Bing Xin’s <
13. Talking about life
Text description
This article takes "a river of spring water" and "a small tree" as examples to reveal the universal laws of the growth, expansion and aging of life, as well as the It expresses the general principle that pain and happiness go hand in hand, and at the same time expresses the will to strive for more than life and the spirit of open-minded optimism. Although this article is not divided into paragraphs, the ideas are clear and well organized, and it is easy to see the level of writing.
The first level (the first two sentences) prompts the topic. The title of the article is "Talk about Life", and it creates a stir at the beginning: the author does not say "what is life", but "what is life like". "What is" is a definition; "what is like" is a literary expression, which has the characteristics of image, aesthetic and metaphor.
The second level ("Life is like flowing eastward...I dare not believe in the next life") describes the entire life course of "A River of Spring Water". This is a metaphor for several situations in the course of human life. However, the several "sometimes" situations described are not divided into successive stages from the nature of things and the state of occurrence, that is, they are not related to the process of human life. The stages correspond one to one, but show the richness and variety of "one river of spring water", that is, the mileage of human life. "He gathered many small streams... and cascaded thousands of miles." These sentences are very coherent, smooth, powerful and powerful. There are several important words, such as "happy and brave", "enjoyment", "angry" and "roaring", etc., which all express emotional colors and are very helpful in portraying the image of "Spring Water" and expressing the author's thoughts.
The third level ("Life is like a small tree... I can't believe in the next life") describes the entire life course of "a small tree". The difference from the previous level is that from "breaking out of the shell", to "growing to the most prosperous middle age", to "he melted and became naturalized", these consecutive stages outline or metaphor Indicates the life course of a person. But it is consistent with the previous level in terms of mood and meaning. For example, in the first few sentences, "Life is like... standing upright and raising your head under the scorching sun!" After reading carefully, you can feel the impulse and progress of the power of life, among which "gathering" "Broken shell", "stretch out", "break free" and other words play an important role in expressing this meaning; in addition, words such as "happy", "singing", "dancing", "tranquility and joy" express thoughts and feelings that are related to the above. The first layer is also consistent.
The fourth level (the last part) summarizes the full text, highlights and deepens the theme, reveals the essence of life (humbleness, insignificance, growth, evolution), and points out that happiness and pain are the basics of the song of life. melody. The first few sentences are very powerful, "The universe is a big life...a drop in the big life." The tone is high and powerful, revealing the author's vast thoughts and broad mind. "Life is not always happy, nor is it always painful. Happiness and pain are complementary to each other." "We should be grateful to life in happiness, and we should also be grateful to life in pain." These two sentences are the author's accumulation of decades. This is a vigilant sentence written with life experience. It is the sentence with the most ideological weight, and it is also the sentence that highlights the whole article. The whole text is high-pitched, passionate and optimistic, and this sentiment is even more pronounced at the end. The author here extracts profound philosophy and expresses his outlook on life, attitude towards life, and his deep understanding of society, the universe, nature, and life. In other words, after the perceptual description, a rational summary is made.
Although this article has a rational summary, the whole article is still based on emotional description. "A river of spring water" and "a small tree" are metaphorical expressions that describe their movement and growth. They are vivid and implicit, giving people aesthetic enjoyment. This is the distinctive feature of this article as a literary work. This article is also very unique in the use of language. It is all pure vernacular, but it is clear, smart, implicit, and charming. Many of the words mentioned above are examples. There are also repeated sentences in the article, such as "Life is like..." and "Life is like..." at the beginning of the second and third levels, which not only become a symbol of the writing level, but also have a sense of melody and repeated singing; "The sea (earth) is solemn." The earth stretched out its arms to receive him, and he flowed (fell) into her arms without saying a word. He melted and became naturalized. There is no joy or sorrow!" "However, I dare not say that there will be no future life. I can't believe the afterlife!" This repeated statement is solemn and vigilant, vivid and full of thoughts. Among them, "there is no happiness and no sadness" is a special feeling. Perhaps in ordinary people's feelings and imagination, death is painful and sad, but the author has transcended these and reached a height of thought that is difficult for ordinary people to reach.
About exercises
1. Read the text aloud, try to divide the text into levels, and find the sentences that best express the theme of the text.
This question is designed to test students' ability to grasp the structural level of the text and find key sentences.
Dividing the text into levels is actually also dividing the text into paragraphs. The text is divided into three sections in the "Text Description". This is a basic and rough division. It can be further divided into more detailed sections, and students are guided and encouraged to propose different division methods.
