Literary Newspaper · Read at night at the moment
As a child, I believed in books, even superstitious books. Everything that is said in the book must be true and true, just as it is true. If you don't have the spirit of skepticism when you read a book now, then you are not a real reader.
Childhood stories
Text/An Wulin
Published in the May 9, 2024 issue of Literary Newspaper
Sima Guang smashed the cylinder
Sima Guang and I are fellow countrymen, and whenever I mention it, I always feel a little proud, as if my ancestors had produced several high-quality people.
When I was a child, I believed in the story of Sima Guang's smashing the cylinder, but now I don't believe it very much, and as I get older, I doubt its authenticity more and more.
The story of Sima Guang smashing the cylinder is told in the book. When I was a child, I believed in books, even superstitious books. Everything that is said in the book must be true and true, just as it is true. Now when I read books, I always doubt books, for fear of being deceived and cheated. If you don't have the spirit of skepticism in reading, you really don't think you're a real reader.
Sima Guang was witty, intelligent, brave, and helpful when he was a child. The story of Sima Guang smashing the cylinder shows the spirit of Sima Guang. There is no doubt that Sima Guang has these spirits and possesses them, but the story itself is questionable.
Some people once doubted that Sima Guang smashed the cylinder wrong, it should be Sima Guang who smashed the urn. What is the difference between the jar and the urn of the ancients, and what is the difference between the jar and the Weng in the south and the north, I have not verified. But I know that in the countryside of Jinnan, Shanxi, the jar is a vessel for holding water, and it can also hold grain, and the urn is a utensil for holding rice and noodles, and it can also hold grains. But there is a big difference between the two. The cylinder mouth is large and the bottom is small, and the urn mouth is small and the bottom is large.
Judging from the rationality of the story, it can only be a smashing cylinder, not a smashing urn. The water tank that usually holds water is taller than Sima Guang and his companions when he was a child. If you want to see the water tank, you need to hold the edge of the tank with both hands and prop yourself up to see the inside of the tank. If the water is full, there is no need to bother at all, you can see it clearly with a slight jump, and if the water is not satisfied, you need to stretch out your head to look down to see clearly. However, in any case, the center of gravity of the body is not in the head, nor in the upper body, and it is almost impossible to fall into the water tank.
If the water in the water tank is not satisfied, and Sima Guang's friends are particularly naughty and curious, they need to lodge most of their bodies into the water tank before they can fall into the water tank. When falling, it must be head-down, and out of instinct, the person who falls into the water will immediately turn his body upside down, let his head be exposed, let his feet fall to the ground, and stand up. Anyone who can't swim does this, but someone who can swim has a deeper experience. Another problem is that the volume in the water tank provides enough space for Sima Guang's friends to complete these actions.
Well, the danger is non-existent. It's just that it will make Sima Guang's friends have a false alarm. There is no danger, is it still necessary to smash the cylinder?
Any great person has something remarkable about him since he was a child. If you don't have enough materials when you're a kid, it's okay to create one. Among the inspirational stories of the ancients, there are not a few that seem reasonable but are actually apocryphal. There is a fruit, the fruit is the root, there is no cause, and making up one is nothing more than adding a little branch and leaf. In any case, fabrication is also a need, a kind of goodwill, in order to set an example for future generations.
Whether the story of Sima Guang smashing the cylinder is true or not is not important at all, and it is meaningless to verify its authenticity. But in the sense of reading, the spirit of skepticism is precious and extremely valuable. I believe that a person's life is nothing more than a process of testing and correcting the knowledge he knows.
Capsule firefly night reading
When I was a child, I remembered this story unforgettable. But who the protagonist is and which dynasty the story takes place in is no longer an impression at all. At the end of the day, it's my own bad memory.
When I grew up, I relived it, revisited it, and still didn't remember it. However, I have never felt a deep remorse. After all, that story is an inspirational story, mainly to set an example for children and teenagers, and it is the chicken soup for the soul of the ancients. After becoming an adult, the modern version of Chicken Soup for the Soul is ready to be picked up, so why borrow a lamp from so far away and walk your own night road?
Children are children after all, and when I was a child, the spirit of the ancients who studied diligently and diligently did not impress me, on the contrary, I was full of infinite curiosity about his reading by the light of fireflies. My first reaction after listening to this story was: Ah, with fireflies lighting, I can actually read a book, it's amazing.
In the countryside, by the small river in the countryside, in the grass of the summer night, the fireflies are in strings, in clusters, flying wildly, dancing wildly, magical and beautiful. At that time, the village did not have electricity, and kerosene lamps were used, and kerosene was not only a necessity of life, but also a luxury of life. My family is poor and I love to read, so I am often reprimanded by adults: don't bother boiling oil, go to bed early. They were afraid that I would damage my eyes, but they also wanted to save some kerosene money.
In this context, the story of "Reading at Night" is undoubtedly the light of the apocalypse for me, opening up a new world. I prepared a glass bottle, white, and rushed to the river to catch fireflies. In a few moments, I was filling a bottle. When I got home, I was reprimanded again, and I came home so late to have fun and get a bottle of fireflies. Grandpa is uneducated, where did he hear the story of "Reading at Night"?
Little me, very proud. Lo and behold, this is the difference between having and not being educated.
I put the bottle of the firefly on the windowsill (which is also my desk), took a book, and began to learn what the ancients looked like, reading it at night under the light of the fireflies. But I found that it was simply not possible. Because fireflies are bright and extinguished, flickering and shining, they do not shine together and extinguish together, just like a group of demons dancing wildly. I can't figure out whose light I can borrow and who is making trouble. To exaggerate, it is like the light of electric welding, bright, bright, dark, and blind. And fireflies, no matter how bright they are, are also dim, and when you just see the first word vaguely, the second word is black again, and it is a matter of a second or two. It's so frustrating that I can't read it at all.
I began to doubt books again. Is this story true? If it's true, I can only do such imagination and reasoning, maybe the fireflies in ancient times were so huge that they could emit light like flashlight bulbs, and our fireflies now have degenerated, completely degenerated. Another plausible explanation is that the ancients had a large font size, and our current books are small.
Sometimes, I comfort myself that it's just an inspirational story, so why bother with myself. When you think about it this way, it doesn't matter if it's true or not. But I can't be sure if it's true or not, and I don't want to tell it to children. At most, tell me the story of the book I read when I was a child.
New Media Editor: He Jing
Pictured: Photo.com
id : iwenxuebao
WeChat public account
Sina Weibo
@文艺速效丸
Little Red Book
@41楼编辑部
Microcosm Visitors
The 2024 Literary Newspaper is open for subscription
Postal code 3-22
Weekly / Annual Price: 61.80 RMB