The Gay Genius Chapter25

I. The central question

Q: Why did Su Tungpo can find his way to enjoy the exile in Huichow?

A: The first time when Su Tungpo went to Huichow, he found the south of China was quite new and familiar to him. There were so many different kinds of tropical fruits and beautiful landscapes. Just like Lin Yutang mentioned in the former chapters, Su Tungpo love nature and he wrote lots of poems about every scenery he saw. So maybe we could say that Huichow was a place can gave Su Tungpo so much fun. However, we should never forgot the time Su Tungpo went to Huichow, he was exiled, but the hardship of politics didn't made him despaired. Maybe the Buddhism and Taoism he studied in Huangchow gave him the more open mind to take in this change. His mind was very peaceful and without fear. He left everything to the Heaven's will and followed his heart.

II. The sentences

1. At the age of fifty-seven, he had known enough vicissitudes of fortune not to be much surprised by the new turn of events. Fate decreed that he was to be finally relieved of all politics and he was to live as a common man, as he had always want to do.

vicissitudes of fortune  命运的变幻无常

流放生涯使苏东坡再次远离政治中心，但是在这一点上，并不能说苏东坡也想要做一个不过问政治的common man。苏东坡一向怀抱济世之志，即便是处于黄州、惠州与海南这些政治边缘地区，他也不曾放弃自己的政治抱负。

2. The pass was a symbol of a long and hazardous journey into a region from which many travelers never return,

pass   在这里指“关隘”

a long and hazardous journey   漫长而艰险的旅程

3. Su was not only a connoisseur of liquor and a good sampler, he made his own wines. In his brief period at Tingchow he had experimented with a kind of wine made with tangerines, and with a pine wine, which was sweet and slightly bitter.

connoisseur     someone who knows a lot about something such as art, food, or music

sampler    检查者、实验者

experimented with a kind of wine   尝试酿酒