地球的私語---如泣如訴的樂章

The Climate Change Conference was held in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was a distress to see constant quarrels between countries, especially the developed & developing countries. The moral question is “Who Speaks for Earth?”

On August 20th and September 5th, 1977, two identical spacecraft Voyager I & Voyager II were launched to the space. Inside each spacecraft, there is a gold plated record containing the valuable information that someday some one in the outer space may find it meaningful. After exploring Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune, Voyager I left the solar system & wandered into the remote universe. Just at the edge of the solar system, Voyager I took a last photo. In the photo, we find a Tiny Blue Dot. This is the Earth, our home. Voyager I will be near a star in the Ophiuchus constellation (蛇夫座) in about 40,000 years. It is very unlikely that it will ever be accidentally encountered. If they are ever found by an alien species, it will most likely be far in the future, and thus the gold record is best seen as a time capsule or a symbolic statement rather than a serious attempt to communicate with extraterrestrial life. In September 2003, I bought a book “Murmurs of Earth” from a book sale in Palo Alto library. It contains two CDs, the copy of the gold record sent to the outer space with the Voyagers. The second CD contains 27 pieces of music. Among them there are 3 by Bach, 2 by Beethoven & 1 by Mozart. The last piece of the music in the record is Cavatina, 5th movement of String Quartet No. 13, Opus 130, by Beethoven. This music is really deep in emotion, mostly sad & murmuring. It is like 默默許願, 細細傾訴, 切切私語, 如泣如訴. Ann Druyan who worked on the project had the following philosophical comment:

Sadness alone can’t define the Cavatina. Strains of hope run through it as well, and something of the serenity of a man who has endured suffering and come to terms with existence perceived without illusion. It may be that these ambiguities make for an appropriate conclusion to the Voyager record. We who are living the drama of human life on Earth do not know what measure of sadness or hope is appropriate to our existence. We don not know whether we are living a tragedy or a comedy or a great adventure.

It is most appropriate that this piece of music concludes the space journey with the meaning of the Golden Record: Murmurs of Earth. We may listen to the Cavatina in the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fosTnfoMj30

It was performed by the famous American String Quartet in Taipei, March 21 (Spring Equinox), 2008, at 台北國立藝術大学(Taipei National University of the Arts). Perhaps some of our classmates in Taipei attended this concert in 2008. The original copy in the golden record was performed by the Budapest String Quartet.

After listening to Cavatina three times, I found the following poem fits very closely to the mood:
低 眉 信 手 續 續 彈, 絃 絃 掩 抑 声 声 思, 小 絃 切 切 如 私 語, 說 盡 心 中 無 限 事.
When some species in the outer space find this record million years later, it will be 同 是 天 涯 淪 落 人, 相 逢 何 必 曾 相 識.

PS0: Both poems are from 琵琶行 by 白居易.

PS1: “Who Speaks for Earth” is the last episode of the Cosmos, A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagen (1980). It is timely to watch it again if we really concern the outcome of the Copenhagen Conference.
The DVD of Episode 13 of the Cosmos: "Who Speaks for Earth?" can be checked out from most of the local  libraries.

冬之旅 與 林登樹

Winterreise (Winter Journey, 冬之旅) is a set of famous poems written by Wilhelm Muller. Schubert composed a song cycle based on it. The most famous one is Lindenbaum, 菩提樹. It is very popular in Taiwan & Japan. Almost every school kid knows the tune. However, 怪事年年有. Lately someone found that Linden is not 菩提樹, it is 椴樹. There is a famous street Unter den Linden in Berlin, Germany. It is named after the linden trees lining the boulevard. In German folklore, the linden tree is the "tree lovers." Some famous buildings line along the street are Berlin State Opera, German Historical Museum, Humboldt University, Frederick the Great Statue. I heard that 龍應台女士 used to gather some leaves of Linden on this street (while she taught in Germany) and tried to verify whether it is really 菩提樹. She found that they are not the same trees. Their leaves look alike but not identical. Linden has 齒狀邊緣 but 菩提樹 has smooth edge. To people who sing 菩提樹 for so many years, it is like a terrible betrayal. To add to the confusion, Japanese also call it 菩提樹. Perhaps the person just translated this from the Japanese text or some one in China might just goof in translation. The error was made long time ago but should we stick to it? 椴樹 may be ideal for botany, but too bookish or serious for music and literature. I suggest we just change 菩提樹 to 林登樹 per criteria of 信,達,雅. After all, Schubert's Lindenbaum really has nothing to do with 菩提 or Buddhism. The following link shows the pictures of the leaves of 菩提樹 and 林登樹.

http://interp.sow.tw/b6_nature/botany/dicotyledoneae/bot_dicot_peepultree.htm

PS: 龍應台女士曾當過台北文化局局長. She was well known in 1980’s in Taiwan for her 野火集. We may not be familiar with her books since we were so busy in picking cups for our hot chocolate (per AJ’s pps) at that time. Her new book “大江大海, 1949” opens a pandora box & says “以失敗者的下一代為榮”. It sounds like an interesting & moving(emotional & touching) book especially for those whose parents moved to Taiwan from mainland after 1949. 龍女士 was raised & educated in Taiwan (苗栗與台南). Her 祖籍 is 湖南衡山 . She used to think she was 湖南人. Until one day she was in 衡山, nobody there thought she was 湖南人 since she knew so little about 衡山 & 湖南. Now she considers herself a 新台灣人.

Mockingbird

It is approaching late autumn, the liquid amber & Chinese pistache start dropping their leaves and the yards & streets are turning to gold & red in color. It is the time of year again people prepare for Thanksgiving holidays & find time for meditation. I found one thing unusual this year. Several mockingbirds are still around & sing various calls in the early morning. They sound like a bunch of mischievous & naughty boys who chatter & make fun. They are especially vocal in the early morning & late afternoon. In the neighborhood, other notable birds are robins, ravens & blue jays. The robins always feed on the yard in pair. They have orange chest & are easily identified. Sometime you pass by them, they sort of freeze & pretend they are not birds at all. The ravens basically are crows, noisy & aggressive. They are big birds & are not welcomed most of the time. Blue jays are vivid blue in color & can be very noisy. They sound like calling 賊 in the daytime. Perhaps this is the reason why they are called Jay (jay & 賊 同音, just for fun). When the autumn is fast passing by, most birds sort of fade away by migration. Except those mockingbirds, they seem still happy to hang around here. One morning I found young one tangled with the golf net & couldn’t get out of it. Its mother & father hovered around to call each other for help. After a few minutes, they were not successful freeing it. I tried to be helpful. I untangled the little bird & found that this little bird had a hard time to fly. So I put it in an open box with some water. There was nothing I can do except sitting nearby to see what is going on. This was the day I heard more mockingbird calls than any other days in my life. Lunchtime was coming & I had to leave. I let the evolution ran its course. Miraculously, they all disappeared after I finished the lunch. For some reason, I felt very happy for the rest of the day. I even tried to whistle like a mockingbird. Perhaps this is the adage: 日行一善 or 助人(鳥)為快樂之本.

When it comes to 助人為快樂之本, it reminds me of 青年守則. We all remember that we had to recite or sing the song 青年守則 every morning while we were in elementary school. I didn’t like to memorize it & was not particularily impressed by it. However, when I get older, I really appreciate #10, 助人為快樂之本 & #12, 有恒為成功之本. In the past few years, I especially valued #4, 信義為立業之本 & #5, 和平為處世之本. If most countries in the world follow #5, there will be few wars on earth. If most people in Wall Street (including CEOs & MBAs) follow #4, there will be no Charles Ponzi, Enron, Bernard Madoff & all the financial mess in this country. The next two items I like are #11, 學問為濟世之本 & #9, 整潔為強身之本.

While we are talking about birds, do you still remember a good old radio program in 1960's, 早晨的公園? This program was anchored by 潘啟元. If you tuned to this program, you would hear all sort of birds singing different tunes. When you had to get up early & head to school, you wouldn’t appreciate it. I visited Taipei once in 1975. I got wakened up by this program & I didn’t have to go to school. I felt so relaxed & really appreciated those birds that make the world a nice place to live.

The last thing about mockingbird is that famous book “To Kill a Mockingbird”. Most of us have watched this movie in Taiwan with title "梅崗城的故事" as the story occurred in a town called Maycomb. It is story about a lawyer Atticus Finch (finch is also a bird) defended a black man in the case of raping a white woman. Why is the book called “To Kill a Mockingbird”? Here is the quote from some source: 'when Atticus, having given his children air-rifles for Christmas, allows their Uncle Jack to teach them to shoot. Atticus warns them that, although they can "shoot all the bluejays they want", they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird”. Confused, Scout (the girl who narrated the story) approaches her neighbor Miss Maudie, who explains that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. "To kill a mockingbird" is to kill that which is innocent and harmless—like Tom Robinson (the black man).'

秋之旅

Autumn is here again, the season of harvesting, of thanksgiving, of bird’s migration, of preparation for bear’s hibernation, of meditation for some people. But is it real the season for a journey? I was in one Chinese bookstore last week. I encountered a book 秋之頌, by 余光中. I thought the poet had the mood to say something about autumn. It turns out to be a book in praise of 梁實秋. I have a lot of respect to Mr. 梁, but this is not the one I am interested at the moment. I did find a book by Hermann Hesse (赫塞), a Nobel Laureate of Literature, 1946. The title of the short novel is 秋之旅 (1907). 赫塞的短篇小說 有一種獨特的風格, 意境深遠, 今人回味無窮. 這小說並沒有特別指出發生在秋天. 但重頭到尾給你一種秋氣肅穆的感覺. 秋之旅 描寫一位青年在流浪和懷鄉之間徘徊的心靈. 重遊舊地的落寞和昔日情人相遇的感傷, 給人有一種人生虛幻無常又孤獨哀傷的感受. 原文是德文, 看翻譯文學最重要的是翻譯者的功力. 中譯本衹有四十頁, 分成下面幾章: 渡湖, 投宿, 風暴, 往事, 靜寂的村落, 清晨動身, 伊爾根貝克, 尤琍, 霧. 比起 Muller/Schubert 的冬之旅, 赫塞的這篇小說比較輕鬆, 並沒有給你一種失意, 失戀, 落魄而近乎絕望的感受. 秋之旅給你一種孤獨,流浪,虛幻無常的感覺, 但不是痛苦到一种近乎絕望的悲情. 也許這就是秋天和冬天的不同吧!

