最近陷入了書堆。最新的一本是關(guān)于belt and road，看完就會(huì)明白為什么我們不但要正視自己，也要正視并反擊西方言論。不是我們自以為禮儀之邦就意味著West不去陰謀論，不去下絆子，不去詆毀。讀了一些社科和相對(duì)新的國(guó)際事件討論，真得不用對(duì)他們抱有幻想，狹隘是寫在他們的骨子里的(指整體的leadership)。以前讀還挺憤怒，現(xiàn)在么，一臉冷漠翻一翻，看看國(guó)外怎么想僅此而已。另外結(jié)束了四簽名，人類簡(jiǎn)史的書單計(jì)劃，又找來阿婆的首作The Mysterious Affair at Styles來讀，烏合之眾和一天暫時(shí)不想翻閱。翻到了曾經(jīng)的筆記，貼出來留念。今年基本沒動(dòng)過筆，也不知道為什么唉......

2020第一本書讀完了，來自Nicholas Sparks的作品。這位美國(guó)仁兄真能寫，不僅僅是純愛，連家長(zhǎng)里短的瑣碎也能生動(dòng)表現(xiàn)一二。但是狗血和俗套似乎是很多傳統(tǒng)言情故事偏不開的情節(jié)，這也是看書時(shí)偶爾的荒謬感。

書的名字叫做分手信，也是之前略疑惑的地方，后來才知道John就類似中國(guó)的大龍，建國(guó)一樣，說是二戰(zhàn)期間美國(guó)的一種現(xiàn)象，士兵長(zhǎng)期在外，等待他的愛人在時(shí)間的變故中放棄了執(zhí)著，于是他們的信件開頭大多是Dear John, Dear Tom之類，就有可能是要分了(查了一下，一般他們愛用My Smith之類)。到底是真是假不知道，但Dear John Letter就成了分手信的代名詞，因?yàn)檫@個(gè)文化點(diǎn)挺有意思，就啰嗦復(fù)述了一下。

書是分為三個(gè)部分，開始，經(jīng)過，結(jié)局。以一個(gè)引子開篇，一個(gè)后續(xù)完結(jié)。很完整的平鋪直敘的故事。但豹豹更愿意從父子，愛情，軍旅三個(gè)部分來看待而不是時(shí)間發(fā)展順序來回憶。書的開篇很抓人，這也是開始讀這本書后一口氣讀了好幾章的原因。

When a person sets a thing in motion, there’s a feeling of unease, almost regret, until you learn the truth.不看到最后的真相不死心(開始以為是單指愛情，讀完才知道包括男二Tim的病情后續(xù)以及女主的家庭情況)

Part of me aches at the thought of her being so close yet so untouchable, but her story and mine are different now. It wasn’t easy for me to accept this simple truth, because there was a time when our stories were the same, but that was six years and two lifetimes ago.

很多感情無法再觸碰，過往的歲月如同兩輩子那么長(zhǎng)。

But I did meet her; that’s the thing that makes my current life so strange. I fell in love with her when we were together, then fell deeper in love with her in the years we were apart.

以上是開篇部分，會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)文字簡(jiǎn)單卻動(dòng)人。只是后面的故事飛起后就覺得故事章節(jié)前后落差太大。但不可否認(rèn)這本書豹豹還是很喜歡，僅憑著書里父子關(guān)系這條線的描述就足夠了。書中John的父親自小有自閉癥，做事嚴(yán)格按照程序，唯一的樂趣便是在自己的小書房里鑒賞各種紀(jì)念幣硬幣。硬幣是父子之間曾經(jīng)的記憶，關(guān)系分裂的傷口，黏合的渠道以及最后饋贈(zèng)的源泉。這一部分并沒有做過多的筆記，完全是沉浸其中，讀到兒子因?yàn)檐婈?duì)記律無法在身邊，父親獨(dú)自料理自己的后事時(shí)真得幾次放下這本書。

For the first time since he’d been there, the fear was almost gone. He held the paper close to his face, and I could see the page shaking slightly. His lips were moving as he concentrated on the words, and I forced myself to study him, hoping to memorize his face forever.

