Found the solution here: http://mohamednabeel.blogspot.com/2009/10/fixing-font-not-embedded-issue-to-pass.html
Issue #2: Font Times-Italic, Times-Roman, Times-BoldItalic, Times-Bold, Helvetica, Courier is not embedded.
You
can see what fonts are embedded and what are not, by using "pdffont
file.pdf" and looking at the "emb" column. In our case, it did show that
some fonts are not embedded.
Fix: We searched the Internet [1, 2]and
found that in order to fix this (i.e. to embed all the required fonts)
we need to do the conversion from tex to pdf in two stages. This is a
dirty hack; but it works.
latex file.tex
bibtex file
latex file.tex
latex file.tex (Now we have file.dvi)
dvips -Ppdf -G0 -tletter file.dvi (Now we have file.ps)
ps2pdf -dCompatibilityLevel=1.4 -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress file.ps file.pdf (Now we have file.pdf)
Friday, July 27, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
穿越迷雾那头是什么？
近几年穿越小说很是风靡，穿越电视剧的大潮也不甘示弱紧随其后。我一直都没有看过穿越小说，倒是看了穿越剧《步步经心》。电视开始还有些意思，后面便开始无聊起来。看完再仔细想想，基本都是作者yy。正如网上所调侃的：女子们，醒醒吧，就算是你们穿越回古代去，你们也只能是个丫鬟不会是个公主。
但我仍然很好奇，为什么那么多人喜欢看穿越小说？看这些小说的会对人有什么样的影响呢？我也很喜欢看小说，我个人感觉看小说尤其是好小说时，潜意识里面容易把自己想象成为书中的主角，随着书中人物的幸福而开心，他们的苦难而概叹命运，因着书中人物超乎常人的能力和性格而自我感觉良好。记得我在看《納尼亚传奇》时，最喜欢的角色就是Lucy，她虽是最小的女孩却非常勇敢，又很善良，她对Aslan的信念也是她的兄弟姐妹中最强的。看完书后在听audiobook的时候，有一天我忽然意识到我很自觉得把自己放在了Lucy的角色上。然而现实中的我可能是Edmund，那个属于死亡的叛徒，那个用Aslan的死亡换来生命的Edmund。有时我又会是Susan，容易抱怨，信念薄弱。
那么在看穿越小说的时候，不可避免的会被带入到书中。最近的很多穿越小说，主角大都从现代回到过去，因为有着一些历史发展的知识，再加上作者所赋予的聪明才智，都会在古代的环境里得心应手，大有作为，或享得众人宠爱，寻得如意郎君。若不经思考，潜意识里把自己放在书中主角的位置，被穿越小说带到这样的幻觉中，沉迷于这样的书中，到底是成了对现实不满的逃避，或对奇遇的向往，对被众人追捧的渴求， 对现实爱情失望而对美好爱情的寻求。
孔子说学而不思则罔，讲的正是这个道理。爱看书本是好事，但若只是看书不经思考，受益就浅，也容易被书中表象所蒙蔽。在穿越小说的那头，你能获得什么，到什么样的影响更取决于你对书的思考。
后记：
有很多人穿越小说持批判态度，我没有看过，所以不想妄加评论，下面只是摘录一些别人批判的观点。全文请看：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4c2492380100v4nq.html
但我仍然很好奇，为什么那么多人喜欢看穿越小说？看这些小说的会对人有什么样的影响呢？我也很喜欢看小说，我个人感觉看小说尤其是好小说时，潜意识里面容易把自己想象成为书中的主角，随着书中人物的幸福而开心，他们的苦难而概叹命运，因着书中人物超乎常人的能力和性格而自我感觉良好。记得我在看《納尼亚传奇》时，最喜欢的角色就是Lucy，她虽是最小的女孩却非常勇敢，又很善良，她对Aslan的信念也是她的兄弟姐妹中最强的。看完书后在听audiobook的时候，有一天我忽然意识到我很自觉得把自己放在了Lucy的角色上。然而现实中的我可能是Edmund，那个属于死亡的叛徒，那个用Aslan的死亡换来生命的Edmund。有时我又会是Susan，容易抱怨，信念薄弱。