寫到這裹, 想起赫塞的另一篇小說 “青春,美麗的青春" (1916). 我在1965年看到沉櫻(本名陳瑛)女士翻譯的. 譯文流暢, 非常傳神,令人回味不已. 這篇小說大約也是四十來頁. 描寫一個青年冀圖開拓命運而又懷念家鄉,憧憬浪漫的愛情而又希求安定歸宿的故事. 在一個暑假裡,他回到家鄉和親人相敘,其間發生了一些親情,友情,愛情的故事. 這小說我看過三次 (age 20’s, 40’a & 60’s), 每次感受都不一樣. 想起我們剛大學畢業,申請到國外大學的 admission or scholarship. 負笈彼邦以前,每一個都是青年冀圖開拓命運而又懷念家鄉. 在暑假時回家一趟,看到親人故舊,無不感到溫馨,同時憧憬浪漫自由而又希求安定歸宿. 所以讀起這篇小說更是容易感到共嗚. 同時這也是感嘆夏日之逝去,迎來绮麗的秋之旅.

Nobel Prizes

All Nobel Laureates were announced. They are all American except two, one Romanian German, one Israeli. This is the age of American as far as the Nobel Prize is concerned. Half of the American winners are immigrants, naturalized citizens. Obama is a black horse to win the Peace Prize, a surprise to most people in the world. Even he himself doesn't think he deserves it. Peace Prize is very subjective & political. Some people even interpret this as an award to the American People who after all elected him as the president & so have a foresight & promise to the peace in the future.

Now move to the other front. One resident of Mountain View in California won the Physics Prize. Charles Kao is an Electrical Engineer. He is awarded for his work on Fiber Optics. The other two persons share the prize are also Electrical Engineers who worked on Charge Coupled Devices (CCD)that makes modern digital camera possible. The only bad thing is that Kao worked on fiber optics in 1965 & he got the award a little bit late (44 years later) since he already develops some kind of Alzheimer's disease. It is pretty hard for engineers to get Nobel Prize mainly because they usually focus on the application side of the scientific discovery or invention. OSI is the open model used in the communication & network industry. It consists of seven layers: physical, link, network, transport, session, presentation & application. Only the physical layer relates to the device physics and can be a potential candidate of Nobel Prize. In this Internet age, the influence of the Ethernet protocol (link layer) is immense. But it is not in the radar scope of the Nobel Prize. I spent almost two years working on Fibre Channel Storage Network. My works were in the link, network & transport layers & had very little to do with the physical layer. Charles Kao got the prize mainly due to his research on the physical layer. Depending on your career goal, you have to focus on something, after all you only got 24 hours a day. My engineering work on fibre channel has a lot to do with the communication protocols & software. Anyway, I got four patents out of my work.

It is not uncommon for a person to wait 30 years to get the Nobel Prize. For patent, it is not that bad, but still takes time. You may have to wait three years or more to get patent granted. In our Taida days, we used to hear some brilliant classmates set the goal to get Nobel Prize in some distant future. Time flies, the distant future is now. The first one I know is 許貞雄. He was my good old classmate in high school & major in physics. He got his Ph.D from University of Wisconsin & went to Stony Brook to follow 楊振寧 for post-doctoral research. He didn’t stay long before he went back to Taiwan. I asked him about the whole thing several years later. Here is what he said: “Dr. Young is so deep (in thinking or something else) that I lost all my confidence as a research fellow of physics.” He opted to teach in 清華大學 for the rest of his life. In our EE Dept, the most notable candidates are 李純儀 & Amo, both of them are visible & vocal. Lately we haven’t heard anything from 李純儀 about his ambition. However, Amo is still pursuing. We should proudly cheer: “Carry on, Dr. Amo.”

Moon & Rusalka

中秋節 of 2009 falls on October 3. The temperature hovered around 60 degree on the day & I haven’t seen the moon so bright, so round & so shining for some time. I checked the luner calendar, it said 已丑中秋節. I don’t know how many people still use or follow 天干地支 counting in China. It takes 60 years to reach a cycle & restart. So when someone says 一甲子, he means 60 years. I have no idea why our ancesters used this system. Perhaps people at that time in average only lived to 60 years of age. Otherwise it will be confusing when some one say 甲午年. It may be 1894 or 1834. Think about it, we are all over 60 years old. How about 壬午年, it may be 1942 or 2002. As a matter of fact, our history book lists all these terms: 戊戌政變, 甲午战争, 辛亥革命, 庚子賠款 etc. It is nice to know that the events occur in that year. But the problem is that you really don’t know how it relates to 公元 or how many years between those events. You have to do some conversion or cross reference. I do have an algorithm that converts BC or AD to 天干地支. It is as follows:

十 天干：甲乙丙丁戊已庚辛壬癸 (index 0-9)
十二 地支: 子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥 (index 0-11)

For AD, use (Year –4) & the following calculation:
(1972 - 4) mod (10) ≡ 8，所以天干是“壬”；
(1972 - 4) mod (12) ≡ 0，所以地支是“子”。
So 1972 is (8,0) 壬子
Same conversion leads 1942: 壬午

For year from 1 to 4, it is:
4: 甲子
3: 癸亥
2: 壬戌
1: 辛酉

For BC, it is more complicate & I will reserve this for some other time. Let’s get back to a soft side of our life. Moon to most of us is romantic. It shines on us, no talking, no complain, no excuse. No wonder some poet like 李白 & others ran the imagination to the wild. Here are some examples:

暮從碧山下, 山月隨人歸.
举杯邀明月, 对影成三人.
我歌月俳佪, 我舞影零乱.
暫伴月將影, 行樂須及春.
星隨平野闊, 月湧大江流.
霧溼樓台, 月迷津渡.
明月如霜, 好風如水.
明月幾時有, 把酒问青天.
沙上珏禽池上暝, 雲破月來花弄影.
海上生明月, 天涯共此時.
露從今月白,月是故鄉明.
明月松間照,清泉石上流.
深林人不知,明月來相照.
月落烏啼箱霜滿天

But the most famous & appropriate to 中秋節 is:
人有悲欢離合, 月有陰晴圓缺, 此事古難全.
但願人長久, 千里共嬋娟.

梁弘志 wrote a song “但願人長久”using 苏東坡 的水調歌頭 as the lyrics. It becomes very popular since 1980’s. On the western front, Dvorak composed “Song to the Moon” in opera Rusalka. It is one of the most well-known song dedicated to the moon. 歌 詞 傷 感, 期 待 而 無 耐, 冷 艶 而 淒 婉. 最 後 一 句 是 近 乎 绝 望 的 呼 喊. Rusalka is a water sprite, who seeks love with human beings that proves to be tragic. Here is the lyric in Czech & its verbatim translation: (* is repeated verse)

Mesiku na nebi hlubokem--------------O moon up in the deep sky
Svetlo tvé daleko vidi,------------------Your light sees distant places
Po svete bloudis sirokém, --------------You travel round the wide world
Divas se v pribytky lidi. ----------------You look into people’s houses
--------------------------------------*You travel round the wide world
--------------------------------------*You look into people’s houses

Mesicku, postuj chvili------------------ O, moon, stay for a moment
Reckni mi, kde je muj mily------------- Tell me where is my love!
----------------------------------------*O, moon, stay for a moment
-------------------------------------*Tell me, oh, tell me where is my love!

Rekni mu, stribmy mesicku, --Tell him please, silver moon in the sky,
Me ze jej objima rame, -----------------That I embrace him,
Aby si alespon chvilicku----------That he should for at least a while …
Vzpomenul ve sneni na mne ------------… remember his dreams!
-----------------------------------*That he should for at least a while …
--------------------------------------*… remember his dreams!

Zasvet mu do daleka -------------------Light up his distant place,
Rekni mu, rekni m kdo tu nan ceka!---Tell him, who waits here!
----------------------------------------*Light up his distant place,
------------------------------------*Tell him, oh, tell him who waits here!

mneli duse lidska sni -------------------If he dreams of me, …
At'se tou vzpominkou vzbudi! ----------… may this memory waken him!
Mesicku, nezhasni, nezhasni!---O, moon, don’t disappear, don’t go!

Here we found some striking similarity between eastern & western version that shows human feeling is universal. If we look at the first stanza of the song, it is 轉 朱 閣, 低 綺 户, 照 無 眠. The second & third stanzas are sort of like 不 應 有 恨, 何 事 偏 向 別 時 圓.. The fourth stanza is 人 有 悲 欢 離 合, 月 有 陰 晴 圓 缺, 此 事 古 難 全. The last stanza is equivalent to 但 願 人 長 久, 千 里 共 嬋 娟..

The following video clip is Rusalka performed by Lucia Popp, a Slovak soprano. She is ideal for singing Czech opera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qxi-sYUT9s

PS:
Dvorak (1841-1904) is a Czech composer. His most famous works are Symphony from the New World, Cello Concerto, “American” String Quartet & Slavonic Dances.

Music Potpourri

MTT’s Miscue
Michael Tilson Thomas is the famous conductor of San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, one of the top 15 symphony orchestras in the world. MTT got several Grammy awards for his recording of Mahler’s symphonies. MTT is a good communicator & interpreter of the classical music, well respected in the music circle. To be a good conductor, you need to be charismatic & persuasive. You need to build a lot of contacts to raise fund for the orchestra. Meanwhile, you have to be dynamic & energetic on the podium, not an easy job. MTT is great. But once in a while he encountered something unusual. It may not be his fault. But if you are a CEO, you have to take the brunt anytime something go astray in the company. Here is one good example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgzsPoTp2iA

This is the famous 7th symphony of Mahler. Listen to the music:
0-0:05---everything goes nicely
0:05-0.09---hello, trumpet, come in please
0:09-0.11---come on, trumpet, where are you? MTT is not sure anymore, he has to glance the score. Amazingly the strings keep playing (softly) & waiting. This is really a team work to cover the ass.
0.11-0.14---gush, here you are. I told you several times, don't drink too much XO! MTT has to chuckle to compose himself.
0.18:0.19---this player (perhaps clarinet) tries very hard to act like nothing happened.
0:23-0.28---MTT has to read the score between lines to regain his confidence.

