TGG - Weekly Note
1 - 阅读感悟
（1）关于读书会。
读书会很让我惊喜，这并非是奉承奉承老师，而是要夸夸我们的同学。一千个人就会有一千种看法，在设定标准答案的应试教育下，我们对此的体会应该都不深。但因为读书会要求看别人的笔记，所以我看到，同样评论一段话，观点可能南辕北辙，无所谓对错，都是与作者交流中迸发出的火花，很精彩。
比如关于苏东坡考试时杜撰的那段话：
The judges read the story, but dared not question it, because it amounted to their admitting not having read its omewhere in one of the obscure ancient texts.So SuTungpo was passed.
... ...
“Well that was what the sage emperor would have done,wasn't he?”replied Su Tungpo.
读这段时，我当时的remarks是How lucky he is! But it's totally make sense if you heard about the story - the Emperor's New Clothes. And Su Tungpo may get caught if he take exams nowadays as the internet will help the judges.
同样的一段话，有人想到了联机学习者，看到了苏东坡透过现象看本质，抓住贤君讲话的套路，所以才能把考官给糊弄过去。
（2）关于翻译。
于我而言，古文和英文学得都是半斤八两。而林语堂确实精通古文和英文的学者，所以在读林语堂写的英文原著，既学习了英文，翻过来也学习了古文。例如Chapter 6中林语堂翻译苏东坡的诗：
人生到处知何似，应似飞鸿踏雪泥。
泥上偶然留趾爪，鸿飞那复计东西。
"To what can human life be likened?
Perhaps to a wild goose's footprint on snow;
The claws' imprint is accidentally left,
But carefree, the bird flies east and west."
一方面，林语堂的翻译反映了他对诗歌的理解，反过来帮助我理解了诗。另一方面，林语堂的翻译也让我看到了诗歌翻译的局限性，“雪泥”——“泥上”——“东西”，这种诗词的韵律美是很难用英文表达出来，这也是为何诗歌那么美，却无法称霸全球。
同理，要读懂英文原著的美，也得从原文入手。比如林语堂在preface中写的“Once at a great court ceremony, in the presence of all the high officials, he made fun of a certain puritanical neo-Confucianist and stung him with a phrase which made the victim smart, and for which he suffered the consequences.”中的sting和smart。
还有Chapter 5里面“Naturally, these regions were uninhabited and uninhabitable.”里面的uninhabited和uninhabitable。
此外，林语堂在写中国地名的时候用的时威妥玛拼音（Wade-Giles romanization），不是汉语拼音。比如四川译成是Szechuen，所以看到原著里的译名时，要绕个圈才能反应过来。
（3）关于生词。
由于阅读量不小，所以这次读原著时，我改掉了逐个查生词的习惯（因为没时间）。但这也让我把精力集中到了个别自己觉得重要的单词上，看别人笔记也补充了很多词汇。单词学习因人而异，在此就不整理赘述了。
分享一个读原著的生词学习方法给大家。读原著时，第一遍看到生词时，不要马上查字典，，而是根据上下文猜这个词的意思。做好标注后，继续阅读，等阅读完之后，再集中查生词意思，既能回顾而且省时。而且猜词义再核对，印象深刻。
（4）关于英文写作与原著赏析。
“这是林语堂用中文写的还是用英文写的？”起初，很多人都会有过这样的疑惑。因为林语堂这个中国人的英文写作实在是太地道。比如“Young Mrs. Su Tungpo was by position and aged the senior”，如果是我，相同的意思我可能会表达成“Young Mrs. Su Tungpo was older than her and possessed a higher position.”，高下立判。而且林语堂在描写苏东坡的风格地位时，熟练列举了中英文的诗人做比较，简直比外国人还专业。
阅读过程中，关于阅读这回事也有所领悟。一直都想读《How to Read A Book》这本书，在阅读过程中发现老师分享了这本书的一些阅读指导，很受用，明年一定要好好拜读下。
2-Summary
The first week's reading covers all chapters in the childhood and youth part and a chapter in the early manhood part.In these chapters, Su Tungpo’s family and living environment are detailed, as well as several things that influence Su Tungpo’s exams and career.
Su Tungpo was born in a well-to-do family. His personality and capacity for wine was inherited from his grandpa. His father was talented and made a good example of writing simplicity. With his father and brother, Su Tungpo set out for the capital for the examinations and official ambition.Within lines, I know that Su Tungpo is much talented than I’ve ever known. School textbooks reveal little about his great personality and his life，which I think is the basis of being an excellent poet.
As a new bird, my first week’s reading is not easy for me because of bunches of new words and lack of background information. But it feels great to insist reading and do some writing day by day.
