这是刚给一位朋友发的邮件，转抄如下（其中第二部分是去年写给另外一位朋友的）：

近来可好？
时而收到你的来信，经常让我捧腹或深思。谢谢。
你偶尔转发的讯息属于chain mail，其中不乏有意义者，我深知你是好意，但是我提醒一句，如果那些讯息的后面带了一条尾巴，说如果（在某个时限之前）不转发出去，就会遭报应，那么这种讯息就是恶意的。
我凡是看到这样的讯息，无论号称是达赖喇嘛的圣言，还是一些小资味儿十足的无病呻吟，我一律删除。
原因很简单：
心中有佛，百毒不侵。
我一般不会告诉转发者这其中的奥秘，因为对于大多数人来说，这只是玩玩，事实上也无大碍，反正既不会给转发者带来好运、也不会给删除者带来厄运，我也没这个精力，就这事儿一而再再而三地跟人较/叫真。
但你既然是我的朋友，我想也许你想知道我的想法，所以跟你提一下。
另外，我曾经在去年给我的一位同事发了一封回信，现摘录如下。如果你同意我的观点，而转发者是好朋友（因此不会冒犯他/她），你不妨将我写的东西给他/她看看。

是的，一个人的运气是可以改变的，但靠的是心，靠的是摒除贪嗔痴（greed, resentment, delusion），而好笑的是，如果将这些连环邮件的内容分析一下，里面是贪嗔痴三味俱全！

新年快乐！下次来香港告诉我哟，放心，我不会板着脸跟你说大道理的！

________________________________________

If you come across similar chain mails in the future, especially if they are malicious (e.g. telling you that you'll go to hell or have bad luck if you cut the chain), just send them back to the senders with the following message:

For English, you can say:

My destiny is determined by my oneness with God, not by a set of man-made symbols strung together by some ill-intending, pathetic losers. By cutting this chain, I'm doing a service for the Good and for God, so my luck will only get better.

For Chinese, you can say:

自性本空，因念成体，念正身直，来去无碍。心理阴暗的小人，躲在网络的角落里，玩一些幼稚愚蠢的小把戏，想通过这种手段来平衡自己在现实生活中的不如意和失败，是自欺欺人，最终只能给自己带来厄运，因为别人多传一次，原创者的业障就增强一次。所以我来斩断这条链，是为了原创者的好，你应该谢我！切切！

You see, if we keep sending the message back, it'll eventually reach the original author and wake him/her up!

前几天做一个关于医学教育的研讨会，与会者当中有一位来自广西医学院的教授，名叫冷静，是一位女士。

午餐时，她告诉我她爷爷叫冷自然，姐姐叫冷相宜，最绝的是她爹，叫冷耐寒。

太好玩了。

另外，这几天香港主办世贸部长级会议，闹事者以韩农为主，从开幕前夕直至昨晚闭幕，日日有“节目”（香港人把“活动”叫做“节目”）、晚晚有新招。

从报纸的头版标题就可以看出来了：

第一天：世贸开幕，警民肉搏

第三天：三步一叩首，韩农很温柔

昨天的红字标题就四个字：

湾仔沦陷

上个星期天，我将以前翻的那段顺口溜贴到我们的校友网站上，让大家乐一乐。引来以下这段对话：

姚：
阿季的译法无懈可击，只是略嫌文雅，特别是“身体不好”一句，是不是可以改成”我的什么什么不是一根好枪“一类的，意思也出来了，也顾了押韵。

我连忙改了一下：
Till I got to Beijing, I'd never realized my position was so lowly
Till I got to Dalian, I'd never realized I had married too early
Till I got to Hainan, I'd never realized my you-know-what was not such a great gun
Till I got to Hong Kong, I'd never realized my life of poverty was sealed and done

And, alas,
Till I got to Taiwan, I'd never realized that the Cultural Revolution was still raging, with all the fun

姚：
果不其然，第二版本看了让人神清气爽！人生郁闷为本，段子是乱世中国（也有人说是盛世中国）特定产物，译法不可太过文雅。很象过去的军阀张宗昌写诗，一句“大炮开兮轰他娘”让人痛快淋漓。电视剧《亮剑》大行其道正是这个原因。

这时来了一位“陈博士”，根据内容，估计就是老同学当中的首富、现居德国慕尼黑的那一位，他说：
我说点题外话:
目前中国的国情跟xx所描述得大致相同.顺口流的绝妙之处正是夸张之中蕴含真理.我认为中国目前并没有意识形态的争斗, 安定团结发展经济的党纲似乎只讲金钱物质, 没有精神境界的安慰.人的灵魂没有寄托,也就是没有意识形态,更谈不上斗争. 中国是我所认识的国家中最最金钱万能的国家.
谁在关心自己的灵魂?
谁还在关心人们意识的健康?
有谁能站出来跟金钱万能的假意识形态作斗争?

错觉1:
意识形态并不都是"阶级斗争"的文革意识. 国家和民族一定需要超物质的意识形态来规范自己的行为.传统美德的召回,古典伦理道德品质时间意义上的现代化, 这也许是中国目前精神文明的本质内容.
错觉2:
只有在物质的极大丰富的基础上才能生出精神文明. 典型的马列主义物质决定意识生产力决定生产关系的教条主义!德国是一个没有资产阶级革命的资本主义国家,徳意志的文明来源于教育和修养.是GOETHE和SCHILLER时代的有关美的哲学修养了整整一代新人,塑造了一个现代文明的国家.这正是意识形态救国论的典范. (你们千万别把HITLER与德意志划等号!)
错觉3:
精神的贫困,智慧的孤独,唯我独醒的痛苦并不都是物质匮乏的结果.我更相信有钱人并不都幸福的真知灼见.

照顾好你的意识,教育好你的小孩.

我看到之后回了以下一贴：
精湛，耳东博士！真是醍醐灌顶。扑面而来的是德意志文化的那种“脑筋的认真”和“道德的认真”。

这两者做到了，才能真正对得起自己。这是我个人的体会。最近像发现新大陆似的意识到，一个非常简单而艰巨的入门修为就是：

慎独

这两个字，分量有千钧。

在这个时代生活的我们，脑袋里有不少嗡嗡的杂音：Oh, just relax; loosen up; pamper yourself; 别跟自己过不去；与时俱进吧；云云。

这些话在特定的语境中，都没错。

但在其他语境中，它们就是慎独的障碍。

它们就是北京的乌纱香港的票、大连的模特海南的妞在我们耳边的娓娓细语......

就此打住。只是借着陈博士的话题发挥一下。

未成君子却终日乾乾的xx

今天的会议太有意思了，非写下来不可。为Negroponte教授又做同传又做交传，既荣幸又过瘾。

Nicholas Negroponte是麻省理工学院媒体实验室（Media Lab）的创办人。他是信息数字化（digitization of information）和媒体交集/融合（convergence of media）的理论先驱和实践大师。两个星期前为他在突尼斯翻过一次，印象很深。这次是机缘巧合。

如今他奔走在世界各地，向政府推销他的“一童一电脑”（One Laptop Per Child）计划，并展示这个计划的关键产品：成本一百美元的笔记本电脑。今天是继突尼斯之后首次在亚洲展示。他和另外一位教授详细解释了他们如何将成本压得这么低，一言以蔽之：创新。

一项一项地说，恐怕要写到深夜。举几个例子吧。趁我还记得一些内容。

这种电脑只比课本大一圈，但既有彩显又有标准键盘、手写板，电源来自四节一号充电电池，内置发电机，用曲柄将机械能转化成电能，曲柄效率为1比10，即摇上一分钟可供普通使用10分钟（例如文字处理、上网、电邮收发、画画等），如果只是看书，可以看上半小时到一小时。看书时，将键盘部分折到屏幕后面，就像书一样拿着，而有些键这时就可以用其余四指操纵，翻页、移动光标均可。

最绝的是彩显。它其实是有色彩的黑白屏：用的是廉价的黑白液晶显示器，但在里面夹了一层折射片，黑白就变成彩色的了。将DVD反过来，放在强光下晃一晃就能看到斑斓的彩虹。原理就是这个。太厉害了。成本节约简直令人瞠目，降到了30至40美元。