My opinion: In this case, it is the fault of trumpeter. Conductor interprets the music. Even if he is off a little bit on timing, you have to follow him, no other excuse.
Lesson: Don't drink too much before the performance.

Misplace of Romance
Andre Rieu is the king of romance. He makes the classical music accessible to millions of people. But occasionally he was in a limbo that he is not aware of it due to some cultural idiosyncrasy. Here is one example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzDlLtgt1BI&feature=related

Due to copyright issue, the above link is not available on YouTube now.  So the the following timeline information is no longer meaningful.

Edelweiss (雪絨花) is one of the best-known European mountain flowers, belonging to the sunflower family. The name comes from German edel (noble) and weiss (white). It is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music. The song is sung by Captain von Trapp as he rediscovers music and a love for his children. Later on in the show it is sung as a defiant statement of Austrian patriotism by the von Trapp family in the face of the pressure put upon Captain von Trapp to join the navy of Nazi Germany. Eventually they fled Austria & entered Switzerland & so the setting is the Swiss Alpine Mountain. Now listen to the music:
0:0:11---the cloudy mountain setting with train passing by, typical Swiss scene.
0:11-0:35---the mountain looks brown, not very typical in Switzerland. Compare to Julie Andrew's green Alpine meadow, this just looks pathetic. The costume of the players is too stylish and lack of country flair.
0:35-0:59---the whole setting gives you some cold feeling. This must be a very high altitude location, perhaps only cable car can get you there.
0:59-1:38---I don't see majestic Matterhorn, so it must not be near Zermatt, a famous ski retreat.
1:38-1:50---this wooden house is spartan, no paint or color painting & geranium flowers & the old man is very rustic.
1:50-2:03---the whole thing looks like a superimposition of van Gogh's painting with a snow mountain background.
2:03-2:37---boy, these glaciers and snow mountains really give you a freezing cold feeling. So far we haven't seen a single edelwiss, ie nowhere to be seen.
2:37-2.51---now we see the lady's costume is really out of place. Julie Andrew did a much better job in her Song of the Music.
2:51-3:17---now this is the bomber. You see Andre Rieu is playing violin so romantically to a lot of cows. You know what? They just turned & walked away, some of them actually run away. Chinese idiom "對牛彈琴" means you waste your time if you play piano to all bunch of cows. I didn't know "對牛拉琴" 也有異曲同工之妙 until now. If you think positively, you may interpret that 牛哥們聆聽,大為感動,掉頭忙著找牛小妹去.

Now try a real one, really romantic one from Andre Rieu.
Plaisir d’Amore (the pleasure of love)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y0_z_LntVo&feature=related

Due to copyright issue, the above link is not available on YouTube now.  So the timeline information below is no longer meaningful.

This is a classical French love song written in 1780 by Giovanni Martini (1741-1816). Hector Berlioz arranged it for orchestra. This may be one of the most popular love song in the world. The setting of this play probably is somewhere in Tuscany of Italy. Listen to the music:
0-0:06---the white flower signifies the purity of the love, looks elegant and noble.
0:06-0:25---the first theme serves as an introduction played by flute and clarinet with strings, very warm and lovely.
0:25-0:49---here comes the second main theme played by Andre Rieu, truly romantic style.
0:49-1:07---the introduction repeat to usher in the third theme.
1:07-1:30---the third theme signifies the enhanced & deep feeling of love when time goes by.
1:30-1:47---the love mood is augmented by the whole orchestra.
1:47-2:12---return to the second main theme, this time played by Andre and the whole orchestra.
2:12-2:31---the first main theme comes back to conclude the music with rich tone of clarinet, flute, bassoon and oboe.
2:31-2:36---the white flower shows up again to remind us the meaning of the true love.

Since the above link is no longer valid, please try the next one if you are still interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h1u8ICcxBk

ps: Berlioz 乃幻想交響曲之作者, 此君浪漫史不少. 有一次觀莎翁名劇 Hamlet, 驚艷女主角 Harriet Smithson, 窮追不捨. 居然頃全力創作 Symphonie Fantastique. 史女士到場聆聽,大為感動,終於成婚. 可是Berlioz 創業有餘,守成不足,最後離婚收場. Berlioz also arranged Weber’s Invitation to the Dance (邀舞) (piano composition) to play with orchestra, a true masterpiece.

Golf & Life

Tom Watson is 59 & he competed in the British Golf Open Tournament. He played brilliantly until the last hole & last stroke when he missed a 8-feet putt. Instead, Stewart Cink played obscurely for three days. But he made a 12-foot birdie at the last 18th hole. In other words, the final putt or the last stroke defines & creates a champion. This is not the first time we have seen the top players succumb to the pressure or can’t finish the job in a graceful manner. Watson was able to hole a 60-feet putt but couldn’t do the same for a 8-feet one. It was almost painful to watch the finish & really felt sorry for Watson. He is a great champion. One or two more wins will not change his life much. However, if you want to fulfill your life & make something memorable, you have to play with seriousness & perseverance in a crucial moment. This needs physical & mental toughness. But the difference of outcome can be huge. If Watson made the last putt, he won the tournament & became the oldest champion in the golf history. If you look at the replay, he seemed not ready mentally & delivered a shoddy putt hastily. Perhaps it was too much emotion drainage (not lacking mental toughness) that betrayed him at the final moment.

I have watched golf tournament many times. I always got frustrated to see those professionals missed a short putt. I know I miss those putts often. But you don’t expect the professionals do the same thing. When you got a tennis ball in the right position, you are almost sure you can deliver a good forehand to score. But on the golf green, you are nervous even the ball is very close to the cup. I figure that the confidence level (probability to get thing done) of delivering a good shot/putt for tennis & golf is around 90% and 60%. Golf is a nice sport, a frustrating sport. When you lose, nobody but you yourself to blame since the ball is stationary & starring at you. If you win, you might think it is just lucky since the winning very often is from those lucky putts that you don’t expect to drop in the hole. It is not uncommon for a player to become a champion just because he got one or two lucky eagles by pitching or long putt.

PS: Tiger Wood played badly & missed the cut. He seemed losing ungraciously, slammed his club head & muttered some bad words. We saw this often in tennis. Remember the antics of Jimmy Connor & John McEnroe on courts? But golf is supposed to be a gentleman’s sport. Under no circumstances, should a player become angry or behave eccentrically. Long time ago, tennis used to be a gentleman’s sport too. But since when it becomes a yelling & shouting match between umpires & players. This is the reason people appreciate Rod Laver, Pete Sampras & Roger Federer since they were well behaved on the courts & still kept winning.

Tennis & Grand Slams

I just watched the men’s final of Wimbledom Tournament between Roger Federer & Andy Roddick. It is one of the best matches I have ever seen. The Wimbledon has a rule that the final 5th set has no tiebreak. It continues to play until a player wins two consecutive games. The final score is 5-7 7-6(8-6) 7-6(7-5) 3-6 16-14. In other words, the 5th set lasted 30 games, equivalent to three sets of play & the match lasted more than four hours. In the end, Federer prevailed. In the last few games, you can tell Federer played a little bit better & had better serves. He broke the record set by Pete Sampras (14 slam titles) by winning 15 slam titles. It was very enjoyable when you watched the match on high definition TV & you hate to go back to the old TV. Most modern players glue to the baseline & hit the ball hard to find the court opening for a winning shot. The speed of the serve also makes the serve crucial to the game. If you have a fast (> 140 mph) & consistent first serve, you make your serve difficult to return & win an easy point. It is like 12-yard penalty kick in the soccer game. The kicker has much better chance to beat the goalkeeper. When time goes by, the physical condition of the human being is getting stronger, but the responding time can’t catch up. This is the problem of the modern tennis. It becomes very boring when the server keeps scoring the point without any other shots, no forehand, backhand, lob or volley. This is especially true when you watch men’s double match. The court is the same size, but the men’s strength, speed & height keep improving. This makes the server’s side having a distinctive advantage. It gets very boring when you see them serve & volley, just two strokes to end the point.

In 1968, I bought a b/w TV. I watched Joe Payne Show for relax & then I found the tennis programs on TV. It was a time when Australians ruled the tennis world. I watched the matches among Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Ken Rosewell, Roy Emerson & Fred Stoley. These Australians were great & the style was elegant & versatile. They played all around court, used various shot & stroke with a lot of variations. Nowadays players stick to the baseline & rarely advance to volley. I think the shorter mean-free-path of the volley & the speed of balls make the reaction not fast enough to do volley effectively & consistently. So when time goes by, the tennis has to change. Otherwise, it will get boring to watch & lose the viewers. We all know most American don’t like to watch soccer. The reason is that it gets very boring to see 0-0 score at the end of the game & has to be decided by 12-yard kick. Nobody likes this since it is not fair or convincing to decide which team is better by this kind of kick---goalkeeper has little chance but resolve to luck. If the tennis match has to be decided by the serve & the hitting speed from the baseline, it loses much of its luster.

The Grand Slam of tennis is confusing because people use it without precise definition. The Slam Tournaments of Tennis are the following tournaments: Australian, French, Wimbledon & US, all open tournaments. The most prestige achievement is the Grand Slam---winner of all four Slam tournaments in a same calendar year. This is the Great Grand Slam, because later people coin some other terms like Consecutive Grand Slam (winning all 4 slams not in the same year but in consecutive year) & Career Grand Slam (winning all 4 slams not in the fashion of previous two Grand Slams). There are only two men achieved Grand Slams: Don Budge (1938) & Rod Laver (1962 & 1969).