那么在看穿越小说的时候，不可避免的会被带入到书中。最近的很多穿越小说，主角大都从现代回到过去，因为有着一些历史发展的知识，再加上作者所赋予的聪明才智，都会在古代的环境里得心应手，大有作为，或享得众人宠爱，寻得如意郎君。若不经思考，潜意识里把自己放在书中主角的位置，被穿越小说带到这样的幻觉中，沉迷于这样的书中，到底是成了对现实不满的逃避，或对奇遇的向往，对被众人追捧的渴求， 对现实爱情失望而对美好爱情的寻求。
孔子说学而不思则罔，讲的正是这个道理。爱看书本是好事，但若只是看书不经思考，受益就浅，也容易被书中表象所蒙蔽。在穿越小说的那头，你能获得什么，到什么样的影响更取决于你对书的思考。
后记：
有很多人穿越小说持批判态度，我没有看过，所以不想妄加评论，下面只是摘录一些别人批判的观点。全文请看：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4c2492380100v4nq.html
杨陈刚：喜欢穿越小说的，明显以女生居多，喜欢的理由也比较一致，穿越小说虚构的情景满足了她们的虚荣和幻想，我们不难发现穿越的主人公多成为了王子公主等显赫的人物。
黄
徐霞：穿越小说的受众对象多以女性为主，一定程度上她们把穿越小说作为自己精神的寄托，用来填补现实生活各方面的空虚。穿越小说很大程度上迎合了女性的阅读喜好，尤其是其中爱情题材的作品，因为随着现实生活中纯粹的爱情越来越少，世俗的因素在婚姻中所占的比重越来越强大，人逐渐的物质化，很多女生转而从
穿越小说中去寻找在现实中寻觅不到的轰轰烈烈的爱情。而历史题材的穿越小说，也从很多方面满足了人们对野史的兴趣。
徐曦: 其实就跟男生看武侠小说寻找精神寄托一样，女生看穿越小说也是在寻找一种精神的宣泄、得到
一种心理的补偿，在现实生活中得不到的优质男、体验不到的浪漫的爱情，却可以在小说的世界里实现。在穿越的世界里，有英俊挺拔的皇子，有浪荡江湖的快意，
有后宫勾心斗角、险中求生的刺激……在那个虚幻的世界里，你可以把自己带入书中女主角的命运，跟着主角一起体会一场轰轰烈烈的爱情，经历一场生离死别的爱
恋；更何况在穿越的世界里，你还可以预知历史、改变历史，甚至把现代的文明与科技带到古代去，这多多少少给了现在很多在生活中平平淡淡、庸庸碌碌的“宅
女”们以心理的滋养与慰藉，那些在现实生活中被压抑了的激情与幻想在穿越的世界里通通得以复活。对于众多的女生来说，穿越小说起到了“成人的童话”的功效。
罗欢：和现实不一样的生活使人们在阅读时有一种猎奇的心理。
黄玲：穿越是人对现实的逃避。它的内容有着对现实的折射，说明人们还是期望传奇、浪漫，只不过换个场景实现而已。
徐霞：这也从一个侧面反映出现如今人的精神世界越来越荒凉，越来越没有精神的寄托了。从另一个角度看，那些现在或者曾经对穿越小说有过热衷以
及思考的人，比起那些完全对这个类型的小说漠视的人一定意义上更显得可贵，想着穿越的人说明他们的心底多少还存在着美好的梦想，还知道自己在现实中丢失的
是什么。而那些连穿越都懒得穿的人，或许他们的内心真的已经一片荒凉。
蔡丽：穿越小说有着人们对浪漫、传奇生活的向往。爱情是人类的本能。
罗欢：写给男生看的穿越小说离不开金钱权势和美女，写给女生看的穿越小说离不开好的对象和美满的家庭。
杨陈刚：穿越小说读起来很轻松，文字不少简短明快，有点古意。内容大多其实就是把言情故事放在一个穿越的背景下。
谢轶群：总体上说，穿越作品的文化价值大于文学价值，它的火爆流行是文化现象，不是文学现象；对它适合做社会文化批评，而不是审美批评。
黄玲：写未来就是科幻小说了，不是穿越小说。如果穿越到了未来，人们就没有优越感了，不能再做预言家。穿越到过去，一切大的事件、方向已经确定，现代人在那里有优势，这是穿越小说的一个特色。
郭鹏群：穿越小说或穿越剧的盛行原因还有两点：一是我们对现实的无法把握。
如今国内流行的电视剧主要有三种：革命历史剧；美化皇权的宫廷剧，其中就包括了穿越剧；以及完全不符合现实的“现实剧”，如《老大的幸福》《乡村爱情》
等，完全是麻痹或娱乐百姓。指向“现在”的电视剧都不多，连现实的深层矛盾都不敢揭露，现实的真实性都把握不住，还想把握未来？所以作家很多作品都是回避
现实的。二是我们对未来其实有预感，但是不敢去想象，更不敢穿越到未来。社会要继续腐败堕落下去，直到崩塌、溃败？我们看不到解决它的有效途径，人们当然
不敢想象未来了，梦想也无从谈起。
宋家宏：穿越多是爱情小说，说明现实没有纯粹的爱情，只能用此来做心理补偿。人们宁肯美化过去来拒绝现实，逃避未来。典型九斤老太式的“厚古薄今”。
蔡丽：这不就像是阿Q，穿越其实是一剂现实的安慰剂，说明现实生活真是太平庸了，一点想象的空间都没有，那就到虚幻空间去吧。把自己设定到某个历史场景，演绎一段爱情或者人生，尤其对女生来讲也是一份满足。或者是不是这样，在现实有多实际，在穿越就有多纯情？
谢轶群：这还是不相信自己有改变现实的能力，不敢面对现实和未来，因为现实太强大，只有通过穿越的避风港来麻痹自己，可以说它是精神鸦片。
罗
Thursday, June 21, 2012
I loved so many things, but they don't love me.