2. What did you understand from the text about the essence of life? What is the law of life?
This question is designed to guide students to grasp the main content of the text and to elucidate the ideological meaning of the text.
The text does not indicate what the "essence of life" and "laws of life" are, and exploring these two points is the means and way to capture the soul of the text. What "you" "understand" in the question is a variety of answers interpreted from multiple angles. The basic content of the reference answer is: the essence of life - to grow vigorously and move forward bravely, and no force can hinder it or suppress it; the law of life - start small and weak, then become strong and strong, and finally die, in the meantime Happiness and suffering, success and twists and turns go hand in hand.
3. The entire text is written in figurative language, which is both vivid, implicit and meaningful, and worthy of careful consideration. Try to talk about the symbolic meaning of the following two sentences, and find a few more examples from the text to understand.
1． Sometimes when he encountered a rocky obstacle, he would gallop angrily, roaring, whirling, and going up and down, until he overturned the cliff, and then calmly plunged thousands of miles away.
2. Not every river can flow into the sea, and if it does not flow, it will become a dead lake; not every seed can become a tree, and if it does not grow, it will become an empty shell!
This question is designed for appreciation. Essence of writing. The text is all written in metaphors, so to figure out the two example sentences, you need to combine the context and grasp the content of the full text to figure out the deep meaning and symbolic meaning implied by the example sentences, that is, the meaning of the life journey.
1． The description here symbolizes a difficult and progressive journey in life. When life encounters dangers, obstacles, and difficulties, it stimulates the potential and motivation of life, and it is necessary to break through various obstacles and finally reach a smooth road. After reaching a smooth road, you will show the majestic appearance of a winner, become calm, and your life will enter a higher realm.
2. "Entering the sea" and "growing into a tree" imply that after various struggles in life, one finally realizes his lofty ideals and is recognized by society. In the process of struggle, you must go through hardships and obstacles as well as happiness and joy; if you don't experience these and give up halfway, it will be difficult to "cultivation".
Teaching Suggestions
1. Strengthen life experience and enrich humanistic qualities. The text describes the phenomena and laws of life and shows a positive and enterprising attitude towards life. When teaching, students should be guided to think about life phenomena and laws, and to feel and learn from this attitude towards life. That is to say, in the process of learning Chinese materials, education on outlook on life and values ??should be carried out.
2. Association, imagination, speculation, and taste. The text uses "spring water" and "small trees" as metaphors for life, which has a strong metaphorical nature. It is necessary to train students' image thinking, that is, to stimulate their associations and imagination, and to feel the vivid images in the text; it is also necessary to figure out the philosophical thinking in the text, and to train students' rational thinking and refining generalization abilities.
3. Pay attention to reading aloud and learning languages. This article is written in model and beautiful modern vernacular, infused with emotion and momentum, making it very suitable for reading aloud. In addition, you can learn the language by combining reading aloud and trying to figure out the meaning of the text. The language of this article has both visual portrayal and philosophical statement. The sentence patterns are varied, allowing students to read it familiarly, and some wonderful passages can be memorized. You can recite the last paragraph or the entire text. You can also imitate and expand some sentences in the text.
4. Question design:
1. How many paragraphs or levels can the full text be divided into? How many different methods of partitioning are there?
2. Which sentence or sentences best express the theme of the text?
3． What did you understand about the nature of life from the text? What is the law of life?
4. How many life processes or states of life have "a river of spring water" and "a small tree" experienced respectively? What kind of life process and life status does it imply?
5． Among these life processes and states of life, what kind of psychological quality and emotional state do "spring water" and "little tree" express?
6. "The end of the journey" implies the end of life. What is the mentality of "Spring Water" at this time? (Or how does "Spring Water" face the coming of death?)