In this Wimbledon final, it is interesting to see Bjorn Borg, Rod Laver, & Pete Sampras sat in the royal box. They were also interviewed with McEnroe after the match. Someone said Federer might be the best & greatest player in history. Sampras voiced that two Grand Slams may be the most difficult to achieve. He implied that Rod Laver should be the greatest tennis player in history so far. I tend to agree with Pete. It is extremely hard to play consistently well on various courts (grass, clay, asphalt or hard(acrylic or synthetic)) & maintain top physical condition. There are so many good players in the field & some of them sooner or later will play their best match in their top physical condition. Can we guarantee that we don't get sick or contract some flu in a year? Wait, what happen to Raphael Nadal? He was absent in the Wimbledon tournament. Since he beat Federer last year, Federer may be just lucky to win his 15 slams (career grand slams). I think the way Nadal plays make it easier to injure himself. He can beat Federer when he is in top condition. However, sooner or later, he will get injured and prevent him from playing. This is exactly the reason why Federer won French & Wimbledon this year when Nadal injured his knee. The true champion is the one who plays with style consistently with smooth strokes, without being push around most of the time & so he has less chance to get injured & be able to maintain top condition physically all year round. From the above view points, grand slam no wonder must be the most prestige achievement a tennis player can accomplish. Rod Laver achieved it & achieved it twice.

I found some video clips that you can see the play style of Rod Laver & Roger Federer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR7do5BFgzA
This is Federer & Nadal. No 1 & 2 players in 2009.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHaN2h21ANs
This is Rod Laver & Tony Roche, No 1 & 3 players in 1969.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePo6KcGQd4M&feature=related
This is Rod Laver & John Newcombe, No 1 & 2 players in 1969.

Summer Solstice

June 21 is the summer solstice. Traditionally, the school kids of 嘉義 would line up in the field just before the noon time. They watch their shadows disappear from there feet. And hooray, this is the way to celebrate the summer solstice.

Historically, one significant event occurred more than two thousand years ago. It was Eratosthenes of Greece who used summer solstice to measure the circumference of the earth.

Eratosthenes knew that on the summer solstice at local noon in the Ancient Egyptian city Syene (located on the Tropic of Cancer), the sun would appear at the zenith, directly overhead. The sun’s ray would shine to the bottom of a well. He also knew, from measurement, that in his hometown of Alexandria, the angle of elevation (using a stick to see the shadow & measure the angle) of the Sun was 1/50 of a full circle (7°12') south of the zenith at the same time. Assuming that Alexandria was due north of Syene he concluded that the distance from Alexandria to Syene must be 1/50 of the total circumference of the Earth. The unit he used was different from km. Anyway, after some unit conversion, it turned out to be around 39,690 km. an error of less than 1% (compared with modern data).

Now came the expedition of Columbus in 1492. He started from Cadiz, Spain. He sailed about 7,500 km to reach some place in current Cuba. Since he thought it was India, the distance from Cadiz (lies about 40 degree latitude) to India (go east direction) had to be around 40,000 cos40° – 7,500. This figure turns out to be 27,900 km. Marco Polo’s book should have given him some idea how far from Spain to India (about 9,000 km). The figure of 27,900 km is just too long to accommodate his logic or calculation. Perhaps Columbus & those experts in Spain didn’t believe the data from the measurement of Eratosthenes. Otherwise, Queen Isabella would not have the courage to finance the expedition. Why? 40,000 cos40° – 9,000 = 18,930 km, really too far to sail for Santa Maria (Columbus’ flag ship). To Spain, it was a fortune in disguise. Instead of India, Spain discovered a new continent & history turned a new page. History is interesting & fascinating. Bertrand Russell (罗素) once said “那些有信心的人們都愚昧無知,而那些有理解力的人們都猶疑不决”.

Class Reunion Photos

Here is the link to the photos from previous class reunions.

http://www.stat.ufl.edu/%7Eyang/NTUEE64/index.html

Enjoy.

Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln & Felix Mendelssohn were born in 1809, a very productive year in history. But nature goes & works its own way---something in something out. 1809 happened to be the year Joseph Haydn passed away. So 2009 is also the bicentennial (兩百週年忌辰) of Haydn, Papa Haydn. Why is he a Papa? There may be several reasons. One of them is that he is the father of symphony & string quartet. Though he was not the inventor of these two musical forms, he worked & improved them to a form that became very significant in the music world. You might think Beethoven is the father of symphony. But in China & Taiwan, Beethoven is called 樂聖, one level above Papa. Interesting enough, we don’t find the same expression as 樂聖 in the western world for Beethoven. Haydn composed 104 symphonies. It is this quantity & sheer productivity that made him the Papa. In the following, let’s explore some of his genius.

The typical symphony of Haydn consists of four movements (樂章):
1st movement: Start with introduction, lasts from 1 to 3 minutes, a very slow pace of intro. Then the main theme follows with brilliant developments.
2nd movement: Andante, slow movement
3rd movement: Minuet (小步舞曲) & Trio
4th movement: Allegro, fast pace of finale.

The most famous symphonies of Haydn are from #93 to #104, so called Salomon Symphonies. The English impresario Johann Peter Salomon commissioned him to compose these symphonies while Haydn visited London from 1791-1792 and 1794-1795.

Symphony #94, Surprise (驚愕交響曲)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gF-Wzp8Ni8&feature=related
The first movement with introduction, 0- 1:11. Then comes the first main theme.

This symphony got its name from the 2nd movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLjwkamp3lI
It starts like stairway music, someone comes up & someone goes down. Everything goes smoothly and lightly. At 0:34, suddenly a loud chord wakes everybody up, a Surprise! If you are sleepy & dozed around at that moment, you may well be alarmed.

The 3rd movement, the minuet & trio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrZkH22V6D0&feature=related
Trio is a section sandwiched between two main minuet sections. Here the trio is from 2:34 to 3:43. This is one of the most famous minuets among Haydn’s symphonies. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen any choreographer adapts this in ballet. The melody is so delightful & lovely that you barely can sit still. Trio is usually a contrast theme but sounds harmoniously to the main theme. Minuet is a three-beat (per measure) dance form. It can go from very slow (Beethoven’s Minuet in G) to fast pace (Mozart’s symphony #39 3rd movement).
Beethoven's:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSXRJwspGU0
Trio is from 1:03-1:53. The whole thing is simple and romantic.
Mozart's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnFyS3MflIE
Trio is from 1:50-2:52, played with clarinet (單簧管) & bassoon (低音管) beautifully. Originally trio was played with three instruments, so called Trio (三重奏). In this case, they are clarinet, bassoon & strings. In most cases, there is no such restriction. So trio in minuet is usually called 中段 in Mandarin.

Symphony #45, Farewell (告別交響曲)
This was a good old story. Haydn worked for Esterhazy, a Autro-Humgarian prince, for about 30 years. Haydn and his musician were based in Eszterhaza or Eisenstadt, not in Vienna. When winter came, most musicians were homesick but not allowed to go home. So Haydn composed this symphony to tell his boss how they felt.
Start from 3:54, musician starts leaving the concert hall. Watch the following video, it is self-explainable. This is the 4th movement of the Farewell Symphony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmcX8fEIB60

Per history, after this performance, all members of the orchestra were allowed to go home for reunion with their families.

Symphony #101, Clock (時鐘交響曲)
It got the name from the 2nd movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0GCyxO3H9Y
It begins with a realistic tick-tock accompaniment, which runs right along under a charming melody. If you listen to this twice, you will seldom forget the tune.

Another symphony with similar quality is Beethoven's Symphony #8, also the 2nd movement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0-UMiiXmO4
Beethoven's clock rate sounds twice as Haydn's. Perhaps Beethoven used a faster microprocessor.

Kaiser Quartet (Emperor quartet, 皇帝四重奏)
Listen to this 2nd movement, hear something you heard before but where? Olympic games? Soccer games?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tHc9xWhFH4
Haydn composed the melody at the request of the kaiser. It became Austrian national anthem. But during WWII, Hitler swiped it to become Uber Alles, the German national anthem. To a lot of people in the world, Germany & Austria are close enough in culture to be a unified people.

Symphony #100, Military (軍隊交響曲)
The name Military comes from the 2nd movement, Allegretto.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1UEZUgGTVE
This movement is not Andante, it is a faster Allegretto (rare exception of Haydn). You can hear bass drum, cymbals & triangle played Turkish marching tune, from 2:49. The crescendo is built with trumpet from 3:46 to the end of the movement. The whole movement is really a brilliant military march.

Symphony #103, Drum Roll (鼓聲交響曲)
Introduction starts with ketteldrum (定音鼓) followed with an elaborate cello play. The intro lasts about 3 minutes. This is the time to appreciate the cello’s deep & rich tone.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT9lgHMGevE

Trumpet concerto (小喇叭協奏曲)
The 2nd movement is often used for trumpet recital. The beginning main theme sounds familiar, sort of like that theme from Kaiser Quartet with a twist. You can appreciate the sound quality of trumpet here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ab9ti35ZTI&feature=related

Serenade (小夜曲)
This is one of the most beautiful serenades. You might think this is from Mozart, but no, it is from Haydn. Haydn’s wife was a tough lady & Haydn was really afraid of her. So when she yelled, he rushed to his study & locked inside. While he found nothing to do in the study, he composed this lovely serenade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgbdqXGr1DQ

Haydn visited London & produced 12 Salomon Symphonies. Handel visited London & created fanfare & brilliant water music. Mendelssohn visited London & came up with Scottish Symphony & Fingal’s Cave. It remained to be seen what would come out if Beethoven, Mozart or Brahms have visited London. Interestingly, Haydn’s symphony #92is called Oxford Symphony (牛津交響曲). This symphony was composed before 1791, before the Salomon Symphonies. Then why is it called Oxford? Here is the story. This was like Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture, too late to compose a piece of music for the academic ceremony. Haydn was awarded an honorary doctorate by Oxford University in 1791 (this was during the mess of French Revolution). He had to play something worthwhile in the ceremony. He happened to compose a symphony commissioned by a French (one year earlier) & first played in Paris. It didn’t bother him, he just played it in the graduation ceremony of Oxford. So the symphony got its title "Oxford". Anyway, if Brahms had visited London before, Cambridge would have given him an honorary degree & we would have Cambridge Symphony today.