I loved so many things, such as money, beauty, and success, but they clearly don't love me. Then why should I continue loving them? It is time to stop loving these things. It is time to only love people that love me.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Places I Have Heard the Ocean
Places I Have Heard the Ocean
to my ear — though I'm told
this is the sound of my own
blood. I have heard the ocean
in the city: cars against
the beach of our street. Or in
the subway, waiting for a train
that carries me like a current.
In my bed: place of high and low
tide or in my daughter's skates,
rolling over the sidewalk.
Ocean in the trees when they
fill their heads with wind.
Ocean in the rise and fall:
lungs of everyone I love.
"Places I Have Heard the Ocean" by Faith Shearin, from Moving the Piano. © Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2011. Reprinted with permission.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Correct/Advice: give as an act of love, receive as an act of being wise
In a peer group, such as members of a lab or students of a class, it is easy to directly point out others‘ mistakes. The corrections usually aim for specific things with clearly right or wrong answers. There is not much emotion involved in corrections in such peer group scenarios. People are not likely to take the corrections personally.
But, when it comes to correct someone or give advice, especially someone close to you, correction becomes a delicate art. In a house, corrections and advice are to be given in an act of caring for them in the hope that they may realize their mistakes and follow your advice without getting hurt; corrections and good advice are to be received and followed in an act of seeking to be wise and grow in understanding.
Before giving advice, we have to check whether advice is needed. Sometimes, we do not need to give advice, instead, we should just show love. When a wife complains about problems she has or people she meets, she often is just looking for comfort rather than advice. However, the husband tends to give advice when he hears a problem. The husband's "too quick to give advice" often causes the wife feel hurt, thus the husband's advice is not appreciated. To avoid that, the husband should first give understanding and comfort, then check whether advice is needed before finally give the advice; while the wife should state clearly whether she is looking for comfort or advice before the complains.
If we see our beloved ones making mistakes, we should correct them but only in a humble way. We should be careful about the words we use for the correction. Only those for building up should be spoken. Even when our beloved ones disagree with us and do not appreciate our corrections, we should control our temper and not to quarrel with them. When being corrected or corrections being rejected, women are more sensitive and get hurt feelings which could easily lead to arguments. So women should be extra careful in giving correction/advice as well as receiving correction/advice.
Likewise, we should not be quick to reject any advice, and always willing to listen to and follow good advice which will make us wise. This means that we sometimes have to swallow our pride and receive the corrections humbly. It is better to live with the temporal humiliation than regrets.
Let us give correction/advice as an act of love. Let us receive correction/advice as an act of being wise.
But, when it comes to correct someone or give advice, especially someone close to you, correction becomes a delicate art. In a house, corrections and advice are to be given in an act of caring for them in the hope that they may realize their mistakes and follow your advice without getting hurt; corrections and good advice are to be received and followed in an act of seeking to be wise and grow in understanding.
Before giving advice, we have to check whether advice is needed. Sometimes, we do not need to give advice, instead, we should just show love. When a wife complains about problems she has or people she meets, she often is just looking for comfort rather than advice. However, the husband tends to give advice when he hears a problem. The husband's "too quick to give advice" often causes the wife feel hurt, thus the husband's advice is not appreciated. To avoid that, the husband should first give understanding and comfort, then check whether advice is needed before finally give the advice; while the wife should state clearly whether she is looking for comfort or advice before the complains.
If we see our beloved ones making mistakes, we should correct them but only in a humble way. We should be careful about the words we use for the correction. Only those for building up should be spoken. Even when our beloved ones disagree with us and do not appreciate our corrections, we should control our temper and not to quarrel with them. When being corrected or corrections being rejected, women are more sensitive and get hurt feelings which could easily lead to arguments. So women should be extra careful in giving correction/advice as well as receiving correction/advice.
Likewise, we should not be quick to reject any advice, and always willing to listen to and follow good advice which will make us wise. This means that we sometimes have to swallow our pride and receive the corrections humbly. It is better to live with the temporal humiliation than regrets.
Let us give correction/advice as an act of love. Let us receive correction/advice as an act of being wise.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
How much can we trust our memories?
The book Remembering Satan made my jaw drop literally, in which the author Lawrence Wright describes the bizarre case of Paul Ingram, a Washington State deputy sheriff, who was accused by his daughters of sexual abuse and of belonging to a satanic cult.
The stories started with Paul Ingram being arrested because of accusations from his daughters Ericka and Julie of sexual abuse. Followed by some unprofessional interrogations from his colleagues, Paul recovered several memories of molesting his daughters while in trance, implicating two fellow deputies participating in those raping and sexual abuses. At the same time, Paul's daughters produced new disturbing memories of participating satanic practices with their whole family and other members of the sheriff's department, which involved killing babies, raping women, and child cannibalism.
