It Sounds Great !

In fact, there were so many stuff coming in my life during the last 10 years. Today I would like to talk about one more thing that make me obsessed very much along with those I have mentioned. That is about sounds. 

Since the time in Singapore, I have obsessed listening to radio programmes very much, especially, to those programmes with good and knowledgeable speakers. Indeed, hearing to me is very important, and I think hearing is the first ability that human adapts for learning. What I mean is hearing is in front of sighting or reading.

However, at that time, I checked through the radio programmes in Singapore, I found that most of them were mainly broadcasting music or songs. I was sorry to say that these programmes were far from entertaining to me. I looked for channels from the US and the results were the same. (Let me know the channels if I was wrong.) What I need were those with transferring knowledge, and I found that Hong Kong had produced a lot of this kind of programmes. Therefore, even though I lived overseas, I was still a frequent audience of Hong Kong radio programmes.

Some years later, the channels are becoming much broader. Today, YouTube is changing the fashion of radio. We do not rely on radio anymore while we can still enjoy the same quality online. The first thing that this kind of online channels broke is the concept of radio schedule. Audiences no longer follow the schedules by the radio companies, but to follow their own schedules to listen the programmes online. Similarly, podcast is another way to give this breakthrough.

Indeed, most of the knowledge I acquired after graduation were by listening to online programmes, which spread from western histories to political philosophy to environmental conservation to economics. If we compared it to the time when there was no online materials, I hardly imagine how difficult and how much time I have to spend to hunt for all these knowledge. In fact, these online materials can help to open up a new niche of knowledge. Yet, reading is still essential. The point is that listening to the online materials can help to conceptualise some difficult ideas. In other word, it can be a good start-up before reading the professional textbooks.

Another dimension to this is that the online materials allow people listening to stories, which are called audiobooks. Some of them present stories as drama as some radio drama. All these are not only enhance the entertainment of the stories, but also accelerate the reading speed. I quite enjoy some of the productions by this way.

After listening to many different radio programmes, I started to produce my own records. I took voice records during travelling. When I went to one place, I would take a record to describe the place and report the previous spot that I took records. Honestly, these records were not always funny. However, when I played back my records, I could notice my way of speech. Somehow, it helped me to improve my speaking skills. Some of the memorable records could help me to recall the memories. The birds around me, the train just arrived, the funny guy gave a performance on the street, the bell from a cathedral calling for services are those I recorded unintentionally.

Due to my work, I got an opportunity to produce a short drama for an online teaching material. That was really my dream job. Yet, I can foresee the quality may not be very good, but the experience is valuable because my voice was officially recorded online. 

VR Technology and Education

With an opportunity on my work, I first encounter the VR technology. 

Just a few week before, I have claimed that I believe VR technology is just a transitional product even though I have never used it before. I this this technology could at most be used on entertainment such as films and video games which are always requiring the first perspective experience. Yet, I am not the one to put the first perspective experience as the paramount quality to be achieve and somehow, I don't feel this technology could give an experience or just the perspective better than the conventional technology which film on the first perspective without the goggle. To be honest, I think the most useful part of the goggle is to cover the light and the background of a TV set only.  Anyway, I have never got the opportunity to verify my view, and now there it is. 

Other than entertainment, I have just introduced that the VR technology is highly developing on education, unless it is in my workplace. The point is to provide virtual experiences before the students go to the fields or the workplaces. For example, students of medical department could experience the clinic and surgery room before the field trip. I could agree that would be better than keeping a tight schedule with different hospitals for the visits of a large amount of students every year. Also, the technology is good to provide virtual experience for students in some places where are not easily to arrive such as construction sites or countryside without transportations and limited by regulations. Therefore, the technology could somehow contribute to these areas and compensate on limitations due to certain physical obstacles. Yet, the question is how much the technology could enhance the experience to the students ? 

