Reading Reflection

这一章诗人、名妓、高僧读来格外畅快，在林语堂解释“东西方对和尚与女人之间的轶事格外感兴趣”、“宋朝人民对名妓的平常态度”、还有杭州城的论述与描摹中学到了很多。“苏轼是爱自然的诗人，精通哲理，所以不能做道学家；同样，也因为他深究儒学，故也不能为醉汉。他对人生了解得太透彻，也对生活太珍惜，自然不愿把生活完全消耗于醇酒妇人之间。”最后的七律找来了原文，以前没有读过，但是写得很美~

蔼蔼君诗似岭雪，从来不许醉红裙。不知野餐穿山翠，惟见轻挠破浪纹。

颇忆呼庐袁彦道，难邀骂座灌将军。晚风落日原无主，不惜清凉与子分。

Guiding Question

What was Su Tungpo’s life like when he lived in Hangchow?

    Hangchow was like a second home to Su not only because of its beautiful natural scenes and its busy streets and magnificent temples, but also because he was very popular with the people and spent some of his happiest days there. He made good acquaintance with honored monks and versatile courtesans. At the same time, he understood life too well and valued it too highly just to squander it with wine and women.

Words & Expressions

1. 描述热忱、有活力的词

The people had the gaiety of the south, with its songs and its women, and they loved this young famous poet just as poet, with all his dash and verve and insouciance. (P141)

My vital spirit has shrunk and withered, no longer what it used to be. (P145)

Su knew the old priest well and felt a devilish urge to bring the woman in and break his monastic rules. (P150)

verve: Verve is lively and forceful enthusiasm. (尤指在艺术或文学工作中的)热忱, 精力, 活力

vital: If you describe someone or something as vital, you mean that they are very energetic and full of life. 充满活力的;生气勃勃的

devilish: 如恶魔般的,精力旺盛的

2. find one's expression

The poetry of the region and the poetry of the poet found in each other a perfect expression. (P142)

The West Lake of Hangchow and the "Little West Lake" of Yangchow are two places where the profound landscaping genius of China found perfect expression, where human art and skill improve but do not spoil.

find one's expression: 因为遇到过多次这个词组，意会是找到自己某种情感的表达方式、词句。可惜没找到很精准的翻译。还是列出来做个积累吧~ 这两句的意思如下：

西湖的诗情画意，非苏东坡的诗思不足以极其妙；苏东坡的诗思，非遇西湖的诗情画意

不足尽其才。

杭州的西湖与扬州的小西湖，都表现出中国布置风景的巧思，并且显示人为的技巧与艺

术只增加了自然之美，并未破坏自然之美。

3. 熟词僻义  transport (P143)

Mrs. Su was transported when she opened the window in the morning and saw beneath her the beautiful placid surface of the lake reflecting moving clouds and mountaintops and villas.

transport: If you say that you are transported to another place or time, you mean that something causes you to feel that you are living in the other place or at the other time.  使身处他境；使欣喜若狂、万分激动

4. feast upon (P145)

His poetic spirit feasted upon the beauties of the neighborhood.

feast upon: 学到了“饱览”的表达~

e.g. I'm sending your favorite red rose to feast your eyes upon.

5. 熟词僻义  while (P146)

In the city and the suburbs there were three hundred and sixty temples, usually on mountaintops, where he could while away a whole after- noon chatting with the monks.

while: 消磨、轻松地度过

while away: If you while away the time in a particular way, you spend time in that way, because you are waiting for something else to happen, or because you have nothing else to do. 消磨、打发时间 

6. accumulating merit (P146)

There were also boatmen who caught fish and sold them to people who could put them into the water again as a way of "accumulating merit" or laying up treasure in heaven for having saved living creatures, according to Buddhist teachings.

终于知道“积德”怎么表达了，果然很明了~

7. 与佛僧、修行有关的词语

Su Tungpo half believed that he had lived here in his previous incarnation.  (P143)

We do not have to believe these stories of reincarnation, but when society believes in ghosts or in reincarnation, there are always many such firsthand stories, and like ghost stories, they cannot be conclusively proved or disproved. (P144)

One day he was visiting a temple and told people that he remembered he had been abbot at this place in a previous life. (P144)

Behind the haze, the pleasure seekers could see here and there glimpses of pagodas and towers and catch the faint outlines of the distant hills. (P148)

With his poetry, he loved this life too passionately to become an ascetic or a monk, and with his philosophy, he was too wise to give himself up to the "devil." (P149)

The best illustration of the attitude of the young and fun-loving poet is the story of how he tried to bring an austere priest and a courtesan together. (P149)

Su knew the old priest well and felt a devilish urge to bring the woman in and break his monastic rules. (P150)

For East and West, there is a secret grudge among lay people against a special class of celibates who announce to the world that they have no sex life and are diflferent from the generality of mankind, and it is this secret grudge against celibates that underlies the popularity of the stories of Boccaccio. (P150)

There was a monastic brother at the Lingyin Temple, by the name of Liaojan, who frequented the red-light district and fell madly in love with a girl named Shiunu. (P150)

Going into the inner temple, they saw the image of the Goddess of Mercy holding a rosary in her hand. (P152)

"Since the Goddess of Mercy is a buddha herself, what is she doing there telling the beads?" asked Su Tungpo. (P152)

I said, 'All is easy except continence.'  (P155)

因为这一章提到很多高僧，顺便做一下总结，平常也难遇到很精准的翻译。

previous incarnation: 前世    eincarnation: 来生

abbot: （大寺院男）住持，方丈    monastic: 修道士；僧侣

pagodas: 宝塔    rosary、bead: 念珠

ascetic: 苦行的、禁欲主义的；禁欲者、苦行者    continence:  节欲（尤指禁欲）

austere: (指人或行为)十分简朴的, 苦行的；朴素的

celibate:   独身者；独身的、禁欲的

8. 熟词僻义vehicle (P156)

The Sung courtesans had popularized a new form of poetry, the tse, and Su Tungpo mastered it and transformed it from a meter for sentimental poetry of the lovelorn into a vehicle fit to express any thought or sentiment in his breast.

vehicle: You can use vehicle to refer to something that you use in order to achieve a particular purpose. 工具，手段,媒介

9. hackneyed (P156)

What was more serious, even poetic diction had become a repetition of hackneyed metaphors.

hackneyed: (词语、引语等)使用过于频繁的,陈腐的,老一套的。表示‘陈词滥调’的通常是cliche, sterotype