In the irrational and hysterical wave of "Satanic Panic", which resulted in numerous investigations/trials of people accused of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) in 1980s in the US, the case of Ingram was going craze. Because Paul Ingram originally plead guilty and recovered memories corresponding to his daughters' accusations. This case has been claimed to be the proof of the existence of SRA, although Ingram's recovered memories lacked evidence and consistency and almost no evidence of any SRA has ever been found.
To make the case more complex, psychologist Richard Ofshe did a little experiment to Paul Ingram, which he implanted a false memory to Ingram. Even after Ofshe told Ingram that the detailed memory Ingram recovered actually never happened, Ingram insisted that it felt so true to him. Based on this experiment, Ofshe claimed that Ingram was inadvertently hypnotized and the confessions were the result of false memories being implanted with suggestions by authority figures who conducted his interrogation.
As Freud abandoned his seduction theory and concluded that the memories of sexual abuse were in fact imaginary fantasies, while some psychologists have shown that it is possible to implant false memories in individuals, it is possible to doubt the validity of the recovered memories of sexual abuses of Paul Ingram, his daughters, and later his wife.
At the end of my reading, the truth behind the case of Paul Ingram becomes more blurring than ever. It even made me start doubting my own memories, especially those related to my childhood.
I have an memory of a vivid picture that our family were sending off my uncle to join the army. In that memory, I was on my mother's lap seeing that my uncle had his stuff packed on his back waving goodbye to us. When I was little, I claimed that I remembered that scene. I refused to admit it being false memory even my mother told me that is almost impossible because my uncle left the year when I was born.
Now, I realize that it is very much possible that I came up that memory based on some books I read or TV show I watched. That memory is likely my fantasy rather than a fact. Then, how much can we trust our own memories? How much differences between the facts and the memories?
The stories started with Paul Ingram being arrested because of accusations from his daughters Ericka and Julie of sexual abuse. Followed by some unprofessional interrogations from his colleagues, Paul recovered several memories of molesting his daughters while in trance, implicating two fellow deputies participating in those raping and sexual abuses. At the same time, Paul's daughters produced new disturbing memories of participating satanic practices with their whole family and other members of the sheriff's department, which involved killing babies, raping women, and child cannibalism.
In the irrational and hysterical wave of "Satanic Panic", which resulted in numerous investigations/trials of people accused of Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA) in 1980s in the US, the case of Ingram was going craze. Because Paul Ingram originally plead guilty and recovered memories corresponding to his daughters' accusations. This case has been claimed to be the proof of the existence of SRA, although Ingram's recovered memories lacked evidence and consistency and almost no evidence of any SRA has ever been found.
To make the case more complex, psychologist Richard Ofshe did a little experiment to Paul Ingram, which he implanted a false memory to Ingram. Even after Ofshe told Ingram that the detailed memory Ingram recovered actually never happened, Ingram insisted that it felt so true to him. Based on this experiment, Ofshe claimed that Ingram was inadvertently hypnotized and the confessions were the result of false memories being implanted with suggestions by authority figures who conducted his interrogation.
As Freud abandoned his seduction theory and concluded that the memories of sexual abuse were in fact imaginary fantasies, while some psychologists have shown that it is possible to implant false memories in individuals, it is possible to doubt the validity of the recovered memories of sexual abuses of Paul Ingram, his daughters, and later his wife.
At the end of my reading, the truth behind the case of Paul Ingram becomes more blurring than ever. It even made me start doubting my own memories, especially those related to my childhood.
I have an memory of a vivid picture that our family were sending off my uncle to join the army. In that memory, I was on my mother's lap seeing that my uncle had his stuff packed on his back waving goodbye to us. When I was little, I claimed that I remembered that scene. I refused to admit it being false memory even my mother told me that is almost impossible because my uncle left the year when I was born.
Now, I realize that it is very much possible that I came up that memory based on some books I read or TV show I watched. That memory is likely my fantasy rather than a fact. Then, how much can we trust our own memories? How much differences between the facts and the memories?
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Good points about scientific writing
In Richard Preston's introduction for The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2007, I found some good points about scientific writing.
- Writing is linear, proceeding from one word to the next; one of the tricks in science and nature writing, which works well in certain kind of pieces but is a hard trick to get right, is the delicate process of managing the line of prose as it moves from exposition to narrative back to exposition again. Technically, when you break a narrative to explain something, it's called a "set piece." The name tells what it does. It sits there, providing reader with explanation of something. If you put too much narrative in a piece of writing about science, without enough exposition, the reader won't see the reason for the narrative. But if you start a narrative and then hang too much exposition on it, the exposition ends up as a load of wet laundry hanging on the line, and it drags the narrative down to the ground.
