也是一只自由泳的小鸟
@
我有一个朋友在翻译书，煞费苦心地把 totalitarianism（极权）译成全体主义。我还有一个女朋友在搞妇女研究，也是煞费苦心地造出一个字——“女性主义”（女权）。现在这个“权”字简直就不能用，而自己造些怪词，本身就是一种暗示。我现在写着这个古代大科学家李靖的故事，也在煞费苦心地把各种隐喻、暗示、影射加进去。现在的人或者能够读懂，后世的人也会觉得我留下了一些费解的东西。鬼才知道他们能不能读懂，但是不给后世留下一份费解的东西，简直就是白活了。
我刚看完一本胡扯的书，这一本怎么又在胡扯
后世的人们说，李卫公之巧，天下无双，这当然是有所指的。从年轻时开始，他就发明了各种器具。比方说，他发明过开平方的机器，那东西是一个木头盒子，上面立了好几排木杆，密密麻麻，这一点像个烤羊肉串的机器。一侧上又有一根木头摇把，这一点又像个老式的留声机。你把右起第二根木杆按下去，就表示要开2的平方。转一下摇把，翘起一根木杆，表示2的平方根是1。摇两下，立起四根木杆，表示2的平方根是1.4。再摇一下，又立起一根木杆，表示2的平方根是1.41。千万不能摇第四下，否则那机器就会哗啦一下碎成碎片。这是因为这机器是糟朽的木片做的，假如是硬木做的，起码要到求出六位有效数字后才会垮。他曾经扛着这台机器到处跑，寻求资助，但是有钱的人说，我要知道平方根干什么？一些木匠、泥水匠倒有兴趣，因为不知道平方根盖房子的时候有困难，但是他们没有钱。直到老了之后，卫公才有机会把这发明做好了，把木杆换成了铁连枷，把摇把做到一丈长，由五六条大汉摇动，并且把机器做到小房子那么大，这回再怎么摇也不会垮掉，因为它结实无比。这个发明做好之后，立刻就被太宗皇帝买去了。这是因为在开平方的过程中，铁连枷发挥得十分有力，不但打麦子绰绰有余，人挨一下子也受不了。而且摇出的全是无理数，谁也不知怎么躲。太宗皇帝管这机器叫卫公神机车，装备了部队，打死了好多人，有一些死在根号二下，有些死在根号三下。
我打开《大师与玛格丽特》：
“……你到底是什么人物？”
“有一种力量，
它总是想作恶，
又永远在造福，
我就是它的一股。”
———歌德《浮士德》」
我打开《红拂夜奔》：
与此同时，我也想起了《浮士德》里主人公感到生命离去时所说的话：你真美呀，请等一等！我哀惋正在失去的东西。
…不读浮士德真的不行
突然不想看欧美作品也不想看英文了…难道只能看中文了？？
没有成就感但又不得不做的杂事好多啊…
Ich möcht mich gleich dem Teufel übergeben, Wenn ich nur selbst kein Teufel wär!
...搞得我好想看呼啸山庄（书）
为什么看本科普书看得我这么生气
读到鸟儿能在危险来临的时候发出警告，而警告声里包含丰富的信号，包括捕食者是在陆地上还是在空中、体型是大还是小。而人类在危险来临的时候貌似只会尖叫，尖叫声里不包含任何有效信息。但在山区和丛林里就不一样了，那里的人们会用口哨和歌唱声来传达信息。
我读到这儿想的就是人类也没那么烂嘛，只不过有些技能只在特定环境下才需要而已。
结果作者紧接着：
If humans can encode all those specific messages in whistles, why not birds?
我惊呆了，这说的什么屁话啊，感情刚才举的人类例子仅仅是为了帮助理解鸟儿的能力啊？不是，鸟儿有点厉害技能这么让人不能理解吗？真就一定要跟人类比啊？反过来说，if birds can fly, why not humans? 这话有任何逻辑吗？
虽然书里的知识很好，但我也太不喜欢这个作者的视角了。
。。我今日才发现 goodreads 是 Amazon 的
这些大公司有完没完啊！
In human speech, words referring to a specific object usually evoke a visual mental image. Think moon or dog or snake. Suzuki found evidence that Japanese tit alarm calls create just this kind of search image in the heads of listening birds. The tit’s jar call causes the birds to search for snakes and to become more visually responsive to any object resembling a snake. It was the first evidence that a non-human animal could visualize something referred to in a vocalization.
人类啊，啧啧啧，能不能不要这么自以为是
pikapika caracara 
Crows are among the most frequent mobbers, [...]. Gulls often resort to the practice, too, with anunusual twist: vomiting on the predator with keen aim. Colonies offieldfares fire from another orifice, ejecting feces on a predator insuch volume and with such accuracy that the threatening creature isliterally grounded or stopped in its tracks. If enough of thesedroppings-bombs hit their target, they can soak a bird’s wings so itcan’t fly.
丢粪攻击太可怕了吧
No wonder birds have evolved numerous strategies for raising alarm. [...] Sometimes the warning isn’t a sound at all but the silence between sounds. When noisy, social birds like red-winged blackbirds suddenly get quiet, it’s a strong signal there’s danger nearby.
最怕空气突然安静
每天吭哧看英文，一个明显的感觉就是我现在看中文越来越快了（？
以前一目十行现在一目一整屏吧，怎么回事，是母语优势还是中文优势？
For centuries, it was thought that male songbirds alone used song as they used fancy plumage and elaborate tails, to attract females and compete with rival males. The female role was to listen and choose and, in so doing, exert influence through sexual selection, driving the evolution of elaborate singing by preferring males with ever more melodious and complex songs. This was considered a classic example of the power of sexual selection to generate extreme sex differences in brain and behavior. Instances of female song were largely dismissed as atypical—rare exceptions or the outcome of hormonal abnormalities.
All that changed when the international team of researchers led by Karan Odom surveyed the occurrence of female song in 1,141 species from all over the world. The team suspected that male-only song was not the whole story by any stretch. Most songbird species live in tropical regions, which have been less studied. And female song is more common in Australia and surrounding areas, where songbirds originated. There, it’s a much more egalitarian setup. Sure enough, the results of the study, published in 2014, showed that female song occurs in more than two-thirds of surveyed songbird species and families—and that it’s structurally similar to male songs (long and complex) and used for similar purposes. In the songs of male and female superb starlings of eastern Africa, for instance, there’s no difference in the structure or the number of motifs that each sex sings. Both sexes in this highly social species sing all year long and may do so to signal identity and establish rank within their groups. The study made it clear: Birdsong is not just a male thing. And elaborate song did not evolve just through sexual selection—females choosing males for their vocal prowess—but through the broader process of social selection: both sexes competing for food, nest sites, territories, and mates.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf9GVLuFo1Y
whipbird 叫起来好有意思啊，真的像甩鞭子
MEPHISTOPHELES:
[…]
Es scheint, die Frau ist nicht zu Hause?
DIE TIERE:
Beim Schmause,
Aus dem Haus
Zum Schornstein hinaus!
MEPHISTOPHELES:
Wie lange pflegt sie wohl zu schwärmen?
DIE TIERE:
So lange wir uns die Pfoten wärmen.
Pfoten wärmen 可爱死了！
烦死了学校邮箱总是收到垃圾诈骗邮件
今天学到的词：
Katzenwäsche：猫洗指的是用水很少的、不仔细的清洁。
