TGG - Chapter 26

1 - Central Question

Q: What made Chaoyun so special for Su Tungpo?

A: Of all the women in Su's life, Chaoyun  seemed to understand him best. Chaoyun is intelligent, gay, vivacious, spirited. Chaoyun also shared the same interests with Su Tungpo, such as prolong life and Buddhist.

2 - 阅读感悟

（1）古人很喜欢把客观事物与主观相信联系起来，比如朝云去世后的狂风暴雨和巨大足迹等。

（2）苏东坡在讲到节欲时，提供了戒掉一切事物的通用方法：循序渐进，不要勉强自己一蹴而就。比如学英语，练习要一点点的增加，逐渐走出舒适区，而不是一想到要学英语，就明天起做一天8个小时的计划，很多人没坚持几天就放弃了，英语水平还是在原地踏步。

（3）从苏东坡被贬开始，宿命论的论调就不时出现。苏东坡秉持的是一种积极的宿命论：不幸降临时，调整心态接受它，积极面对生活，做自己力所能及的事情。哭也是一天，笑也是一天，当然要笑着面对啦！

3 - Words and Expressions

（1）couch

原文：... but couched in the mystic language of the secret Taoist art...

couch除了可以作名字，表示“长沙发”外，还可以用作动词：be couched in sth formal to be expressed in a particular way 以〔特定方式〕表达，措词。

（2）本章中用得好的动词：

① Our consciousness is encrusted with habits of perception.

encrust 也写做 incrust，表示to cover or overlay with or as with a crust or hard coating。

②... a Buddhist temple nestled beneath a tall forest...

③... where the river hugged the foot of the mountain as it wound its way towards the city.