Young'blog

When Rome was a great Empire ruled by Caesar Augustus and Israel was governed by King Herod, in the village of Nazareth lived Joseph and Mary. Joseph was a carpenter and Mary was a young virgin who would become his wife. Mary told Joseph of a dream in which she was visited by an angel who told her she had been chosen to bear the Son of God and his name was to be Jesus.                                          
One day the emperor sent notice that all persons were to register for a new tax. They were instructed to return to the towns of their birth. Joseph and Mary left Nazareth for Bethlehem. Mary who was with child, and close to the birth, rode on a donkey while Joseph walked beside her. They traveled for many days and only rested at night.

When they reached Bethlehem it was night. They looked for a place to rest but there were no empty rooms when they reached the inn. As they were being turned away Joseph mentioned his wife was with child and close to birth. The inn keeper took pity on them and told them of some caves in the nearby hills that shepherds would stay with their cows and sheep.

So Joseph and Mary went up into the hills and found the caves. In one cave was a stable room. Joseph cleaned it and made beds of fresh hay. He found a feeding trough which he cleaned and filled with hay to use as a crib. The next night Mary gave birth to a son and they named him Jesus, as the angel had said.

When the child was born a great star appeared over Bethlehem that could be seen for miles around. In the fields nearby shepherds were tending their flocks. An angel appeared to them surrounded by bright light. The shepherds were frightened and tried to run.

"Fear Not," said the angel, "For I bring you tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day in Bethlehem - a Saviour who is Christ the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

Suddenly the sky was filled with angels, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men."

After the angels departed the shepherds set out for Bethlehem. When they reached the cave they found the stable and inside was the child wrapped in swaddling clothes.

As the star shined over Bethlehem, in the east three kings would see it. They knew it was a sign and they set off to follow the star. There was Caspar - the young King of Tarsus, Melchior - a long bearded old man and leader of Arabia, and Balthazar - the king from Ethiopia. They traveled on camels for many days over the mountains, and through the deserts, and plains. Always following the bright star.

When they finally arrived in Bethlehem they found the child in the manger. The 3 kings bowed to their knees and offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They would stay the night in the cave and the next day returned to their lands to spread the news.

CIn this symposium,my part is only sit in silence.To express one's feelings as the end draws near is too intimate a task.That I would mention only one thought  that comes to me as a listener-in:the riders in a race do not stop short when they reach the goal, there is a little finishing canter before coming to a standstill ,there is time to hear the kind voice of friends,and to say to oneself,the work is done. But just as one says that,the answer comes:"The race is over,but the work never is done while the power to work remains.The canter that brings you to a standstill need not be only coming to rest,it cannot be while you still live.But to live is to function ,that is all there is living."
       And so I end with a line from a Latin poet who uttered the message more than fifteen hundred years ago:"Death,death plucks my ear and says:live--i am coming."

Holmes, Oliver Wendell,(1841-1935)American jurist, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1902–32).this short passage is a lecture made in a symposium.i am so love this sentence To Live is to Function that i typed this lecture letter by letter.and it is humors that when i search Oliver Wendell Holmes in google Found the Oliver Wendell Holmes on the first few pages is not the jurist but a poet Oliver Wendell Holmes(1809-1894) ,and i love this port for a line composed by him:The Great Thing In This World Is Not So Much Where We Are,But In What Direction We Are Moving

A pot of wine amidst the flowers,
Alone I drink sans company.
The moon I invite as drinking friend,
And with my shadow we are three.
The moon, I see, she dose not drink,
My shadow only follows me:
I'll keep them company a while
For spring's the time for gayety.

I sing :the moon she swings her head;
I dance :my shadow swells and sways.
We sport together while awake,
While drunk,we all go our own ways.
An eternal,speechless trio then,
Till in the clouds we meet again!

It is a poem composed by a Chinese poet,Li Po.I am not sure if this poem is translated by Lin Yutang.But many words cannot be looked up in my dictionary,maybe they are old words or usages.