7. What role does the last paragraph (layer) play in structuring the text and expressing the theme?
8. What is the emotional tone of the entire text?
Relevant information
1. Biography of Bing Xin
Bing Xin, formerly known as Xie Wanying, is a famous modern female writer. Born on October 5, 1900 in Changle, Fuzhou, Fujian. His father, Xie Baozhang, was a naval officer who participated in the Sino-Japanese naval battle of Sino-Japanese War and was patriotic. Bing Xin spent her childhood on the beach in Yantai, Shandong. The sea, with its fantastic and colorful mornings and evenings, gave birth to her rich imagination and cultivated her poet's temperament. In her lonely childhood by the sea, Bing Xin began reading "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", "Journey to the West", "Water Margin" and Lin Shu (1852-1924): a modern writer and translator at the age of 7. His original name was Qunyu and his courtesy name was Qinnan. He was a native of Min County, Fujian (now Fuzhou City). He has translated more than 40 world famous works. 〕Translation of "Shuo Bu Series". After the Revolution of 1911, she returned south with her family and then went to Fuzhou Women's Normal School. In 1913, the family moved to Beijing. In 1914, she entered Beiman Girls' Middle School, a missionary school in Beijing. Because she volunteered to study medicine, she entered the science preparatory course of Concordia Women's University in 1918. When the May 4th Movement broke out, she was a first-year preparatory student. She enthusiastically participated in the youth patriotic movement, served as a clerk in the Student Government Association, and was a member of the propaganda unit of the Beijing Women's Academic Federation.
In order to expand the publicity effect, she began to publish "Reflections on the Hearing on the 21st" and other current commentaries advocating the patriotic student movement in Beijing's "Morning News", signed by Xie Wanying. Inspired by the surging May Fourth Movement, she saw some social problems in semi-feudal and semi-colonial China. Since September 1919, he has written many problem novels (problem novels) under the pseudonym Bing Xin, novels created to raise certain social issues. , such as "Two Families", "This Man Is Alone and Haggard", "Autumn Wind and Autumn Rain Worry Kills People", "Going to the Country", etc., have aroused relatively strong social repercussions. Therefore, Bing Xin said that it was the lightning and thunder of the May Fourth Movement that "shocked me onto the path of writing!" Since I went to the streets to promote and raise funds during the day, I kept writing "problem novels" at night, and I did my science homework. Take off a lot of it. In 1921, after graduating from the preparatory science course, he was admitted to the liberal arts department. Because of his excellent academic performance in liberal arts, he even skipped a level.
Bing Xin's "problem novels" can be roughly divided into three categories: one is to express dissatisfaction with feudal society and feudal families; the other is to expose the miserable life of the people caused by warlords' melee; the third is to express the dissatisfaction with feudal society and feudal families. The stance shows sympathy for the working people.
In 1921, Bing Xin was recommended by Xu Dishan and Qu Shiying and was listed in the Literature Research Association. Her "problem novels" are consistent with the Literary Research Association's purpose that literature should reflect social phenomena and discuss life issues. At this time, Bing Xin focused on reflecting the hesitation and distress of the petty bourgeois intellectuals who had just broken free from the shackles of feudal ideas but could not find a way out. She keenly felt the crisis of this group of young people: "They cannot ascend to heaven and are unwilling to go to earth." , they were "hanging in the middle of heaven and earth." His representative works include "Superman" and "Bored". But by then Bing Xin was no longer satisfied with just raising questions in novels. She was looking for answers while exploring the path of life. At that time, it was impossible for her to integrate with workers and peasants, and she lacked the equipment of advanced ideas. She could only use the "parent-child love" in her "happy" family as a panacea, and recommended it to young people suffering from the diseases of the times, with the deep maternal love. , the wonder of nature and the innocence of childlike innocence come to comfort their bored souls. This is the origin of Bing Xin's "philosophy of love". The literary talent of her novels and prose not only melts the charm of classical literature, but also blends the milk of European and American literature. It has won the praise of many young people and is known as the "Bing Xin Body".
Beginning in 1920, Bing Xin began to express her feelings about life in the form of poetry. Influenced by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), an Indian poet, writer, artist and social activist. There is a 10-volume version of "Collected Works of Rabindranath Tagore" translated in our country. Influenced by "The Collection of Birds", she wrote short poems "Stars" and "Spring Water" that attracted the attention of the literary world. There were many imitators, resulting in the so-called "popular era of small poems". At that time, some people described such short poems as It is called "spring water body". Bing Xin's poetry style is subtle, gentle and meaningful. Her "goddess of poetry" is "full of tenderness, slightly sad, ready to speak but lingers". Bing Xin's early view of literature was that literature must be able to "express itself" to be creative and individual "real literature". Her short poems are the most typical examples of "real literature" that can best "express" her exploration of life, her praise of nature, and even the contradictions and boredom deep in her soul.
