敢於跳脫大眾的語言, 說出懷疑和不同的思考方式...我們的社會需要更多的孤獨者, 更多的叛逆者.

The individuality of a person should be exhibited through daring to depart from the language of the mass, through expressing skepticism and different ways of thinking...Our society needs more loners and rebels.

p. 52: 孤獨感的一個特質 -- 旁人無法了解, 只有自己知道.

One of the characteristics of solitude is that no one but yourself can understand it.

p. 53: 我想, 人有一部分是人, 一部分可能是鸚鵡, 一部分的語言是有思維, 有內容的, 另一部分的語言則只是發音.

I think people are part human, part parrot. Part of our language is well thought out and has substance. The other part may simply be articulation.

p. 55: 孤獨和寂寞不一樣. 寂寞會發慌, 孤獨則是飽滿的, 是莊子說的 "獨與天地精神往來".

Solitude is different from loneliness. Loneliness causes anxiety. Solitude, on the other hand, is a feeling of fullness -- the "bonding with heaven and earth" as described by Zhuang-zi.

有時候我會站在忠孝東路邊, 看著人來人往, 覺得城市比沙漠還要荒涼.

Sometimes when I stand on the side of Zhongxiao East Road and watch people come and go, I feel that the city is bleaker than the desert.