更绝的是网络功能，每台内置WiFi芯片，同村可以在没有基础设施的条件下联网，只要学校有一个网络接入站即可。有话筒有扬声器，可用作本村范围内的移动电话，进行Skype之类的长途通话更不用说了。如果被盗，拿出该村，机子里的一种软件立即将硬件锁死，变成废机。

不用硬盘，用闪存，省钱，空间为0.5吉兆，内存128MB，成本各为7美元。CPU由AMD提供，260MHz左右，成本不到1美元。操作系统为Linux，免费提供。

整机成本价：100美元。卖给政府后，由政府统一向贫困乡村的儿童提供，最终实现一童一机。他们设想，政府在这个过程中产生的开支，可以从中小学课本经费和全国的普世网络接入（universal access）预算中支取，因为纸质课本可以淘汰了。

中国和印度还在犹豫，巴西、泰国、尼日利亚已经一头扎进去了。一旦承诺了要买，就要开信用证了，不是闹着玩儿的。

Negroponte给教育部的人施加了一点压力：We hope China will be able to deploy this, so we are trying to convince the Chinese Government, but if China is not interested, we'll have to move on, cos there's so much demand out there. 我当时心想，哎呀，您别那么咄咄逼人嘛，于是行使了翻译的“酌情处理权”，把那个“恁要是不稀罕，俺就走人”的意思给“漏”了。

他在正式演讲时提到了他在柬埔寨的经历。几年前他自己掏腰包在Ebay网上买了50台笔记本电脑，送给柬埔寨的一个村庄，让他们发给村里的儿童。孩子拿回家，过了一夜，拿回学校，老师一看，根本都没打开过。一问，原来是家长不许他们碰，怕弄坏了。于是，老师就给写了条儿，让学生带回家，告诉家长，这些电脑是送给他们子女的，就是属于他们的了，尽管用。第二天晚上，家家户户都把电脑打开了，结果最感兴趣的是大人们。

为什么？因为，电脑成了家里最亮的光源！

这几年为数不过来的会议提供翻译服务，学到了不少东西，因为许多会议的内容都是某个行业或专业的精华浓缩。

也听到了不少至理名言。

印象最深的、最具震撼力的一个故事，现转述如下：

This is an old Red Indian tale.

On a starry night, in a mountain valley, a group of young children sit down around a bonfire, waiting eagerly to hear another story from their beloved Grandpa.

"Tonight, let me tell you a story of two wolves." So begins Grandpa.

"Yeah, we love wolf stories," cheer the children.

"You know, there are two wolves inside each one of us."

One of his grandchildren is puzzled, "Really, two wolves, in me? Where are they, Grandpa?"

"They are in your heart. They are in my heart. They are in your papa's heart and your mama's heart. They are in his, and his," Grandpa continues, "One wolf is kindness, patience, generosity, forgiveness. The other wolf is resentment, greed, selfishness, cruelty.

"These two wolves are always fighting, inside each one of us."

"Which one wins in the end, Grandpa?"

Silence.

Then comes Grandpa's reply,

"The one you feed!"

等待
等待

一位老汉，九十五岁了。坐在河沿，叼着烟斗，眯缝着眼看着远方。

这是我在电视系列片《巴蜀古镇》中看到的一幕。就在那一瞬间，我意识到了：

人生是一场长短不一的等待。

等什么？

表面的答案可能有很多。

但深一层的答案似乎跟“人生意义何在”这个问题的答案同样难以捉摸。

隐约之间，我却在这两个问题之间看到了一丝联系：

Maybe, just maybe, we are waiting, with lifelong patience (or impatience), for that very moment...

the moment when all things fall into place and we can MAKE SENSE of what LIFE is all about.

《两只蝴蝶》的歌词，试译如下：
亲爱的你慢慢飞
小心前面带刺的玫瑰
亲爱的你张张嘴
风中花香会让你沉醉
Mavourneen, fly slow
Mind the thorny roses as you go
Mavourneen, open your lips
Savour the wind-borne scent
Intoxicating in just a few sips
亲爱的你跟我飞
穿过丛林去看小溪水
亲爱的来跳个舞
爱的春天不会有天黑
Mavourneen, fly with me
Visit the gurgling brooks through many a tree
Mavourneen, let us dance
In the love-filled spring, darkness as no chance
我和你缠缠绵绵翩翩飞
飞越这红尘永相随
追逐你一生
爱你无情悔
不辜负我的柔情你的美
Flutter as love-birds, you and I
Beyond this mortal world, low and high
Chasing you on my wings that never slack
In the name of love, I never look back
(For I'm as amorous as you are gorgeous)
我和你缠缠绵绵翩翩飞
飞越这红尘永相随
等到秋风起秋叶落成堆
能陪你一起枯萎也无悔
Flutter as love-birds, you and I
Beyond this mortal world, low and high
When leaves fall to oblivion
In the autumn blast
Comes the bliss of withering with you
Breathing our last

Spiritual development.

Two questions, frequently asked.

(1) Why do I have to worry about my next life, my after life? I don't really know who my "predecessor" (previous incarnation) was and it doesn't seem to matter, does it?

(2) Why are we the way we are?

This is how I approach the first question.

I think my life is quite good. According to the theory of transmigration, this is the sum total of what my past lives did. Obviously, my previous incarnations didn't do too bad a job. I'm grateful to them.

Incidentally, could ancestral worship be a veiled form of worshiping one's former incarnations? Just a thought, but an interesting one, I believe.

I know my life can be "better" (however one interprets it), but I don't really strive for a "better" life. Maintaining and enjoying this life I have is more important (call me unambitious). Out of basic human decency and empathy, I would like my next incarnation to enjoy at least the same level of "goodness" that my current life seems to be blessed with. And, hopefully, with a little effort on my part, that being will have a "better" life. After all, that being will be a continuation of "me" and if I'm nice to my family and friends, I have no reason not to be "nice" to the future "me".

As for the second question, I believe it all boils down to "scale". We have five to six senses, out of many senses that we possibly can develop and employ. But for each sense, we have to allocate some resources. Therefore, we need to strike a balance, between maximising the number of senses that we possess to safeguard our survival, security and well-being and minimising the amount of energy we consume in order to mobilise those senses.

In other words, it's almost certain that the senses we KNOW we have are essential to our survival. But are they enough for our spiritual well-being? This is an open-ended question. Through meditation, we seem to be able to sharpen these "normal" senses and develop some extra ones. It's easy to assume that those extra senses are essential to our spiritual well-being, without which we are mere "living" organisms, not enlightened beings.

Imagine - the totality of this cosmos (including all dimensions, spiritual and physical) is projected onto a spectrum. We as average human beings have access only to the middle section of the spectrum (we can sense the vibrations occurring across a certain stretch of frequencies on that spectrum, which are palpable to us). Being aware of vibrations beyond this bracket is not essential to our physical survival. We have those senses so we can sense and avoid danger, and sense and find sustenance. That's why we are the way we are.

I don't want to discuss the "necessity" of spiritual pursuit here, as that's too personal.

Let's say you decide to make a foray into the spiritual realm by taking up a religion and/or following a spiritual master and/or practising meditation. Then you are exposing yourself to the rules of another realm, which presumably are rather different from those governing this reality. In this reality, most of us have from birth a complete set of senses tailor-made for this physical world. But when you embark on a spiritual path, it's unlikely that you are fully equipped with all the senses necessary to steer you clear of lurking perils in that other realm. In this reality, if you lost sight and hearing, you couldn't walk without aid. It would be life-threatening.

Maybe the same applies to the other realm? If that's the case, then it's clear why we have to be very particular about the path we choose to follow.

Your heart is your lodestar, they say. But how do you know your heart is not clouded?

My answer is: Meditation.

How do you know you are on the right path? My answer is: Don't choose a path yet, as long as you still have that question. Just be "watchful". Watch out, in particular, against two things:

Greed
Ego

Religion is attractive to many for two reasons:

(1) It offers an attractive proposition/deal.
(2) It fills a vacuum

By the same token, people go to religion for two reasons: either seeking to change their 'rotten' life (it's a transaction, with tangible benefits expected) or looking for something to eliminate a void in their life (once that void is gone, the believer will go back to being a non-believer, although he/she will never admit it). Or both.

Adopting a religious faith is not as easy as it sounds. One has to be very, very careful, if one is serious about one's spiritual well-being. If you are not serious about it, then why go to religion in the first place? Family heritage? Peer pressure? Fashion? Force of habit?

