Looking at Life through the Eyes of Children
Excerpted from The Most Philosophic Essays, edited by
Xu Hanlin
When we were
children, everything we saw was new, wonderful, exciting, and unbelievable. We
were happy if it was raining or snowing, if it was hot or cold, if it was night
or day. We just wanted to discover all the things that were around us.
For us the only
big difference was that we were awake or asleep. When we were awake, we wanted
to extend the time just for playing with our friends or being with our pet a
little more time.
But we can’t stop
time. Children grow and we become adults; and as adults, we no longer have
enough time for little things
——
discovering a rainbow is not surprising, seeing a building with 50
floors is not amazing, and looking at a giraffe
in the zoo is normal. A rainy day is a bad day because the traffic will be
slow, and the first day of spring makes us think about allergies.
The first day of
the month is not the beginning of a new month; it’s the time to think about
bills. Going to the supermarket is an obligation; it is not just for the
pleasure of walking down the aisles and looking for things and seeing the
people around us.
Life is a process
in which everyone has many obligations, but if everyone tried to see life
through the eyes of a child, I am sure that everyday could be better.
词汇空间
Giraffe n.
长颈鹿
Allergy n. (
医
)
敏感症
posted @ 2007-09-17 20:49
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第一封信
My Dear Shu-Wul,
May 14
Your letter gives me a joyful surprise. Your English is astonishingly
good. This is not “flannel” or “butter” but my sincere opinion (my hand upon my
heart!). The idea found from your version of Chairman’s statement is to say the
least, quite unjust. Perhaps your hand is recovering some of its old cunning
momentarily lost through long lack of practice. At any rate, it would be a
pity-nay, a sin, a crime-to let your English get rusty & become finally
unserviceable.
Yours in haste
By
a slip of pen, you wrote “allocation” instead of “collocation”. This is a mere
peccadillo. Don’t let meticulousness about trifles cramp your style.
第二封信
My Dear Lin,
May 2nd
Excuse
this belated reply to your very kind May Day greetings. It’s almost literally “a
day after the fair”. With fixing the mosquito net, queuing for sweets at the
co-op store, fetching & distributing letters, & the thousand and one
odds and ends which eat away one’s time, the red letter day was over before I
know where I was. Well, here go my best wishes in which my wife joins. Your
letter makes me ashamed. I feel guilty like a swindler who has won your “gratitude”
without doing anything to earn it. Your characteristic generosity has led you
to overestimate the aids to study I gave. Yes, vocabulary is important. Pedagogues
used to distinguish a pupils active or writing & speaking vocabulary. As
you know, the latter is far more extensive than the former. How to turn the
supinely passive into the nimbly active
——
that’s the big
problem. However, enough of shop talk. Tomorrow to the battle & more power
to your elbow!
第三封信
My Dear Lin,
I
am deeply grateful, but I have smiting of conscience. As you know, I have my
own ration of sugar, & I must not deprive you of yours. As to the tibits, a
healthy young man has more need of them to stay his hunger between the meals
——
much more
that and old man does. So I am returning them with heartfelt thanks
——
accompanied
with a little token of esteem. The least No. of Broadsheet is worth glancing.
Your thankfully
这三封信句法变化丰富
,
相邻的两句句型绝不相同
.
简单句、复杂句、定语从句、非完全句等等，变化多端，多有神来之笔。钱钟书的英文信，富有灵气。
用词特点之一是多用近义词，如
flannel
和
butter; sin
和
crime;
词的搭配很地道
,
如
”
充饥
”,”
值得一看
”
等等的英语表达式
,
都是不可更改的
.
posted @ 2007-09-17 20:46
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编辑 收藏posted @ 2007-09-17 20:32
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