To Live! And to Write for Life!

影片最後 Pi 問作家："Which story do you prefer?"
注意：他不是問你覺得哪一個是真的，或哪一個比較可能發生，等等。他問的是「你會選擇相信哪一個故事？」
prefer 本身代表有不只一個選項可以讓你自由選擇，沒有強迫中獎。例如如果我去早餐店，服務生問我想喝甚麼，我問他有哪些選項，然後假如他說有茶又有咖啡。我可能會說這樣一句話：I prefer tea over coffee for breakfast.
回到電影情節。作家說："The one with the tiger - it's a better story!"

看過 Ramsey Clark 當天晚宴上的發言，我覺得當場翻譯翻得不精準，很多文字上的重點和情感都不見了 - lost in translation！
所以我特別一字一句抄下來，然後翻譯，希望各位能瞭解這位美國人的發言內容。
“Every visit I’ve had to Taiwan has been a joy because of its beautiful people and such a beautiful island, though I recognize and feel how hard the road has been.  And um since I first set foot on China and saw it in 1948 and the long great struggle of people here, it made me sad to realize um how difficult for all of us the struggle remains, and how dangerous the moment and the future is, and how current events have made this part of the world, in which Taiwan is so prominent, so dangerous for peace on Earth at this time.  We see the struggle in southeast Asia and the conflict between 2 great powers - my own country the US and the PRC - both of which has the capacity to arms nuclear weapons to destroy life on Earth. ...

 

這節課的教授告訴我們這群不是英文系的學生說在文學裡面，怪獸的出現代表某個社會問題/現象。
吸血鬼 Dracula 代表的(意義之一)是19世紀貴族勢力衰敗對上中產階級興起的問題。狼人則是不能自己(因為他無法控制自己的身體)的中產階級。而科學怪人則是不被社會接受及關懷的下層階級的悲歌。
在西方文學的世界裡，真的是充滿象徵 symbols!
 
我這禮拜寫的則是另一個的科學怪人中的主題：
Shelley presents an interesting pair of characters - Frankenstein and the monster - to examine many problems of the humankind.  The monster has learned many abstract concepts such as justice and social life.  When he reflects on his past and behavior, issues are brought to our attention.  Frankenstein too reflects on his.  They share many similarities but their take on fate vs. free will is quite opposite.
Frankenstein believes fate has pre-determines his life although readers easily see that he is almost always free to choose.  For example when he is in Ingolstadt, he does not bother to contact his family at all.  Instead he claims it is fate to work on the project.  When the monster begs to have a companion created, Frankenstein agrees and says he understands that a creator has duties toward his creation.  Later he breaks his promise, provoking the monster to make him a lonely person too, but he blames it on fate again.  His idea of fate, when he in fact exercises free will, shows his irresponsible character.
On the contrary, the monster is conscious of his decisions.  When the French family moves away, "feelings of revenge and hatred" fill his mind and he says, "I did not strive to control them; but, allowing myself to be borne away by the stream..."  He wants to destroy something but chooses "inanimate objects" instead of "anything human."  Finally when Frankenstein dies, the monster says, "What does it avail that I now ask thee to pardon me? I, who irretrievably destroyed thee by destroying all thou lovedst... I was the slave... of an impulse which I detested, yet could not disobey."  This shows he understands his own weakness but holds himself accountable for making himself even more miserable, although readers know that society does not leave him many other choices.
The theme fate vs. free will is a lesson about the responsibility toward oneself.  Because Frankenstein refuses to take responsibility, he is full of hatred on his deathbed and even asks Walton to continue his hatred.  In contrast, the monster says death will bring him peace and happiness.

Dracula is more than a horror story.  It was very scary for the English readers at the time of writing because it points out a few major fears of at-the-turn-of-the-20th-century Britain.
You can read it online for free.  Just go to Google and search keywords "read Dracula online."
This week, I would like to share 2 passages by my classmates and my Prof.'s discussions on how different monsters are related to class problems in additional to my essay.

"Alice in Wonderlands" is actually 2 books  - "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass."  They are not only for children but also adults.  Of course, children and adults see different parts of the books.
Have you read the books too?  What were your thoughts and opinions?

 

A few readers have asked me to post my writings because they like my lean writing style.
Actually, I tend to write applied documents such as complaint letters and such today :)  But lucky you, I am taking a Fantasy & Science Fiction Literature class on Coursera.org.
I will post my homework assignments and the comments I receive from other classmates.  So here is my essay assignment for Unit 1: Grimms' Fairytales:
 

我最近剛開始上一堂文學課，教的是科幻和幻想世界的文學作品。
老師讓我們讀一篇寓言（伊索寓言改編來的，作者是神職人員 G.F. Townsend）
這裡面有很強烈的象徵 symbolism。例如生計（食物）、家庭/家族（包括尾巴在西方文學中代表著性能力），和聖經創世篇呼應。

Last week, I did an online training on my company's training portal and learned quite a lot on energy saving.
I thought I should share these simple tips and information in English. :)
 
For those who were afraid of science and math classes in school, let's do a quick review.

最近在幫朋友準備托福，比起12年前考試方式改很多了，加了口說和很多短文題目。光是考一次就要好3-4個小時吧? 其實我覺得很折騰學生，公司開會都沒有人想開超過1小時的，考試卻這麼長。對於台灣的學生，我想你們一定很痛苦，因為很多東西扯到文化差異，學校又沒教。
我知道台灣坊間有很多東西流竄，補習班、滿分作文一堆，我只能告訴你很多都會造成你對托福錯誤了解，因此失分。我先把最近我看到的寫出來，然後作解釋。
(2012-07 註：恭喜我這位朋友分數拉高了10分左右，由英國某間很幸運又有眼光的知名的學校翻譯系研究所錄取囉！)

News in English: Germans welcome their new president
 
Today Germany's new president Joachim Gauck (pronounced “Yo-ah-im Gaok”) inaugurates.  He was a Lutheran pastor and a civil rights leader in East Germany.