- Another thing I relish is clear exposition of an important idea, especially if it's counterintuitive, challenging, controversial, or hasn't been presented in such a way before. Here we don't need narrative or character, what we need is a good argument. "A Plan to Keep Carbon in Check," in Scientific American, by Robert H. Socolow and Stephen W. Pacala, who are both working scientists, has a quiet but strong voice and a good raison d'etre. The authors ask the straightforward question, How, practically speaking, can the world reduce carbon emissions? If we know the climate is warming up because of human-caused carbon emissions, then if we begin acting right now, what can we do to reduce carbon emissions, and how effective will is be? In a straightforward, persuasive set of arguments, Socolow and Pacala show that carbon emissions can be lowered, and it can have a major effect.
Monday, February 27, 2012
This Is Just to Say
This Is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten the plums that were in the ice box
and which you were probably saving for breakfast.
Forgive me. They were delicious. So sweet and so cold.
This poetry has been used widely in poetry classes everywhere and, particularly, elementary schools. This poetry has been imitated and spoofed. It has even become a game among poets, to write a version of "This is just to say." So I tried to come up two.
This is just to say
By Yujin Li
One
I have messed up your life that was in this unsettling world
and which you were probably expecting for great.
Forgive me. It was messy. So dirty and so hopeless.
Two
I have read the diary that was in the drawer
and which you were probably keeping for yourself.
Forgive me. It was a page-turner. So intriguing and so tempting.
This is just to say
by Kenneth Koch
One
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do.
And its wooden beams were so inviting.
Two
Last evening we went dancing, and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy, and I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor.
This is just to say
By Andrew
Sorry I took your money and burned it.
But it looked like the world falling apart when it crackled and burned.
So I think it was worth it. After all, you can't see the world fall apart every day.
This Is Just to Say
by Sarah Vowell
I carved your name, not mine, into the arm of dad's chair.
Sorry you were punished.
But the wood was so gummy, and my knife was so sharp.
This Is Just to Say
by Jonathan Goldstein
I have eaten the fruit of knowledge, but nothing happened.
Not a word. No lightning or volcanoes, not even a drop of rain.
So I was just wondering, are you there?
This Is Just to Say
by Shalom Auslander
One
I'm sorry you are overweight
and drinking and feeling like everything in your life is doomed to failure.
But this is probably why mom said I was her favorite.
Two
it sucks, little doe, that I hit you with my car,
but at least you weren't alive to watch the hunters shoot your children.
Three
he was a trouble maker, OK?
And didn't know when to shut up.
Still, we never would have killed him if we'd known he was the Lord.
This Is Just to Say
by Heather O'Neill.
Dear Mom, This is just to say I forgive you for eating all the plums, the apples, the pears, and even drinking the last of the orange juice.
I forgive you for emptying Dad's bank account and for painting stars on our station wagon right before you got in and drove away.
I forgive you for leaving us without even saying good-bye.
Your plans were always so sweet, so delicious, and so cold.
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten the plums that were in the ice box
and which you were probably saving for breakfast.
Forgive me. They were delicious. So sweet and so cold.
This poetry has been used widely in poetry classes everywhere and, particularly, elementary schools. This poetry has been imitated and spoofed. It has even become a game among poets, to write a version of "This is just to say." So I tried to come up two.
This is just to say
By Yujin Li
One
I have messed up your life that was in this unsettling world
and which you were probably expecting for great.
Forgive me. It was messy. So dirty and so hopeless.
Two
I have read the diary that was in the drawer
and which you were probably keeping for yourself.
Forgive me. It was a page-turner. So intriguing and so tempting.
Here are some other examples.
This is just to say
by Kenneth Koch
One
I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.
I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do.
And its wooden beams were so inviting.
Two
Last evening we went dancing, and I broke your leg.
Forgive me. I was clumsy, and I wanted you here in the wards, where I am the doctor.
This is just to say
By Andrew
Sorry I took your money and burned it.
But it looked like the world falling apart when it crackled and burned.
So I think it was worth it. After all, you can't see the world fall apart every day.
This Is Just to Say
by Sarah Vowell
I carved your name, not mine, into the arm of dad's chair.
Sorry you were punished.
But the wood was so gummy, and my knife was so sharp.
This Is Just to Say
by Jonathan Goldstein
I have eaten the fruit of knowledge, but nothing happened.
Not a word. No lightning or volcanoes, not even a drop of rain.
So I was just wondering, are you there?
This Is Just to Say
by Shalom Auslander
One
I'm sorry you are overweight
and drinking and feeling like everything in your life is doomed to failure.
But this is probably why mom said I was her favorite.
Two
it sucks, little doe, that I hit you with my car,
but at least you weren't alive to watch the hunters shoot your children.
Three
he was a trouble maker, OK?
And didn't know when to shut up.
Still, we never would have killed him if we'd known he was the Lord.
This Is Just to Say
by Heather O'Neill.
Dear Mom, This is just to say I forgive you for eating all the plums, the apples, the pears, and even drinking the last of the orange juice.
I forgive you for emptying Dad's bank account and for painting stars on our station wagon right before you got in and drove away.
I forgive you for leaving us without even saying good-bye.
Your plans were always so sweet, so delicious, and so cold.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Friendship
I finished reading E.B. White's Charlotte's Web last year. I enjoyed the story and E.B. White's elegant writing instantly. Yet it was after I listened the audio book for several times, I started to think about the friendship between Wilbur the pig and Charlotte the spider.