In 1923, Bing Xin published a collection of novels "Superman" and a collection of poems "Stars" and "Spring Water". In the same year, she graduated from Yenching University (Concordia Women's University has merged with Yenching University), and won the Golden Key honor with the best results. She also received a scholarship from Yenching University's sister school, the University of Wellesley in the United States, in August 1923. Study abroad in the United States. Not long ago, he lived in Qingshan, USA due to illness. Nursing home for 7 months. In the sanatorium, she lived a life "completely opposite to nature". The mutual memories among the patients seemed to realize the fantasy that "all sons and daughters in the world are good friends". In addition, the homesickness during the travel made her I miss my mother even more, so I am more enthusiastic about the "philosophy of love" that promotes maternal love, nature, and childlike innocence in my works. His representative works include "Enlightenment" and "For Young Readers". Bing Xin began publishing "For Young Readers" in the "Children's World" column of the supplement "Morning Post" in 1923, and it was collected and published in 1926. Although "For Young Readers" focuses on singing "perfect love", this collection of newsletters from traveling to the United States never exaggerates the so-called "material civilization" of the capitalist system, but is passionate about the hometown and relatives of the motherland. From 1926 to 1935, the collection was published 21 times, with an average of one reprint in less than half a year. Bing Xin is one of the most influential children's literature writers since the May Fourth Movement. At that time, she inspired children with equal and induced education methods, which was a denial of the feudal cramming education method. After receiving a Master of Arts degree in 1926, Bing Xin returned to China and taught successively at Yenching University, Tsinghua University and Women's College of Arts and Sciences. At that time, the revolutionary storm of the Northern Expedition made her feel the illusion of the super-class "philosophy of love"; the artillery fire of the Japanese invaders also tore apart her "home" that could "melt and eliminate" the worries of the world. Bing Xin's thoughts changed, and she wrote works such as "Fen" and "Dong'er Girl", expressing her deep sympathy for the suffering life of laborers. "Fen" describes a working woman who is forced to work as a wet nurse due to the pressure of life and is unable to feed her newborn children, which shows that maternal love is not equally enjoyed by everyone. "Bing Xin Lun" written by Mao Dun in 1934 has a detailed discussion of her early creative path, and also has a high evaluation of "Fen".
(Selected from "Bing Xin Research Materials", Beijing Press, 1984 edition.
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2. The Brilliance and Magnificence of Life
52 years ago, Mr. Bing Xin wrote an essay "Talk about Life", which was published in the "Beijing-Shanghai Railway Administration" sponsored by the Beijing-Shanghai Railway Administration at that time Weekly" Volume 1, Issue 27. "Beijing-Shanghai Weekly" is a small and obscure comprehensive publication. It mainly reports railway news and discusses railway construction. It also covers current affairs and economy, and literature and art are just embellishments. Therefore, Mr. Bing Xin’s prose with sincere and profound emotions and fresh and beautiful writing style has been lost for a long time. It has been included in various collections of Bing Xin’s works and research materials, including the most complete collection to date, "Collected Works of Bing Xin" (six volumes, Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House) and "The Complete Works of Bing Xin" (eight volumes, Straits Literature and Art Publishing House) have been lost and unknown.
Now, Mr. Bing Xin is gone. Her death marks the last outstanding and influential writer of the May Fourth New Literature Movement disappearing into history. As a researcher of modern Chinese literature, I was not lucky enough to receive Mr. Bing Xin’s advice in person, but I think of the several autographed letters she sent me since the early 1990s, the collection of epigraphs by Lin Zexu that she gave me, and her generous kindness. As the honorary editor of the "Hongying" series of classic novels by female writers of the Republic of China, which I co-edit, I have always been grateful for her generosity, kindness and care. To express my deep condolences, I now publish to the world this lost article "Talk about Life" which I accidentally obtained from Lengtan half a year ago as a commemoration.
In my opinion, the life of Mr. Bing Xin, who lived at the same age as the century, is firm and upright, and is completely integrated into her colorful creations. In this article "Talk about Life" written in poetic language, the teacher said: "In life, there is neither eternal happiness nor eternal pain. Happiness and pain are mutually reinforcing. Just like a waterway passes through different banks, and trees pass through different sides. Through the ever-changing four seasons, we should be grateful to life in happiness, and we should also be grateful to life in pain. "Mr. Bing Xin had happiness, pain, and great pain in her long life. She was happy with the readers. She also shares the pain with the readers, and has lived like one day for more than seventy years, thus achieving her dazzling and magnificent life. Although she failed to welcome the arrival of the new century, her life is with the new Chinese literature of the 20th century, with millions of readers from generation to generation, and with the conscience of Chinese intellectuals. Mr. Bing Xin left without regrets.
(Originally published in Wenhui Po on March 4, 1999, author Chen Zishan.
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