美國名校衛斯理高中英文老師David McCullough的畢業演說，引起很大的迴響及討論。不同於一般的畢業演講，總是讚美肯定畢業生的成就，這位獨特的老師再三叮嚀學生的卻是”You are not special!”這篇演講在網路上一夕爆紅，有人認為這是近幾年來最好的畢業演說；當然也有人不喜歡，認為不過是這位老師想標新立異意罷了。到底他談了甚麼，為何會激起這麼多共鳴，本文試圖分析並探討之。
全篇演說的主軸，是要告訴學生如何得到真實的快樂。方法只有一個，靠智慧。何謂智慧，去除以自我為中心的想法，以無私的態度為人群服務。只有這樣，生命才是圓滿有意義的，快樂因此而生。但是時下金錢掛帥的風氣下，大家追求快樂的方式卻不是這樣。在市場價值主導下，財富的累積是成就的指標；成就越高，自然越幸福快樂。Teacher David的演說，主要在破除這種功利的價值觀。以物質成就為導向的人生，絕對得不到真正的快樂。以謙卑無我的態度服務他人才能享有真實的快樂。
作者： 洪秀瑛、林志勳╱台北─浙江連線報導 |2012年5月30日 上午5:30
章子怡爆出陪睡風波，陸媒《博訊》甚至踢爆她靠陪睡大陸前重慶市委書記薄熙來等，10年撈了32億。曾在大陸發展的田麗，29日直言，對章此聞「不意外」，「但做這種事無恥」，她還分析，陪睡市場很競爭，台星都快沒陪睡的空間了！田麗說，「潛規則」永不滅，各國皆然，「就是嫖客和高級妓女的行為，這現象在演藝圈很普遍，只是有些沒爆出來。」她說，市場經濟是有需求必然有供給，由此形成「產業鏈」，有買家就有賣家，想鑽門路的就會鑽，不願做的，拿錢砸還是不做。
The sensational news highlights the moral issue of prostitution. It is because the “criminals” have a high social status that this incident got special attention. If the working class commits the crime, the society wouldn’t give a damn about it. The fact is, prostitution is forbidden in law but condoned in real world. This article aims to explore prostitution from the perspective of morality, clarifying its “should” and “should not” by the libertarian and Kantian philosophy respectively. The line of argument is borrowed from Michael Sandel’s two books, Justice and What Money Can’t Buy.
The Hours examines the unique female consciousness of being. From the feminist perspective, it may be acclaimed a subtle and exquisite masterpiece. Yet, mundane viewers may decry it as a jejune bemoaning of the white, middle-class women, nothing less than a portrait of bourgeois ennui. Admittedly, the Marxist disciples are justified to criticize the three females’ lives as self-indulgent and self-conscious, because they are free from economic burdens as suffered by women in poor countries. While poverty-stricken women struggling for survival are left no extra energy to question the meaning of their life, these rich, white women have the leisure to ponder over the meaning of their existence. In proletarian view, the repeated quest of “who am I” is a sign of intellectual arrogance bred by material abundance. So, let’s explore the three women’s life and see if it’s really the bourgeois ennui that gives rise to such an unhappy life.
Prologue
With the countdown of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games in London, England will attract the attention of the whole world this summer. In the eyes of a foreigner, England is featured by a cloudy sky, foggy towns, and red phone booths. The British mentality is notorious for its snobbery, hypocrisy, xenophobia and insularity. From the perspective of a perspicacious writer, George Orwell, we see something subtle and intriguing about the British culture. Let me summarize what Orwell highlights as the distinctive British flavor in the article, “England Your England”:
At first glance, the myth of Persephone and Demeter is to explain the four seasons featured by varied landscape. On second thought, it implies a delicate female relationship denied by the patriarchal society---a lesbian desire for the union of two females, body and soul. The “return to the mother” is not the excessive attachment of mother and daughter; instead, it reveals the power of generation and transformation.
On my second viewing of Good Will Hunting, some lines still moved me to tears, especially Sean, the mentor’s remark about Life and Art. When he uttered these words, it seemed as if he was talking to me, not Will Hunting, the genius kid he was trying to help. Besides these, the part dealing with true friendship is also touching. These significant lines were illustrated as follows:
Prologue
Flowers, candle lights, fragrance, feast---Yea, it’s Valentine’s Day. To its sacredness, people grow numb. To its overtone to sex, people grow ecstatic. Katherine Anne Porter’s essay, “The Necessary Enemy” tolls a warning sound to those passionate, naive, and gullible young maids! The following is its excerpt:
Summary: 愛與憎是生命的底蘊，兩者互相激盪交融，共存於生命中。人性之惡讓愛無法真正落實，卻讓憎不斷生起。有愛必有憎，似乎是人無法逃脫之宿命。憎由愛起，和愛的關係亦敵亦友。婚姻洽是滋養這兩種情緒的最佳溫床。
The real strength of essays is the writers’ idiosyncrasy about life, especially with the tone featured by light-hearted irony and informality. Here are the exemplar essays by Virginia Woolf, a formidable feminist whose novels used to entangle me in the time labyrinth and whose fictional characters bewildered me with their stream of consciousness. Yet, I came to appreciate her insight on life through the two essays illustrated below. She is powerful in criticizing a famous courtesan in the Regency period, and also, reflecting on life and death.
聖經和希臘神話，被視為是西方文學的源頭。兩者所講述的故事，成為後世文學取之不盡的題材。聖經這部經典分舊約及新約兩部分，文學主要探討的是舊約，時間大約從西元前1000年至300年，地點相當於今日的中東兩河流域地區。舊約可稱為猶太人的文化及建國史，分三部分，第一為妥拉或律法(Torah)，其中有5部書；第二為先知書(Prophets)，內有8部書；第三為聖卷(Writings)，含11部書。所以舊約共有3部分24部書。本文介紹這三部分中較知名的故事，並詮釋其內涵。
The only intimacy I never found to flinch or fade away was a purely intellectual one. There was none of the cant of candour in it, none of the whine of mawkish sensibility. 永不退失的親密關係是純然的知性關係，此中絕無虛矯的真誠及感傷。
(William Hazlitt, “On the Pleasure of Hating”)
In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted. Only artistic excellence is incorruptible. Pleasure cannot be bargained down. And sometimes the meal is the only currency that is real. 在這失序混亂的世界，有時只有美才能被信賴。只有藝術的卓越才能不朽。愉悅感不能被打折扣，有時美食才是唯一的真實貨幣。
(Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love 152)
電影「美味關係」中，有兩點頗耐人尋味。一個是美食所代表的意涵；另一是知性的親密關係。食物不僅是果腹的基本必需品，它還代表了個人成就及對異國文化的挑戰。另外，人與人之間的交往，如果以知性為後盾，這樣的關係才能永恆不變質。本文以這兩個觀點來探討這部影片。