It is obvious that Charlotte is a good friend to Wilbur. Charlotte comforted Wilbur when he was lonely and worried about his future. She wrote words on her webs and saved Wilbur's life. But I can't help myself thinking that Wilbur seems not good enough for Charlotte. He received love and loyalty from Charlotte. But what has he ever done for Charlotte? Is he good enough to be Charlotte's friend?
Looking back to my friendships with my friends, especially those from college, I feel myself playing the role of Wilbur. I am often the younger, childish, and less mature one. My friends take care of me as big brothers or sisters loving their little sister. I feel I receive more than I give. I don't feel I deserve all their love. I wonder whether they ever think I am a burden for them.
I guess that is also what was on Wilbur's mind when he asked Charlotte (in Chapter 21 Last Day):
Why did you do all this for me? I don't deserve it. I've never done anything
for you.
Charlotte answered:
You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my
webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're
born, we live a little while, we die.
A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping
and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a
trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.
What a beautiful answer Charlotte gave to Wilbur! I do hope that is what my friends think about our friendship. As being a Charlotte for me, they lift up their lives trifles.
In our friendships, we sometimes play the role of Wilbur, the one receiving love, sometimes play the role of Charlotte, the one giving love. But that is not important. After all, being a friend to each other in itself is the tremendous thing for the friendship.
It is obvious that Charlotte is a good friend to Wilbur. Charlotte comforted Wilbur when he was lonely and worried about his future. She wrote words on her webs and saved Wilbur's life. But I can't help myself thinking that Wilbur seems not good enough for Charlotte. He received love and loyalty from Charlotte. But what has he ever done for Charlotte? Is he good enough to be Charlotte's friend?
Looking back to my friendships with my friends, especially those from college, I feel myself playing the role of Wilbur. I am often the younger, childish, and less mature one. My friends take care of me as big brothers or sisters loving their little sister. I feel I receive more than I give. I don't feel I deserve all their love. I wonder whether they ever think I am a burden for them.
I guess that is also what was on Wilbur's mind when he asked Charlotte (in Chapter 21 Last Day):
Why did you do all this for me? I don't deserve it. I've never done anything
for you.
Charlotte answered:
You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. I wove my
webs for you because I liked you. After all, what's a life, anyway? We're
born, we live a little while, we die.
A spider's life can't help being something of a mess, with all this trapping
and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a
trifle. Heaven knows anyone's life can stand a little of that.
What a beautiful answer Charlotte gave to Wilbur! I do hope that is what my friends think about our friendship. As being a Charlotte for me, they lift up their lives trifles.
In our friendships, we sometimes play the role of Wilbur, the one receiving love, sometimes play the role of Charlotte, the one giving love. But that is not important. After all, being a friend to each other in itself is the tremendous thing for the friendship.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Starting my own reading group
To find more, please visit my wiki page for this reading group.
http://eslreadinggroup.wikispaces.com/
http://eslreadinggroup.wikispaces.com/
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Instaparty: Celebrate for nothing by fancy dinner at home
Yesterday, I was thinking that I got a lovely little black dress (LBD) for the new year, yet hadn't got any chance to wear it. I am a graduate student and work in a lab everyday. I don't have any important events that I could wear this LBD.
Alas! I fell into the hole of adultitis. I was passively waiting for the important event and grumbling about not being able to wear my elegant LBD. As Kim&Jason has taught me lots of ways to escape the adulthood, I decided to have a fancy dinner at home to celebrate NOTHING (or wearing my LBD :)).
After I got off work, I went to grocery store and bought some pasta and a bottle of non-alcoholic red grape wine. I got home and cooked myself a delicious meal. Then I put on my LBD with the pearl necklace (which I also felt not much chance to wear). Poured myself a glass of grape wine and enjoyed the meal!
Actually, I think it would be much more fun if I have the table pasta like this Michigan Mom. Maybe I'll do it next time.
Alas! I fell into the hole of adultitis. I was passively waiting for the important event and grumbling about not being able to wear my elegant LBD. As Kim&Jason has taught me lots of ways to escape the adulthood, I decided to have a fancy dinner at home to celebrate NOTHING (or wearing my LBD :)).
After I got off work, I went to grocery store and bought some pasta and a bottle of non-alcoholic red grape wine. I got home and cooked myself a delicious meal. Then I put on my LBD with the pearl necklace (which I also felt not much chance to wear). Poured myself a glass of grape wine and enjoyed the meal!
Thanks to ipad's camera, even nobody was there to take a picture for me, I was able to snap a picture.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Reading Group Guides
Online Reading Guide Indices
- Reading Group Guides
- An excellent starting point for readers in search of a particular guide, this site allows you to browse by genre as well as author and title.
- S.C.O.R.E. Cyberguides
- S.C.O.R.E. stands for Schools of California Online Resources for Education. The Cyberguides are "supplementary, web-based units of instruction centered on core works of literature." Geared primarily to teachers, they contain exercises and links to complement the study of literature.