That's frivolity, if you ask me, and frivolity is an even graver danger, because you render yourself vulnerable to misguiding influences. Because you don't REALLY care.

Meditation should be made very simple. Strip it down to basics only and remember:

惟灭动心，不灭照心
但凝空心，不凝住心

The first line is an antidote for GREED and the second line, for EGO.

Through meditation, questions start to emerge. The right spiritual guide for you is the one who can answer those PARTICULAR questions of yours convincingly. Don't go for the "famed" grand master at the very beginning. If you do, it'll be little more than blind faith. In time, different guides will present themselves to you, when you are ready. As you stay the course, by bearing the two-line "mantra" in mind, your heart, and therefore your vision, will remain unclouded and you can see more and more of the "truth".

听说，在过去一个月里，余秋雨、余华这样的大作家都纷纷建立了自己的博客。掐指一算，咦，跟我建博客的时间差不多。看来有种能量漩涡正在兴风作浪，把许多人吸进去了，我也未能幸免。

那我就随波逐流吧。

这几天，针对精神的修为，有很多想法，正在梳理，成熟了再付诸笔墨。

前几天写的帖子给几位老同学看了之后，其中一位建议如下：

Jim asks:
"各显神通" 可否简单译为"..., each using his own theurgy."?

My reply:
谢谢Jim教我这个单词。原来是 "godly art/skill"之意... 要好好地翻译这句成语，显然应首选这个词。估计汉英辞典的编撰者也没想到这个词，是不是？

... like the legendary Eight Immortals who ferry themselves across the sea by invoking the unique theurgies they each possess -- i.e. people rise up to challenges in their own ways, as if wielding some unique magic power they each have.

这样如何？很罗嗦，但没有背景知识的人听了也能明白。

在今天的领袖人才培训班上，导师说到他当年供职的一家公司，管理混乱，毫无章法，他问他们：

Do you have a budget? They replied: No, but we have hurts.

我一愣，只好在中文句子中将hurts这个英文字照着说出来，同时拼命揣摩他的意思。他顿了一下，接着说：

Of course, for them, budget is the name of a car hire company and so is Hertz.

我赶快补充：“预算”这个词，在英语里是budget，而Budget又是北美和英国的一家租车公司的名字。他的同事听到budget，以为指的是租车公司，便说：我们这里没这家公司，只有Hertz租车公司。

我这么一解释，原话里的幽默荡然无存。但不解释又怎么行呢？我注意了一下，我的听众表情木然，再看一下听得懂英语的其他人，表情亦木然。晚饭时，有人好奇问起我如何处理工作中的一些难点，我就举了这个例子，他们居然根本不记得导师说过这句话，而他们是英语听力最强的几个。看来，这不是听力的问题，而是文化差异的问题。

就像今年早些时候我为仲裁庭做交传时，证人不愿正面回答对方律师的一个问题，是关于他手下的销售人员如何将功能、质量完全一样的产品，换个牌子之后卖出更高价钱的问题。他答道：我是董事长，不管具体的销售，至于销售部门如何推销公司的产品，我想他们自然是八仙过海，各显神通啦！

我当时把最后一部分作了这样的处理：As to how my sales people go about selling our products, I'm sure they each have some tricks up their sleeves.

那一节的证词结束之后，仲裁员之一（一位大名如雷贯耳的资深大律师）对美国律师说：“刚才证人用了一句成语，讲的是中国的一则神话故事，翻译翻得很好，但麻烦他将原文直译给你们听听，我觉得挺有意思的。”于是，我就遵命将“八仙过海，各显神通”当场翻了一下：They are like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each using whatever expedient is available to them.

美国律师互相看了一眼，点了点头（nodding knowingly, that is）。仲裁员又说：是呀，那八仙据说住在山东蓬莱，蓬莱我去过，很美。

休息时，速记员把我叫过去，让我把直译的那句成语再说一遍，因为她们当时来不及记。我又说了一遍，她们打好字，看了看，摇摇头， 说：还是不大明白到底是什么意思，还是你原来的译法比较好懂！

那是侥幸凭意译取胜的一例。有时，意译不如直译，尤其是在不知道说这话的人下面要说什么的时候，往往直译更取巧，你听不懂是你的问题，起码我可以避免陷入被动，例如著名的“小葱拌豆腐”事件（我听朋友说的）和“鱼与熊掌不可兼得”事件（我亲耳听到的）。

朋友质疑我的小发明“Ocutrak”（Ocutrak更像商标名，比原先起的Ocutrack好）的实用性，并要求我加以改进。我想了一下，其实眼球（瞳孔）跟踪是在幕后进行的，屏幕上没有可视的光标浮动，选取时可以改为踏板致动，这样脚也可以用上，双手可用来做其他事。要加亮一段文字时，只要踩住踏板，眼睛扫视，完了再放开踏板即可。

小时候很喜欢发明。有段时间在学拉小提琴（爸妈希望自己的儿子将来能成为像盛中国一样，在台上潇洒甩头发的琴手），由于我视唱能力很差，五音不全，全无音乐细胞，最终在外公的干预下，他们悻悻然地放弃了。但我对琴弓的构造产生了浓厚的兴趣，而且根据它的原理，用螺母、螺杆和罐头盒设计出了一种千斤顶。几天后，我在街上发现有辆卡车抛锚了，有人正在换轮胎，我赶紧趴下，看了一眼，顿时感到一瓢凉水从头顶浇下来：原来，这玩意儿已经有人发明过了！

为此我懊恼了好几天，所以至今还记得。

一位好友看完有关我父亲的帖子后，问了我一些问题。我拉拉杂杂写了一些，作为回答。现贴上。

The way I dealt with what happened to my family in the Cultural Revolution was to tell myself that my family, as a cell of the nation, had to go through the journey, together with the nation, towards modernity. It's an arduous journey, largely thanks to the legacy burden accumulated over millennia that arose from (a) a lack of generosity on the part of Nature and (b) the bondage imposed on the individual, as necessitated by the reality of being land-bound.

For me, it was a process of deliverance from bitterness and resentment. The person who helped me get there was none other than my father.

I remember the day he came home from prison.

We were living in a bungalow complex. It was more like a warehouse, divided into a row of rooms. We had a bedroom to ourselves, but shared the living room with a group of sent-down youth, whose bedroom faced ours. According to the villagers, our bedroom door had been taken from an unused coffin. They even showed my mother the holes in the door where coffin nails had been removed. Of course, they would have enjoyed seeing signs of terror in the eyes of this city girl, but they saw none. My mother later told me that she was horrified, but managed to mask her emotion at that point.

Right in front of the living room lay, from east to west, a chain of three grave mounds. We called them "The Three Big Mountains", alluding to Chairman Mao's famous metaphor. Beyond the "mountains" was a river and a bridge. I used to stand atop those mounds, a bamboo pole in hand, mimicking the boatmen punting their vessels in the river. That was my favourite pastime.

One day, I woke up from a siesta and heard his voice in the living room. I was trembling with joy and excitement, but didn't say anything. He was chatting with three villagers, who were obviously also happy to see him back and were curious about his experience, knowing that he had been released "not guilty".

Father was sitting on a low stool, back to the bedroom door. I sneaked up to him and sat down next to him. He turned round, acknowledged me, started stroking my head and carried on chatting with the visitors. I noticed he had a pair of nail clippers in his hand. I picked them up and studied them. They were tiny. On the front of the movable part (the reverse side of the file) was a glazed picture of a hammer, a sickle and Chairman Mao's quotation book. I noticed something unusual: The hammer was in the middle, the quotation book to its left and the sickle to its right. I remember saying to myself at that point - this is incorrect. Chairman Mao's quotation book should be the centrepiece!

That night, mother questioned father about some tiny, round scars on his face. They were faint, but visible. He said they were burns from lit cigarettes. It was part of the torture. He said it wasn't too painful. As far as I know, that was all he said about the torture.

Years later, we moved back to town and my parents were restored to their previous jobs. One evening, father said, "I saw Li Xiangyang in the street today."

Mother's face changed. "Did you go up to him and slap his face?"

"I didn't."

"What a wimp! I would have slapped him and spat in his face!"

