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Eunice Lim

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Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘The Most Difficult Performance to Give’

If this life is a performance, then surely this performance is a stage performance and not a cinematic one. For we are confronted not by the camera, but by the living audience. We act as we are meant to do, for there can be no editing. If we give a lousy performance, there is no way to take it back, because there are no additional takes for the taking. What makes life more difficult than any stage performance is the absence of a script. There is no telling what comes next and there will be no rehearsals. From the moment we are born, the curtain rises and we have entered the stage. And by the time the critics evaluate our performance and historians make their conclusions, we would have departed from this stage we call the world.

Life – what a profoundly difficult performance to give!

 

最难演的一场戏

著:刘墉

 

人生,这是一场多么难演的戏呀!

如果我们把人生形容成戏,那么这场戏就应当是指舞台剧,而非电影。因为我们面对的是活生生的观众,而非摄影机;我们是按部就班地演下来,而不能剪接;我们演坏了就再也无法收回,因为那不能喊NG。此外比舞台剧更难的是,我们没有剧本,所以不能预知下一刻的发展;更没有排演的机会,因为从生下来的那一刻,便步上了舞台。而当剧评家为这场戏下评语,历史家盖棺定论时,我们早已随着走下舞台而离开人世了。

人生,这是一场多么难演的戏呀!

 

* Reprinted with permission from SZY Studio
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Translation

Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘Coffeehouse’

Coffeehouse

 

In the bustling city, we often stumble upon elegant coffeehouses with their warm lights and soothing music. We step in and the cacophony of the streets are left to the world beyond the thick glass doors. We can sink ourselves into comfortable chairs, enjoy the music, and sip our drinks. All is well with the world. Yet eventually, work demands our attention. Emerging from the open doors once again, we invite the clamorous world back in.

This is the image of modern day serenity.

Not a reclusive life in the idyllic mountains and forests, far from the madding crowd. But a search for serenity, time and again, between the narrow spaces of a tumultuous world.

 

咖啡室

著:刘墉

 

现代人的宁静就是在喧器与扰攘之间,寻找宁静。

 

在繁华的市区我们常可以见到幽雅的咖啡室,有着和谐的灯光与柔美的音乐,当我们跨入其中,街道上的喧闹就被摒出了厚厚的玻璃门外。这时我们可以坐在舒适的座椅上,一边啜着饮料,一面欣赏音乐,十分地惬意。但是当我们工作的时间到了,推开门,迎来的又是一片嘈杂的世界。

现代人的宁静就是如此,不是遁隐山林,离开人群,而是在喧器与扰攘之间,寻找宁静。

 

* Reprinted with permission from SYZ Studio

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Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘The Most Difficult Performance to Give’
April 23, 2018
Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘Kaleidoscope’
April 9, 2018
Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘Details and Conclusions’
March 12, 2018
Translation

Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘Details and Conclusions’

Details and Conclusions

 

On the first day of medical school, a professor tells his class, “As a doctor, it is of utmost importance that you are courageous and meticulous.” Having said this, he sticks his finger into a urine sample on his desk, and puts the finger into his mouth. Then, he hands the urine sample over to the students and watches as they suppress their nausea and follow suit, taking turns to give the urine sample a taste.

Finally, he laughs and says, “Very well, all of you have demonstrated that you are courageous enough. But it’s a pity that none of you are meticulous enough. None of you noticed that I reached into the vial with my index finger, but the finger I subsequently placed into my mouth was my middle finger!”

A professor at law school tells a story during his class. Three hunting dogs chase a groundhog. The groundhog ducks into one end of a log, but what emerges from the other end is a rabbit. The rabbit dashes forward at lightning speed and jumps onto a tall tree. However, it loses its footing and falls onto the three hunting dogs that have been watching it from beneath the tree. The three dogs are knocked unconscious by the impact of the rabbit’s fall and so, the rabbit escapes unscathed.

When this story came to an end, many students wants answers to their questions. How could a rabbit climb a tree? How could a rabbit knock three hunting dogs unconscious at the same time?

“The questions you are asking are not too bad and demonstrate just how illogical this story has been”, the professor responds. “But the most important question has yet to be asked – where on earth did the groundhog go?”

A professor of art history is lecturing on the use of colours by ancient artists. By baking a shell, grinding it into a fine powder, and mixing it with glue, one is able to make white paint.

Later, the professor conducts an examination, and one of the questions was a true-or-false question.

“If you picked up a seashell by the beach, placed it in a furnace, baked it at five hundred degrees for thirty minutes, removed it from the furnace, ground it into powder, and then mixed the powder with glue, you will get black paint.”

Most of the students confidently circled ‘True’ before they had even finished reading the statement.

By paying attention to conclusions and neglecting the details, or by focusing on the details and ignoring the conclusions, people reveal a tendency to take for granted their methods of thinking when they are in a hurry and neglect to put in extra effort into verification. This is our common mistake!

 

细节与结论*

著:刘墉

注意结论,而忽略细节,或专注细节而忽略结论,这是人们常犯的错误啊。

有位医学院的教授,在上课的第一天对他的学生说:“当医生,最要紧的是胆大心细!” 说完,便将一只手指伸进桌上的一杯尿液里,再把手指放进自己的嘴中,接着便将那杯尿液递给学生。

看着每个学生都忍着呕,照样把探人尿杯的手指塞进嘴里,教授笑嘻嘻地说:“不错,你们每个人都够胆大,只可惜不够细心,没有注意到到我探人尿杯的是食指,放进嘴里的却是中指啊!

有位法学院的教授,上课时说了一个故事:有三只猎狗追一只土拨鼠,土拨鼠钻进一个树洞,居然从树洞的另一边跑出了一只兔子,兔子飞快地向前跑,并跳上一棵大树,却在树枝上没站稳,掉了下来,压晕了正仰头看的猎狗,兔子终于逃脱。

故事讲完,许多学生提出他们的疑问:

兔子为什么会爬树呢?

一只兔子怎么可能同时压晕三条猎狗呢!

“这些问题都不错,显示了故事的不合理。” 教授说,“可是,更重要的事情,你们却没问 – 土拨鼠到哪里去了?”

有位教美术史的教授,在谈到古代国画家使用的颜料是说:“将贝壳烧烤之后,磨成细粉,再以胶水调和,可以做成白色的颜料。”

接着,教授便举行考试,其中有一道是非题;如果你在海边捡到了贝壳,带回家放进烤箱,以五百度烤上三十分钟,再拿出来磨成细粉,以胶水调和,可以做成黑色颜料。

结果大部分学生都没有看完这个题目,便十分自信地答“是”。

注意结论,而忽略细节;或专注细节而忽略结论。匆匆忙忙地,以自己想当然的方法去思想,却忽略了查证的功夫,这是人们常犯的错误啊!

 

* Reprinted with permission from SYZ Studio

Continue reading
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Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘The Most Difficult Performance to Give’
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Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘Kaleidoscope’
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Eunice Lim Ying Ci – Translation of Liu Yong’s ‘Coffeehouse’
March 26, 2018