- Paul Brians' Study Guides
- Paul Brians, a professor at Washington State University, has generously placed numerous study guides used in his classes on the web, ranging from sci-fi to 18th Century Literature. Guides include chapter summaries and background information for each book.
- BookBrowse.com Reading Guides
- BookBrowse.com has a great resource for book clubs with an extensive reading guides section.
Publishers' Reading Group Guides
Visit the following sites to find reading group guides for books from a particular publisher.- Beacon Press Reading Group Guides
- Guides to several selections of fiction and nonfiction books published by Beacon Press.
- Random House Reading Group Guides
- An extensive listing of dozens of reading group guides to titles from Random House Books, sorted by title.
- Penguin Books Reading Group Guides
- A wide selection of reading group guides to books published by Penguin and sorted alphabetically according to author.
- HarperCollins Reading Group Guides
- The HarperCollins Reading Groups page includes a large listing of reading group guides for its books, sorted by title and author.
- Henry Holt and Company Reading Guides
- A collection of several reading group guides for Henry Holt Books, including background information about each book and author.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
贴个我认同的《金陵十三钗》的影评
纽约时报发的《金陵十三钗》的影评，英文中间我加了写简短的翻译。能看原文还是看原文，否则就随便看看我拙劣的翻译吧。
A Shady American in the Nanjing Massacre
虚幻的美国人在南京大屠杀
By MIKE HALE
Published: December 20, 2011
Eventually, it seems, every senseless waste of life gets its own gauzy tear-jerker. That’s about the only way to justify “The Flowers of War,” in which the veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou revisits the Nanjing massacre of 1937 by making something resembling a backstage musical, with breaks for the occasional ghastly murder or rape.
这电影被张艺谋拍的像个偶尔穿插着惊悚的谋杀和强奸的后台音乐剧。
There’s nothing that says the atrocity blockbuster has to be a disaster in its own right; films like “Gone With the Wind” and “Gallipoli” have their good points. But long before its two and a half hours are up, “The Flowers of War” is sunk by the disproportion between the events being portrayed and Mr. Zhang’s distanced, strangely frivolous treatment of them — in essence, his refusal to take a point of view on one of the most gruesome chapters in Chinese history.
《金陵十三钗》的沦陷本质上是因为张艺谋不愿对这段黑暗的中国历史明确自己的观点。
“Flowers” has received bountiful publicity for being expensive, state-approved and Oscar-submitted, buzz that got louder last week when the film’s British star, Christian Bale, was forcibly prevented from visiting a Chinese activist lawyer being held under house arrest.
电影宣传造势很大。。。
But fears that Mr. Zhang would take a one-dimensional, patriotic approach to the Japanese invasion and occupation of Nanjing (formerly Nanking), while not entirely unfounded, are misplaced. Other recent Chinese films have displayed more sentimental nationalism,jingoism and demonization of the Japanese enemy.
但是担心张艺谋会采用单纯的爱国方式对待日本侵略和南京陷落（影片虽有体现）是不必要啦。其他近期的电影对情感化的国家主义、沙文主义和对日本军队的妖魔化表现强烈的多。
His real approach to the events of 1937 is to use them as a backdrop for the kind of deluxe, Hollywood-inspired melodrama that has made him an art-house favorite. In the process he fails to deliver on most of the elements — grandeur, historical sweep, genuine pathos — that would have made the film worthwhile.
张艺谋描述1937南京大屠杀的真正方式是把南京大屠杀作为一种华丽的，好莱坞闹剧式的背景。这个过程中，张艺谋没有传达出宏大、历史的扫描、真实的悲伤这些使得电影值得一看的元素。
Given the right story, as in “Raise the Red Lantern” or “House of the Flying Daggers,” Mr. Zhang’s almost clinical attention to pretty surfaces and soap-opera mechanics can have entertaining results. In “Flowers,” though, you can feel him at war with his material, never settling on a tone or a compelling or even coherent narrative. (The screenplay is by Liu Heng and Geling Yan, based on a novel by Ms. Yan.)
如果有合适的故事，比如在《大红灯笼高高挂》或者《十面埋伏》中，张艺谋的几乎病态的追究漂亮画面和肥皂剧技巧可以取得娱乐的效果。然而在《金陵十三钗》中，你可以感觉到张艺谋本身和他的素材在打仗，从未定下基调或者一个吸引人甚至连贯的叙述。
Mr. Zhang’s distance from the larger story of the massacre is embodied in his decision to set most of the film within the compound of a fictional European church. The result is an artificial, back-lot atmosphere; the opening scenes, set in the streets, take place in an actual fog of war, with smoke (and at one point the dust from a large mound of flour) isolating the characters from the real world of Nanjing.
