Day 5 | Daily Note | The Gay Genius

FATHER AND SONS 父与子| Chapter 5
2017年12月8日, 星期五

indulge

It would have been slightly embarrassing if the baby had been born a year earlier, for it would have meant that the young poet had indulged himself during the first year of mourning for his mother.

indulge在剑桥中的释义是：

• to allow yourself or another person to have something enjoyable, especially more than is good for you （使）沉溺于；（尤指）放纵

释义中的“more than is good for you”就是is bad for you的意思。但是indulge在字典中并没有disapproving的标签，可以看出这里作者对这件事情可能在当时引发的议论持中立态度。

indulge例句如：

• I indulged myself with a long hot bath. 我尽情享受了一次长时间的热水浴。

• I'm really going to indulge myself tonight with a bottle of champagne.今天晚上我可真要放纵一下自己，喝他一瓶香槟。

• For a special treat indulge yourself with one of these luxury flavours of ice cream. 作为特别的享受，你可以在各种美味的冰淇淋中挑一种来品嚐。

• You can indulge yourself without spending a fortune. 你不必花大把钱就可以好好犒劳一下自己。

例句里尽是些声色犬马（/斜眼笑）

Even if you’re dieting, you can indulge yourself once in a while~ (=eat what you want)

phenomenon

They were friends of the most famous writers of the land, their poems and essays were greatly admired, and the family was already known as a literary phenomenon.

phenomenon一词，在wiki上有更“哲学”的阐释：
The term phenomenon refers to any incident deserving of inquiry and investigation, especially events that are particularly unusual or of distinctive importance.

词条的附录中也提及“现象学”：
Kant theorizes that the human mind is restricted to the logical world and thus can only interpret and understand occurrences according to their physical appearances.

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关于文学现象literary phenomenon，正好手边有一本《二十世纪末中国文学现象研究》，曹文轩围绕这部著作的名称展开讨论，其中拆解出“（文学）现象”这一话题，做了文章：

进入八十年代，中国文学一直处在不安定的状态之中。它在马不停蹄地制造着种种现象。这或许是它开始成熟的标志，也或许是它不成熟的标志。
西方历时性的旷日持久的文学实验，中国人共时性地相识了。中国还缺什么主义？一一对应，品种齐全。这样，我们就只能目不暇接地去迎接一个又一个现象的迅速产生与迅速寂灭。
……
现象是由众多作家的某一共同意向与相似性的实践形成的。
往往不同的现象，涉及的文本却可能是相同的，因为这些文本参与了众多文学现象的营造。

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不论是康德的哲学命题还是学者的文学研究，从学术的角度看原文 “the family was already known as a literary phenomenon”，似乎有点“小题大做”。搜索这个词，我点开一个Youtube上的视频：

50 Shades of Grey - the literary phenomenon

在这个时候，literary phenomenon用于畅销书籍所引发的热烈讨论及争相阅读的文学现象。

现在再来理解苏氏一门父子三词客在当时成为话题焦点，受到文人和百姓的追捧敬仰，一时成为潮流的literary phenomenon，就很明白啦。

check

But he had a silent partner, Tseyu, and an old father, deep in intellectual penetration, uncompromising in spirit, and socially aloof in character, who held the pair of thoroughbreds in check.

check (n.) 语源

链接：youdict | chess的词源

check来源于国际象棋中向对方的国王“将一军”，在牛津四中对in check的释义是：

• [sing] (in chess) situation in which a player must move his king in order to prevent its capture by his opponent （国际象棋中）将军
  • You're in check! 将你一军！
  • Your king is in check from my knight. 你的王被我的马将死了。

“When the king is in check a player's choices are limited.”而后check逐渐有了“to limit something”的意思，即：

• to stop yourself from saying or doing sth or from showing a particular emotion 克制，抑制（做某事或表露感情）

• to check your anger/ laughter/ tears 忍住怒火/笑/眼泪

在原文语境中是an old father who held the pair of thoroughbreds in check，字典中有hold/keep sth in check，意思是：

• keep/hold somebody/something in check：
  prevent sth from advancing or increasing; control sth 抑止；约束；制止
  • keep one's temper in check 控制自己不发脾气
  • The epidemic was held in check by widespread vaccination. 这种传染病靠广泛的预防注射已受到控制。
  • We must find ways of keeping our expenditure in check. 我们必须想办法限制我们的开销。

另外，常见的check in的意思是飞机的登机手续、旅馆的登记入住、托运行李、存取衣物等意思。

• check in (at...) ：
  to go to a desk in a hotel, an airport, etc. and tell an official there that you have arrived （在旅馆、机场等）登记，报到

  • Please check in at least an hour before departure. 请至少在飞机起飞前一小时办理登机手续。
  • We've checked in at the hotel. 我们已经在旅馆登记入住。
  • check-in = the place at an airport (or hotel) where you check in

• check sth in：

1. leave or accept sth to be transported by train or by air 托运，收运（经火车或飞机运送之物）
   • check in one's luggage 托运行李
2. (esp US) leave or accept sth for safe keeping in a cloakroom or left-luggage office （在衣帽间或行李寄存处）存取某物
   • Is there a place we can check in our coats? 有暂存大衣的地方吗？

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本章有点儿“游记”的意味。

在On Writing Well中提到了环境描绘与细节刻画的重要性：

“More often you’ll need to evoke the mood of a whole neighborhood or town to give texture to the story you’re telling. And in certain cases, such as the travel piece itself, descriptive detail will be the main substance.”

——Chapter 13 Writing About Places: The Travel Article

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林语堂在苏氏父子三人的游历记叙中，有意识地渗入了苏东坡的个人成长和精神领悟：

and he wondered whether the honors and emoluments of office were worth the fetters of a civilized life.

People are only little children. They like to talk about spirits and ghosts.

Perhaps one can become a fairy after all. The difficulty lies in forgetting human desires.

包括多次引用诗作，也透露出苏东坡的性情与思索，其中多次运用“孤独”与“冷”的意象：

Bamboo groves stood over rocks, dripping with cold verdure,
And rhododendrons dotted the mountainside.
冷翠多崖竹，孤生有石楠。

Lying huddled in the night, I slept like a frozen turtle,
But I was the first to know that it was snowing outside.
缩头多寒如冻龟，雪来惟有客先知。

To what avail do I distress myself?
The bream are hard to catch in this deep cold.
我悲亦何苦，江水冬更深，鳊鱼冷难捕。

苏的才气，词境的美与深邃，由此可以略窥一斑。我觉得林语堂精细地描摹精致，正是为了烘托出苏东坡思想的流动和心境的阔大，以及由此而诞生的流芳千古的佳作。

以上。

Lolita