PS: If you ask me which minuet is the most popular these days, my answer is Boccherini's. You hear it in wedding parties, cruises, radios etc all the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSE15tLBdso
The trio starts from 1:25 and end at 2:48. Boccherini, 生平作曲無數, 僅以此小步舞曲傳世. It is like it in high tech industry. If you hit it once, you get rich & retire.

Chronicle-II

Maxwell's Four Equations

1961
1/1/0 This is an Up Side Down (upside-down) Year. Don’t worry, nobody surrendered or any ship sunk. Why? If you turn 1961 upside down, you still get 1961. In 20th century, this is the only year with this special attribute.
Remark:
In one English composition, I mentioned 1961 is an upside-down year without further explanation. The instructor didn’t understand & gave me a low mark. It taught me a lesson: Don’t assume anything. When in doubt, explain.
1/2/1 訪吾友江賢二兄, He subscribed 筆匯 magazine, Read ”趙無極的自白”, an interesting article.
Remark:
江賢二 likes music & art. He went to Paris later. I never heard from him since. I have heard that he becomes a 抽象派畫家 & has hold art exhibitions in Taipei frequently. 江兄是我小學和初中的同學. He once drew a portrait of Tchaikovsky, 微妙微肖, 真是精彩和傳神. I hang it on the wall in my room for about two years. Until one day he visited my place & saw the drawing, he liked it so much that he wanted it back.
1/4/3 第一次當家教. 王澤霖 always refers to this as 誤人子弟.
Remark:
Tutoring actually is a good experience for us. If you were a member of 台大電机系, you had no problem to get some tutoring job. I used to tutor various types of boy & girl. Most of them were in the senior class & desired to enhance their skills in taking exam. I enjoyed teaching them. Usually it was easier to handle boys. You know exactly what they need & what they are thinking. But the girls, it is a different matter. They usually don’t tell you how much they know or understand. You have to probe & find out some effective way to help them. Once in a while, you met some girls that you could hardly focus your teaching. Some of them were very good looking & some of them were very mature. 吾友 賴光善 asked me to tutor a girl. She really impressed me as she belonged to the former catagory. Sometime I read some biographies of composers. I understand how they felt when they acted as a pianist to tutor girls. As you know romances flourish frequently & the events spin to another level. The worst case of the tutoring is to teach a group of girls (typically 5 or 6). Usually they gang together to make fun out of you & you don’t have a clue until it is too late.

1/7/6 I hang around 舊書攤, encountered a book “海外軒渠錄”. It sounded interesting. It turned out to be Gulliver’s Travels (小人國遊記) by Jonathan Swift.
1/20/5 Kennedy’s inauguration day in Washington DC
1/28/6 Went to movie, 遠東戲院. Ballet, performing by Margot Fonteyn.
Remark:
I have no record of its English title. The movie consists of three episodes: Swan Lake, Fire Bird & Ondine.
2/14/2 Visited 沈運申 to see his stereo set. Found that his set was better than mine.
Remark:
沈運申 likes music. He once played a piece of music with his stereo set & tested me. I couldn’t answer at that time. It turned out to be Brahms Violin Concerto. My familiarity of the “Three Big D” is Beethoven, Tchaikovsky & Brahms in that order. Apparently, 沈兄 was ahead of me at that time.
2/24/5 Registration of 2nd semester
2/27/1 2nd semester officially started.
3/1/3 Discussed 郊遊 matter after the class of 投影几何.
3/5/0 陽明山郊遊, wait 3 hours at the station? I can’t believe we spent such a long time in the bus station.
3/8/3 上次郊遊剩下兩件獎品. By taking lots, 何瑜笙 got two of them. 陳慶瀘 argued that because of the Woman’s Day, she & 沈安邦 should get the gifts.
Remark:
There is no record as to who actually got the 獎品. Perhaps 何瑜笙 can give us the answer.
3/14/2 Had some talks with 陳星華 in 國文課. 她是化工系同學. She sounded smart & fun, a nice girl.
4/6/4 “What is Mathematics” by Courant, Pirate edition appeared. This is a very good book. One section proves that 幾何三大作圖難題 can’t be constructed by straight edge & compass only.
4/10/1 化學系高材生 洪照玉, 報各參加中國小姐 競選
Remark: I have never met Miss 洪. I did see her photo in the yearbook. She looks nice & normal. With good cosmetics & right package, she can be a good contender. Later I also found that 葉秀卿 of 外文系也報名參加. I know her pretty well. Miss 葉 had a good look & nice personality that made her a good candidate. No wonder she got in the list of top ten contenders. I have no record as to who was the Miss China of 1961. Anyway, I admire both of them for their bravery just to show their body & elegant personality. I know the look of Miss 葉 off stage. But I was stunned at her look on stage. With a right package, you can transform a girl to a completely different woman. I remember one or two years later, 方瑀女士(植物病虫害系)也報名參加中國小姐 競選. 她倒是後來居上,成功登上中國小姐寶座,為台大爭光. Miss 方和我們同屆, 在中國近代史課, 他和我們同時上張基瑞的課. 可惜班上人實在太多,沒有机會好好研究她. 光是電机系加僑生就有七十多人, 再加上植病系 可說盛況空前. 可惜沒聽說有電机系高材生去 date 她. 也許她把我們這些男生當成動植物病虫害來研究. 後來他嫁給連戰先生,一帆風順. 後來聽說連戰有打夫人的習慣. 寫到此不禁替方女士捏一把冷汗.
4/20/4 Went to movie “玉碎塞班島”
4/23/0 Went to 新生戲院 to watch “雄才怪傑”, English title: “Inherit the Wind”. It is a debate between the Evolution & the Bible.
Remark: This movie recounted the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925. Edward Larson got Pulitzer’s prize (1998) with his book “Summer for the Gods”. Chinese translation: “眾神的審判”, 知書房出版社, 2002. If you like the movie, you will like this book.
5/3/3 Chemistry class, pop quiz. Murphy’s Law: I was absent.
Remark:
Pop quiz is equivalent to Calling Roll. Most students hate this. 葉炳遠 was never very popular perhaps due to his pop quiz. He walked while giving his lectures. That is a smart way to save time: exercise while working. He once said “蒲籣克常數很好記, 6 6 24…”. I had no clue about his logic. It dawned on me later that he forgot the details of the multiplication table. He thought 6 x 6 is 24 instead of 36.
5/8/1 Got NT$500, salary from the tutor.
5/13/6 Went to movie “琴琵怨" 市井小民,薪水階級的悲哀. It portrayed a couple struggling in making ends meet in the daily life.
5/14/0 台大學校運動會
5/20/6 張基瑞 said ref to Encyclopedia Britannica is a must for a serious student.
5/23/2 Soccer match, 電机系大敗經濟系. I watched the match. No record of the score.
5/24/3 電机系五子棋大賽 started
Remark:
五子棋起源於古代中国，发展於日本，风靡于欧洲. 先下的一方比較有利, So there are some rules that restrict the winning chance of the one who starts first. In Japan, it is called 五子连珠棋. There are more players with high caliber in Japan than those in China. I have no record as to who finally won the matches in our class.
5/29/1 Bought a LP record: Brahms Symphony #4.
Remark:
This one is listed in the top ten greatest symphonies in classical music.
6/9/5 王澤霖 got 三民主義 prize. He scored 90 points on the test.
Remark:
The prize was NT$1,000. I asked 王兄 about the secret in dealing with 三民主義. He said “無他,全靠吹牛也”. Once 葉秀卿 told me, in 北一女, 全靠名牌老師 盛載陽之講義. 建中名牌教師如過江之鯽,然獨缺三民主義大師. 王兄從建中出來有比成績乃一奇蹟也.
6/14/3 All the equipment of Chemistry lab were gone, the locks were cut. I felt so bad that I couldn’t do anything but go to movie, watch “夕陽西下”(Sundowner)
Remark:
I was very interested in Chemistry since junior high. I listed Chemistry right next to EE in 大專聯考. I thought I could use some of the tubes, beakers etc to setup a little lab in my home. So it was a big disappointment for me. We all underestimated what those senior crooks could do to us. The movie 夕陽西下 is a story about a couple roaming around the field in Australia. Finally the wife yearned to settle down when she saved enough money. To her dismay, she found her husband gambled all her money & lost. It sure mirrors the case that we lost all our lab equipment after we paid, used & saved them in the locked drawers.

6/19/1 Final Exam started. English & Chinese Modern History went smoothly.
6/23/5 Finished Physics final exam, went to play basketball, felt fantastic. Afternoon, went to see movie “Alamo”, 邊城英烈傳.
6/24/6 Kidney got problem. Went to see doctor who treated me quickly & effectively. I was lucky. Otherwise I might miss the final exam of 軍訓 in the afternoon.
Remark:
The doctor I met turned out to be 翁通逢. I told him that his name sounded familiar. I asked if there is any relation to 翁通楹. He said 翁通楹 is his elder brother. What a small world, I told him that his brother was a great professor & really impressed on his "TighToSido". He was so glad that he gave me 50% discount on the cost of registration & treatment. Here is the lesson: 禮多人不怪, 嘴巴甜一點, make this world a happy one. I should add one more remark here about 軍訓. Usually it was very boring. But we got one 教官 鄧永金. He was someone to listen. In two classes, he talked about the WWII, 滔滔不絕, 行雲流水, 一氣呵成. I am not kidding, he never repeated a word. The only defect was that he slipped his tongue several time by saying 雲南中將 instead of 南雲中將(Japanese commander in the flagship in Pearl Harbor attack). The only teacher can match his talent perhaps is 李守孔 or 孫靜山. Both of them were history teachers of 建中.
6/25/0 Saw Dr. Kuller off in a farewell dinner.
6/26/1 Saw movie “Waterloo”, 魂斷藍橋
6/27/2 Read “The Sea Around US”, 海的故事, 華國出版社
Remark:
This book was written by Rachael Carson, translated by 夏道平. I have never seen a translated book that can be so good or even better than the original text. Here is just one example:
Original text:
Where great whales come sailing by,
Sail and sail, with unshut eye.
Translation:
千尋海底誰天下？ 睥睨逍遙有大鯨。
7/2/0 Started tutoring 陳偉, son of 陳和錦.
Remark:
陳偉 is the only son of 陳和錦, a well-known tea merchant. While he is the only son, he has at least 5 sisters, all older. So he acted like a little king in that environment. All his sisters were very understanding & tried to accommodate him, even forgave him most of the time for his bad behavior. I found a way to tame him. But I regretted that I didn’t stop him in various occasions that he was yelling at his sisters.
7/31/1 青年朝聖團出國, 經慕尼黑, 一去不回. 某雜誌評語: 大學之道在慕尼黑,在嘲聖,在止於 USA.
Remark:
It was said that 主教于斌, sponsored, supported or financed the trip. 一些青年才俊及名媛 包括沈斐文(某屆中國小姐第三名 after 林靜宜 & 汪麗玲) 紛紛參加,一去不返.

