CHAPTER 9 FINDING UPSIDE

woman-of-substance

明事辩理

有时候看看自己的经历，现实是如此苍白。对比别人，实力是如此浅薄。不上大学则无足够时间思考，不刷微博不知世界奇葩，不读书不知众生之大。

最近几本书一起在读，《万万没想到》让我见识到读书到一定程度是什么概念——深度与速度并求，《万历十五年》让我感受到历史长河里的幻世沉浮——人命如菅英雄血染，《中央帝国的财政密码》让我看到身为农民的无助——朝廷的走向往往与口号背向而驰，《向英语学习者讲话》让我明白大师之道在一语道破——半斤八两冲不了什么胖子。

这似乎从一个世界扎头进去另一个，或者说只是认知角度发生了变化。世界没变，我在不同领域门口悄悄探了探脚，发现自己还是太年轻太幼稚，积累太少见识短浅。

跑步时想到苏轼那句词：谈笑间，强撸飞灰湮灭。

在古代，生存是很艰难的事情。运筹帷幄工于心计那是王公大臣将相帝皇的事情，他们已是吃喝不愁。对于贫民富农商士来说，儿女拉扯大就足矣。在他们人生里，成家立业的权重远比财富霸权万世留名重要而现实得多。

在现代，温饱几乎不成问题，又因网络信息的扁平化，不同阶层的消费水平相互刺激，经济与能力的增长是缓慢的，但是欲望可以瞬间膨胀。

房车名企终究属少部分拥有，剩下的人各自有特殊的梦想，它们无关金钱无关名利，这才构成了丰富多彩的世界。

在这一章里，Jia Jiang提到了陆游。他二十九岁在殿试中名列榜首，却因超过秦桧之孙，而被出名。虽若此，陆游仍靠自己坚挺的笔杆子作的好诗惊呆了皇帝，被授予内阁大臣后却不大懂遵守官场规矩而又被除名。虽如此陆游还是坚韧不拔，在广大乡村里捕捉人民在中华历史流程中的苦痛与希望。

After endless mountains and rivers that leave doubt whether there is a path out, suddenly one encounters the shade of a willow, bright flowers, and lovely village.

对比李白，陆游是相当不幸。生逢大唐末世，不曾斗酒诗百篇，陆游是相当得穷，但还是太爱国，也不喜欢弱肉强食那一套丛林法则，相反他很爱护妇孺同情弱者痛恨酷吏。

这是他的选择，在他的人生权重里是重要的一环，写诗是他的名，是对时代的愤慨。每个人的追求是不同的，不可以用单一价值纬度来制定衡量标准。

如此看来，当个普通人并不容易：拥有家庭陪伴，幸福、富足与快乐。在大环境如今文明和谐之时，有立身资本，情绪稳定，做事耐心。

一生的欢乐，剔除焦虑、嫉妒和愤恨之痛苦之源，天才和庸人，除了对人类文明向前发展的巨大贡献之外，他们的感受都是平等的，甚至在族群繁衍与经验磨练当中，还不可或缺。

句中学词

1)

They ostracized him and spread rumors to impugn his character

英音 /ˈɔstrəˌsaɪz/    美音 /'ɑstrəsaɪz/ 

vt. 放逐,流放

摈弃;排斥

eg.

Chances are to be ostracized for him.

英音 /ɪm'pjuːn/    美音 /ɪmˈpjun/ 

vt. 责难；驳斥

时 态: impugned, impugning, impugns 

形容词: impugnable

eg.

Rumors are to impugn him.

2)

Then the group became really thin, and my worry sharpened into fear.

thin形容词动词皆可，group/crowd thins/gets thin

worry sharpen into fear 这个动词说明情绪转变的瞬间，用的太妙了。

eg.

Little kids' cry tends to sharpen into laugh.

3)

Standing in front of my classmates, none of whom would stick up for me, didn’t make me feel vengeful.

stick up for sb 是支持某人

revenge 是复仇，动、名词皆可

vengeful 要复仇的

vengeance名词复仇

4)

Throughout history, we’ve seen countless examples of people who were rejected or even persecuted for their beliefs but vindicated by time

动词: persecute  迫害

形容词: persecutive 

名 词: persecutor

vindicate

vt. 澄清(某人/某事物)受到的责难或嫌疑

表明或证明(所争辩的事物)属实、正当、有效等

维护

eg.

When alive, be persecuted; after death, be vindicated.

5)

rejection is an experience that it is up to you to define. In other words, it means only what you choose it to mean. The relationship you have with a rejection can be negative or positive, and it all depends on which way you spin it for yourself.

Great sentences.

You think you can or not, both of which is right.

导读问答

【1】 How did the elementary school rejection motivate the author?

Rather than feel humiliated by how different the author was from the other kids, he embraced it. Standing in front of his classmates, none of whom would stick up for him, didn’t make him feel vengeful. It made him want to prove everyone wrong about him—and show them who he really was.

【2】 What lessons did the author learn from his donation experience?

He learned a lot from the rejection attempt about the importance of good messaging  (including the upside of being specific), the element of surprise, and the hard lesson of  not confusing people with bad humor. But the biggest lesson of all was how to use  rejection as a tool to learn, adapt, and improve.

【3】 Rejection can do good to character building. Did you benefit from rejection in this term? Please share with us.

Emmmm....Maybe never. I cannot remember anyone of that. Rejection and acceptance seem nothing once they vanish in the history.

*一连看了几个小时电脑屏幕，实在是眼疼，简略写下z这章的读书笔记。