航向拜占庭

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Former President Bill Clinton called Bradley "a brilliant and insatiably curious traveler on a relentless lifetime quest to get to the bottom of things. He was like the great jazz musicians he so admired. He always played in the key of reason. His songs were full of the notes of facts but he knew to make the most of music you have to improvise." 

詳見CBS：A Fond Farewell To Ed Bradley（2006.11.21） 

南飛烏鵲曰：

CBS資深記者Ed Bradley過世。追思會上，柯林頓說：Watching him 【Ed Bradley】was mesmerizing, ’cause you knew you were watching a master at work . . . I knew I had arrived at national politics when Ed Bradley wanted to interview me. I always prefer watching him interview others. 一番妙語讓大家都笑了，笑聲中泛著淚影。

南飛烏鵲曰：

Orson Welles 真是奇才，二十來歲拍成的「大國民」，迄今仍為人傳頌。片段為電影開頭，主角Charles Foster Kane 死前留下不解之謎：「Rosebud」。

Orson Welles 拍過的片子還有「黑獄亡魂」、「歷劫佳人」、「安柏森大族」、「簡愛」、「馬克白」等等。

今天紐約時報網站刊載了篇訃聞：Gary Graver, a cinematographer who worked with Orson Welles in the final years of the director’s life and fought for decades to see Welles’s final film finished and released, died on Thursday at his home here. He was 68. （Gary Graver, 68, Orson Welles’s Collaborator, Dies）。Gary Graver 掌鏡的功力如何，文章沒說，也沒必要說，畢竟，和Welles合作這段往事，已經讓他在影史裡留下了姓名。

南飛烏鵲曰：

“Imagine if George Lucas directed Lord of the Rings. Imagine the lack of location shooting . . .”  謹以此片段向Peter Jackson 致敬。

By：Gary Becker 

Milton Friedman died this past week. He was the most influential economist of the 20th century when one combines his contributions to both economic science and to public policy. I knew him for many decades starting first when I was a graduate student at Chicago, and then as a colleague, mentor, and very close friend.  

【…】 

Although his ideas live on stronger than ever, it is hard to believe that he is not here. I can no longer seek his opinions on my papers, but I will continue to ask myself about any ideas I have: would my teacher and dear friend Milton Friedman believe they are any good? 

詳見 The Becker-Posner Blog（2006.11.19） 

南飛烏鵲曰：

Gary Becker於部落格上撰文懷念恩師並回顧其思想。就中論及經濟自由與政治自由的段落，牽涉到中國大陸的走向，值得關注：The first chapter of Capitalism and Freedom considers the link between economic and political freedom. He argues there that economic freedom promotes political freedom, and that political freedom is not likely to persist without economic freedom . . . Findings since then suggest that while economic freedom can begin under totalitarian regimes, such as under General Pinochet in Chile and General Chiang Kai-Shek in Taiwan, economic freedom produces economic growth and other changes that usually eventually lead to much greater democracy, as in Taiwan, South Korea, and Chile. The important implication is that China would become more democratic if it continues on its path of greater economic freedom and greater growth. 經濟自由帶來更大的政治自由，台灣如是、南韓如是、智利如是，中國或亦如是。

中研院院士余英時獲得本年度的「克魯格」人文獎，可說是當代整個中國知識界的盛事，而此一有諾貝爾人文學術成就獎之稱的榮銜，也使余英時在西方學界成為繼胡適之後不作第二人想的中國知識菁英大師。 

【…】 

然余英時在一九四九年身陷大陸，能幸運的於次年離開中國，選擇定居香港，師從錢賓四先生也是他整個人生的轉捩點；否則，在毛澤東的統治下，以余英時對思想自由、學術獨立的執著，能否倖存，都不無問題，遑論成為今天諾貝爾人文獎的得主了。但更重要的是，余英時繼承了中國存亡絕續的傳統，並發揚光大之，而他也以其高潔的人格，保留了知識分子的氣節。 

詳見中國時報：余英時的不虞之譽

The library’s announcement calls the second winner, Mr. Yu, 76, “the most influential Chinese intellectual working in both the Chinese and American worlds.” Mr. Yu, emeritus professor of history and Chinese studies at Princeton, is an intellectual historian with a wide reach that spans Confucianism and the modern world. 