The 2nd semester ended here & so we all had a good time in the first year of our college life. In general, I was happy as a freshman. I read a lot, made several good friends & started to see the world in a whole new way. Although Taida was not a unversity with rich resources, we all learned the basics as to how to become a good engineer as well as a good citizen.

Chronicle-I

I found some old notes in my garage lately. Some of them relate to our good old college days. I list them in chronological order. Perhaps you can use the dates & events as a reference for nostalgic purposes. I also include some books & movies I read or watched in that period of time. This sort of indicates some cultural background we lived in then. The date is listed in month/day/day of week (0 means Sunday).

1960
7/29/5-7/30/6 大專聯考甲組: 國文, 英文, 數學, 物理, 化學, 三民主義. 六門科目分兩天考. 炎炎夏日, 孜孜學子.
8/15/1 閱讀 “富蘭克林自傳”, 楊景邁譯, 協志工業叢書
8/21/0 閱讀 “約翰克利斯多夫” (Jean Christophe), Romain Rolland, 黃楊譯
8/26/5 Read 地球概論, 王安宅著, 商務印書館
8/30/2 大專聯考甲組放榜, 電机系最低分 419. 錄取大約 30人. 物理系最低分 427. 醫預科最低分 440. 狀元: 高鷹, 508分
Remark:
吾友徐惠康考了439分, 一分之差飲恨, had to go to 高雄醫學院,. He cried for a week. 我想他大概栽在三民主義上面 . He & I were in the same boat, 我的三民主義衹考 53 分. I got hold on him early this year. He is now a heart surgeon working at the unversity hospital of NY State Univ at Buffalo near Niagara Fall.
8/31/3 我很高興考上台大電机系. 去大同戲院, watched movie "鴛鴦譜", Description of the movie: 青年人如膠似漆, 中年人互相猜疑, 老年人互相掩飾. Don’t know the English title.
9/5/1 Read "傲慢與偏見" (Pride & Prejudice, Jane Austin)
9/9/5 Read Bertrand Russell "世界新希望" (New Hope for a Changing World, 1950), 張易譯, 國立編譯館
9/15/4 中央日報第一版: 蔣總統說“共匪在三年內必定崩潰”
9/17/6 台大入學註冊, 李純儀 &卞昭廣 捷足先登 (1 & 2), 陳英亮 was before me & Amo was behind me (my number is 30). I didn’t notice that Amo was behind me. He had to be very quiet on that day.
9/22/4 參觀台大工字院的各項設備. I was surprised that 台大電机系 was very spartan. I didn’t see anything in the Wireless Lab (無線電實驗室). It was really wireless.
9/29/4 第一天大學生活
Remark:
I had no further record on this day. However, I remember either this day or the day before, we were in the classroom in a very casual manner. I noticed one lady sat in the far corner of the room & watched us. However, while we were shooting bulls in the room, not one of us went to greet her or asked her anything. Later we knew that she was Dr. Kuller’s wife. She probably was curious about what kind of kids we were & might be disappointed that nobody greeted her. This showed how boring & woody we were in those days.
10/3/1 在腳踏車棚碰到蘇岳雄. He is 4 years senior to us & just ready to graduate from Taida.
Remark:
蘇岳雄 later became a known researcher on Fault Tolerant in the field of computer science.
11/4/5 Chemistry lab, a new experience
11/5/6 Play tennis, (軟式).
Remark:
I had no record as to whom I played with. Must be with 蔡宗元.
11/6/0 Read 盧梭懺悔碌 (Confession, by Jean J. Rousseau)
11/8/2 Physics lab
11/12/6 Read “Sailor Uncle”, from English textbook
11/14/1 五省立聯合迎新晚會, watched movie “Anne Frank’s Diary”(安妮少女日記)
11/15/2 台大校慶
11/19/6 遠東戲院, watched movie "兒子與情人”, D.H. Lawrence 之名作 “Son & Lover”
11/22/2 趙麗蓮 學生英語文摘, 早上七點半電台廣播, very popular program among college students
11/23/3 Textbooks used: General Physics--Sears/Zemansky; General Chemistry---Linus Pauling
Remark:
I had the chance to review these two books sometime ago. Sears’ book is not good compared to the textbook my daughter used 12 years ago. Pauling’s book is superior. Pauling wrote “Vitamin C & Common Cold” in 1969 & became very controversial. He also is the only person got two Nobel Prizes in Chemistry & Peace (he was anti-nuclear activist & used to live in Palo Alto near Stanford).
11/27/0 昨天考完中國近代史. 到國際戲院看電影 ”天使之歌”. I have no record of English title.
12/3/6 Went to movie “Song Without End”, 李斯特傳
Remark:
電影 started with Piano Concerto #1 by Franz Liszt, very impressive. 攝影(cinimatography) by 黃宗霑. This is a very good movie. You can check it out from Netflix. You can also listen to the famous Hungarian Rhapsody in the movie. I remember two or three months later, 洪輝雄(brother of 洪俊雄) held a concert in 中山堂. He played the same piece Hungarian Rhapsody in that concert.
12/7/3 今天考了投影几訶, 牛力小試,滿載而歸.
12/9/5 化學考試
12/13/2 物理實驗, 和助教爭吵. 物理期中考
Remark:
I found the quality of 助教 (this particular one) not very good. Most of them did not have the student’s interest in mind. This one is particularly bad: 幫忙不足, 刁難有餘.
12/18/0 Went to watch 許清浩 芭蕾舞團表演 "Symphony Fantastique (幻想交響曲, Hector Berlioz)", 第二樂章, The Ball (舞會).
12/24/6 三民主義課點名. Murphy’s Law: 我不在場.
Remark:
I didn’t know 三民主義 class also called the roll. 宋嘉賢's reputation was no match to 黃得時. But on the roll call, he was just as notorious as professor Huang. 越是不熱門的課,越需要點名.
12/31/6 49 年過去了,多災多難的中華民國進入五十大關
Remark: 光陰似箭, 時光流轉, 今年變成中華人民共和國進入六十大關. Must be the time for meditation.

母親節有感

Mother’s Day is celebrated worldwide. It was originated in America. In 1912, Anna Jarvis persuaded her home state of West Virginia to adopt an official Mother’s Day. Two years later, President Wilson established a national Mother’s Day. Since then Mother’s Day has been celebrated by Americans on the second Sunday in May. As to why it is observed worldwide is a mystery. We might think this is another American influence. But this occurred in early time of 20th century, well before the America becoming a world superpower. To set aside a day for mothers is actually a very natural idea since the bound between the mother & children is very strong. Why didn’t this idea come from China? If we take into consideration of Chinese culture & its tradition of cherishing mother’s love, we almost think this day must have been created from China. Perhaps Chinese think it is their duty to show piety & filialness to mother & so every day must be mother’s day. This kind of attitude works against Chinese interests. Chinese invented a lot of things but took them for granted. When time goes by, other people picked them up, refined & polished them. Without making them routines, other people took them seriously & eventually claimed them as theirs, ie part of their culture. We may point out the following: 圍棋,茶道,武術 etc. Lately, Korean claimed 端午節 event is theirs & 孫逸仙 is partly Korean. It sounds absurd, but it happened before our eyes. Japanese claimed a lot of stuffs theirs even most of them were originated from China. Chinese should change their thinking. Don’t take things for granted. Don’t make something meaningful a routine. It reminds me of a book by 張繼高(吳心柳), "從精緻到完美". The Chinese culture is 博大 (broad & comprehensive), but lack of the quality 精緻(refine & polish). 博大& 精緻 lead to 完美 (impeccable & finished).

