8.30
The condition of my windowsill garden
It’s a difficult summer for a person like me who has a windowsill garden in Shanghai.
I water my plants every day and spray their leaves twice a day, but they are still in bad condition and are barely alive. The weather has been too hot for a long time.
This kind of situation makes me want a house with a yard. If so, I could put my plants in a better spot, and they could grow better.
8.29
A Convention in the Fall
The fall is coming, even though the midday temperatures are still high. But you can feel it in the early morning and late evening.
By convention, it’s time for moms to call their children away from home, telling them to be careful about the cool air at night and to have a pear every day.
I think the convention of eating pears in the early autumn is quite reasonable not just because it’s the harvest time for pears, but also because it’s easy to get a cough in autumn.
In Chinese traditional medicine, pears can be used as a diet therapy to prevent and cure ordinary cough. Even many medicines are made from pears.
I like this convention because I like almost every kind of in-season fruit.
8.27
Two Versions of a Book
I’ve told you folks that I’ve been reading a great book “The Child in You” for a few weeks. And I haven’t finished it yet because I’m reading both the Chinese and English versions simultaneously.
It’s really enjoyable to read a book this way. Not only can I improve my English, but also I can sense the subtle differences due to the translation.
The author wrote this book in German and I don’t know anything about German, so it’s difficult to say which version is closer to the original.
If the original is like the English version, then the Chinese translator must be a detail-oriented and thoughtful person. Maybe she worried that the readers would not be able to follow the author’s method, so she added some words to help them understand.
If the original is more like the Chinese version, then the English translator must be an efficiency-oriented person who likes simple and plain language.
Personally, I like them both. They help me understand the book from different perspectives.
8.26
Something about Wukong
“Black Myth: Wukong” seems to be a hit recently. Even though I’m not a gamer, I’ve heard it mentioned many times.
I don’t know much about this game, but I am quite familiar with the character Wukong.
I used to watch the TV series “Journey to the West” almost every summer holiday from the time when my memory started till I entered middle school.
As you may already know, the game “Black Myth: Wukong” is based on the novel “Journey to the West”, written around 430 years ago.
The novel was inspired by the real story of Master Xuanzang, who was so disturbed by inconsistencies between the teachings of different Buddhist teachers that decided to go west to find and bring back copies of the classic Buddhist scriptures. It was 1395 years ago.
Master Xuanzang and Wukong have a lot in common: they both have a clear target, their journey to reach the target is quite hard, and both of them finally achieve it.
8.22
A Popular Book in China
There was a book that became very famous this April. It’s called “My Altay”, a collection of essays written by a girl who used to live in Altai, a region north of Xinjiang Province.
The book’s sudden popularity is because the drama based on it was released and widely received. I had the chance to read it recently.
It’s a good book.
I could feel the subtle but rich emotions of the author through the simple but funny words. Most importantly, I saw a kind of life that I had never had and maybe would never experience.
This book reminds me of San Mao, another well-known female author. When I was in middle school, I liked her books for extra-curricular reading. Her books also gave me a sense of a far-away but interesting life.
If your Chinese level is above intermediate, I recommend “My Altay”. It would not be difficult to read.
I heard that it also has an English version, maybe you can find it somewhere.
8.21
A Dramatic Story
Many years ago, I worked for a precious metal products company as an e-commerce manager. The salary wasn’t high, but neither was the stress.
One day, a coworker on my team asked me if her husband was on my WeChat friends list. Then we found the account on my WeChat. That was my work WeChat, so I had accepted many friend requests from strangers.
The dramatic thing was that this coworker told me it was her using her husband’s account and adding my account. I was so confused, but I thought this had nothing to do with work, so I just let it go.
A few days later, another coworker told me a piece of gossip about this coworker on my team. Then I finally got the point: she had just tried to warn me not to tell her husband the gossip.
But I didn’t know her gossip at the time, and I wasn’t interested in telling her husband anything.
Maybe every dramatic and weird story has a logical storyline. It’s only the part that you are missing that makes you think it’s dramatic and weird.