Silence. Then father said, "They are also victims. I felt sorry for Li when I saw him."

After Deng Xiaoping returned to power, a campaign was launched to purge "Three Kinds of People". I cannot remember its definition. Li Xiangyang was one of the three kinds, I know, but father was very critical of that campaign. He said, "This is a case of repaying evil with evil. Most of those people were misled and now they are being singled out as fall guys. I think Deng is taking revenge on a huge number of people for the maiming of his eldest son, which was the doing of just a few."

That is why getting over the feeling of hate wasn't very difficult for me. In fact, the word "forgive" doesn't even apply here, because "forgive" necessarily puts "me" in the right and "him" in the wrong. But how do I know who's right and who's wrong? The trauma for me, as a child, stemmed from separation, isolation and despair. Full stop.

今年吃的唯一一只大闸蟹。

说起螃蟹，让我想起两年前跟几个朋友吃饭，我们点了大闸蟹。我边吃边抱怨：脚多、壳硬，吃起来忒麻烦。

身边的好友摇头太息：

人类真残忍，吃了人家不说，还嫌人家长得麻烦。

Having made a sweeping statement about the dietary inclinations of HK people, I must hasten to add that they do have a life-saving magic formula up their sleeves: Cantonese soup.

Some of their soup recipes are more medicinal than alimentary and can be off-putting, taste-wise, not to mention their interesting ingredients.

However, these recipes do work. Traditionally, the housewife/mother would throw the right combination of ingredients (depending on the season and weather conditions) into a tall, pot-bellied earthenware pot in the morning. It will then sit on a low flame simmering for practically the whole day. When husband and kids come home in the late afternoon/early evening, they are on autopilot and make a beeline for that pot.

If it's well made, the first sip would calm you down. Then you feel the energy settle into your lower abdomen and the antsy sensations, in your head and in your body, caused by the stress of the day simply fall off like autumn leaves.

Not surprising, because if you analyse the ingredients, you'll find that most of them are stuff that tonifies the yin energy, which is often in deficit among modern city dwellers.

在不远的将来，鼠标一定会被淘汰。取代它的是什么呢？不知道。

也许，到那时，光标会跟着你的眼球跑。要点击什么，就使劲儿挤一下眼睛，咦，金山词霸就把你要的对应词显示出来了。

这样不好，女士不喜欢，因为这样容易出现鱼尾纹。

还是用瞪眼点击比较好。好像经常瞪眼不会导致类似甲状腺亢进的症状，无后顾之忧。

起个名字吧。

就叫它 ocutrack。

点击也不叫hit或click，而是叫stare。点击率叫stare rate（瞪率）。非常人性化，我们平时看东西是扫视，感兴趣了，眼球就停住，瞳孔放大，瞪也。

People in Hong Kong typically have a low threshold for two things: hot weather and hot food.

Paradoxically, the overuse of air-conditioning only serves to raise the ambient temperature (i.e. creating hotter microclimate) and their penchant for what is termed "heaty" food (which causes symptoms and syndromes of excess) does exactly what spicy food does, i.e. depleting the body's reserve of yin energy which is vital to systemic equilibrium.

遥远的记忆里有两个人，不是时时能想起，但偶尔会闯进脑海。最近却好像挥之不去。想想，觉得应该写下来。

他们俩是爸爸坐牢时的传信人。

一个叫马长国，村里的闲散人员；另一个叫“大嫂”，公社看守所里烧饭的。

马长国之所以闲散，是因为他患有晚期肝癌，做不了庄稼活。他父亲是抗战时期当地有名的双枪将。马长国是独养儿子，上面有个姐姐。我至今记得马长国长得很白净，腆着个肚子（据说是肝腹水造成的），喜欢两臂交叉抱在胸前，右手不停地捋着下巴，下巴上稀疏地长着几根胡须，这几根胡须也就在他捋下巴的同时时常地被顺手拽几下。记得他的文化是高中程度，喜欢看书，经常跟我爸妈聊文学之类的话题。

有段时间，中央号召工人农民学哲学、讲哲学、用哲学，马长国听说了，神情鄙夷地哼了两声：“哲学？哼，哲学？就凭他们？”现在想来，他当年也算是个大snob。

爸入狱后，马长国凭着自己响当当的出身，常常去公社看守所附近转悠，希望能见我爸。从来没有成功过。我知道从村里到公社有七华里地，其间不乏独木桥和陷阱般的沤肥的大坑。他拖着病躯一趟一趟走那段路，一定不容易。后来他跟烧饭的“大嫂”搭上话了。大嫂第一次见到我爸就觉得他不可能是坏人，很同情这个戴着眼睛的白面书生，非常愿意帮忙。这样，她和马长国的地下工作就开始了。爸是抽烟的。妈通常将写好的小纸条塞进烟卷，再跟其它的香烟混在一起，包好，交给马长国。记得写的内容通常都是一些安慰的话，以及我写字有进步了之类的信息，有时也夹带我写的字。爸的回信就是一张小纸片儿，估计是瞅准机会塞给大嫂的。记得有一次的信中说我的字写得很好了，而给他看的是我写了n遍的“主席”二字。

有一次，大嫂传来紧急口信，说我爸有轻生念头。估计他不知该招什么，屈打之后也成不了招，急了。妈立即写了一封信，叫他挺住。这事儿就过去了。

再后来，爸被转到县城监狱进一步审问。途中允许回家看一下。预先没有通知，汽艇就停靠在门前的岸边。从我妈告诉我“你爸被押来了”那一刻起，直到他们乘汽艇离开，我一直没抬头，死命抵抗着抬头看看爸的欲望，只是在练习簿上继续练字。清楚记得爸抱着我的头，眼泪滴在我的头发里，我的眼泪吧嗒吧嗒落在练习簿上，而我反复抄写的却是“兴奋”二字！

汽艇咆哮着箭一般离去时，我冲到门口，从牙缝里蹦出几个字：简直就像反动派警车的声音！

爸出狱并平反后（获“赔偿金”90元，我还记得，因为村里的一个聋子问他拿了多少赔偿金，我爸用手语告诉他的），我听见他跟妈商量了一阵，后来去扯了几匹布送给了大嫂，给马长国的，我记不清了，可能是一台收音机。

回城后不久，听村里来的人说马长国病故了。

国际组织谈判时，若一些国家的立场出现分歧，会议主席一般要求 interested 代表团进行 informal consultation，相互之间coordinate一下，目的是harmonise各自的立场，从而实现意见的convergence，甚至达成一个consensus。

上述的关键词我推敲了一下，觉得不妨翻译成以下的对应词：

会议主席要求感兴趣的/有关的/有利害关系的代表团进行非正式的磋商/碰个头，相互之间协调一下，目的是磨合各自的立场，从而实现意见的交集，甚至达成协商一致。

记得小时候当地村里的人说，如果你吃东西时有条狗一直盯着你，指望你给它施舍一点，你必须在自己吃满第一百口之前，给它一点，否则你就会得“嗝症”（后来经考证，据说就是指食道癌）。我当时就不信，而且猜测这肯定是狗主人编造的。

在狗的注视下进餐的经历相信每人都有过。

那么，在麻雀近距离的逼视下吃东西呢？

最后，我撒了一点面包屑给它，结果引来了一大群它的同类以及它的异类（鸽子）。不过鸽子什么都没吃到，动作不够麻利。

Although I'm at war with British Airways at the moment for their mishandling of my luggage, I still feel compelled to say a few nice words about the captain of our flight.

This picture shows him explaining the technical glitch that had kept our plane grounded for an hour or so. This is what he said:

"Did you hear what I was telling the other passengers? If you didn't, I'm quite happy to repeat it. Well, you see this little part in this plastic bag I'm holding... that's the culprit that caused the problem. There was a tiny leakage from this tiny part in the hydraulic pump. Our engineers identified the problem and went to the depot to get a new one. They've put the new one in now and they are running tests to make sure there's absolutely no more leakage. I'm expecting a call from them any moment now and I reckon you'll be able to board the plane in half an hour to 45 minutes. I do apologise for the delay, as this is our issue. I'm very sorry. I suppose these things do happen now and again."

He went from row to row. The passengers who decided to hang around the boarding gate while waiting were occupying about a dozen rows and the captain repeated the above explanation and apology as many times. In some rows, there were only two people.

