Reading Reflection

????這一章主要講的是王安石變法，但林語堂先不緊不慢地將王安石個(gè)人形象，時(shí)人評(píng)論娓娓道來，比如蘇洵的那篇《辨奸論》，“凡事之不近人情者，鮮不為大奸”，毫不留情地指出王安石的弊病和預(yù)測日后他將對(duì)大宋帶來的禍端?？傮w來說熙寧新政以發(fā)展生產(chǎn)，富國強(qiáng)兵，挽救宋朝政治危機(jī)為目的，以"理財(cái)"、"整軍"為中心，涉及政治、經(jīng)濟(jì)、軍事、社會(huì)、文化各個(gè)方面。在一定程度上也改變了北宋積貧積弱的局面。

????但是，變法在推行過程中如保馬法和青苗法等不合時(shí)宜的政策以及執(zhí)行不當(dāng)，也造成了百姓利益受到不同程度的損害，加之凡是變法，必定觸動(dòng)大地主階級(jí)的利益，因此神宗去世之后變法告終也是必然。我覺得王安石可以稱得上奇人，他在經(jīng)濟(jì)上的想法雖然理想了些，但是也是當(dāng)時(shí)人之不敢想，他的抱負(fù)遠(yuǎn)大，但他以常人所不能及的專注去全身心投入，這種毅力也是讓人佩服。只不過作為少數(shù)的“異類”，獲得的理解要遠(yuǎn)比承認(rèn)少得多。看待歷史人物，除了關(guān)注他的成就以及性格，也要考慮時(shí)代的局限性吧。

Guiding Question

What kind of person Wang Anshih was and what did he do for Sung dynasty?

????Wang Anshih was an industrious?scholar, extraordinary in mind and fiance, but he was?a impractical idealist with negligence of food and external look. He bided his time and when it came, he?implemented an fiancial and economic policy on society and had emperor backed up.

Words & Expressions

1.?deplorable (P76)

Unfortunately, he combined a Messianic sense of mission with a deplorable lack of tact and inability to get along with anyone but himself.

deplorable: If you say that something is deplorable, you think that it is very bad and unacceptable.? 糟糕的；可嘆的；應(yīng)受譴責(zé)的

這一句可以學(xué)習(xí)lack of sth, 指王安石缺乏與別人交往的圓滑能力，他只能在自己的世界里和自己和諧相處。前面還有一個(gè)單詞Messianic，“以救世主自居的使命感”，十分地道的表達(dá)，如果是我自己寫的話，我可能就對(duì)messianic這個(gè)形容詞的安放不知所措。

2. negligent (P76)

If by idealist we mean a man who was negligent of his food and appearance, Wang Anshih was certainly one.

Whether Wang Anshih loved that distinction or not we do not know, but it is easy to believe that a man so absorbed in his ideas was naturally negligent of his external looks.

negligent: If you describe a person's movements or manner as negligent, you mean that they look relaxed and informal.? 不修邊幅的；隨便的

這個(gè)詞在形容王安石時(shí)候出現(xiàn)了兩次，都是用來說王安石醉心工作和學(xué)習(xí)而絲毫不在意自己的衣食住行這些外在的東西。其中也可以學(xué)到它的用法是 be negligent of sth.

3. aflectation (P80)

Whether Wang's strange habits were an aflectation or not it is impossible to decide; but when a person overdoes a thing, people are inclined to suspect there is an element of conscious self-advertisement in it.

aflectation: If you say that someone's attitude or behaviour is an affectation, you disapprove of the fact that it is not genuine or natural, but is intended to impress other people.? 矯揉造作

十分贊同這個(gè)句子，的確是當(dāng)一個(gè)人過度做某件事情的時(shí)候，外界會(huì)覺得這是種博眼球的噱頭，尤其是在網(wǎng)絡(luò)時(shí)代，即是一種aflectation。這里的conscious self-advertisement也讓我想到了一句歇后語：王婆賣瓜——自賣自夸。