Hard-earned
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Posted:Apr 27, 2007 8:14 am
Last Updated:May 3, 2007 11:37 pm 10502 Views
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Hard-earned money, easy-spent.
Hard-nurtured love, easy-gone.
Hard-bred life, easy-consumed.
A tiring yet hopeful week! ...
Happypsday!!!!!!!
CU lo, CU beach. Need you salt, need you massage.
Hoooooooo
Bye, going to RiqueJazz.
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愿你在這伴著我 Wish You Were Here (Understanding&Translation)
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Posted:Apr 23, 2007 8:30 pm
Last Updated:May 2, 2007 4:31 am 10319 Views
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Pic.Can u tell?
We are ugly but we have music.
- Chelsea Hotel, Leonard Cohen
We are not so beautiful but we have poems. -Me
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Wish You Were Here 愿你在這伴著我
Pink Floyd
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
那麼, 那麼你以為你分得清天堂和地獄,藍天和苦痛
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
你分得開綠野和鐵軌冷冰冰?
A smile from a veil?
微笑和偽飾?
Do you think you can tell?
你以為你都能一一分辨?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
還有, 你會被驅使出賣英雄去換取幽靈?
Hot ashes for trees?
烫熱的灰燼去換取樹木?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
熱氣去換取涼風一縷?
Cold comfort for change?
安逸去換取變化?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?
還有, 你會用你戰場邊上不起眼的步伐
去交換做囚籠裡的主角?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
但願, 但願你在這伴著我
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
我們就像是兩副迷失的魂靈, 在魚碗裡游蕩, 年復一年
Running over the same old ground.
輾轉於那一成不變的水域
What have we found? The same old fears.
我們有何收穫? 只有那恒久不變的恐懼.
Wish you were here.
愿你在這伴著我
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How to understand lyrics and translate?
I find lyrics fm rock bands, songwriters of past decades contain and convey powerful message so I'm so much in the sphere they created.
I invited a friend A who's a professional translator and poem recital champion to join my translating game.
But he declined yet elaborated it:
"1. I am not skilled at writing poetry, thus my ability to translate poetry is limited;
2. after reading it over and over again, I still can't grasp the whole message the poet attempts to send, he seems to draw parallels between war and peace and one's choice between the two, yet what does this comparison or choice have to do with the fact that the author and the seeming listener's are two lost souls? May be there is a link, yet the link is quite obscured. "
I treat it first of all as a love poem, then a poem whipping on wordly contradictions and human nature - courage and fear.
What's your understanding and perspectives? And can anyone try to translate into Chinese or other languages?
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To Garble 'Wish You Were Here'
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Posted:Apr 18, 2007 1:14 am
Last Updated:May 29, 2007 8:31 am 9798 Views
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"We are just lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,
year after year, running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears."
What an exact depiction of us! Dont you agree, pessimists and optimists? Folks on bright side and dark side?
Can we break the fish bowl, and exchange the smashed pieces to an aquarium, a fish pool, a lake, even a river and an ocean?
Can we? but how to exchange the same old ground for a new platform; and replace new fears for old fears.
An everlasting theme merits a glimplse from you?
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Wish You Were Here Lyrics
Pink Floyd
So, so you think you can tell Heaven from Hell, blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war
for a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl, year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found? The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
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So, so I think I can tell Heaven from Hell,
But can you see, can you see
the blue skies from pain?
Can you feel, can you feel
your feet on a green field in a cold rain?
a smile on a sail?
I think you can
...
...
Wish you were here and hear
a day is a fathomless cave
( I tried to counterplay but failed.)
pic. Fishes cry out for a lake.
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Heros and Beauties Die Young
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Posted:Apr 13, 2007 7:56 pm
Last Updated:Apr 18, 2007 1:25 am 10453 Views
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Since ancient time heros and beauties alike
Would not allow the world to see their white hair
In a morning lift, I heard over a husband reciting this ancient poems to his wife, in a jolly mood.
Since ancient time, many Chinese emperors were keen to find out some longevity recipe but no one succeeded.
Heros and beauties die young to perpectuate their heroism and beauty. Is it not a bliss?
You can share die-young stories of your own great ppl. I will come back.
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懦夫结 Coward's Havoc
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Posted:Apr 13, 2007 2:50 am
Last Updated:Apr 13, 2007 2:51 am 9630 Views
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A coward's havoc
ignites
But boiling point does not grant me (us) brio
I (we)shrink and tremble
at
the slightest vibrancy and highest fever
(you and me)
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懦夫结
懦夫结
点燃
但沸点并不赐予我/们热量
我/们退缩颤栗
在
每一个微不足道的颤动和沸腾的高热中
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临老一刀?
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Posted:Apr 12, 2007 1:51 am
Last Updated:Apr 27, 2007 8:08 am 10511 Views
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中国人都对手术在身上开一刀有避忌.
现在我(们 就面对这一两难之地.
我祖母82岁, 一向身康体健, 忽然间胆有事, 患上了十二指肠ai. 现不能进食, 只吸入些微汤水, 黄瘦而衰弱. 医生建议开刀植入一管子以助消化系统. 但又不表明成功的机率. 他们说若坐视不理, 只有…
老人自己不想开刀, 她的儿女也不愿意, 说年纪大风险高. 但难道白白看着生命一天天地消耗? 我和弟弟要作困难的决定.