He has been particularly interested in the way Chinese intellectuals have combined the religious and the secular, he said in an interview from his home in Princeton. “They have a moral, political, social purpose,” he said, “as compared to the West.” His most recent book is on the 12th-century Confucian scholar Zhu Xi, who has been compared to Thomas Aquinas. Zhu helped codify the Confucian canon and wrote extensive commentaries.  

Mr. Yu has also been an outspoken supporter of the democracy movement in China. But despite this, his work, much of which is in Chinese, is widely read on the mainland. 

詳見紐約時報：Two History Scholars Are to Split $1 Million Award （2006.11.15）

南飛烏鵲曰：

好老師難求，好學生難得，師生相遇，那是造化。董橋寫到：有一年的暑假，錢先生患了嚴重胃潰瘍，一個人孤零零躺在一間教室的地上養病。余先生去看他，問他「有什麼事情要我幫你做嗎？」錢先生說，他想讀王陽明的文集。「我便去商務印書館給他買了一部來。我回來的時候，他仍然是一個人躺在教室的地上，似乎新亞書院全是空的」（《酒肉歲月太匆匆》，頁152）。作學問向來孤寂，然而學問的路上，錢先生有余英時這樣的弟子，余先生有錢賓四這樣的老師，孤寂中也常會感受到溫暖吧。

南飛烏鵲曰：

片段擷取自紀錄片 “Commanding Heights”。 Gary S. Becker（1992諾貝爾經濟學獎得主），回憶上傅利曼的第一堂課，答問方畢，傅氏旋即回了句： “that’s no answer, that’s just rephrasing the question”。如此論學辯難，講究理路思緒，不務虛文，難怪芝加哥大學培育出好多諾貝爾獎得主。

By：Austan Goolsbee（professor of economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business）

Someone walked into our lunchroom yesterday at the University of Chicago and announced that Milton Friedman had died. Mr. Friedman spent his intellectual life here, so I started asking people here about him and what they remembered. It became clear that despite retiring almost 30 years ago (and despite being only 5-foot-3), he still casts a long shadow.

【…】

A striking number of topics he worked on, for example, ultimately developed into other people’s Nobel awards.

詳見紐約時報：A Charismatic Economist Who Loved to Argue（2006.11.17）

南飛烏鵲曰：

傅利曼1976年獲頒諾貝爾獎， “for his achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory and for his demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy”。

“Zenger was defended by Andrew Hamilton, who died in 1741 and was not to be confused with Alexander Hamilton, killed in a most unfortunate duel in 1804.”

南飛烏鵲曰：

Merriam-Webster網站的「Word of the Day」、「Word for the Wise」兩專欄，每日都會挑出些英文語詞，辨其源流、說文解字一番。昨日得閒，閒讀「Word for the Wise」，發現內文將「Andrew Hamilton」誤作「Alexander Hamilton」，遂去函編輯部，請其更正。今早重讀該文，已從善如流矣。

資料引述，難免失誤，偶有錯引，亡羊補牢就是了。最怕拉不下面子，文飾己過，等到讀者大張旗鼓、石破天驚，那可連裡子都丟了。

無奈的爸爸是搬運工，三天前他打「一一三 」保護專線求助。他說，希望孩子能多念點書，不要像我一樣；但讀國二的兒子放學返家後，不是看電視就是上網打電腦遊戲，根本不念書。他看不下去，念了幾句，孩子馬上回嘴，「我念一句，他回十多句。」

爸爸實在氣不過，打兒子一巴掌，沒想到兒子竟然回手，且連揮好幾拳，朝他臉、胸、頭部猛打，致他多處受傷，這種情況已發生好幾次。他說：「兒子十多年來吃我的、用我的」，不知感恩下手還這麼重，想到就心寒，因此聲請保護令，避免再被兒子毆打。

詳見聯合報：老爸挨14歲兒揍 不適用保護令

南飛烏鵲曰：

骨肉如行路、如仇讎，竟至老拳相對，看了教人鼻酸。

主講人：曹逢甫教授 (國立清華大學語言學研究所)

講題：語言的分與合：以台灣閩南語共同腔的浮現為例

時間：3:00~5:00（2006.11.27）
地點：成功大學修齊大樓 26425室

主講人：鄧小南﹙北京大學歷史系教授、清華大學歷史所客座教授﹚

講題：門戶內外--唐宋女性生活管窺

時間：10:10~12:00（2006.11.28）
地點：成功大學光復校區歷史系館二樓振芝講堂

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The biblical Job, faced with these disasters, agonized but never cursed God. The Job in Hanoch Levin's "Job’s Passion," now at Theater for the New City, quickly announces his conclusion that God does not exist.