To first perspective experience, I believe, nowadays, young people would have much more experience than the previous generations as these virtual experiences are part of their childhood. It is predictable that young people may have a higher standard on similar productions. In other words, the fascinating views from the current VR technology or my experience in this opportunity to the educators could face the challenge from the young people. My conclusion to this experience is that it has much to improve. Other than striving to put the camera during production stage as close as the position of normal human eyeballs, the views are not far from viewing photos. The only difference is these photos are huge and it is not flat but a surface in the internal side of a sphere. Of course, the user view follow the users' necks. This freedom is important but it is not much better than the videos filming with first perspectives that we could easily search for on Youtube. Also, resolution of photos has much to improve. I believe this could be further developed in the future that this VR technology has to be well merging with 3D technology in order to produce a better first perspective experience. I am ready to see such products widely used not only on entertainment but on education. 

Reading and Tails

With a bad mood, I write the following passages.

I went to the book fair yesterday. That was at least the 5 consecutive years I went to the book fair.

I almost forgot when was the first time I went to book fair. Well, as far as I can remember, that was in 2003 or 2004. I was studying in my second secondary school.

Book fair at the moment was a cultural activity and always gave me a feeling of cultural festival. Yet, I was not a good reader and I read less. I was always influenced by the "festive" atmosphere that calling me to buy some books. Did I really buy some books ? I cannot recall it. But, the effect was that, since then, I started reading more and I cared my language ability more as well.

I was told to read more news for improving language ability. Yet, I didn't feel this was effective on me. I was more interested in reading novels. Somehow, I selected one of the authors that would make me interested in among the sea of novels. That was a series of scientific fiction by a famous local author. If I told you the name, I am sure you know who he is.

It's probably because I was a student of science. The theme of scientific fiction really made me indulged in it. Therefore, the readings of scientific fiction did not only open up my reading journey, it also opened up the interest of supernatural world. Here, let me leave a tail about my story with supernatural world that I may talk about more on this in other passages.

Other than reading scientific fictions, I also started writing some stories. Some of them were short and  posted on my blog at that time. After so many years, I am still keeping some of my ideas about story writing in my mind. Hopefully, I could resume the writing journey one day.

For foreign languages, especially English, I was trying so hard to complete one English novel at that time. That was nearly 600 pages long. Somehow, I think I should not start from such long story. So, if you are starting your reading habit, I highly recommend you start from something just higher than you can afford. Anyway, I finished the long story. After that, I took a shorter one, and that was how I started my English reading journey.

Well, could reading novels help me improve language abilities ? I would say it should have but the improvement was not coming that obviously and rapidly. The most important thing that helped me from reading was I am not afraid of a bunch of words, and I developed a sense about words even I encountered some of the words I did not know. I would not hesitate to look up dictionaries but I did not bother to remember the words once I looked them up since I found that to know a new word is the same as to know a new friend. That made me accepted that it is normally that the first encounter does not make me recognise the friend very well, and I opened myself with the "new friend" for the next gathering. After few times, I will develop the relationship with the "new friend".

My reading and writing habits further developed in my university life in contrast with my engineering study. The first remarkable thing I did in university was to take an Italian course. That was the third language I learnt. Overall, I had just studied Italian for one year. Surely, I did not learn it very well, but the experience opened me up to another dimension. First, English is actually the most easiest language in the world; second, the world is big to be explored, I should not stay in my comfort zone. Here is another tail I should leave for other passages. Anyway, that was how I started my subsequent journeys in the UK, China, Singapore and so many other places.

Well, Singapore was the place I learnt most. I developed a habit to visit book stores in Singapore. With a good salary in Singapore, I bought books always. It also made me difficult when I moved back to Hong Kong. Furthermore, I learnt Spanish in Singapore and that was how I got the mind to study in Spain. Well, Singapore was probably the place where I opened up the sense of justice as well, and that causes the third tail I should leave for other passages.

And then ? and then I got changes. I worked in two book stores. I seldom buy books now. Those books I wish to read are hard to find in commercial book stores. I find them in libraries. Oh, so many tails to leave here.

Yesterday, I went to book fair again. After all these years, I could somehow find the connections with different booths selling different levels and categories of books. I would still believe reading is the first useful thing in a life but the outcome is not that obvious and not rapid, just ... just it is effective on somehow, somewhere and somedays.