We do not konw a nation until we know its pleasures of life,
just as we do not know a man until we know he spends his leisure.
It is when a man ceases to do the things he has to do ,
and does the things he likes to do ,
that his character is revealed.
It is when the repressions of society and business are gone and when the goads of money and fame and ambition are lifted,
and man's spirit wanders where it listeth,
that we see the inner man ,his real self.
Life is harsh and politics is dirty and commerce is sordid,
so that it would often be unfair to judge a man by his public life .
For this reason ,
I find so many of our political soundrels are such lovable human beings ,
and so many of our fafutile bombastic college presidents extremely good fellows at home .
In the same way ,I think the Chinese at play are much more lovable than the Chinese in business.
Whereas the Chinese in politics are ridiculous and in society are childish,
at leisure they are at their best .
They have so much leisure and so much leisurely joviality.

These sentences are cited from My Country and My People, the auther of which is Lin Yutang , a famous writter of china. Lin (1895.10.3——1976.3.26)borned in Fujian province. He used to study Literature and Language in Harvard University and Universit t Leipzig  , he was a genius at literature, not like me , haha . I searched his works on the web , and found he writted many books in English , including this My Country and My People .

I  heard that Lin was animadverted on his attitude in wen ge (how to chuanslate?) .Of course , morality is a most important criterion to judge a person , but simplely judge from his accomplishment in literature , he was success . He winned my applouse at least .  And from the list of his English works we can find most of his work's mathos is about China. And most of his viewpoint is very incisive , convincing and still educational to us in morden world . Too many chinese people , especially many politics cannot know themselves distinctly , and donot know what they are doing , I think Lin could be a good teacher for them , and they have no right to criticize Lin.

I am sorry for my poverty of English ,and Lin is a great writter.

Yesterday I saw these fragments of a poem on a blackboard of the classroom in which I was studying:

No summer's high ,no warm July
No harvest moon to light one tender
No autumn breeze , no falling leaves August night
No even time for birds to fly to southern skies

After I read it , I wanted to record it immediately , because I was really touched by the sence in the poem.

Yesterday I saw a movie Troy ,it lasts two hours,and generally i think it 's not bad as somebody described on BBS,and there are three people i respected . i recorded some word of them.

Priam----the old king of Troy.(great father and great love)

“I have endured what no one on earth has endured before .I kissed the hands of the man who killed my son.”

“I know your father ,he died before his time ,but he was lucky not to live long enough to see his son fall.”

“you have taken everything from me ,Can't change what happened .It is the will of gods.But give me the Small mercy .I loved my boy from the moment he opened his eyes till the moment you closed him.

Let me wash his body

Let me say the prayers

Let me place two coins on his eyes for the boatman”

Hector and Achilles are enemies always but I thinks they are both heroes and no one is wrong .Hector killed Achilles cousin Patroclus in mistake ,and he was compunction, he told his wife :“I killed a boy today and he was too young , he was much too young .”He was a hero because in face of the challenge of  Achilles ,he was not afraid,though his adversary hadn't defeated by anyone .As a result ,Hector was killed by Achilles ,but I say Achilles is also a hero because he say “we'll meet again soon ,my brother”,yes i think ,to him ,a sentence is enough ,because he is Achilles .He is never hesitate ,and he was killed by Hector's little brother ,maybe this is the fate of heroes .

I respect Hector most ,because he is wisdom ,brave ,full of love ,love his father ,his wife ,his brother ,even his enemy .He is perfect ,he is the god maybe . Before he fought a duel with Achilles ,he said with his father :“Father ,forgive me for any offenses.I've served you as best as I could .”

And I collect the word the two guys' word to stir up their soldiers to fight.

Achilles :“Myrmidons,my brother of sword . I'd rather fight behind you than any army.Let no man forget how menacing we are .we are lions .Do you know what's there ,waiting ,beyond that beach?Immortality!Take it !It's yours!”

Hector :“ALL my life ,I've lived by a code. And the code is simple :Honor the god s,love your woman ,and defend you country .Troy is mother to us all.fight for her!”