【…】

In “Job’s Passion” (1981), which benefits from lively direction by David Paul Willinger and clever translation by Shay Azoulay , it may seem that Mr. Levin has gone to an awful lot of trouble just to declare God’s nonexistence. But the play is also an indictment of humanity. (If some entity created us, it wouldn’t necessarily want to stick around and take credit.).

詳見紐約時報：Job and Jesus Combine to Overcome

文：李遠哲 

我目前身在巴黎，參加由「以色列─巴勒斯坦科學組織」召開的國際科學委員會議。這個會議讓我有機會重溫以色列與巴勒斯坦的苦難歷史，心中因此深有感懷。以色列與巴勒斯坦是兩個充滿悲情但有著偉大歷史的民族，數十年來，這兩個民族雖深陷艱困的環境，卻從不放棄追尋自己的理想，並各自做出驚人的犧牲，也犯過嚴重的錯誤，只不過他們肯在錯誤中不斷反省、悔過，然後重新出發，攀向更高遠的理想。以色列與巴勒斯坦人的命運是無法分割的，彼此共同編織出一部充滿血淚的偉大史詩。 

以色列與巴勒斯坦人的歷史，自小就一再觸動我的心靈深處，使我不時想到我摯愛的台灣。台灣既不是以色列，也不是巴勒斯坦，但台灣同樣有過自己的苦難歷史，遭遇過艱困的環境，也從不放棄追尋自己的理想，並為此做出驚人的犧牲，而在而在追尋理想過程中也曾不慎失足，犯過嚴重的錯誤。作為一個科學工作者，我驚訝於不同人類群體歷史演進的相似性。 

我所摯愛的台灣目前正遭遇嚴峻的歷史挑戰。紛擾全台的國務機要費案與檢方的起訴書正衝擊著台灣的社會。這是台灣進入民主時代以來最嚴重的危機。  

在深層意義上，這場危機是台灣首度實現政黨輪替的民主果實。在二○○○年政黨輪替之前，現任總統被司法機關調查與第一夫人遭到起訴，根本是難以想像的事。而在今天，司法機關展現了台灣歷史上未曾有過的獨立精神。第一家庭被調查或被起訴，雖在法律上並不代表定罪，但這是台灣司法邁出獨立的第一大步，也是二○○○年政黨輪替的偉大果實。  

政黨輪替是台灣人民追求更光明、更優質民主生活的體現。追求民主是台灣人民永不中止的理想，而廉政是民主政治的核心價值。二○○○年時台灣人民願意支持政黨輪替，正是因為當時人心思變，決心唾棄國民黨長達五十年執政所造成的貪腐與黑金政治。政黨是人類的集社，人類畢竟不是天使，因此不可能不犯錯，自然也就沒有不犯錯的政黨。自認為絕不犯錯的政黨，必然是說謊的政黨。因此重點不是犯錯，而是知過能改，並且改過遷善。二○○○年政黨輪替的教訓告訴我們，在貪腐中不知悔改的政黨，必然會遭到人民唾棄。反之，願意堅守民主的核心價值，承認錯誤，勇於改過的政黨，才會獲得人民的支持與祝福。  

日前國務機要費案起訴書的公佈，意味著台灣舊體制的改革與民主政治核心價值的建立正遭遇嚴峻的挑戰。這個挑戰讓台灣的政府、執政黨與人民被迫站在歷史抉擇的十字路口。如果陳總統與執政黨仍無意放棄民主政治的核心價值，無意背棄台灣人民對民主政治永不中止的理想，那麼陳總統與執政黨就必須在「小我」與「大我」、「政黨」與「國家」之間，做出正確的抉擇。因此，值此時刻，我誠懇建議：陳總統有必要慎重考慮去留的問題。  

正確的道路不一定是坦途，反而往往是充滿荊棘、崎嶇難行的道路，但那也是唯一一條值得為台灣與我們後代子孫開闢的道路。決定台灣命運的根本因素，是用正確的方式愛這塊土地，愛這裡的人民，以及愛這個國家。我從不認為，「無論對或錯，我都必須支持自己的國家。」我總覺得，只有當我的國家做對時，我的國家才能夠生存下來，並且享受文明的繁茂果實。  