Snooker and Me

A sudden typhoon made me stayed at home with snooker for a day. 

I almost forgot how long I have not played snooker, and I forgot when I knew snooker. The earliest memory with snooker that I could recall is the moment in a camp where I played snooker, that was pool actually, with my classmates in F.3, or F.2, I can't really remember. But I am sure that was in a camp in somewhere in Hong Kong. 

I was the only one who can play snooker among that group of classmates, so I was the one to give a little guidance to my friends. Having said that, I think I knew snooker even earlier than this memory, if not, I should be able to give any guidance. 

And then, I kept playing snooker from time to time. My skill did not have any improvement because I was all the way playing it without a tutor. All learnings were by watching the broadcasting of snooker game on Cable TV. 

I like the atmosphere in snooker room that depicted on TV, however, the real atmosphere was not really pleasant to me. Until the time in university, I accommodated in a student hall where had a snooker room. The room was quiet with good equipments and no smell. I went to play and practice it at least once a week. 

Because of snooker, I made a friend who was a student of Architecture. We joined up a snooker training programme together under the Hong Kong snooker association in a summer. Since then, I kept playing snooker with this friend. Even in the time I worked in Singapore, this friend still came over to visit my place, and we also played a game in Singapore. 

After that, my life got a big change, and I guess that was the moment I stopped playing snooker. 

Today, my hands are really feeling itchy to take up a cue.

死亡令人感到幸福 ﹣ 《拾香紀》讀後感

香港市面出現了一家連鎖餐廳，餐廳以一部小說的名字命名，再準確一點說，是以一部小說的中文翻譯名字命名。這部小說的英文本《The Alchemist》作者是巴西小說家Paulo Coelho，我在多年前的新加坡工作日子裡已經看過，今天見到有以小說命名的餐廳，於是談起這部小說來。結果是我反被推薦了一部小說。這是最好不過，各人閱讀的口味不一樣，要有所交流才會使閱讀變得有趣。

我被推薦的這部小說比起我以往讀過的都不算長篇，薄薄的不足二百頁，但卻未曾想過，閱讀這部小說比起閱讀那四百多頁的武俠小說還要用神，這部就是陳慧的《拾香紀》。閱讀《拾香紀》的過程是感動的。感動，是因為所寫的是屬於我的文化背景，對許多描述得栩栩如生的情節共鳴連連，雖然有點時代上的落差，但卻還是可以觸摸得到。

最刺激我的是小說擁有著零碎的情節與及複雜的結構。一般小說而言，主角都是貫穿整部故事的。就看金庸的小說，主角是不會死亡的。這是故事結構給予情節的限制，但《拾香紀》的故事結構完全擺脫了這個限制，主角拾香可說是在小說中部其實已經死去，餘下的大部份章節都是一個死人的憶述。讀者就跟著拾香一起出生、一起死亡、一起回憶。作者最後所說的「回憶就是愛。」完全體現在結構之上。

最令我佩服的是作者先驗死亡的能力，正如拾香對七喜表明自己比她更懂得死亡。別人死去，在生者的感受我們或許還有能力可以明暸，但死亡的第一身到底是如何的呢？我現在還未觸摸得透，但我認為作者並不是胡亂猜想。死亡是生命的總結。從拾香的回憶中，可知她對過去有其所知的，也有只有其所知的，亦有其所不知的。我想大概若死亡後還有思考的能力，知道自己不能再為故事作任何改動，不能再加上一字一句時，這個總結就會在一個知道一些又不知道一些的狀態之中。閱讀這個故事便會發現，死亡令人感到幸福，這點我在看過九健的故事後已經感受得到。

小說提出一個問題，年輕人何時才會翻讀今天的新聞？我想大概到了大家開始珍惜回憶的年頭，大家便會拼命抓緊認為是屬於自己的記憶的時候。年輕時，對世界認識不深，生活是一堆習慣的堆砌，腦子內是問號的博物館，偶然隨便入場參觀，不明所以又走出來，還是逛到商場去。拾香越後段的回憶中，她與年長兄姐的思想距離便越來越遠，接觸也越來越少，認識對方的方法亦越來越間接。三多的霧水情緣被拾香以為有多重要；相逢的感情生活對拾香來說完全不能理解；大有建議拾香閱讀哥林多前書關於愛以後的章節，拾香到死後還在探索。就是死亡，令年輕人從過去領悟今天，就這樣，年輕人便開始翻讀今天的新聞。不知從何時開始，我也開始探索那些我不知道的過去。