This is what I call "transparency" at its extreme. While the whole exercise was rather touching, I thought he probably overdid it, as his first duty was to ready himself for the long flight ahead and this long litany of repeated explanations and apologies would no doubt sap his energy. It could have been left for someone else, like his co-pilot or, better still, a senior member of the ground crew!

Nevertheless, the captain deserved a thumbs-up!

Snapshot 1: I'm lining up at the cashier in a supermarket. When my turn finally comes, I exchange pleasantries with the cashier lady while she scans my items (a pack of four tubs of yoghurt, a bottle of fruit juice and a snack bar). She then totes up the prices on the machine and asks me if I have a loyalty card. I don't have one. She hits the final enter key and the sum is displayed. I study the amount on the small screen, reach into my pocket for my wallet... it's not in that pocket. I fumble in another pocket, then another. I find it. I open my wallet and pick up one of many credit cards. I insert it into the slot on the credit card terminal. The cashier reminds me that I've put it in the wrong way round. I apologise, pull it out and reinsert. Ha, it seems to have registered. I'm very efficient: While we are waiting, I pack my stuff into a shopping bag. That's done. The queue behind me grows. I turn round and give the shoppers behind me a friendly nod... not an apologetic nod, just a friendly one: For a brief moment, I wonder why they are all looking at me. I'm sure I look alright. We are all friendly people, aren't we? We like eye contact. Mmm, eye contact is so reassuring! After about 30 seconds, the machine still doesn't respond. On the cashier's advice, I withdraw the card and reinsert it. Another 30 seconds later, the printhead of the terminal starts working. I sign the receipt. End of transaction. I exchange thank-you and goodbye with the cashier. And off I go!

Snapshot 2: I'm lining up at the cashier in a supermarket, wallet in hand. I'm doing some preliminary calculations in my head for the items in my basket. "Next!" shouts the cashier. I quickly step forward and offload the contents of my basket onto the tiny space in front of the cashier. Without looking up, the girl mumbles "Good evening" and starts swiping my items over the scanner with one hand and throwing them into a shopping bag held open with her other hand. One bag is soon filled up. She opens another one and at that point, I notice that she's actually sorting the items into different bags. Suddenly, she stops, as the barcode on one item has obviously been damaged, so it doesn't scan properly. She buzzes for her supervisor, shouts something unintelligible across the shop and then continues scanning the remaining items. Eighteen seconds later, the supervisor is still nowhere to be seen. I grow impatient, as the cashier has finished her work and is also waiting. On the 20th second, the supervisor appears, holding another of the item with the damaged barcode. He courteously asks me to step aside, punches a key on the cashier's terminal, waves that item above the infrared beam and, as he hears the beep, walks off without a word. The cashier pushes another button. The sum is displayed. I hand her the banknotes from my wallet. Within seconds, the change is in my hand. The transaction ends with a quick thank-you to each other.

Snapshot 1 was taken in a supermarket in Ferney-Voltaire, France; Snapshot 2, in Hong Kong.

Recently, I realised I don't have a "hobby", something that I enjoy doing, something to kill time with that doesn't have a clear "purpose". Everything I do is either work or has a definable (usually "good") purpose, martial arts included.

I remember my father had a hobby, which he developed soon after he came out of prison. If I think about it now, he must have been deeply traumatised by his imprisonment and he developed that hobby to balance his state of mind. His other channel of "escape" was being with the fishermen, teaching them how to breed freshwater fish artificially, how to cultivate pearls and how to increase crab yield, among other things. He used to praise the untapped intelligence of fishermen's kids and attributed their cerebral excellence to eating copious amount of fish. He was later proven right, as scientific findings indicate that there's a correlation between the intake of sufficient phosphorus, which abounds in fish, and high IQ.

His hobby, which I'm talking about, was making miniature furniture, or models of furniture, like fancy tables and chairs, on a miniscule scale. He would make small parts, fit them together (with sockets and dowels, rather than screws and nails), sand them down, paint over them (first with clear varnish, followed by coloured paint), and lay a veneer over the top surface... everything that would go into a normal piece of furniture. After it was done, he would place them on a table, scrutinise them every day to see where he could make improvements next time and make more, better ones later. He also started cooking more and he honed his culinary skills to perfection. He practically monopolised the kitchen. "Get out of my way!" was his much-repeated mantra to hound me and my mother out of the kitchen.

That's why after his death, it took mother quite a while to get used to taking care of herself.

I landed in London around 6 am. As we were still in the air, about 3,000 m above sea level, I looked down and saw London (and its sprawl) in the twilight. It was a huge expanse, dark for most parts, but streaked with dense, meandering canals of lighting.

Suddenly, the picture reminded me of a plain at the foot of an invisible volcano, irrigated by molten lava!

I wish I had taken a picture. Will do next time.

On my new smartphone, there's a game called Jawbreaker. It's addictive! This is what Microsoft says abou it:


Jawbreaker
With Windows Mobile 2003™ software for Pocket PC you also get the great new popping puzzle game Jawbreaker™. If you thought Solitaire was addictive, then just wait until you try Jawbreaker!

How shall I describe it? Well, it's basically a matrix of 11 x 12 balls that come in five colours. They are randomly arranged in each new game. You remove them to score (1 point per ball for a pair cleared; two points per ball for a trio cleared; three points per ball for a cluster of four balls; and so on and so forth, creating potential for exponential scoring). But they are removable only when at least two are stuck together (i.e. adjacent to each other). The object is to clear all of them (which is simply impossible for beginners like myself) or to score as much as possible.

I've never played computer or video games really, due to a natural aversion to activities that are unrelated to work, knowledge accumulation or health enhancement. But this game is a special one.

In fact, I believe all the secrets to wealth generation are embedded in the game. Your predisposition, intellectual and, to a lesser extent, physical, is the colour. You may not know your strongest colour initially, but by comparing them against each other, you will soon identify some potential strengths. You then build up the critical mass of that particular colour by strategising every move. And preferably, you work from bottom up. The balls also represent the career opportunities that are out there. You identify your forte (i.e. the colour for which the largest cluster already exists) and build on it by bringing more balls of the same colour to the cluster.

The initial layout is random, analogous to our aptitude. You accept it and work on it. In fact, my higest scores were achieved in games where the opening looked depressingly unfortunate - the balls were evenly scattered and, therefore, there was no critical mass to build on.

In a word, it's a game rich with morals.

今天发现，其实穿高跟鞋的人永远是在走下坡路。看一下她们脚的角度就知道了。

接着再来谈谈《达芬奇密码》中的一个细节：

"The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet, in much the same way the Koran, Torah and Pali Canon offer guidance to people of other religions. If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that? Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that we have proof the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical."

If the story did exist that Buddha had not come from a human womb, but had sprung from a lotus flower, it would be as... er, irrational (let me not say "preposterous"), for want of a better word, as that famous Christian myth.

But to my knowledge, which is infinitely finite I have to concede, that so-called story about Buddha's holy, uncontaminated origin is not a widely known one. I believe most Buddhists and those who have a rudimentary knowledge of Buddhism are aware that he was a prince, born of a very human father and a very human mother (a mortal king and his equally mortal queen). Yes, he did seem to have a penchant for lotus flowers or for sitting on one, but I don't believe there was any serious attempt to celestialise his parents or to simply negate his earthly lineage and supersede it with the object of his floral preference.

The author's religious inclination is rather apparent. By the look of it, while he was exploding the "immaculate conception" myth of Christianity, gingerly, he was also trying to drag other religions down with it. Perhaps to strike a balance.

