Random Thoughts (隨心所欲--思想起...)

從不了解為何這麼多人喜歡用部落格？大多時候，那只是一個人透過一部機器對著自己喃喃囈語。現在我自己竟也成了部落格族類之一了。

I never understood why so many people like to have their own blogs. Most of the time, you are talking to yourself through a machine. And now I am one of them.


當亞里士多德說“人類之異於禽獸在於其語言之能力”時，顯示了他對一切有情眾生的無知，也顯示了這個哲學家或許是個善於思考者，但絕非是一個好的觀察者。他難道未曾看見天上的群鳥、水中的魚群如何在一瞬間集體同時轉向繼續前進? 而林間的松鼠又如何為了搶食互相謾罵追趕？他難道未曾聽過群雁滑落草場湖面之前以及飛離之前的聒叫？

亞里士多德一定未曾在清晨或傍晚時分散步於林間；他也一定沒養過小鳥。如果我能遇見亞里士多德先生，我一定邀請他來寒舍，聽聽鳥籠內那三隻鳥的對話—

（個性像個野男孩的）小白﹕“Skye，你不要睡覺，陪我玩嘛！”
（個性略帶侵略性的）Oceana﹕“Skye，你走開，鞦韆是我的！”
（和兩個女人處於同一個屋簷下的）Skye﹕“妳們兩個真煩！”

接下來的三十分鐘，三隻小鳥吵成一團。亞里士多德先生可利用這時好好想一想該如何修改他這句名言。

When Aristotle said human beings are extinguished from other species by our ability to use language, he was ignorant of the intelligence of other living things. Aristotle might have been a sharp thinker, but he was definitely not a good observer. Hadn't he seen flocks of birds in the air and schools of fish in the water changing direction unanimously? Hadn't he heard squirrels growling at each other when they were fighting for food? Hadn't he heard the caws from the geese right before they landed in the pond or the field, or right before they took off from the pond?


I am sure Mr. Aristotle had never taken a walk in the woods in the early morning or at twilight; nor had he ever had pet birds in his house. If I see Mr. Aristotle on the street, I'll invite him to my house so that he can listen to the conversation of my 3 pet birds--


Little Bai (who is a tomboy): "Hey, Skye, don't sleep. Play with me!"
Oceana (who is a little aggressive) said to Skye: "Dude, go away! The swing is MINE!"
Skye (who has to live with these 2 women): "You both are so ANNOYING!!!"


The trio continue to nag each other for the following 30 minutes. This is a good time for Mr. Aristotle to ponder how to modify his famous statement.


人類的各種情緒，追根究底最後只能歸於一種唯一的情緒，那就是“害怕”。我們憤怒，因為我們害怕受措；我們哀傷，因為我們害怕失去；我們小心謹慎，因為我們害怕做錯事；我們追求快樂，因為我們害怕孤寂。


愛的反面不是恨，而是冷漠。
The opposite of love is not hate; it's indifference and apathy.

Thoughts During the Teaching Years (教師手札)

My Experiences in Taiwan (台灣經驗)

8/2010--怎麼形容台灣夏天的熱呢？那是電扇對著胸部吹，背部繼續流汗；對著身體右邊吹，左邊繼續流汗的 “高度熱情”。
This is the power of the summer heat in Taiwan--if you have an electrical fan in front of you, your back continues to sweat; if the fan is on your right side, the left side of your body continues to sweat!

8/2010--這是一種另類的 “台灣國語”—幾年前我回台灣時，走在街頭，老是被 “夏一跳” 的廣告嚇一跳。後來 ，在飛機上和某些其他場合不斷聽到 “咖啡有需要嗎？”。接下來是“這個不錯吃“。今年更是在堂堂的大電視台之一每天看到如下的中文﹕“全球報導 （下一行）【現在為您播出的是】”，“…視氣象（下一行）【現在為您播出的是】”， “山區下午大雨注意”。看到這些刺眼的中文（也許是我個人的職業敏感），這個夏天每天被“夏” （嚇）好幾跳。也許再一兩年之後，我再也不必跟美國學生一再更正“我沒有去看電影昨天。” 這個句子的文法錯誤了。到時在海外教中文就比現在簡單多了。

8/2010--如果說上述的“台灣國語”可笑，那麼以下的“台灣英文”就很可愛了—“小心地滑”的英譯成了“Slip carefully!” (LOL!!)

8/2010--哇！怎麼現在“臺北101” 的生意這麼好！比起以前每家商店裏售貨員比顧客還多的景象大相徑庭，看來"ㄚ陸仔" 真的為台灣帶來了不少商業生機。

Memories with Hong-Ren Girls School Students (往日時光的延續--宏仁女中歲月)

我在美國的學生知道我在宏仁女中念書時，好幾次翹課出走到牛稠溪畔看蘆花、聽火車笛聲，都十分驚訝。“沒想到呂老師竟然……（會翹課）！” 

我的高中時代—宏仁的"椰林大道"

                                                    在宏仁的教室裏

是誰把我照得這麼好看？—在宏仁宿舍前

                                                      離別前的聚餐—1983

  李幸倖全家從Florida再度來訪—2000, New Jersey               

最可喜的宏仁歲月延續之一是，第二代也成了朋友—Amy 和翁麗娟的老大吳珮慈(Maple)成了筆友；和林秀娟的兩個女兒(Maggie, Amy)則早就認識。

The connection continues through the 2nd generation.