回憶過親人之後，拾香有沒有回憶一下常和她一起的惠芳呢？有沒有回憶惠芳的章節呢？又有沒有回憶林佳的章節呢？林佳知道拾香的死訊後，又會如何反應呢？生命中出現的人物不只十個，我也不知道誰會列入我的回憶名單中，只有死亡能夠叫我停下來，好好思考誰在生命中給予我幸福。

不知道我對《拾香紀》的感受是否出於女作家獨特的寫作手法的衝擊，但這部描寫回憶的小說實在叫我謹慎呼吸。我認為這作品不可能拍成電影，否則便失去了結構與情節之間帶來的張力，同時認為這作品可以成為生死教育選讀小說。

《連城訣》 ﹣ 讀後感

在我成長的年代，小說作家金庸已經享負盛名，他筆下的小說更多次被拍成電視劇，以至我自小是從這些二次創作的電視劇裡認識金庸的作品。長大後，一邊閱讀聖賢的典籍，一邊學習文字的修養，於是以向老前輩學習的心態，閱讀金庸先生的文字。

「飛雪連天射白鹿，笑書神俠倚碧鴛」是金庸十四部小說砌成的所謂首字詩，那些家傳戶曉的作品，我都在電視上看過，完全沒有興趣翻看。再者，雖然抱著學習的態度而來，但心知金庸的小說向來不是我所鍾愛的一類，所以實在沒有信心看完一部九十萬字的《射鵰英雄傳》。綜觀這十四部小說，其實有幾部是較少被坊間談及，亦較少被重拍的，可能與整體社會的閱讀口味有關，然而，我擔心的是，電視劇都是二次的製作，電視劇到底有沒有反映小說的風格呢？坦白的說，若然只從電視劇認識金庸，觀眾看到的金庸和字裡行間的金庸到底相差多遠呢？最後我選讀一部相對較短，又較少被談及的金庸作品 ﹣ 《連城訣》。

閱讀的初期對大師的作品抱有期望，對於狄雲的冤屈萬分同情，然而，在中段實在有點不耐煩，認為描述血刀老祖的惡行的章節過長。最後，戚芳又婆媽又迂腐的性格令我覺得煩擾，她的死亡對我來說也是一種解脫。當然，我這些感覺不過也只反映了大師對角色的性格刻畫十分成功，如果以這些感受而言，這部當年的流行讀物實在有其成功的因由。

事實上，小說不乏打破常規的突出之處。主角狄雲在小說之首便被打得坎坷是意料中事，然而，他所受的卻是被削去五指，根據文字的描述，更應是衣衫襤褸，口腫面腫，實在沒有電視主角的形象。再者，失去五指對我來說也實在震憾，誰不知這是武俠小說？失去五指的武俠實在欠威風的形象之餘，亦難以想像他的武功將會如何到家。雖然早聞楊過斷臂的情節，但他是在故事中段才斷臂，是故事轉接的關鍵情節內發生，但狄雲卻是從故事一開始便失去五指，完全沒有武俠的形象，說實話，斷臂跟斷五指相比，斷臂實在威風得多。

當然，看到後來，讀者會發現大師實是沒有塑造大俠的意圖。雖然是武俠小說，狄雲在學會功夫後卻沒有任何機會把武功發揮盡致，大師反而往往描述主角對自己的武功缺乏信心。故事以用毒來決定勝負較多之餘，故事中心的武功 ﹣ 連城劍法，也不是甚麼驚世武功，而只是由唐詩拼砌而成的藏寶圖。這點相信與一般由電視劇所理解的金庸小說可能有相當大的分別。