Sigh, Dan Brown 哪，Dan Brown，做人要“吼”道！

今天工作时主讲者提到富士康公司，我知道有个很熟的英文名字，就在嘴边，但那一刹那就是想不起来，只好跟着他把中文名字报出来。过后才想起，是Foxconn。真遗憾。
另外还有“餐标”一词，我愣了一下，本来估计是指预先定好的配餐预算标准之意，但他说不同的餐标，利润率是一样的，我纳闷了。脑子一转，这一秒钟就过去了，只好翻成：不同的餐，利润率差不多。我现在还是没完全弄懂，餐标不同，利润率怎么可能一样？鱼翅海参大餐跟蓝领快餐的利润率肯定不一样。不过，他的公司专门做机构送餐，因此餐标差得不会太多，而在这个范围内的差异，对利润率影响不大，因此公司只要一门心思多拿订单就行了。可能是这个意思。做交传可以问，做同传卡壳就是卡壳，没辙。
离开会场时，一位日语同事过来问我（用相当不错的、带日语腔的普通话）：你是香港人吗？我说：不是，我是江苏人。在南京出生和上学，扬州长大。她说：哦，扬州。我爸爸是北京人，妈妈是山东人。我表示惊奇。她加了一句：我是华侨。
她走了之后，我更惊奇了，因为她的外貌是个不折不扣的日本人！
这个会一连开了四天，做了十几场，只有一家公司的一位管理人员离场时，对我们这个方向遥遥地、含蓄地点了点头，算是打了个招呼。但日本同事做完每一场，日本公司的管理层离场时一定是挨个儿九十度鞠躬致谢。同事当然也欠身回礼（翻译箱太小，来不及站起来，更不能九十度，否则一定头撞玻璃板，咚地一声，又痛又丢人现眼）。

Nearly everybody talks of a "buzz" that characterises Hong Kong. It's the "noise" of bodies cutting swiftly through air: Faster, double-time, presto! This picture says it all.

二号去山顶散步，看到一只青蛙。是一只“变色”青蛙，背部跟树叶像极，要不是跳了一下，还看不出来呢！有照片为证。

九月一日曾替一位来自美国的知名牙医做交传（香港各大报章和有线电视台到场采访），学到了不少东西。比如说，普通人的口腔里有300到500种细菌，这不可怕，关键是保持平衡。但一旦牙齿周围出现“牙周袋”（gum pockets)，那就不好玩了，因为厌氧细菌就会在这些阴暗的角落里疯长，打破口腔里的微生物平衡，牙周炎就来了。我回忆了一下，他说的一些要点如下：

Tips for keeping your teeth healthy:

(1) Oral health is key to overall health. Dental disease may be part of the cause of, or is at least associated with, diabetes, heart disease, pre-term child birth and stroke.
(2) Brushing teeth is a misnomer. One should brush the "gum line" (where the tooth meets the gum), not just the teeth. Therefore, use a soft-bristle, small-headed brush. Replace your brush whenever the bristle starts flaring (sticking outwards).
(3) If bleeding occurs during brushing, it means there's something wrong with your gum. KEEP BRUSHING THE GUM LINE every time you brush your teeth, until the bleeding stops in a few days' time. Do NOT be put off by the bleeding and be too "scared" to brush there again.
(4) You must use dental floss every day and use it thoroughly.
(5) You must see your dentist at least twice a year, for checkup and for cleaning, whether you feel there's a problem or not.
(6) If you have not seen a dentist for a while, book an appointment right away.

看到这首诗，试着翻译了一下：

失落的时候
我就扬起脖子
用鼻子使劲去嗅
收集空气中弥散的
对你的思念
然后任它罩住我
任何伤痛任何芥蒂
都在这种爱的感知中慢慢淡化

寂寞的时候
我就翻开记忆
用大脑努力去追
曾经触摸到的温度
对你的爱一点一点加重
之后我便没有剩余的爱再给了

我交出受伤的心
你看
你来之前
我等你等得伤痕累累

In a moment of loss
Craning my neck
I sniff, in earnest
To draw in the dust of yearning
For you
That permeates the atmosphere
Then succumb to its enveloping embrace
And let fade all pains and vexations
Amid this sensation of love

In a moment of loneliness
I leaf through my memory
Groping for the once-tangible warmth
Feeling my love for you
Grow weightier by the second
Until I have no surplus affection to dispense

I give you my bruised heart
I invite you to look here -
Before you came
I had been waiting
Waiting for you
Till wounds crawled all over me

我在英国曾参加过一家传销公司的会议。有一次一位钻石经理从美国飞来，一口的美国腔，硬说自己是英国人（可能小时候在英国呆过）。后来才知道，公司是故意这么宣传，让英国人感到同胞能做到，我也能！她说，做生意一定要看好势头就入行，等到后来别人赚了钱再挤进去，你就没钱赚了。然后举例：几十年前有人发明了一种饮料配方，商品化之后销售成绩不错，这家公司从无到有、从小到大，后来上市了。有些人胆子大，买了这家公司的股票，后来就发了。有些人胆儿小，没买，观望，后来再想买，没门儿了。

她说：这家公司就是可口可乐。

然后她问：假设现在可口可乐公司刚上市，你有先见之明，知道它一定会非常成功，那你是不是很想买它的股票哇？想买的请举手。我是全场唯一没有举手的。我心里想：可口可乐对人体健康弊大于利，多少年来不知让多少人患了蛀牙、得了多动症、甚至是糖尿病，又让无数的人上瘾，简直是十恶不赦，我干吗要买它的股票？我给我的上线写了一封信，说我来自第三世界国家，到西方来希望能掌握一点对自己国家有用的本领，而不是为了自己赚钱而把西方一些莫名其妙的玩意儿卖给温饱还没有完全解决的同胞们。我的上线是非洲人，在英国行医（骨外科大夫），看了我的信很惭愧。后来就没什么联系了，他也没有给我施加任何压力。他毕竟跟其他一些眼睛发红、善于狡辩的上线不一样。

我记得他曾经跟我讨论过当时一本红得发紫的书：《圣景预言录》（Celestine Prophecy），说到书里描述的有关人体之间能量交流的一段，他说是第一次听说，好像很神奇。我就教他如何用两手得气、如何感受。他悟性极高，手心相向，挤拉了几下就噔地一下站起来了，连连说：我的天哪，我的天哪，我前半辈子白活了，我不敢再弄了，我要回去细细体会，然后好好想想，这是怎么回事儿！

这就是我跟传销的一点关系。后来那家公司倒闭了，原因是（挺讽刺的）发展过快，公司结构不到位、后勤也跟不上，结果轰然崩溃。

Tonight I saw the best flamenco dance ever... well, the star of the night was the lead dancer, Sarah Baras. Flamenco, when done well, is typically breathtaking. But Sarah was so mesmerising that she was, quite literally, heart-stopping. It beat description and beat commonsense - the feet are so far away from the head, but how can she control her feet with such minute precision? The answer is obvious: Her feet are much closer to her heart and when she dances, she becomes the rhythm and her feet, and her hands of course (which are quiet, therefore noticed less), are the mere externalisations of that tempo. As her hands wove an intricate pattern of lines and curves and thrusts and caresses in the air, in the spatial dimension, her other extremities tapped and thundered alternately on the hard floor, in the temporal dimension. It was a total and complete expression and, for the audience, a thoroughly absorbing and stirring experience.

When the show began, the curtain was raised. The musicians emerged from darkness and the two singers starting clapping, to beat time, as they would normally do. I guess people in the back rows didn't quite see that. They heard the clapping and thought - right, this must be the first round of welcome applause. They started clapping. When they started clapping, the rest of the audience felt compelled to join in.

The effect was good, though, and I think the performers found it heartening.

帽子

前阵子香港一个慈善机构派发免费的“平安米”，结果许多老人因在高温下等待过久感到不适，有的还送医院诊治，更有一位高龄老妪绊倒后因心脏病发作归西。那个机构成众矢之的，感到很委屈。 几天后，香港迪斯尼乐园为公益金筹款进行试运行，有两万九千多人蜂拥而至，迪斯尼招架不住，方寸大乱，游客怨声载道，第二天报章通栏标题，说昨天在迪斯尼发生的一切“惨过”派平安米。这里“惨”的意思是 miserable或 that which causes agony。 去年，某公司促销活动内容之一是免费赠送一批“水晶”（估计就是透明塑料做的）麻将。当天大雨滂沱，排队者甚众，且无处避雨，自然又是多人不适（其中老人居多）。 昨天同事说，几年前香港马会曾经发过免费的帽子，当时亦造成多起群殴事件。我边听边摇头叹息，同事还加了一句： “我记得，那些帽子还是绿色的呢！”

At today's conference, one speaker recounted his childhood memories, of what "entertainment" meant in those days and how it evolved over the years.

He is from India. When he was little, the only broadcast platform that his family and fellow villagers could access was "All-India Radio". The "all" part of the radio station's name was something of a misnomer, as even in his village, the audibility of the broadcast very much depended on the direction and force of the wind!