如果风烛之年, 要临老一刀, 况且是没把握的, 只是给个机会, 你怎么办? 是做还是白等生命消耗自然而终? 想其中包含每一人不同的生命态度和生活观.
我真的很难设身处地的分析, 只好在悲中抬头抬手问问你们.
但愿柳暗花明, 现在是明媚的春天, 还有无数火热的夏, 恬适的秋和温熙的冬…
(谨给老女麻美好的祝祷, 不要怕…--彩燕
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A Cut (Surgery) at Your Old Age
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Posted:Apr 12, 2007 1:19 am
Last Updated:Apr 24, 2007 12:29 am 10630 Views
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Old and some not old Chinese ppl generally hold that all our body, hair and skin, are given from father and mother and a natural creation.
If not very necessary, they dont want a cut on the body. That's why in the past, a curse 'die with an imcomplete body' was a very sinister one.
Now I (we) face this dilemma:
My grandma, 82, being all the time very healthy, suddently contracted gall disease and duodenum cancer. Doctor suggested do a surgery to install a pipe there to enable her digestive system. But they didnt say how is the effect. She now cannot eat, just a very bit of soup sustain her. She's weak and look yellowish pale. Doctor forecast there's only...(sad, we dont tell her of her actual situation.)
She herself doesnt want the cut; her only (my father0 and all daughters also not - quoting that too old to do it, if forcefully do it, would do harm than good.
What if you are facing this?
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Amid the applause of Japanese congressmen
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Posted:Apr 12, 2007 1:02 am
Last Updated:Apr 13, 2007 7:49 pm 10380 Views
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This morning, Premier Weng Jiabao delivered a very modest speech to Japanese congressmen.
I tuned up the TV and listened the whole. The speech was carefully elaborated so as not to provoke the sensetive nerve of jp rightists, full of historic look-back and encouraging envisage.
There is no sharp critique against that aggressive war, but gentle tone and touching stories demonstrating Sino-Japanese long term freindship, even during the war and afterwards, incl. Chinese raised and educated Japanese deserted war-orphants, Chinese common ppl extended warm hands to the post-war send-back of Japanese expatriates.
His conclusion to the war is, it brings ordeal to Chinese ppl as well as to Japanese, it is done only by a small fraction of militarists. He also try to quench Japanese worry twds China's rise-up, "we pledge China will only seek for peaceful development..."
Many times Wen was interrupted by the congressmen's applause.
Strangely, I doubt why came it. Was it out of Japanese etiquette? or they were indeed moved?
Let's wait and see substantial reactions after this ice-melting trip and breaking-through speech by Wen Jiabao - first ever in the past 23 years; let's see whether the applause is sincere.
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Qingming but not a festival to weep
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Posted:Apr 3, 2007 11:42 pm
Last Updated:Apr 12, 2007 2:00 am 10335 Views
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Tmrw Apr. 5 is Qingming Festival for Chinese community.
My young brother has ever mentioned that thanks to Qingming gives us a chance to cherish the memory of our ancestors and passed-away loved ones, and to trace back our origins.
Yes, I think the prime objective is this. But Qingming falls on spring, so it also provides a nice occasion for the big families to gather and do some hiking around the mountains and hills.
Yet, why, why, from ancient time to today, most of the time, rains would hit on a Qingming day, adding sorrow and inconvenience to this ages-old memorial activity.
Look at Tang dynasty poet Dumu’s ‘Qingming’:
清明
杜牧
清明时节雨纷纷
路上行人欲断魂
借问酒家何处有
牧童遥指杏花村
It rains and rains on Qingming,
People walk on road soul saddening.
Where can I have wine large?
The cowboy points to a village afar.
We, adults and , dig around the tombs, trimming the rampant grasses after a year’s growing. Then put the offerings which we carry a long way on shoulders incl. suckling pigs, cooked poultries, fruits and rice wine in front of each tomb, burn red candles and joss sticks and spread the wine. Then it would be moments of memorial. During all these, it can be both sad and jocular. Some would call out, ‘Big uncle, turn your back!, and some, ‘Laodou (daddy), drink some wine though you only drink tea when you are alive.’
The hilly paths are wet, muddy, with many unknown spring flowers blooming along. Firecrackers keep booming up. Flocks of flocks of family walking around would greet each other. “Hey, how many hills you still need to go?”
My deep thought and prayers to my passed grandfathers, to all the known and unknown ancestors. Let’s end with this poem by Wang Tingjian, of Song Dynasty. It renders a different jolly mood for Qingming:
清明
黄庭坚
佳节清明桃李笑，
野田荒冢只生愁。
雷惊天地龙蛇蛰，
雨足郊原草木柔。
Qingming
Wang Tingjian
Peach and plum blossom cheerfully on Qingming occasion
Wild fields and abandoned graves are places of sadness
Spring thunder wakes up dragon and snake in hibernation
In rain we set feet on countryside feeling grasses’ softness
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