张艺谋和南京大屠杀这个大故事的距离具体体现在他决定把大部分的电影拍摄在一个虚构的欧洲教堂。结果产生了很虚假的背景；开场设在战烟弥漫的街道，这些烟雾把这些人物角色和真正的南京隔离了。
Mr. Bale plays John Miller, a disreputable American vagabond who happens to be a mortician; as the film begins he is making his way through the fighting toward the church, where he is to be paid to conduct a burial. Also on the move are two groups of a dozen or so young women, the flowers of the title. They are, as a matter of production design if not credible history, visually coded: convent students in severe blue jackets and prostitutes in seductive, rainbow-hued silken dresses.
贝勒扮演的约翰是个美国流浪汉兼入殓师，影片开始时他正在战火下去教堂埋人的路上。同时在路上的两组年轻女人：影片标题中的十三钗。她们，作为电影设计若不是真实的历史，被视觉化了：穿蓝布衫的修道院学生和穿妖媚的五颜六色丝质旗袍的妓女。
All of these parties take refuge in the church, with Miller, who dons the robes of a dead priest, bridging the Manichaean divide between the suspicious students upstairs and the contemptuous, defensive prostitutes hiding in the basement. (They quickly transform their cellar into a seraglio; you can practically smell the perfume.) It’s a contrived, hothouse state of affairs, summed up in a scene Mr. Zhang likes so much that he repeats it: the laughing prostitutes sashaying across the churchyard in slow motion, oblivious to the impending tragedy.
这些人都在教堂避难。贝勒穿了已死的牧师的袍子，充当了楼上满腹怀疑的学生和地下室里充满蔑视和戒备的妓女之间的桥梁。这种做作集中体现在一个张艺谋爱得以至于一再重复使用的场景里：妓女笑着慢慢穿过教堂院子，无视即将发生的悲剧。
There will be tragedy, of course, though when it comes it takes a weirdly oblique form. One group eventually performs what appears to be an ultimate sacrifice, full of sexual and social overtones, but this happens off-camera, if it happens at all. The coyness can be explained, perhaps, in terms of the film’s structure — the story is narrated by one of the students, and what we see may correspond to her selective, romanticized memories — but it cannot really be excused.
当然是有悲剧的，但是悲剧来的时候用了一种奇怪间接的方式。妓女最终做出了看起来是终极牺牲，充满性和社会暗示，但这些没有演出来，如果它实际发生了的话。这种含蓄或许是因为影片的故事是一个学生的描述，我们看到的和她选择性的浪漫化的回忆相呼应，但这真的不能做为理由。
On-screen, meanwhile, the camera ventures into the outside world in occasional scenes that seem timed to goose the action and remind us that we’re watching a war movie. In one of Mr. Zhang’s few outright concessions to the notion of Chinese supremacism, a lone officer (Tong Dawai) draws a contingent of Japanese soldiers away from the church in an act of hyperbolic heroism. Later, in a surrender to gross sentimentality, two prostitutes leave the church on the sort of insane mercy mission that happens only in movies, with particularly disturbing consequences. Aside from that sequence Mr. Zhang is restrained in his depictions of Japanese brutality, which mostly take the form of threats and intimidation.
同时荧幕上，偶尔会有外面的场景，看起来是推进情节并提醒我们：我们在看的是一场战争电影。在张艺谋少数妥协了而正面表达中国至上主义的场景中，佟大为扮演的军官用一种夸张的英雄主义行为引开了教堂附近的日军。之后张艺谋干脆投降到一场过度情绪化的情节，两个妓女离开教堂去干只有在电影中才会发生的类似疯子式的同情心行为，并带来了令人很反感恐慌的结局。除去上面的情节，张艺谋把自己对日本人残酷性的描述基本限制为威胁和恐吓。
Mr. Bale, turning in a respectable if oddly chipper performance under the circumstances, has the unfortunate task of playing a character who doesn’t really add up. Miller’s conversion from opportunist to savior may be another stock element of this sort of movie, but the scene meant to showcase his transformation is rushed and ineffective. Having made an American the central figure in his film, Mr. Zhang reduces him to wrangling flocks of nubile women, like Cary Grant in a much more violent “Father Goose.”
贝勒不幸饰演这样一个无法自圆其说的角色。。。贝勒从投机主义到救世主的转变可能是这类电影另一个赚取票房的元素，但是表现他转变的场景很急促而无效。通过让一个美国人作为他电影的主要人物，张艺谋把自己降低到了一群扯皮性感的女人中。
“The Flowers of War” suffers greatly in comparison to several far superior, less hyped movies about the Nanjing massacre, including the harrowing drama “City of Life and Death,” directed by Lu Chuan, and the documentary “Nanking,” by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman. Those filmmakers came armed with points of view. Mr. Zhang, retreating into the mists of old movies, has declined to take the field.
与其它一些更好但并不如此铺张的描述南京大屠杀的电影，如陆川的《南京！南京》，以及纪录片《南京》一对比，《金陵十三钗》败的更惨。这些电影都展现了导演自己对此事件的观点，而张艺谋却退回到陈旧电影的迷雾中，谢绝表明立场。
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)