I enjoy chatting with knowledgeable, talkative old people. They will share their life experiences with you, but they will not put on the shelf of their elders to export the truth of daddy. Time is the best sieve, filtering out the ignorant arrogance of their youth, leaving behind the elegant indifference that the years have forged.
Reading "Take Reading Seriously", many of the chapters gave me the feeling of chatting with the author, Mr. Ji Xianlin. The book contains 36 articles by Ji Lao, all of which are his reading feelings and his experience of studying as a young man.
As an internationally renowned master of Oriental studies, with many titles such as linguists, writers, and educators, Ji Lao has been crowned with three laurels: "Master of Traditional Chinese Studies", "Master of Academic Circles" and "National Treasure". In the face of honor, he still remains humble, once posted "three words laurel", interested friends can Baidu, that short article is also very interesting.
Why does reading this book have the feeling of chatting with the old gentleman? First of all, most of the articles in the book were written by Ji Lao in his later years, the earlier ones were also written by him in his 70s; the latest, when he picked up the pen, he was 90 years old. The words flashed between the lines, and even many of the words used in the dictionary were as shallow as I had never seen.
He wrote that some people are worried that cloning technology will regurgitate humans, and technological development is "Iyukhudi". Writing and reading to the fullest, I really want to "float a big white". Self-effacing and lack of knowledge, the point of view said is "wild fox talking about Zen". I recall climbing the mountain when I was young, and there was only wild grass on the mountain, which seemed to be "a child mountain". How many quotes do you recognize in this paragraph? Chat with the old gentleman, long knowledge.
In addition to the use of words and dictionaries, many of Ji Lao's expressions also carry the unique temperament of that era. He said that the other party "can enter the "Biography of the Deformed Man" and can enter the "Peerless Spectrum". Although I have not read "The Legend of the Deformed Man" and "Peerless Spectrum", I still think that this person must be very powerful. He said of Zhongguancun, recalled the way the street used to be, and wrote that he was "aware of it", expressing it neatly and accurately. Writing that he gave up the iron rice bowl to study abroad is "before the horse peach blossoms and after the snow, teach people how to dare to turn back", full of picture sense.
The above is about the writing style, which makes people feel like they are chatting with the old gentleman, and then talk about the content of the article. The most extensive part of the book is Ji Lao's recollection of his own study experience. From elementary school to university to studying abroad, Ji Lao told readers in detail how students in the first half of the last century went to school. The school is big and small, and the teachers are strange. There are old pedants in long coats, and there are avant-gardes who propagate revolutionary ideas in every class. Frugal principals wore old cloth socks when woven socks became popular, and young teachers with bright minds opened cram schools.
Ji Xianlin's graduation photo from Tsinghua University
The most moving one is that he went to Germany to study in 1935, and after the outbreak of World War II, he could not return to China, and his letters were not passed. The so-called "beacon fire for three months, the family letter to ten thousand gold", to him is "the beacon fire for three years, the family letter to billion gold". At that time, the war of resistance was also fierce in China, and the thoughts of the homeland and the worries about the family could be imagined.
When he was able to return home in 1945, the joy was needless to say, but at the same time he had to endure a great pain of parting. At this time, those who need to be separated, or even never parted, are teachers and friends who have experienced hardships together. Although they were Germans, they did not commit the crimes of war.
When I bid farewell to my German teachers, my heart was very painful, especially Professor Sieck, I saw this old man with a miserable face and trembling hands, and we all knew that this was the last side. I didn't even dare to turn my head back, and my eyes were full of tears. My landlady cried out loud at me. Her son was out of town, her husband was dead, and when I left, the house was empty, and she was alone. For several years, she actually depended on me for her life, and now on, how can life be! When I left her, I didn't dare to go back, and I tearfully boarded the American Jeep.
He once wrote about the scene when he was in Germany, sending the elderly old professor home after each class: At this time, the mountains and forests are white, the snow is faint, the streets are ten miles long, and there is no one in the war years, in the classroom in the library, they are highly respected old professors and promising high-quality students, they can plunge into the learning without asking about the world. But back to reality, back to a white world, they are just lonely old people and wanderers who have left their hometowns, supporting each other and moving forward with difficulty.
And the landlady, even more day and night, survived together in the panic of war and the shortage of materials. Young Ji Xianlin's head did not dare to turn back twice, his eyes were full of tears, and when I read it, it was also the blood and qi that surged to the root of his ears, and his eyes were moist. Those strong feelings, as long as they are properly laid out and do not need to be psychologically described, can make people empathize. And the basis of all this comes from the author's thick life experience.
Young Ji Xianlin
People have some utilitarian ideas about reading, Su Dongpo said: There are poems and books in the belly, and reading thousands of volumes begins to understand the gods.
Lin Yutang said: Reading makes people get an elegance and flavor
Yu Qiuyu said: The biggest reason for reading is to get rid of mediocrity, one day early to have more wonderful life; one day late to have one more day of mediocrity.
Even Ji Xianlin, the author of this book, also said: We must take reading seriously. But I just think it's good to talk to the old gentleman.