The Gay Genius|Chapter 27阅读笔记

《苏东坡传》

1.中文感悟

被流放到海南的苏东坡真是令人同情，年龄很大只有儿子在身旁照顾，岛上又很贫瘠，食物不多，有病的话还没有药来治病，但是即使是这样的环境他也在努力适应而没有任何怨言。特别是描述到有时没有食物充饥只能吃阳光时（这和画饼充饥和望梅止渴有异曲同工之妙），感觉这老爷子也太乐观幽默了~

2.English summary

In the little island of Hainan, Su Tungpo lived in the shabby house, with only his young son to take care of him, and often had no food to eat or no medicine to cure illness. Sometimes he even ate sunshine when starving(though we never know whether it was true or not), but he never complained about the poor life he lived.

3.词汇学习

When he reached Wuchow,  he learned that his brother had just passed the town on his way to his new place of confinement on that peninsula.

peninsula    [pɪ'nɪnsjʊlə]

A peninsula is a long narrow piece of land that sticks out from a larger piece of land and is almost completely surrounded by water. 半岛

eg: the Korean peninsula

The summer months in the tropical island were very trying on account of the dampness, and Su would sit in the palm grove counting each day until autumn was come.

trying      adj.

If you describe something or someone as trying, you mean that they are difficult to deal with and make you feel impatient or annoyed. 难对付的; 令人厌烦的

eg: Your true friends will support you and give you a hand during your trying times.

Besides such occupations, with the help of his son, he collected his miscellaneous notes.

miscellaneous    [,mɪsə'leɪnɪəs]    adj.

A miscellaneous group consists of many different kinds of things or people that are difficult to put into a particular category. 各式各样的 [ADJ n]

eg: There are miscellaneous files for her to sort.