這次第怎一個 “謝” 字了得--謝謝大家每年請我吃飯！！！

                                                    第一次聚會—2004 Taipei 

張靜雅和Steve第一次來訪—2005, New Jersey

2008 Taipei
 

2009--“糖糖”實在太可愛了!!

2009 Taipei

2010--
謝謝麗娟全家帶我和Amy到後慈湖玩！哇，石門和大溪那陣下得有夠大，所以大溪老街沒逛成，豆干也沒買成。
謝謝雪真送我們中壢名產！（這麼多年後，再度看到雪真，真高興！）
“糖糖”實在真可愛！
今年聚會最有趣的事是，有些人開始想要退休，然後開始遊山玩水。於是我發現我老是忘了自己有多老，竟然還雄心勃勃地想至少再工作個20年。另一個有趣的話題是，有些人提到幾年前就開始有老花眼，讓我再度想到自己有多老，連當年的學生都開始老花了……

2010 Taipei

2010 後慈湖

My Pictures (照片集錦)

Autumn in the backyard

Autumn in the neighborhood

Autuman in the neighborhood—秋風的顏色

Autumn in the neighborhood

Early fall in the neighborhood

Winter in the backyard--雪的聲音

Late winter in the backyard

Spring in the neighborhood

                                 

Dogwood (山茱瘐) in early spring in the backyard

Sunset in San Diego--1

Sunset in San Diego--2

Water Lily in Eastern Taiwan

Wild Flower in Taiwan

A Premataure Life (Taiwan)

The Wonder of Nature (Eastern Taiwan)—1

The Wonder of Nature (Eastern Taiwan)—2

The Wonder of Nature (Eastern Taiwan)—3

慈濟醫學院（花蓮）

立霧溪—1

立霧溪—2

On Friends (朋友)

朋友是與你攜手走過靈魂暗夜的人。
Friends are those who walk with you through the dark night of the soul.

朋友是用心傾聽你的每一句言語的人。當你訴說你的困惑與哀傷，他只是在你身旁傾聽、陪伴著你，而不給你建議，因為他知道你在那一刻需要的不是建議。
A true friend listens to you with his heart. When you tell him the difficulties and sorrows you are facing, he is just sitting next to you and listening to you without giving you any suggestions, because he knows you do not need them at that moment.

On Life (生命)

生命的本身充滿著神秘與奇蹟。

Life is full of miracles and mysteries.

在生命的吉光片羽中，我們偶爾可窺見一絲天機。
If we live with our soul, sometimes we can see our destination in a fraction of a second.

當我年輕的時候，我以為生命只是一連串幸運的偶然與巧合。一切人事的因緣，無端而來、隨意而去；緣至則聚，緣盡則散。
當我越過生命旅途的中點，偶爾回首，才明白生命其實是一連串的抉擇。每個時刻的起心動念，緣生一個抉擇；每一個抉擇都為自己種下另一個因緣。
When I was young, I thought life was but a journey of coincidences and good luck. Everything comes and goes with no reason.
Standing in the second half of my life's journey and looking back, now I realize that life is but my own choices. Each choice originated from the seat of our soul plants a seed for another "coincidence".

流動，使得一切生命與事物得以健康地延續--水在大氣層與地球之間的不斷變幻與流動；冰雪的形成與幻化；空氣的流動；花朵的綻放與凋零；四季的變遷；我們內心情緒的流動、體內血液的流動；金錢來去的流動……
The constant flowing of everything is essential for everything to be existing in a healthy condition--the flowing and changing of water between the atmosphere and the Earth; the forming and disappearing of ice and snow; the free flowing of the air; the blooming and the decay of flowers; the change of the seasons; the flowing of our emotions and blood; the coming and going of money...

在2010年4月的一個學術會議，請來北京大學中文系的王岳川教授開講。王教授亦以書法有名，是我多年來難得見到的真正學者。他轉述了這麼一個故事—
廣西灕江地區以風景優美著名，近年來吸引了不少外國觀光客。有個美國年輕人慕名而去。有天一早這個美國年輕人背起了背包，迫不及待地想要飽覽當地風光。他看到一個老婦人，悠閑地坐在江岸，似乎什麼事也不做。這位美國人快步繼續走向他當天的行程。一整天這裏看看、那裏看看，倒也看了不少湖光山色。這期間，老婦人仍從容地待在江邊，肚子餓了，便就地摘點野菜野果吃吃。到了傍晚時分，年輕人走了一大圈看足了風光之後回來，看到那位老婦人仍坐在原地。那位美國年輕人對整個事情實在想不透，便問老婦人何以整天如此悠閑自在。老婦人緩緩對年輕人說；“急什麼呀？路的盡頭就是墳墓哪！”
Professor Yuechuan Wang from the Chinese Department of Beijing University was the keynote speaker of a conference in April, 2010 in New Jersey. Professor Wang, also a very famous calligrapher in China, is a true scholar that I have ever seen in decades. He mentioned the following story he heard from another place--
The beautiful scenery of Li River area in Guangxi, China, has attracted a lot of foreigners during the past years. An American young man was traveling there. One early morning he put on his backpack setting out for his exciting journey of the sightseeing. On his way he saw an old lady sitting by the river doing nothing. This young man just moved on in haste because he had so many places to visit that day. During the day, the old lady continued to stay by the river. She picked some wild vegetables and fruits to eat when she was hungry. At the end of the day, the American young man came back. Seeing the old lady still sitting there composedly and leisurely, he was bewildered. So he asked the old lady why she was able to stay there the whole day in such a relaxing way. The old lady told him gracefully: "What's the hurry? At the end of the road is the grave yard."