木秀于林，风必摧之。苏东坡的才气毫无意外地招来了朝廷宵小的嫉妒与陷害，借他诗词中的讽喻（如桧树、牡丹、《杞菊赋》、盲人看日等）做文章，让苏东坡不得不身陷囹圄，从 1079 年 7 月 28 日被捕，8月18日关入御史台监狱受审，一直到除夕年才出狱，贬居汉口附近的黄州，无皇命不得擅离。
这 4 个月 12 天的牢狱之灾，我以为于苏东坡的思想必是经历了相当大的波动，从最初的押解途中起念自杀，狱中给子由的永别诗（与君世世为兄弟，又结来生未了因），《乌台诗案》中记载的苏东坡自辨诗词用典深意，到最后苏东坡承认自己写讽刺诗批评新政，语含愤怒失望，罪有应得。
然而当他被释出狱后，闻到空气里久违的自由气息，感受着微风拂面的快乐，听着喜鹊的叽喳声，感受着身边熙攘来往的人群，终究忍不住诗兴大发，当晚又奋笔写下两首诗文，以 “塞翁失马，焉知非福” 自喻未卜的前途~
奋笔疾书后，苏东坡掷笔自语：我真是无可救药。
I am really incorrigible.
可是，这才是我们经由诗词中认识到的那个苏东坡不是吗？
叶嘉莹女士在解读他的诗词时概括说：苏东坡的天性中有其对儒家的修养（忠义奋发+持守），佛道的旷观（不因得失/荣辱/利害而自扰）和历史家的史观（能看到历史上的盛衰兴亡之变化，通古今而观之）。
Words and Expressions:
The letter of thanks made the “young upstarts” the laughingstock of the reading public.
laughingstock，也可分开写 laughing stock，表示 “笑柄、笑料”，a person or thing that is regarded as very foolish or ridiculous;
例句：The team has become the laughingstock of the league.
When Mrs. Su heard this, she laughed through her tears, in spite of herself.
in spite of oneself, 副词，表示 “不由自主地，情不自禁地”，even though you do not want to or expect to；
例句：The picture made her laugh in spite of herself.
仿句：Almost in spite of myself, I keep on checking the Wechat moment again and again.
He wrote two poems of farewell to his brother, couched in very sad language, saying that his family of ten mouths would have to be fed by his brother, while his spirit lying on an abandoned hillside would be listening to the moaning winds and dripping rains.
couch, 作为动词，在书面语中意思是 “(以某种语言风格)表达，措词”，to be expressed in a particular way，常见搭配为：be couched in something;
例句：The offer was couched in legal jargon.
moan, 作为动词有 “呻吟、呜咽” 的意思，还可特指 “风的呼啸声” ，句子里 +ing 做形容词，这里联系上下文则同时有这两种意思，the moaning winds and dripping rains - 悲风泣雨；
dripping, 形容词，表示 “湿淋淋的，湿透的”，extremely wet，与 soaking 同义，常见搭配为：dripping wet;
例句：Poor little Rosie stood dripping wet and shivering.
另外，dripping 还可作为名词，英式英语中表示 “油脂”，与 fat 同义，the oily substance that comes out of meat when you cook it；还可表示 “(烤肉时滴下的) 油滴”；
例句：He cooked a turkey and made gravy from the drippings.
We are indebted to the poet Lu Yu for the history of a manuscript in Su Tungpo’s own handwriting containing all the documents of the trial.
indebted，作为形容词，意思是 “负债的，感激的，受惠的” ，而常见的固定搭配 be (deeply/greatly) indebted to somebody (for something)，可表示为 “承蒙…，多亏…”，可与 thanks to… 替换使用，to be very grateful to someone for the help they have given you；
例句：We are deeply indebted to Dr Allen.
葛传椝英语惯用法词典里有关于 indebted 这个词用法的几个注意点：
1．注意下面三句里的介词：
I am greatly indebted to you.
I am greatly indebted for your help.
I am greatly indebted to you for your help.
不可说 I am greatly indebted to your help，不过可以说 I am greatly indebted to your kindness 和 I am greatly indebted to your courtesy 和 I am greatly indebted to your suggestions and criticisms。
2．注意 I am greatly indebted to you for giving me so much help 里的 giving 前面没有 your，也注意 giving me 不可改作 receiving。giving 是 you 的动作，receiving 是 I 的动作。
3．indebted 比 obliged 语气重些，但也通常用于小事，不用于大事。
4．indebted 作“蒙恩”解，不一定有“感激”的意思。如 I am indebted to you 作 “我蒙你的恩”解，自己承认“蒙恩”当然含有“感激”的意思，但 He is indebted to you 作“他蒙你的恩”解，也许他并不“感激”。
5．可以说 much indebted 或 very much indebted，不可说 very indebted。
Some of the accusations were far-fetched.
far-fetched, 形容词，表示 “穿凿附会的，牵强的”，extremely unlikely to be true or to happen；
例句：The storyline was too far-fetched and none of the actors was particularly good.
仿句：Please stop making the far-fetched excuse for your mistake.