Azure, azure
Sunday, 24 October 2004
I've decided to make a change to this blog. That means, to design a unique template of my own, and make it more 'Azure'-like. 
I tried blue here, and it came out perfect, though I'm not that satisfied with the background image yet. 
But the background music, oh! I happened to find this piece on the Internet, and fell in love with it almost immediately.
Kinda too busy to write something these days, having piles of books to read, all about English and American literature. However the adventage of being a college student is that you always have a good excuse for doing nothing but reading! 
Actually as a student majoring in physics, my English is no good enough. 
But I'm working on it.
Wednesday, 20 October 2004
问尔所之，是否如适。 Are you going to Scarborough Fair? 蕙兰芫荽，郁郁香芷。 Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. 彼方淑女，凭君寄辞。 Remember me to one who lives there. 伊人曾在，与我相知。 She once was a true love of mine.
嘱彼佳人，备我衣缁。 Tell her to make me a cambric shirt. 蕙兰芫荽，郁郁香芷。 Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. 勿用针砧，无隙无疵。 Without no seams nor needle work. 伊人何在，慰我相思。 Then she will be a true love of mine.
彼山之阴，深林荒址。 On the side of hill in the deep forest green, 冬寻毡毯，老雀燕子。 Tracing of sparrow on snow crested brown. 雪覆四野，高山迟滞。 Blankets and bed clothes the child of a mountain. 眠而不觉，寒笳清嘶。 Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.
嘱彼佳人，营我家室。 Tell her to find me an acre of land. 蕙兰芫荽，郁郁香芷。 Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. 良田所修，大海之坻。 Between the salt water and the sea strand, 伊人应在，任我相视。 Then she will be a true love of mine.
彼山之阴，叶疏苔蚀。 On the side of hill a sprinkling of leaves 涤彼孤冢，珠泪渐渍。 Washes the grave with slivery tears. 惜我长剑，日日拂拭。 A soldier cleans and polishes a gun. 寂而不觉，寒笳长嘶。 Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.
嘱彼佳人，收我秋实。 Tell her to reap it with a sickle of leather. 蕙兰芫荽，郁郁香芷。 Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. 敛之集之，勿弃勿失。 And gather it all in a bunch of heather. 伊人犹在，唯我相誓。 Then she will be a ture love of mine.
烽火印啸，浴血之师。 War bellows blazing in scarlet battalions. 将帅有令，勤王之事。 Generals order their soldiers to kill and to fight. 争斗缘何，久忘其旨。 For a cause they have long ago forgotten.
问尔所之，是否如适。 Are you going to Scarborough Fair? 蕙兰芫荽，郁郁香芷。 Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. 彼方淑女，凭君寄辞。 Remember me to one who lives there. 伊人曾在，与我相知。 She once was a true love of mine.
痴而不觉，寒笳悲嘶。 Sleeps unaware of the clarion call.
The piece above is the Chinese translation for the song Scarborough Fair. First posted on the Internet in 1995, it is translated by someone whom I greatly admire, though having no idea of his/her real name. 
Scarborough Fair is originally a riddle song of ancient
The translation is rendered in ancient Chinese, in the form of the ancient poems collected and compiled in the Book of Songs about 6th century B.C. in Zhou Dynasty. It would be the Book of Poems if translated straight. However in ancient As can be seen, or figured out by seeing, the very form is arranged in a way that four characters (sometimes more, but generally four) make up a stave, two staves a line, then usually two or four lines a stanza. It is to a degree a strict poetic form. That's why I greatly admire the one who did this gorgeous translating job.
Saturday, 16 October 2004
Just found out about something interesting:
"What's mind? No matter.
What's matter? Never mind."
Tuesday, 12 October 2004
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory;
But thou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel.
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding.
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
--------- William Shakespeare
Monday, 11 October 2004
Shakespeare, who devoted his genius primarily to the stage,
is well-known as a playwright.
However, during the last few days I spent reading some of his works of various genres,
I found that it is the sonnet that interests me most.
Because in his sonnets, Shakespeare seldom expresses directly what he wants to say,
but renders it in a vague way.
You have to 'read under the surface' to understand its real meaning.
Consequently, different readers may have quite different interpretations for the same sonnet.
And sometimes you have to read pretty hard, trying to get your own point of view.
But that's exactly where the fun lies
