PART 1 Q & As
Q: What makes Su's writings outstanding among his contemporaries and stand the test of time?
A: First and foremost, Su had a character of integrity and genuineness, which was reflected in his writings. A writer lacking in those qualities is hardly venerable and could not reach a height of sublimity. Secondly, his works emanated pleasure and mirth. Su was not soured after those ups and downs in his life. Instead, he pleased himself in the act of writing. Thirdly, all Su's writings had a characteristic of simplicity, naturalness, and a certain freedom which came from mastery of expression. They were neither ostentatious nor impenetrable and had a wayward beauty.
PART 2 Sentences
1. The human spirit is Su Tungpo was mellowed, not soured, by his many troubles, and we loved him today because he suffered so much.
2. There is a current Chinese saying that final judgment upon a man is possible only when the cover is nailed on his coffin. A man's life is like a drama, and we can judge a drama only when the curtain drops.
3. Roughly, good writing is like the sailing o£ clouds or flowing of water, moving forward where it is natural to move forward, and stopping where it must stop. “大略如行云流水，初无定质，但常行于所当行，常止于不可不止。”
PART 3 Expressions
1. After a futile struggle with petty minds but great politicians, he went into his second exile outside civilized China in the island of Hainan.
petty：（pettier; pettiest）
1:having secondary rank or importance: SYN minor, subordinate
eg. a petty official, petty squabbles
2:having little or no importance or significance
eg. a petty crime, a petty criminal, a petty thief
3:marked by or reflective of narrow interests and sympathies: SYN small-minded
How can she be so petty?
petty jealousy and spitefulness
2. Today, we are able to discern a clear pattern in Su's life with its many ups and downs, perceiving the same inevitability, but with the certainty that the different phases all came to pass, whether or not the fault was in the star.
the fault was in the star 直译过来为“过错在他的星宿命运”。John Green 有一本小说叫 The Fault in Our Stars, 中文名译作《无比美妙的痛苦》
顺便复习一下相关的表达:
astrology： 占星学；占星术
sth is written in the stars: used to say that what happens to a person is controlled by fate
They marriage was surely written in the stars.
star-crossed: being in a situation that prevents sth happy or good happening 想起鲁迅有一句诗叫“运交华盖欲何求，未敢翻身已碰头。”华盖星是四柱神煞里的一种。
According to local legend, two star-crossed lovers incurred the wrath of a vengeful god.
3. The study of Su Tungpo's life is, therefore, at the same time a study of national degeneration through party strife, ending in the sapping of national strength.
degenerate: (v.) to become worse
The conference degenerated into a complete fiasco.
(a.) formal, morally unacceptable 堕落的
The painting was condemned as 'degenerate'.
degeneration (n.)
I disdain the pervasive secularization and degeneration of humanity in my own life style.
4. There were dishonest reporters who thought it expedient to maintain a strict silence on the bad features of the socialist regime.
expedient: (a,) helping you to deal with a problem quickly and effectively although sometimes in a way that is not morally right 权宜之计的
This solution is politically expedient but may well cause long-term problems.
We think it is expedient to make a good-will gesture to the new administration.
expediency: (n.)
the ethics of political expediency
5. The charms and wayward beauty come by themselves if the writer's thoughts are beautiful.
wayward:1. behaving in a way that is difficult to control, or following no clear principle or law 任性的
a wayward teenager
In a wayward mood, he ran away from home.
2. opposite to what is desired or expected 意料不到的
eg. a wayward fate
waywardness: (n.)
6. Sometimes I wish to black out my intelligence, which unfortunately cannot be done.
black sth out: 1. to put a dark mark over sth so that it cannot be seen
The censors had blacked out several words.
2. to hide or turn off all the lights in a town or city, especially during war
black out: to become unconscious SYN faint, pass out
For a few seconds, he thought he was going to black out.
