Day1 The Gay Genius

导读问题

This chapter tells us Su Tungpo's life, from his birth to death. The author thinks highly of him for Su Tungpo's principles and opinions, as well as the charm of his poems and prose. Su Tungpo certainly takes up a peculiar position in China's history.

Words and expressions

1. In such ardent zeal for social reform Wang Anshih inevitably regarded any means as justifiable by the end, including purging of all dissenting opinion.

ardent: impassioned. It can be used to describe someone that has extremely strong feelings about something or someone.

仿写: He's been one of the most ardent supporters in the political reform.

2.What could not be taken away from him was his sturdy integrity, and what no man could confer upon him was his popular fame. 

sturdy: be used to describe someone who is determined and is unlikely  to be easily changed.

仿写: She was a short, sturdy woman in her early sixties.

3. The technical restrictions in Chinese poetry were many, requiring a high skill in the use of allusions and in the writing of a poem with the same rhyme words as those used in a poem written by a friend.

allusion: something written that mentions a subject, person indirectly

仿写: In his poetry we find many allusions to the human body.

There is a current Chinese saying that final judgment upon a man is possible only when the cover is nailed on his coffin. 盖棺定论

感悟

第一章节概述了苏东坡的一生，生于宋仁宗景祐三年（1036），死于徽宗建中靖国元年（1101）。苏东坡的一生经历了数位北宋皇帝，本章从其出生，政治生涯的坎坷与不顺，和王安石政见的争议，到元裕党人碑的建立，后遭雷击，死后追封谥号进行了一系列的概述

Su Tungpo, therefore, ranks as a major poet and prose writer of China. In addition he was a painter and calligraphist of the first order, a distinguished conversationalist, a great traveler.

林语堂先生对苏东坡给予了极好的赞扬和高度评价，占有卓绝的历史地位，其诗作文艺等各方面取得巨大的成就。