Mendelssohn Bicentennial

Sometime ago we mentioned the bicentennial of Charles Darwin & Abraham Lincoln. They are truly great men in their fields---science & humanity. There is another great man (also born in 1809) in the field of music that deserves our admiration. His is Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn. Most of us know some of his music. He was a child prodigy and born to a wealthy family. He was more conservative comparing with some of his contemporaries like Liszt, Berlioz, Wagner et al. Because of his Jewish blood (although he was converted to Lutheran), his music was shunned in Germany from time to time especially during WWII. He was one of the greatest composers in the period of Musical Romanticism.
He revived Bach’s St. Matthew Passion & made Bach’s music popular. He was the first to conduct Schubert’s symphony #9, the Great. This work was buried under a pile of papers in some attic for more than 10 years after Schubert’s death. Mendelssohn's most popular works include Wedding March (from Midsummer Night’s Dream), Violin Concerto in E Minor, Italian symphony, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Spring Song (song without word, piano work), auf flugeln des Gesanges (On Wings of Song) etc.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: He composed the overture while he was 17. He finished the work 16 years later. The overture is open with a theme & end with the same theme that sounds like a curtain call, the opening and the closing of the Shakespeare’s play.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUm1HU29TfI&feature=PlayList&p=C40130D5C035CDC3&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=6
(opening)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-SLeBjvg8g&feature=PlayList&p=C40130D5C035CDC3&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7
(closing)
Wedding March: Mendelssohn befriended with Queen Victoria. This wedding march was played when the Queen married her daughter to Frederick of Prussia in 1858. If you have watched “Fall of Eagles” (BBC TV series), you know the episode. Since that time, this wedding march becomes one of the most popular classical music played in the wedding ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tDYMayp6Dk
Violin Concerto in E minor: This one was very popular while we were in Taida. It was played at least once a month from some radio stations in Taipei. This concerto is unique in its opening. The violin solo just ushers in playing the main theme without any introduction. If you are familiar with other great violin concertos by Beethoven, Brahms or Tchaikovsky, you will know what I mean. You can find the first movement of this concerto played by Heifetz from the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27n4rQ-VIT8
Spring Song: This is a piano work, song without words. It depicts the glorious spring will definitely come to an end. However, it is worth the effort & time to enjoy the last trace of the season. Almost everybody loves this song and I bet you all know the tune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tkqdOB5bEw&feature=related
Italian Symphony: Mendelssohn composed this piece when he traveled to Italy. This is generally considered the best one among his five symphonies. The whole piece is filled with romantic mood & the lovely melodies flow effortlessly throughout the four movements. The following link is the 1st movement of this symphony.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIITKVYrHvQ
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing: One of the most popular Christmas carol in our time was composed by Mendelssohn. I bet we all listened to this hymn at least 20 times during Christmas holidays.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDPwNPAV6tA
Auf Flugeln des Gesanges: This is a lovely song composed for the work by Heine (1797-1856), a famous German lyric poet. Heine was like Mendelssohn with Jewish blood converted to Lutheran. His another famous poem is “Die Lorelei”. If you have ever cruised river Rhine, you know the Lorelei Rock, its romantic & tragic tale. Auf Flugeln des Gesanges is “On Wings of Song” in English. You will love it when you listen to it. I think most of you already familiar with the melody & will not get tired of it even you listen to it 10 more times. In the following link you will find the lyrics in German, English & Chinese (click “more info”). Please compare the content and meaning of the poem among different languages.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc4QC35LfhU
The soprano is Victoria de los Angeles (1923-2005), a well known operatic soprano.
In order to follow the music, you may note the following:
Die Lotosblumen erwarten
Ihr trautes Schwesterlein
(repeat once)
Und in der Ferne rauschen
Des heilgen Stromes Well'n
(repeat once)
Und träumen seligen Traum
(repeat once)
seligen Traum
(repeat once more)
PS: This one has nothing to do with Mendelssohn. If you have ever watched the movie "Death in Venice", (1971, based on Thomas Mann's Novel), you will not forget that moody melody permeated throughout the movie. The theme is from the 4th movement of Mahler's symphony #5. If you are interested, go to the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kpJehOi2p4

台大電机系軼事之一

Hedy Lamarr
Occupation: Actor, Inventor
Most Beautiful Electrical Engineer?

In our third year of EE life, most of us took a course called “Transmission Lines”. I remember the lecturer was not a resident professor. His name was 繆超鳳. He looked like a well-groomed gentleman. He was slim, clean-cut & soft spoken. For some reason, his lectures were not well received. A lot of time, we were all chatting or doing something else, even clipping finger nails in his class. I sort of felt sorry for him. Sometime I tried to focus on what he said. But it was in vain due to the high noise level, ie signal/noise ratio is too low. Professor 繆 had good temper. He seemed not upset at all, a truly gentleman behavior. He probably worked in 交通部 or 電信局 at that time. I had no doubt that he was well versed in the subject. He somehow just lacked some zest or charisma that would attract our attention. I don’t know how many of us still remember what we learned from that class. Transmission Line is a branch of knowledge or discipline nested between Lump Circuit Theory & EM Wave Theory. It was very useful when telegraphy ruled the world between 1860 to 1900. Even today, we see the transmission towers & high voltage lines across the island and continent. Theoretically, the lump theory & transmission line can all be deduced from Maxwell equations with suitable boundary conditions. Transmission line is also a one-dimensioned distribution of lump theory.

Once in a while we heard of Oliver Heaviside. For example, Heaviside’s Partial Expansion, Heaviside’s Unit Function, Heaviside’s Distortionless line & Heaviside Layer. Actually he was instrumental in developing Transmission Line & Operational Calculus. He introduced D or P operator to solve differential equations in an algebraic fashion. We have learned all the trade under the title of Laplace Transformation. It is shameful that most textbooks fail to mention his genius and contribution to the Electrical Engineering.

There are some similarities between Heaviside (1850-1925) & Edison (1847-1931). Both of them lived around the same time. Both of them were telegraph operators, well versed in Morse Code. Both of them were self-taught engineer & lacked of formal education in mathematics. Perhaps due to this, their works lacked of rigorous proof & procedure. However, Heaviside got the credit to reduce Maxwell’s 20 equations in 20 variables to 4 equations & four variables. In fact, what we know about Maxwell’s equation is in the form worked by Heaviside. In 1902 Heaviside predicted that there was an conducting layer in the atmosphere which allowed radio waves to follow the Earth’s curvature. This layer is later called Heaviside Layer. Perhaps Heaviside has become widely known due to a song by Andrew Lloyd Webber: "Journey to the Heaviside Layer" in the American Musical Cats.

Edison was a great inventor but he missed out the industry of power transmission & distribution. He advocated Direct Current instead of Alternating Current. Here came another genius Charles Steinmetz we don’t hear often enough. Steinmetz was a German got problem with Otto Von Bismarck & fled to the US. He worked in GE & was instrumental in promoting Alternating Current over Direct Current. He worked out most of the mathematical & engineering details relating to how the alternating current would be used in the power transmission.

PS1: "Journey to the Heaviside Layer" can be found in the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvsRZ8FVx4o
The lyrics are very simple:
Up, up, up, past the Russell Hotel
Up, up, up, up, to the Heaviside Layer

repeated several times.

PS2: Do you know the most beautiful electrical engineer in history? The answer is Hedy Lamarr (海蒂拉瑪). She was the heroine of the famous movie “Samson & Delilah” (霸王妖姬, 1949). Here were some headlines:
How was Hedy Lamarr’s wartime invention revolutionizing wireless communications?
How “The Bad Boy of Music” and “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” catalyzed a Wireless Revolution in 1941?
People assume that perhaps Hedy Lamarr wasn’t intelligent because she was so beautiful. But she really had a mind…she held her own with anybody.
Hedy Lamaar & Spread Spectrum
Frequency-Hopping Spread-Spectrum Invention & Hedy Lamaar
Spread Spectrum & Internet

The following link has info about her invention:
http://britneyspears.ac/physics/intro/hedy.htm

The issue June 23, 1997 of MicroTimes magazine was dedicated to her achievement. Sadly, she passed away in 2000. Her ashes were spread in the romantic Vienna Woods.

大一國文

國文課堂---臨時教室

The photos of our classmates & the campus of Taida remind me of our good old college days.  I wrote this down just in case I forget it later.  Our memory inevitably fades when time goes by.  We had to learn 國文 or 國語 since we were a kid in elementary school.  With so many years of learning, I wonder why we need to do it again in college.  As a matter of fact, 大一國文 was one of the worst I have ever experienced.  We had a famous professor 黃得時.  He was noted for his research in some area of Chinese literature.  But his accent was really out of place.  Fortunately we were not learning the pronunciation of Mandarin, otherwise it was going to be a disaster. The worst part was that we had to study 左傳 & 戰國策.  They are so ancient & the writing styles are so out of time.   It would be much better to study some modern Chinese literature.  But for some political reason, we just couldn’t do it.  Most famous literary figures were in mainland & couldn’t be mentioned.   Those who fled to Taiwan were second rate figures at best. Some good one like 胡適 or 林語堂 went to US & stayed there until late 1950’s. Who had heard of 鲁迅, 葉聖陶, 茅盾, 老舍, or 朱光潛 in Taiwan?  All in all, 大一國文 was totally a waste of time to me.

I have to say something about 黃得時.   His ancestry was from 福建泉州.  He made contribution in Taiwan literature, especially in the preservation of 臺灣鄉土戲曲 & 兒童文學之編譯.  His unfinished work is 臺灣文學史 .  He was a professor of 台大中文系.  I have a lot of respect for him though he had some interesting behavior.  Here is what I remember about him:

1. He had some problem in walking.  I don’t know whether it was due to polio or some accidents.  His head looked bigger than normal with his body size.
2. He called roll at the beginning of every class.  As far as I can remember: 每堂課點名,風雨無阻.  To make the whole thing worse, the class started promptly at 8:00 am.  To get up early in the cold winter & ride bicycle to 大一教室 before 8am definitely was a pain in the neck. My home was near 新生北路 & 南京東路, not really close to the campus.  Here I sort of envied my classmates from southern Taiwan.  They stayed at 台大宿舍 & could reach 大一教室 in no time. Anyway, worst thing did happen to me (Murphy’s Law), my name happened to be the first one in the roll call.   I still remember Professor 黃's voice (first thing in the class): 林幸峰, 黃肇崶, … If I was not in the classroom in time, I missed the class. I think 黃肇崶 must have shared the same misery.  So once in a while, I found that I was late about 5 minutes, I simply skipped the class & murmured “Go ahead, make my day”.  I still think it is a joke to do roll call in a university like Taida. It is an insult to freshmen.  I don’t know any professor did the same in our first year classes. Imagine if 徐照 or 葉炳雲 did the same thing, the class will be over before he finishes the roll call.
3. I met a lot of freshmen from 化工系 & 机械系 in the class.   I still remember two girls named 陳滿枝 & 陳星華 (化工系).  They were pretty nice looking. I forgot all the rest.
4. His Japanese or Taiwanese accent in reading Chinese text is not very polished. For a professor of 國文, it is definitely a minus. For 左傳 & 戰國策, it is ok.   But for "康橋的早晨”, it is going to sound like evening instead of the morning.
5. 黃得時 was noted for his research in Taiwan literature.  I wonder why shouldn’t he just teach Taiwan literature for the freshman class.   I think it was really a loss for us not taking advantage of his expertise.
6. Several years ago, while I performed my annual spring garage cleanup, I encountered something unexpected, three compositions of my freshman class.   Titles of the compositions are: 自敘, 我與國文, 台大一角.   I found the last one very refreshing & valuable.   It reminds me a lot of minor details about that little corner of Taida campus---Chemistry Lab & how we performed the experiments.  In the composition, I see all those hand-written comments in red by professor 黃得時. Ah…, that was almost 49 years ago. 往事如煙,字跡依舊.