It was the last time I ever saw him alive.

父親害怕醫(yī)院，抗拒陌生的環(huán)境，人生的最后幾個(gè)月最終接受了孩子的建議，去了當(dāng)?shù)匾患易鹬厮盍?xí)慣的療養(yǎng)院，這是來到療養(yǎng)院后最后的一處兩人之間的描寫。讀到這段真的哭了。

軍旅生涯的部分如果放開了說估計(jì)豹豹能扯半天，我不知道我是否感應(yīng)到了作者字里行間埋下的情緒，其實(shí)能感覺到輕微諷刺。也或許是個(gè)人過度解讀了，因?yàn)槟承┰蚓筒辉u(píng)論了，只貼一些句子。

The whole experience was just about the most ridiculous and idiotic thing the army ever made me do. And that’s saying something, because I’ve done a lot of idiotic things for good old Uncle Sam and the Big Red One. At the end, our commander walked through the ward, congratulating my squad on a job well done. I wanted to tell him that maybe our time would have been better spent learning modern war tactics or, at the very least, tuned in to the Weather Channel. But instead I offered a salute and an ackknowledgment, being the good army grunt I am.

在這里知道了山姆大叔就是禿頭鷹

以及

These days, they never say who the enemies are supposed to be, but everyone knows it’s the Russians, which makes even less sense, since they’re supposed to be our allies now.

In the aftermath of Baghdad’s fall, every soldier in my squad was thrust into the roles of policeman and judge. As soldiers, we weren’t trained for that.

From the outside and with hindsight, it was easy to second-guess our activities, but in the real world, in real time, decisions weren’t always easy. More than once, I was approached by Iraqi civilians and told that a certain individual had stolen this or that item, or committed this or that crime, and was asked to do something about it. That wasn’t our job. We were there to keep some semblance of order—which basically meant killing insurgents who were trying to kill us or other civilians—until the locals could take over and handle it themselves. That particular process was neither quick nor easy, even in places where calm was more frequent than chaos. In the meantime, other cities were disintegrating into chaos, and we were sent in to restore order. We’d clear a city of insurgents, but because there weren’t enough troops to hold the city and keep it safe, the insurgents would occupy it again soon after we cleared out.

這兩三段很長(zhǎng)，但仔細(xì)品品很有看頭。跑到人家的地盤上攻陷了所謂的暴亂，然后一堆爛攤子又覺得煩擾。

過多的就不多說了，如果說這本書最好的部分，那就是第一章，以一個(gè)老生常談浪子回頭為誘餌讓人想迫不及待往下翻。也學(xué)到了很多詞匯，Orange shirt gave me the once-over, noting my crew cut.在文中once-over 是看了一眼，出現(xiàn)頻率很高，以及平頭發(fā)型crew cut還有I’m a walking cliché作為教材典型。

其他的像是女巫中出現(xiàn)的海豚porpoise本文中再次見到，escapades惡作劇在吹小號(hào)的天鵝中也有復(fù)現(xiàn)，雖然說單詞不用刻意去記，但稍微留點(diǎn)心停下來再看兩眼還是有必要的。

最后，關(guān)于文中感情部分因?yàn)閭€(gè)人覺得太糾結(jié)，對(duì)于文中女主角Savannah的行為表示部分理解又部分瞠目結(jié)舌，以及作者將配角Tim一家寫得實(shí)在是過慘反而很同情他。所以這一部分就不說了，也不是個(gè)人的菜。

一共是8張碟子，只聽了三張，不算好聽不算難聽，能聽系列。讀這本書的時(shí)候穿插了一小部分的The Trumpet of the Swan，書是真好看，但是懷特先生本人的朗讀真的是有點(diǎn)不好聽，吞音很多，沒有朗讀調(diào)調(diào)。所以直接看書就好。