The gay of genius-chapter 14

1. Central Question:

    In Su Tungpo's letter of thanks to the Emperor on assumption of the new office he said something that proved too much for the politicians at court. So long as he had sung about the poverty of the people, the tax, and the draft, it was quite possible for the petty men to ignore it. So he got into trouble, and many of his friends were all into trouble, because of with Su Tungpo's relationship. There are several stories that Su Tungpo thought of committing suicide while on the way. But what did Su Tungpo behave on the way or in jail, all these indicated that he was optimistic and he loved the perple who lived in poor. He stand for the poor, and spoken for the poor. So he described himself as a word: I am really incorrigible.

2.  Sentence

（1）There was an amusing incident while Su Tungpo was in jail, which turned out a help to him at the trial.

turn out a help to sb    对某人大有裨益

trial    n. 审问

（2）Judgment of the trail seems to me to depend entirely on our interpretation of the justness of Su Tungpo's criticism of the administration.

林语堂认为此案件的判断，完全要看我们对苏东坡的批评朝政如何解释。

（3）Some of the accusations were far-fetched.

far-fetched    adj.牵强的，凿空的

在这里，林语堂认为，对苏东坡的指控，有的是十分牵强的。