昔日文章

  Diligence is the mother of good fortune, and idleness ― its opposite ― never brought a man to the goal of any of his best wishes. —— Cervantes  努力勤奮是好運之母；相反，遊手好閒絕不令人願望成真。——塞萬提斯 The above quotation was taken from the novel called “Don Quixote” （《唐吉訶德》）. What do people think of you if they call you “Don Quixote”? The novel was a masterpiece written by Cervantes about 400 years ago. Don Quixote was an elderly man who believed himself to be a knight errant bringing justice to the world. Originally written in Spanish（西班牙文）, the novel has been translated into many languages. In the English language, the adjective “quixotic” comes from part of his name, and the idiom “tilting at windmills” comes from the adventures in the book.  Cervantes（1547-1616）was born in Spain. Little is known of his early years and education. It seems that he moved around several times with his parents. He did not go to university but he probably had studied under the Jesuits（耶穌會士）as a teenager.  In 1570, Cervantes went to Italy（意大利）to explore career opportunities. There he joined the Spanish army to fight against the Turks（土耳其人）. That time, the relations between the European countries and the Turkish Empire were not very good. Cervantes fought bravely and was badly injured with his left arm completely useless.  In 1575, something unbelievable happened that probably became his inspiration for the adventures in “Don Quixote”. When Cervantes returned to Spain, his ship was captured by pirates. He was held as a slave in Algiers（阿爾及爾）for five years, until his parents, with the help of some Catholic friars, were able to pay the ransom for his freedom.  The life after his return to Spain was not smooth. He did various jobs, and published some works, which attracted little attention from the public. Finally at the age of 58, he earned his fame by publishing “Don Quixote”. This literary work has made a significant impact on the world of literature.    Novel 小說 Masterpiece 傑作 Knight errant 遊俠騎士 Quixotic 唐吉訶德的情操  （不切實際的）  Tilting at windmills 與假想的敵人戰鬥 Friars 修道士 Ransom 贖金     Literary work 文學作品

   I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection. —— Sigmund Freud  「我認為童年時期最大的需要，莫過於父親的保護。」——西格蒙德．佛洛伊德 Today is Father’s Day in many places around the world, including Hong Kong. Nearly a century ago, a renowned Austrian（奧地利）neurologist made the above quotation about the importance of a father’s love towards his children. As the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud（1856– 1939）created a set of psychological theories and techniques to treat emotional disorders. Though Freud’s psychoanalysis has been hotly criticised, it still forms the basis for many later developments in the field of psychotherapy.  Freud was born to Jewish（猶太人）parents. At the age of 17, he graduated from a prominent high school with excellent results and began studying medicine at the University of Vienna （維也納大學）. After graduating, he worked at a hospital and began his interest in psychiatry. In 1885, Freud went to Paris to continue his studies of neuropathology. The studies became a turning point in his career. He joined a famous French neurologist in conducting scientific research in hypnosis and an emotional disorder, hysteria.  After he returned to Vienna, he began his own private practice, and pursued his innovative approach to the human mind. He made some major publications, including “Studies on Hysteria”（歇斯底里症研究）and “The Interpretation of Dreams” （夢的解析）. In 1902, Freud was appointed Professor of Neuropathology at the University of Vienna.  Because of the growing Nazi（納粹黨）hatred of Jews, Freud fled for London in 1938 just before the Second World War. A year later, he died of cancer there. Freud influenced many other famous psychologists, including his daughter Anna Freud, who was the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology.     Neurologist: 神經學家 Psychoanalysis: 精神分析 Psychotherapy: 精神療法 Psychiatry: 精神病學 Neuropathology: 神經病理學 Hypnosis: 催眠 Private practice: 私人執業 Psychoanalytic child psychology:    精神分析兒童心理學