Some years later, Radio Ceylon came into being. It had a music-on-demand slot between 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning. It was the most popular slot, understandably. In fact, it was so popular that before long, the number of songs they could play in that one-hour slot dwindled from 20 to three - the DJ spent most of the 60 minutes reading an ever-growing list of names, names of those who requested the songs and names of those to whom the requested songs were dedicated.

Then, at one point, he got hold of a tape recorder. When his favourite song came on, he would push the "Play" and "Record" button simultaneously. Slowly, he built up a collection of "pirated" copies of music this way. But they were invariably of poor quality.

In his late teens, some of his wealthier peers were able to buy records. He would then borrow from them and play them at home. That marked a major upgrade of his experience of "entertainment".

The rest is history.

Today, he stood on the podium as a renowned expert from the software industry. At his fingertips is an inexhaustible pool of entertainment resources, readily available at the click of the mouse, transmitted at, literally, lightning speed. And the quality is not compromised by the transmission, over any distance.

昨天最大的收获：买到了金山词霸2006，关键是这个版本与繁体中文或英文的操作系统兼容，unlike the 2005 version。而且新版本的汉英词典大为改善，跟旧版相比，简直是两重天。可以说，用这个版本武装之后，笔头翻译时八成以上的词典使用可以依靠金山词霸了，剩余的两成用Google或Answers.com帮补一下即可。

今天最大的收获：“企业练内功”或者说企业增长不能单纯依赖外延，主要应靠“内涵”发展。这里的“内功”或“内涵”这层意思该怎么翻？

国航的投资关系部主任饶女士用了 "to boost the company's productivity"。妙！

她还将“我们认为公司实现了良性经营”译为 "we see the company as a well-managed entity".亦是可圈可点。

大陸原來流行一首順口溜：

不到北京，不知道自己官小
不到香港，不知道自己錢少
不到海南，不知道自己身體不好 （極言那裏色情行業之繁榮）
不到大連，不知道自己結婚太早 （極言大連女孩子之動人）

現在有人給加了一句：

不到臺灣，不知道文化大革命還在搞 （極言如火如荼的不事生産的意識形態鬥爭）

現將它試譯如下：

Till I got to Beijing, I'd never realized my position was so lowly
Till I got to Dalian, I'd never realized I had married too early
Till I got to Hainan, I'd never realized my health was such a letdown
Till I got to Hong Kong, I'd never realized my fine garb was a ragged gown
And, alas,
Till I got to Taiwan, I'd never realized that the Cultural Revolution was still raging, all around town

I came across this message...

... a few months ago. It was posted on Guangdong TV BBS, which is no longer operational.

For me, it answers this question: What is a "heart of gold"?

尊敬的记者：

你们好！

我是你们的忠实读者，下面我所说的事，都是真的，请你们不要嫌我啰嗦，把信看完。

大概在半个月前，广州市环市东路水荫路口交通银 行门前的公交车站多了二个乞讨的人，一老一小，像所有乞讨人一样，他们面前也摆放着一个装钱用的快食面盒子，还有一张求援书。老 的坐在一边愁眉苦脸的，小的仰脸朝天躺在地上，两腿蹬得很直，看得出来，小孩的腿有病，不能弯曲，从求援书上得知，老人的儿子在 2000 年时在工作时触电死了，媳妇也改嫁了，家里只剩下祖孙二人，后来孙子（就是躺在地上的小孩）得了脑瘫，生活无着的他们也沦落到以 乞讨为生。

在乞丐为数不少的广州，这样的乞讨人早已见惯了，每天下班匆匆路过，他们也不会引起我特别的注意。一天午饭后，我照旧在公司周围 四处闲逛，偶尔看见那二个乞讨的人在吃饭，他们的饭菜的份量虽然很少，只有一点青菜没有肉，却很干净，看得出是自己做好从住处带 来的，老人抱着小孩很细心地喂饭，我的直觉告诉我，他们不是职业丐帮。我开始留意他们，并不时地给他们一些钱。有天晚上下班路过 ，看到乞讨的那个老人抱着小孩逗他玩，老人很自然地亲吻小孩，眼前的一幕令我很感动，作为一个母亲，我能体会到那一吻是发自内心 的对孩子的爱，是装不出来的。那老人很疼爱孩子，尽量把孩子收拾得干干净净，给孩子穿上袜子，虽然袜子很旧，而且二只袜子都不同 颜色，下雨后，地上很凉，老人就把孩子放到婴儿车上（婴儿车大概也是好心人给的），而不像一般乞讨人那样不管刮风下雨也把孩子放 在地上装可怜博同情。

我很同情他们，可以我的能力，却不能帮他们摆脱困境，我也是个打工的，月薪不到1500元，丈夫因为年纪大而且右手残疾找不到工作，只好在家里带只有10个月大的孩子，平常我一般都会用三到四块钱解决午餐，现在我每天用1.5 元解决午餐，把省下的钱给那以乞讨为生的一老一小，有时候也会买几个肉包子给他们，我每天看到他们都想哭，天天都在祈祷有好心人 去帮助他们收留他们，每天晚上想起躺在地上的那个孩子都会睡不着觉，那孩子太可怜了，那么小就过着苦难的生活，食不裹腹衣不蔽体 ，有病也没钱医治，每天躺在尘土飞扬的马路边等待好心人的施舍，因为家穷，因为有病，因为无父无母，不得不生活在水深火热之中， 挣扎在死亡线上。

我很想帮助他们，却又无能为力，焦虑之下，我想到了你们，无冕之王——记者，在我的心目中，你们神通广大，富正 义感乐意助人，我请求你们帮忙呼吁一下，看有哪个好心人愿意给那个老人一份工作，那个老人还没到老态龙钟的地步，还能干力所能及 的工作，比如看车、看门、看更、看仓库，这些工作可以让老人一边照顾孩子一边工作，那老人现在最需要的并不全是好心人的施舍，他 最需要的是有一份有固定收入的工作，我相信，有了工作，那老人就不用带着带孩子天天日晒雨淋地在马路边乞讨，那孩子也不用躺在地 上像吸尘器那样吸路人踢起的灰尘。好心的记者，请你们帮帮他们吧。

一个多事的读者：黄丽芳
联 系 电 话：13676213359
2005年4月28日

Subject: Chat with GOD...

God : Hello. Did you call me?
Me: Called you? No. Who is this?
God : This is GOD. I heard your prayers. So I thought I will chat.
Me: I do pray. Just makes me feel good. I am actually busy now. I am in the midst of something. God : What are you busy at? Ants are busy too.
Me: Don't know. But I can't find free time. Life has become hectic. It's rush hour all the time.
God : Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it.
Me: I understand. But I still can't figure out. By the way, I was not expecting YOU to buzz me on instant messaging chat.
God : Well I wanted to resolve your fight for time, by giving you some clarity. In this net era, I wanted to reach you through the medium you are comfortable with.
Me: Tell me, why has life become complicated now?
God : Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it > complicated.
Me: Why are we then constantly unhappy?
God : Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That's why you are not happy.
Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty?
God : Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional.
Me: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty.
God : Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional.
Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer?
God : Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter.
Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?
God : Yes. In every terms, Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first and the lessons afterwards.
Me: But still, why should we go through such tests? Why can't we be free from problems?
God : Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons (to) Enhance Mental Strength. Inner strength comes from struggle and endurance, not when you are free from problems.
Me: Frankly in the midst of so many problems, we don't know where we are heading.
God : If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight.
Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the right direction. What should I do?
God : Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work w ith the compass. Let others work with the clock.
Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?
God : Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing.
Me: What surprises you about people?
God : When they suffer they ask, "why me?" When they prosper, they never ask "Why me" Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth
Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I can't get the answer.
God : Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation.
Me: How can I get the best out of life?
God : Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear.
Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are no t answered.
God : There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO.
Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat.
God : Well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that took our breath away!"

My comments on some parts of the conversation:

> God : Sure. Activity gets you busy. But productivity gets you results. Activity consumes time. Productivity frees it. -- This is not God, this is a business management Guru. Productivity is "efficient activity", but the yardstick of "efficiency" is very tricky. What makes this world crazy is often NOT inefficient activity, but excessively efficient activity whose object is detrimental. Being busy is a choice; its motive force is sometimes invisible to the conscious mind.

