2017年9月28日 星期四

A Photo Album by Xiuzhi Liang (大妹的作品)

#2017-0928

Title: The Album of Beauty (美的專輯)

The pictures below were taken by my first sister, Xiuzhi, with her iPhone (which she carries wherever she goes). This afternoon she shared with me hundreds of photos she had taken during her free time. I was so impressed that I asked if I could "re-share" a few of them with my blog readers. "No problem," she said. And here they are!

大妹用隨身攜帶的手機「紀錄」了許多美麗動人的「瞬間印象」。我看了極為感動,特徵得她的同意,在此 木咕子的家 (Mookoo's Home) 轉分享。祝大家天天健康愉快、平安喜樂!


















2017年9月22日 星期五

《夜遊黃金海岸》

#2017-0922

《夜遊黃金海岸》

斜陽不及追,
夜幕已低垂。
拍岸升潮響,
風涼撲面吹。
棚燈窺海景,
暗處顯天規。
默禱神看守,
全家有主隨。

圖/文: Mookoo Liang

附註:此「黃金海岸」是台南市最南端的海岸線,與高雄市茄萣相鄰。本詩押「上平聲四支」韻,其平仄格律為 abABA式,但不屬於典型的五律,因為第二及第三聯缺乏嚴謹的對仗。就結構言,本詩依然是「起、承、轉、合」四段式寫法:首聯(斜陽 ... 夜幕 ...)為「起」,交代寫作背景,原想賞夕陽,卻來不及了;次聯(升潮 ... 風涼 ...)為「承」,寫出現場當時的漲潮聲,以及晚風所帶來的涼意;第三聯(棚燈 ... 暗處 ...)為「轉」,除了海的方向,也朝其他方向張望,看見堤岸上的飲食攤位,棚燈點點,又望向黑夜的天空,轉入一種深邃的哲思;最後,末聯為「合」,無論身在何處,總為了全家大小,求神保守,俾能蒙恩得福,與主同行。









2017年9月15日 星期五

A Paraphrase of 秋日登山有感

#2017-0915

Poetry is hard to be translated. But I'd like to share with my English-speaking readers a paraphrase of my poem "秋日登山有感" (Click here for the original version in Chinese).

The title 秋日登山有感 roughly means:

What Came to My Mind on an Autumn Day while I Was Walking up the Mountain

How many spring dreams last until autumn?
A restless heart causes a waste of time!
Now I'd no longer ask about earthly things;
I see Heaven again, singing holy hymns.



2017年9月14日 星期四

七絕:《秋日登山有感》

#2017-0914

七言絕句《秋日登山有感》

春夢秋時剩幾何,
心猿意馬老蹉跎;
今茲不再凡塵問,
又見靈天咏聖歌。

圖/文: Mookoo Liang

註:此七絕押「下平聲五歌」韻,其平仄格律為 abA 式(首句用韻)如下:

仄仄平平仄仄平,平平仄仄仄平平;平平仄仄平平仄,仄仄平平仄仄平。
月落烏啼霜滿天,江楓漁火對愁眠;姑蘇城外寒山寺,夜半鐘聲到客船。
君問歸期未有期,巴山夜雨漲秋池;何當共剪西窗燭,卻話巴山夜雨時。
春夢秋時剩幾何,心猿意馬老蹉跎;今茲不再凡塵問,又見靈天咏聖歌。




2017年8月16日 星期三

奇夢 ● 緣由

#2017-0816

我從一個極其特殊的夢中醒過來。笑著醒來。真的,我的嘴角還在笑,忍不住一直想笑。到底是什麼時候啦?我看了一下錶,三點零五分,大清早的三點零五分。

聯想:英文有一說:the fourth watch of the night,指的是清晨 3 點至 6 點之間。馬太福音第十四章提到「耶穌行走在水面上」正是在這個時段 (the fourth watch of the night)。換成中文的說法,則是「第五更」的起頭。假若「三更」是子夜 11 點至凌晨 1 點,那麼「四更」不就是 1 點到 3 點,而「五更」不就是 3 點到 5 點?

不管如何,那個奇異的夢,那個讓我笑著醒來,幾乎真的笑出聲音來的「怪夢」,才是重點。夢境的重點在於威廉 (William) 那個年輕人,用一種十分滑稽(逗趣/好笑)的口吻,講述他的親身經歷,在一段極短的時間內,心理的轉折卻是大得可以。

他說:「我原本覺得好累,簡直是筋疲力竭、累到不行;一心想找個地方,倒頭就睡,最好一覺睡個十八年,睡個飽。你能想像我那時候眼皮有多麼重嗎?眼皮垂下,幾乎再也睜不開眼,因為整個人好比一顆氣球洩了 95% 以上的氣,實在完全崩盤/坍塌/累癱了。

「然後,眼前有幾位兵丁模樣的人,抬著一座轎,屬於從前的王公貴族常愛搭乘的那種轎子,裝飾華貴,有氣派,又有點古味。那轎子裡,坐的是什麼人啊?.........沒想到,裡面什麼人也沒有,只有.......金塊,重達百斤吧,好大一塊。