  You don’t have to be a mathematician to have a feel for numbers. —— John Forbes Nash, Jr.  你無需成為數學家，也能對數字有感覺。——小約翰．福布斯．納殊 The world was shocked and saddened by the sudden death of John Forbes Nash, Jr. and his wife in a car accident two weeks ago. John Nash was a brilliant economist and mathematician. His contributions to “game theory”（「博弈論」）, the mathematical study of decision-making, have made a great impact on virtually everything, from chess games, economics, international relations to our daily life. He successfully extended his analysis beyond “zero-sum” games（零和遊戲） with an “I-win-you-lose” outcome in decision-making processes. He provided insights into more complex everyday situations where all of the participants could gain, or all could lose.  John Nash was born in 1928 in the USA. As a young teenager, he spent much time in reading and doing scientific experiments alone. His interest in mathematics was inspired by E. T. Bell’s “Men of Mathematics”（《數學大師》）, which he read at the age of 14. During his final year of high school, he won a nationally awarded full scholarship and used it to enrol in the Carnegie Institute of Technology（卡內基科技學院）. Initially he majored in engineering. Then he switched to chemistry and eventually to his life-long passion, mathematics. In 1948, he was awarded a prestigious fellowship to study for a doctorate in mathematics at Princeton University （普林斯頓大學）. In 1950, when John Nash was twentyish, he received a doctorate with a dissertation on “non-cooperative games”（「非合作博弈」）. Forty-four years later, he won the Nobel Prize in Economics（諾貝爾經濟學獎）for the theory studied in this dissertation with another two game theorists.  The life of John Nash was made known to the world by the film called “A Beautiful Mind”（《有你終生美麗》）. The film was adapted from a biography, which revealed his two-decade-long struggle with his mental illness and his recovery. Both John Nash and his wife became mental health care advocates.  Glossary International relations  國際關係 Engineering  工程學 Fellowship  大學研究生獎學金 Doctorate  博士學位 Dissertation  論文 Biography  傳記 Mental illness  精神病 Advocates  倡導者   

  … the pull of Everest was stronger for me than any force on earth —— Tenzing Norgay  「……對我來說，額菲爾士峰的吸引力比地球上任何力量都更加強大」——丹增．諾蓋   About a month ago, Nepal（尼泊爾）was hit by a powerful earthquake and thousands of people died. A lot of mountaineers were trapped on Mount Everest by avalanches following the earthquake. Mount Everest is the world’s highest peak. It is part of the Himalayas（喜馬拉雅山脈）and its peak is on the border of Nepal and China. Mount Everest is known in Nepal as Sagarmȃthȃ （天空之頭）and in Tibet（西藏）as Chomolungma（珠穆朗瑪峰或聖母峰）. Its English name was given in honour of Sir George Everest, a Welsh（威爾斯）surveyor and geographer.  Mount Everest has attracted numerous adventurous mountaineers over the past century. Can you think of the dangers which the mountaineers face on Everest? To name a few, the dangers may include altitude sickness, lack of oxygen, frostbite and snow blindness. In fact few of the mountaineers can go on the expeditions without the help of the Sherpas（雪巴人）, who serve as guides or porters. Most Sherpas live in the eastern regions of Nepal. They are well-known for their bravery, expertise and stamina at very high altitudes. One of the most famous Sherpas is Tenzing Norgay（1914-1986）.  Born in Nepal, Norgay was one of 13 children in the family, but most of them died young. When Norgay was a teenager, he moved to India（印度）to work as a trekking porter. At the age of 19, he was employed as a porter by a British expedition to Mount Everest. Over the next twenty years, he took part in a number of unsuccessful attempts to climb the mountain. In 1953, Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary, a New Zealand（新西蘭）mountaineer, made the first successful ascent on Mount Everest. After that, Norgay became director of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute（喜馬拉雅登山協會）in India to promote mountaineering as a sport.  He was named by Time（《時代》）magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.  Glossary Avalanches 雪崩 Surveyor 測量員 Altitude sickness 高山症 Frostbite 凍瘡 Expeditions 探險隊 Stamina 耐力 Trekking porter 艱辛旅途上的挑夫 Ascent 攀登