天佑台灣。 

全文引自中國時報：貪腐不知悔改 必遭唾棄 李遠哲籲扁考慮去留

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南飛烏鵲曰：

前陣子網上流傳一部「霍元甲布袋戲版」(如上)，頗受關注，製片人自稱是對岸同胞。近日有戲迷神通廣大，查出影片裡的戲偶與操偶路數，實出自本地的金鹰閣劇團。奇哉，莫非霍元甲偷師某賢人或是某智者，懂得身化為二、為三，以至無窮？抑或，一切不過是為打響知名度而故佈疑陣？

金鷹閣短片：醉拳、變臉

This month 【...】 New York Review Books has teamed up with Karen Kingsbury, a former professor in Taiwan and a well-known American translator of some of Chang’s other literary works, to publish a new translated collection of Chang’s works, titled Love in a Fallen City. 

【...】 

Kingsbury, who resides in Seattle, taught literature at Tunghai University in Taichung for 14 years before moving back to the US this year. When asked how the current translation came about, Kingsbury said the publisher in New York contacted her directly and requested a translation. 

“I wanted a good, strong literary house, rather than an academic one. That’s where Chang belongs — in the company of world-class writers, over and above her classification as a Chinese writer. So when I saw that New York Review Books could list her alongside Chekhov, Hawthorne, Balzac, Auden and Colette, among others, then I felt I’d found the right home for this book.” 

【…】 

“Like most English-speaking students of Chinese literature, I first encountered Chang in her own English version of The Golden Cangue (金鎖記), and in the long passage from Jasmine Tea which C.T. Hsia (夏志清) included in his seminal history of modern Chinese literature,” Kingsbury said. “Those stories made a strong impression but, to tell the truth, I didn’t really understand why Hsia had praised her so highly until I read Love in a Fallen City in Chinese. I was an English Department student who had sort of wandered into Chinese, and I was looking for a 20th-century Chinese writer 【…】from whom the English Department could learn something about topics that they cared about already,” Kingsbury added. “Not just something about Chinese-ness, or about one huge people’s modern-day history of struggle and change, but about mental and social life in general. Reading and re-reading Eileen Chang has changed and enriched me almost immeasurably; my humble hope is that these translations will help to make that sort of learning possible for others as well.” 

詳見Taipei Times：Eileen Chang finds a new voice（2006.10.15） 

南飛烏鵲曰：

在東海大學的那四年，是我至今最難忘的一段日子。認真說來，那時初探學問的天地，上下求索，困頓憤悶，也無刎頸交，也無忘機友，還好有那麼些讓人懷念一輩子的好老師，給我鼓勵，予我啟發。

Karen Kingsbury 老師教我班美國文學，其後因待產而由另一位老師接手課程。短短一學期，讓我印象最深的，是她講課時與文學作品的感通。記得有次，她講解某位女詩人— 許是Emily Dickinson 吧 — 說到其人詩作給她的感受是 “poignant”，一種心如針扎的感覺。後來，在某些時地，與某些人相遇，當感受到心如針扎的痛，我就會想起“poignant”這個字。（閩南語裡，針扎一詞讀如「針ㄨㄧ」，我私心以為，閩南語音比之國語音更能讓人感會這種痛楚。）

上個月由學妹處獲悉Kingsbury老師離校返美，我心裡直感到惋惜。今天無意間找到一篇報導，敘寫老師及其翻譯的《傾城之戀》，於是節選其中幾段貼了上來。

主講人：張春凰、蔣為文
講題：女性、母性kap現代性（2006「週末文學對談－詩、散文與兒童文學」）
時間：2:00~4:30（2006.11.25）
地點：國家臺灣文學館  演講廳

主講人：詹宏志

講題：《人生一瞬》新書座談會
時間：3:00~4:00（2006.11.25）
地點：誠品書店臺南店  書店走道中央舞臺

南飛烏鵲曰：

應聘新職後，每週教授15小時的課，除此還得開會及處理行政瑣務。忙碌讓人忘記時間的流逝，現在一想，上回參加藝文講座，已經是6月份的事了。

5月份聽過詹宏志先生演講，講題為「電子商務與網路服務」，在商言商，不掩老派讀書人的儒雅。詹先生25日的新書座談，時段和台灣文學館的文學對談重疊，我只能兩場擇一，可惜。所幸，先前在網路書局訂了《人生一瞬》，座談會容或不能至，書倒是很快可以拜讀一過。