> God : Stop analyzing life. Just live it. Analysis is what makes it complicated. -- Excellent point, God!

> Me: Why are we then constantly unhappy? -- Wrong. We tend to be more aware of our unhappy moments than of our happy moments. That's why. When I don't have a headache, I don't even notice I have a head.

> > God : Your today is the tomorrow that you worried about yesterday. You are worrying because you are analyzing. Worrying has become your habit. That's why you are not happy. -- Wrong question, right answer? Hardly.

> Me: But how can we not worry when there is so much uncertainty? -- That's a very good point. That's why the answer immediately above is flawed. Being able to worry is a faculty we have that has evolved over millions of years (from a Darwinian point of view) or a faculty invested in our species by God (from a creationist point of view). It's very useful. You shouldn't overdo it, that's all.

> > God : Uncertainty is inevitable, but worrying is optional. -- Yeah, depending on how you define "worrying". Being "alert" is a form of "worrying". Try and live without alertness!

> Me: But then, there is so much pain due to uncertainty. -- What? I see a blinding lightning descending from the skies and whether or not I'll be hit by it is uncertain… but there's no pain whatsoever, until it hits me. So, it's not the uncertainty that causes pain; it's the certainty of being hit by it that does.

> > God : Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. -- This is a good answer to a bad question, although it's clear that the author posed the question in order to lead to this answer. I can't agree more.

> Me: If suffering is optional, why do good people always suffer? -- Bad people suffer, too! But "good people" are those we like; "bad people" are those we don't like. Since we don't like "bad people", we can't bear to see them having even a moment's luck or happiness.

> > God: Diamond cannot be polished without friction. Gold cannot be purified without fire. Good people go through trials, but don't suffer. With that experience their life become better not bitter. -- Bad people also go through trials, and some choose not to suffer, but they allow their minds to be clouded by petty, selfish thoughts. With that experience, their life becomes bitter.

> Me: You mean to say such experience is useful?
> > God : Problems are Purposeful Roadblocks Offering Beneficial Lessons -- Let me rephrase it, God: Problems are comparable to roadblocks that MAY offer beneficial lessons, provided that you consider them as sources of beneficial lessons. Dear God, please don't take credit for what is naturally there. What is a problem? A problem is an obstacle you encounter when you try to alter the current mode of existence. A problem is the subject matter of an "effort". When something is moving at even speed and you go along with it, you have no resistance, no obstacle and, therefore, no problem. But if you wish to accelerate or decelerate the motion, you need to exert an effort and the moment you do that, you sense there is a "problem". It is pure physics and there's no "intention" or "will" behind the phenomenon, although we, as emotional beings, tend to read "purpose" into such a phenomenon.

> God : If you look outside you will not know where you are heading. Look inside. Looking outside, you dream. Looking inside, you awaken. Eyes provide sight. Heart provides insight. -- Here's a lovely story to echo this message: Once, an old woman dropped her needle. A passer-by saw her searching in her garden and offered to help. After looking for some time without success, the kindly stranger asked the woman exactly where the needle had fallen. He was amazed to learn that she had dropped it inside the house. "Then why are you looking out here?" he asked, "You will never find it." She replied, "My house is too dark, but there is more light out here." (Yoga Mind & Body, Vedanta Centre)

> Me: Sometimes not succeeding fast seems to hurt more than moving in the > right direction. What should I do? -- Again, an unconvincing, illogical and blatantly contrived question raised in order to lead to the answer…

> > God : Success is a measure as decided by others. Satisfaction is a measure as decided by you. Knowing the road ahead is more satisfying than knowing you rode ahead. You work with the compass. Let others work with the clock. -- This is a very condescending comment. Who is "you" and who are "others"? This is a very arrogant God. Of course he/she can afford to be arrogant, because presumably he/she doesn't need to be fed with physical sustenance, which is grown and harvested ONLY through hard work on the ground against the clock! I mentioned earlier that this is a management guru, not a spiritual god, because it is highly redolent of the rhetoric about leadership versus management, the hunter versus the herder. It's all very plausible, but one must strike a balance on the spectrum from inspiration to exertion. "Road ahead" and "rode ahead" is just a silly little play on words, which, I'm sure, the author was quite pleased with. The first part of the answer, though, is an equivalent of the Chinese adage, "Happy is he who is content".

> Me: In tough times, how do you stay motivated?
> > God : Always look at how far you have come rather than how far you have to go. Always count your blessing, not what you are missing. -- It doesn't answer the question, does it? Is this not called "resting on one's laurels"?

> Me: What surprises you about people?
> > God : When they suffer they ask, "why me?" When they prosper, they never ask "Why me". Everyone wishes to have truth on their side, but few want to be on the side of the truth. -- Another play on words, plausible and seemingly deep at first blush; but it stops making sense if you really go deep. And most of us ARE grateful for every little blessing we have, but we try not to make a song and dance about it, for valid reasons. When we are down, we ask "why me" because we feel the pain and we want sympathy. From sympathy, we siphon energy, which helps us get back on our own feet again. That's what community is for.

> Me: Sometimes I ask, who am I, why am I here. I can't get the answer.
> > God : Seek not to find who you are, but to determine who you want to be. Stop looking for a purpose as to why you are here. Create it. Life is not a process of discovery but a process of creation. -- The first part is existentialist. Not necessarily wrong, but it may be an expediential way of saying - I don't know what the purpose is. As for the second part, if discovery includes learning, then I'm afraid this applies to God only: we mortal beings have to "discover" and "learn" in this life, otherwise we don't even know what to create. Children are natural creators, but look at what they create… mostly fantasies based on REALITIES, the knowledge of which is acquired and accumulated in this life.

> Me: How can I get the best out of life?
>> God : Face your past without regret. Handle your present with confidence. Prepare for the future without fear. -- Excellent advice. This is the formula of "success", for good or for bad. So, maybe add a fourth sentence: Meditate and pray daily. This is to make sure that your success is conducive to your own health, emotional balance, spiritual well-being, and the peace and welfare of your society and the world.

> Me: One last question. Sometimes I feel my prayers are not answered.
>> God : There are no unanswered prayers. At times the answer is NO. -- Yes, agreed.

> Me: Thank you for this wonderful chat.
>> God : Well. Keep the faith and drop the fear. Don't believe your doubts and doubt your beliefs. Life is a mystery to solve not a problem to resolve. Trust me. Life is wonderful if you know how to live. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that took our breath away!" -- Sigh… last quote ruins the whole message. What if my life is tranquil and uneventful, devoid of breathtaking moments? Does it mean my life is crap? Does it mean someone who is always living on the edge definitely has a better life than I do? Never mind, point taken.

Can't think of what to write to "initiate" my Blog. Maybe this...

"The Grail is literally the ancient symbol for womanhood, and the Holy Grail represents the sacred feminine and the goddess, which of course has now been lost, virtually eliminated by the Church. The power of the female and her ability to produce life was once very sacred, but it posed a threat to the rise of the predominantly male Church, and so the sacred feminine was demonized and called unclean. It was man, not God, who created the concept of 'original sin', whereby Eve tasted of the apple and caused the downfall of the human race. Woman, once the sacred giver of life, was now the enemy... This concept of woman as life-bringer was the foundation of ancient religion. Childbirth was mystical and powerful. Sadly, Christian philosophy decided to embezzle the female's creative power by ignoring biological truth and making man the Creator. Genesis tells us that Eve was created from Adam's rib. Woman became an off-shoot of man. And a sinful one at that. Genesis was the beginning of the end for the goddess." (The Da Vinci Code)

易传在文字中以男女对应天地。在生生万物的过程中，天地具有同等的功劳；在繁衍子孙的过程中，男女具有同等的作用。所以，易传以同等的口气对天地、男女的贡献作出了同等的评价：“大哉乾元，万物资始。”“至哉坤元，万物资生。”“天地氤氲，万物化醇。男女构精，万物化生。”

鄙视妇女的“男尊女卑”，首见之于《列子。天瑞篇》。长期以来，把“男尊女卑”强加在孔子所创立的儒家头上是没有根据的。孔子主张，从结婚第一天起，夫妻之间的关系是“男女同尊卑”（《礼记。昏义》）。
（以上摘自《寻找元文化》，刘明武著）