TGG - Weekly Note

1 - 阅读感悟

（1）人与环境。

十一至十六章中，苏东坡几经周转，环境在变，遭遇在变，苏东坡的心态也得到了锤炼。当苏东坡遇上了杭州时，杭州山清水秀治愈和启发了苏东坡，反之，苏东坡也以诗词歌赋和成就了杭州。“Hangchow won his heart and he won the hearts of the people of Hangchow.”

当苏东坡蒙难被发配至黄州后，薪水的减少反倒促使了超然的东坡居士的诞生。“What society, culture, learning, reading of history, and external duties and responsibilities do to a man is to hide his real self. Strip him of all these trappings of time and convention, and you have the real man.”

环境的变化，并不会带来绝对的好与坏。例如，苏东坡在最难的时候写出了最好的诗。

（2）诗人和诗词的力量。

言语无形，却能字字有力。苏东坡的诗就是如此，对于同朝代的官员来说，虽然苏东坡不在皇帝身边，但是他的文字却能跨越千里影响皇帝、影响大众。林语堂把苏东坡诗词的力量比喻成“the power of mosquito bites”，能让某些官员彻夜难眠。“But such lines have the power of mosquito bites. They sting, they irritate, and they annoy; and if there are too many bites, they can thoroughly ruin one's sleep for the night.”

苏东坡这样秉性的诗人，不仅言辞影响深远，其本身的存在就已经能影响千千万万人，甚至一个时代。正如林语堂所说，“It has always seemed to me that wherever the spirit of man lives, religion comes to life again. Whenever the spirit of man dies, religion also decays.”

（3）好词好句。

①“The lake was a place where the wives looked at the singsong women with fear, and the sing-song women looked at the wives with envy.” 

妻子和歌姬两种不同的身份，带来的是不同的视角和感受。其实各有各苦，各有各的幸运，也各有各的不幸。如人饮水，冷暖自知。

②“If we believe in inner form in writing, by which a man's personal style is merely the natural overflow of his spirit.”

写作时思想的表达，我们写作时常常纠结于要怎么写，其实更重要的是先清楚要表达什么。表达如同嫁衣，肯定要先找到新娘，才能找到合适的嫁衣，如果拿着嫁衣找新娘，其后果可想而知。

③“Meanwhile he enjoyed himself when and where he could.”（P327）

书中多处体现了苏东坡的乐观豁达。比如苏东坡与朋友游江，苏东坡在安慰朋友时说的一席话（P481-482）。当我们心境囿于周遭环境时，读一读苏东坡的遭遇，品一品他的心态，就会发现在即遇到的都是小事，没有必要沉浸在伤感和低落中，学一学苏东坡，享受大自然的赠予，收拾心情，重新出发。

2 - Central Question

Chapter 11: What Su Tungpo experience in Hangchow, and what the effect it has on Su's characteristic and poetry?

Chapter 12: What are the famous poems of protest, and what do the lines aim for?

Chapter 13:What happened during the period of "Yellow Tower", and what kind of Su Tungpo's ability revealed?

Chapter 14:Why Su Tungpo is arrested for a trial and what is the result of the trial?

Chapter 15: Becoming a farmer after arrest and trial, what are the changes of Su Tungpo?

Chapter 16:What's the enchanted life that Su Tungpo live in Huangchow, and what are the famous poems of this period?