PS: The early morning class forced me to get up early & reach the classroom before 8am.  Sometime I got there way early especially in the spring time.  Once I got into the classroom & found one girl was practicing violin.  She was probably from 女生宿舍 nearby.   In order not to disturb her, I sat way back in the corner & read a book.   I remember she played some scales & some work by Bach. A few minutes later, she started playing something slow & mellow.  I recognized it was Beethoven’s Romance #2(opus 50). Although her play was not that fluent, I could follow the main theme nicely.  After a few moments, I was sort of in a dream when the music kept flowing.  I didn’t know how long the time passed before she finished the playing & put the violin in the case.  She carried it in her hand & walked toward the door.   I kept watching her & finally decided to say hello to her.  But I was way back in the classroom & couldn’t catch her in time.  She simply disappeared from my eyes in no time. Since that morning, I had several occasions in that semester to be there early enough to catch her.  But she never showed up & I had never seen her again.

Re-post Older Posts

Dear Classmates,

If you want to revive a discussion that is older than a month or more, please re-post the original post (make a new post) with its title appended by a dash "-" and a letter, such as numeral (1,2,3...) or alphabet (A,B,C...) or in Chinese (Chia, Yi, Bing, Ting...) etc. Because older posts would be hidden from the current display, and we are more likely to just look at the most current topics shown in the display; it makes the revival of older discussion inconvenient. I am sure there are still interesting thoughts about the older posts that you may want to revive them.

3/21/2009 NTUEE64 重聚 台大校園

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「別夢依稀咒逝川，故人三十二年前。」 這次相聚，是我與洪俊雄1966年分別之後四十二年第一次見面。他第一句就說，「你在 Florida，我要去找你。」 非常歡迎。 有朋自遠方來。不亦樂乎。我們多少年才能相聚一次？下次再見又是何時？

我們八個班友加上五位夫人，中午在「傅鐘」集合。 是洪敏弘在校園的一個新餐廳為我們安排了午餐。洪董是我們八位中唯一與台大常有接觸的人。他送給每個人一本叫「挑戰創新－台大創業家」的書。 洪敏弘是書中創業家當中唯一從電機系大學部畢業的的學生。 是我們６４級的光榮。他也給大家一片「台灣生態探索」的DVD。 我從頭看到尾。 非常美麗感人。使我知道台灣每年仍然提升几個mm。每天都有地震，而且五年一大震。吃飯的時候我坐在陳正一夫婦旁邊，與他們交談最久。陳總從台灣衛星第一把手退休後，並沒有閒下來。夫人吳紀珠在中國，越南和台灣全島部有業務。陳說他是她提箱子的祕書。行影不離 席上幾乎都是以台語交談。我的台語本來就不太靈光。這次回台任教，在很多場合裡，我都是「聽無」。 但在這個餐桌上不同。 我完全可以聽懂。原因可能是班友們仍然講的是古典台語。與我在童年時聽到的相同。現下年輕教授的台語已有相當的改變。我聽起來非常吃力。

相聚的目的之一是確定下次 REUNION 的時間地點。 陳哲俊一直都為這些事情費心。基本上，我們決定在明年農曆新年左右見面。這是台灣方面同學的最佳時段。

午餐之後，我們跟隨洪敏弘在校園散步，想看看見新建的几棟電機大樓。他仍然是電機工程系的教授，有大門的鑰匙。現在電機系（包括資訊系）有100多位教授。我們的老師白光弘以九十的高齡，仍然在這裡作研究。還記得在我們新生訓練的時候，有師長以「台大之大」為題教訓我們？我現在更能體會它。以前台大的後院已建設得與我們在時的前院差不多大小，有新式的大樓，有林蔭的大道，也有佈滿野薑花的池塘。當年嶄新的化學館已顯得非常渺小。特別是我們每天上課的工程館。現在是全屬土木系。看起來是那樣的破爛老舊。土木工程系真該加油。

從椰林道路出來，已是四點多鐘。有人建議我們去新生南路吃紅豆冰。他們說我們當年這家店已經存在，但是我無法記起。當我們坐在店裡品嚐紅豆冰時，有一個年輕人很有禮貌的對我們「笑問客從何處來？」 我們據實以告。我們是台大電機64校友，回母校參觀。想不到這個年輕人也是台大電機的畢業生。他比我們晚了20屆，現在是交通大學教授。當我為他介紹我們的同班同學時。有台灣電信局的大老陳呈祿，有台灣衛星太斗陳正一，台灣遙測先驅陳哲俊。他不得不對我們這一群另眼相看。後來，他說他研究的領域是光電。我告訴他我們正好有這行的專家吳振和。就坐在他面前。他不但有創新理論，而且建立一家世界級的 LED 公司。當我們離開時，他對我們一一握手道別。其實，我發現台大電機系的都非常和曖可親。幾周前，我與小慈逛台大校園，請一位面善的同學為我們拍照片。一問，他竟然也是電機系的學生。

回程，阿博(孫芳德)同我一起搭乘台北捷運。我要去火車站搭高鐵回台中，他要回他母親的家，在天母。他說他在士林下車之後，再乘公共汽車到天母。我非常驚奇。以阿博之富，竟然還等公共汽車。更令我驚奇的是，他建議我如果乘高鐵到台南，不如學他，乾脆坐到高雄，然後回頭搭區間車到台南，因為高鐵台南站離台南市區太遠，要300新台幣的計程車費。如此勤儉起家，一輩子改不過來。「一憚食，一瓢飲。人不堪其憂，回也不改樂其，賢哉回也。」

昨天我與阿牟通電話，他要看照片。一看，他說「你看起來比真人年輕，是因為你臉上的皺紋在照片上顯示不出來。」好個阿牟，實事求是，一針見血。附上兩張在校園拍的照片。

Character Writing

Culture is the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group. In elementary school, we learned that 文化是血統,語言,宗教,和生活習慣的綜合体. Here language plays an important part. Why are there so many dialects in China? Because there are many mountains & rivers that tend to isolate people from contacting each other. When time goes by, each region develops its own language. Language also shapes the way you think, you behave & forges a set of values in daily life. Minority people in China usually live in a remote or isolate area. When time goes by, it develops its own language. Say it in a reverse way, if you want to separate people, let them speak different kind of languages & soon they will drift apart. Babel towers in ancient Babylon is an excellent example.

Whenever I visit Taiwan, I hang around book stores & end up buying a lot of books. When I visit mainland China, I also go to bookstores. The BookCity in Shanghai (福州路), seven-story building, filled with thousands of books. I spent a lot of time inside but I didn't buy anything. I try to explain my behavior. I found that I didn't have any incentive or interest to buy them. The main reason is that the printed words look so alien to me & sometime they look even worse than Japanese. Either 白字連連 or 錯字連篇. The culprit is the simplified characters. If I have to read the translated "Pride & Prejudice" in simplified characters, I rather read it in English directly. 文章帶感情, 文字亦然. There are two camps when it comes to writing, Traditional & Simplified. The former is called 简体字, the latter has several names: 正体字, 原体字, 傳統字, 繁体字 etc. I have no idea why some people go along with 繁体字. It is derogatory, misleading & bad. How could it be so complicate for several hundred years & people don’t feel it. I think the English translation says it better, Traditional or 傳統字. Our ancestors used traditional writing for so long & also used brush pen (毛筆). They didn't have any complains. They simply grew with it. Nowadays we don't use brush pens & we write without any problems in schools. As a matter of fact, with the help of computer technology, the input of Chinese characters is via keyboard (most kids do) & bypass the handwriting. The side effect of this is that we are having a new generation of people that can only read but can not write. In other words, people can't write without a computer. It is scary if you can't count or calculate without a calculator.

In fact, 傳統字 already has a set of characters simplified & should be adopted & included in 簡体字. The current 簡体字 is way over the reasonable limit. It is a bad idea to get rid of 同音字. We already have a lot of confusion in speech. We should use the writing to reduce it instead of aggravating it. For example, most people seem to agree in keeping 後 & 遊.

If Chinese people have the wisdom, they should sit down & really think hard for the issue of the character writing. This is important & it will have enormous influence to the future generations. Both camps should recognize the pros & cons of 簡体字 & 傳統字. Just sit down & iron out a compromise version of writing, called it 進化字. Without it, we will see Chinese people drift apart when time goes by. In fact, it already causes a lot of confusion outside China as to which is the right way to teach our kids Mandarin.

Faith in Spring

The spring is coming, a time for renewal and awakening. Poets throughout history have penned many a wonderful expression of man's sentiments relating to the seasons, to nature and the world in which we inhabit however briefly. German Lied or art song has many fine examples of such expression. With the current market so depressed, we need some faith in our future and our society. I do find one lied that expresses the faith in spring, the upcoming spring. It is Fruhlingsglaube (Spring Faith) by Franz Schubert, a very lovely song, the more you listen to it, the more you will like it. The text was written by Johann Ludwig Uhland (1787-1862):

Die linden Lüfte sind erwacht,
Sie säuseln und wehen Tag und Nacht,
Sie schaffen an allen Enden.
O frischer Duft, o neuer Klang!
Nun, armes Herze, sei nicht bang!
Nun muß sich alles, alles wenden.

Die Welt wird schöner mit jedem Tag,
Man weiß nicht, was noch werden mag,
Das Blühen will nicht enden;
Es blüht das fernste, tiefste Tal:
Nun, armes Herz, vergiß der Qual!
Nun muß sich alles, alles wenden.

The English Translation:

The mild breezes are awakened,
They whisper and move day and night,
And are at work everywhere.
O fresh scent, o new sound!
Now, poor heart, don't be afraid.
Now all, all must change.

The world is more beautiful with every day,
One knows not what yet may be,
The flowering will not end.
Even the deepest, most distant valley blooms.
Now, poor heart, forget your torment.
Now all, all must change.

You can listen to the lied sung by Christa Ludwig (born in 1928) in the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0sRELvcdmM

Christa Ludwig is a German retired mezzo-soprano, famous for her performances of opera & Lieder.

PS: 春天 has many names: Spring in English, Fruhling in German, Printemps in French, Primavera in Italian & Spanish.