标题: Taiwan Journal, Parts I and II [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 7-12-2012 07:48 标题: Taiwan Journal, Parts I and II The following is a travelogue by Jay Nordlinger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Nordlinger
, whose latest book is
Peace, They Say: A history of the Nobel Peace Prize, the most famous and controversial prize in the world. Encounter Books, March 27, 2012).
Note:
(a) impromptu (n): "something that is impromptu" www.m-w.com
(b) For Denali, see Mount McKinley
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_McKinley
(c) The journal said, "A local tells me, 'They [convenient stores] make living so easy.' (Reminds me of a Gershwin song.)"
(i) Summertime (song)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summertime_(song)
(composed by George Gershwin for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess)
(ii) its lyrics: http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/g/ ... mmertime299720.html
(first two lines: "Summertime, And the livin' is easy")
(d) The journal stated, "It is natural to think that Taiwan was once a Portuguese colony. * * * But, from what I understand, the Portuguese were never here. It’s just that, sailing by one day in the 16th century" in 1544.
Taiwan was NEVER a colony of Portugal, which sailed by. See map 2 in History of Taiwan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_taiwan
(Dutch and Spanish possessions, as well as Kingdom of Middag)
Note:
(a) David Pryce-Jones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Pryce-Jones(1936- ; a conservative British author and commentator)
(b) “I turn into a particular room, and have a bit of a start.”
start (n): “a sudden involuntary bodily movement or reaction <woke with a start>” http://www.merriam-webster.com/d ... =1&t=1342107838
(c) Liberty Square 自由廣場 is in front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
(d) The journal stated, “Out on Liberty Square, a band is rehearsing — an American-style marching band, as at halftime. They are doing . . . ‘Tonight,’ from West Side Story. ‘Oh, Bernstein!’ I think. ‘That’s fame.’”
West Side Story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story
(an American musical; first production: 1957 Broadway; music by Leonard Beernstein; Bernstein's score for the musical includes "Something's Coming", "Maria", "America", "Somewhere", "Tonight", "Jet Song", "I Feel Pretty", "A Boy Like That", "One Hand, One Heart", "Gee, Officer Krupke", and "Cool")
(e) The journal went on, “Many years ago, Paul Johnson was in Perth, and heard a car salesman recite a poem by Arthur Hugh Clough (‘Say not the struggle naught availeth’). Johnson thought, ‘That’s fame.’”
* there have been many Paul Johnsons. I am clueless about whom the journal referred to.
* Arthur Hugh Clough http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Hugh_Clough
(1819-1861; an English poet; Clough is perhaps best known now for his short poems Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth, a rousing call to tired soldiers to keep up the good fight [and a few other poems])
* the poem: http://www.bartleby.com/101/741.html
Click the “official site” in the last section External link, and you will see he is French, despite a Chinese-sounding surname.See Lai (surname) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lai_(surname)
(an Italian (from Sardinia) surname)
(h) The journal remarked, “Many lovely people in Taipei bow to me, and I bow back — in kind of a sloppy, awkward, half-assed way.”