狄雲與三位前輩的關係又是打破常規。狄雲在故事末段，不止武功已在三位前輩之上，而且曾救他們脫險；三位前輩求他饒命，他又放他們一條生路，在上者與在下者的角色完全對調。三位前輩的卑劣行為實在難以充當別人的師傅，卻反映狄雲的大仁大義。當中說穿了一個傳統的荒謬思想，就是師傅因恐徒弟學成反叛，而只教授一套不完整的功夫，讓徒弟永遠在自己之下。這種迂腐無比的荒謬思想成為故事的核心，大師演繹為三位前輩的心胸狹窄，多疑猜忌，失信於徒弟，以至失信於自己的兒女，最後財迷心竅。狄雲卻不吃人間煙火，得到大師最後草草幾筆，讓這位大部份時間都被冤枉的主角得到一個相對完滿的結局，亦安慰一下讀者的心情。

文學作家高行健在他的《現代小說技巧初探》分析，情節曾經是小說的關鍵，意即有好的情節，往往能成為好的作品，後來卻因為現代人的生活方式轉變，以至閱讀的品味亦跟著轉變；資訊發達，令讀者質素上升，情節不能滿足讀者的口味，於是作者們轉而追求改良小說的結構。《連城訣》可謂情節轉折非常，結構卻十分簡單的作品，完全符合五十年前的流行讀物的需要；第三人稱的統一敍事方式令讀者容易明白；對人物描畫直接，雖然沒有花很多文字描述人物的心理狀態，但卻蘊藏十分豐富的對動態描述的營養。後記中，大師剖白小說受小時一位非常關顧他的長輩所啟發，寫小說，還需懂得運用自己的人生經驗。

屏山

你說你經常來這個地方，與我分享你的經驗，但今次到來，為的是要找「靈山」。無錯，就是和《靈山》中的「你」一樣，所找的都是叫「靈山」。

你和平常一樣來到這個圖書館的五樓，按著電腦搜尋器的結果所顯示的書號，在書架上找尋你心中的《靈山》。你找了一遍、兩遍、三遍，卻找不到，你肯定電腦結果所顯示的是這個書架，為何沒有呢？於是，你去到五樓當值的圖書館理員的櫃枱，向她詢問你要找的《靈山》。

「我要找一本書，是高行健的《靈山》，電腦上顯示是857，但是書架上卻沒有。」你用急速的語氣、低沉的聲線向她說。
「你把書本的資料填在這裡給我看看。」她遞給你一片細小的紙張這樣說。
你填上有關的資料，又遞回那片紙張給她。
她看了看紙張，在鍵盤上輸入了一些資料，然後說：「857在三樓的。」
「在三樓？但我在那邊便找到857的書本，只是找不到我要的書。」你這樣說。
她旁邊的他冷笑了一下，他對你說；「在那邊看到857的書？不會的，857都在三樓。」
「我在那邊見到857的書。」你堅持的說。
她和他都在電腦上再找尋了一會。
「書名是高行健？」他問你。
「書名是靈山，高行健是作者。」你說。
你等著，但又覺得很花時間，於是你又說：「既然在三樓，我便走到三樓吧。只是我不明白那邊的857和三樓的857有甚麼分別？」
「我跟你去看一下。」她說。

你和她來到你剛才重複搜查過三遍的書架，然後指示給她看你之前找過的那些857的書本，就只是不見你要找的《靈山》。到底在哪裡呢？
她看到857的書本，立刻露出驚訝的神情，然後向你說：「我們這個圖書館，把857的小說或者翻譯小說放到三樓去，這些是文學的857書本。」
你好像明白了，然後說：「謝謝。」

你從樓梯走到三樓，很快便找到了《靈山》。封面最上端處用簡體字白字紅底的印有一句「諾貝爾文學奬得主作品」。你想了一下，剛才你不是在五樓的857書列找到莫言的書嗎？也是諾貝爾文學奬得主，旁邊不是還有魯迅、張愛玲、北島的書嗎？是屬於翻譯小說？不是，高行健的稿也是中文。難道諾貝爾文學奬得主的作品在這個圖書館中也不一定可列入文學的範疇？
你笑了一下，又想，這個圖書館的品味比諾貝爾文學奬的評審還要高。