「他們說,見者有分;凡看見的,都有一份。是嗎?哈哈哈...........果真見錢眼開。忽然,念頭一轉,精神更加抖擻,眼睛大亮,連嘴角都忍不住,偷偷地笑了起來。

「笑著,笑著,就笑醒了。」威廉 (William) 結束了他的報告。

他那唱作俱佳的口頭報告,我沒法子書面紀錄。我只能說,我也被感染,笑開懷了,而且笑著從睡夢中醒來。

威廉 (William) 是誰呀?威廉 (William) 是我正在努力建構的長篇小說 Mega Pelico -- a novel in English (being developed) 故事中的主要角色之一。他只有二十出頭,是一個愛唱歌、想演戲,卻討厭「呆」在家裡看書、寫作的小夥子。不過他的名字,跟莎翁-----莎士比亞 (William Shakespeare) -----有一部分雷同。

小說 (fiction) 嘛!終究是虛構的,縱有真實面,也已隱藏在虛構的框架之中。好比夢境,一場夢能說它是一樁事實 (a fact) 嗎?剛剛做了個夢,是個事實,但夢的內容(夢中所聞所見、所言所行的種種),與真實發生過的客觀事件,不是相差/相離甚遠嗎?

可是當我收起笑意,進一層思索、追問之後,我竟然發現,剛才做這個「黃金夢」是有原因的。而且原因很嚇人。至少,我被自己(或自己的夢的緣由)狠狠地嚇了一跳!

昨晚就寢前,又見電視報導川普(美國總統)和金正恩(北朝鮮 最高領導人)互嗆的消息。電視報導說,雙方若是擦槍走火,一旦開戰,韓國的首都 Seoul 將首當其衝,很可能在第一天就超過數十萬人傷亡。電視報導還說,目前南韓的經濟生活,看似一切如常,卻有人悄悄開始搶購(大量購置/預存)黃金與泡麵。黃金(如金塊、金磚之類)的交易量,短期內大幅飆升,其實已反映出一種前途未卜,民眾因而內心恐慌不安的現象。



2017年8月3日 星期四

城堡 (Castle)?飯店 (Hotel)?

#2017-0803

What is planned or under construction? What are you building, Little Bee? . . .

My grandson James (nicknamed "Little Bee") told me that he had created here in his Secret Base (or Secret Zone, 秘密基地) a beautiful castle, a modern high-class hotel, a few parking lots, and lots of flower gardens . . . and many other things such as stages or arenas for performances, and public (or private) transit facilities.

Yes, I like his creations -- meaning "what he created," and I like his creativity -- by creativity I mean his "ability to create". Look! Little Bee has very good IMAGINATION!

Note: As he came to the kitchen for breakfast the next morning, he said to me, "My hotel guests are having breakfast at this moment too!"









2017年8月1日 星期二

A New Café Near My House

#2017-0801

Yesterday (at the end of July) we visited a very new café near to my house.

It is on the edge of A-Zhao-Wu Bentang Park (阿罩霧 本堂公園); if you walk on Chenggong Road (成功路) from the entrance to National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra (國立台灣交響樂團) toward the campus of Private Mingtai High School (明台高中), you'll very soon pass by this small coffeehouse.

However, unless you pay enough attention to it, you'll miss it easily on the way, because the signboard outside this shop is rather small -- and, at least for me, it doesn't look like a place for selling coffee, tea, fruit juice, or anything like that!






2017年7月28日 星期五

Little Brother: What's That?

#2017-0728

"What's that?" asked the little brother.

Didi wendao: "Na shi shenme?"

"It's the Earth. And . . . many stars . . . the moon . . . or the Sun -- oh, I'm not very sure about it," the elder brother said. "But let me tell you about this." He turned to another page, in which they could see a picture of a crane car. (The title in the page is "Truck-Mounted Crane," or 起重機 in Chinese.)

Gege jieshi, shuo: "Zhe shi diqiu. Haiyou, xuduo xingxing . . . han taiyang . . . yueliang -- qishi wo ye bu tai qingchu neige-shi-neige! -- Lai ba! Women lai kan zhe yi zhang." Gege ba shu fan dao lingwai yi ye, zhe yi ye you qizhongji de tupian. (Yingwen mingcheng wei "Truck-Mounted Crane".)

The little brother became even more interested in the elder brother's explanation -- As I can see, they are like a teacher and a student, sometimes!

Didi jujing-huishen ting-zhe Gege de tupian shuoming. Yi wo kan, tamen banyan de fenbie shi laoshi han xuesheng de juese; youshi, tamen jiu xihuan zheyang!





2017年7月14日 星期五

The 43rd Graduation Ceremony of St. James' Preschool

#2017-0714B

台中市聖雅各幼兒園第 43 屆畢業典禮
The 43rd Graduation of St. James' Preschool

時間:2017 年 7 月 14 日晚上 (6:30 p.m. --    )
Time: Friday, July 14, 2017 (starting at 6:30 p.m.)

地點:台中市大墩文化中心演講廳(地址:台中市西區英才路 600 號)
Venue: Taichung City Dadun Culture Center (Address: 600, Yingcai Rd., Taichung City, Taiwan)

附記:我的孫子「小蜜蜂」 (英文名字: James Liang) 今日從聖雅各幼兒園畢業,領取人生第一張畢業證書,可喜可賀也。我看了他的畢業紀念冊(參見 #2017-0714A)覺得他真的長大不少,儼然準備好,就要進入小學就讀啦! (For James' Graduation Book, click and see #2017-0714A.)










上圖:家長代表 游逸峰先生 致詞
(台中市向上國中 教務主任)