一图胜千言
朱进@华师附小
Oct 7th
在波多黎各开会期间偷闲一下,小换一下口味吧。当然还是和天文有关的。
朱进在9月22日到华师附小做报告。大猫来广州,当然是要去看看的,顺便也可以当今“00后”的风采。
靠近报告厅的时候就听到里面好像爆炸一样巨吵闹,吃了一惊…… 话说以前小学的时候,只要有点吵,还不给老师骂个狗血淋头?现在的00后也真是挺嚣张的。进去以后才明白,这是他们听讲座的方式,因为每当大猫放出一张照片,他们就“哇”一声,可见对这次讲座热情还是挺高的。
讲座之后的提问环节,成堆学生挤上前去问问题,甚至老师还要拦住后来者,开始让我想起那些“从小学生到大学生的退化”之类的争论了:大学的讲座有这么踊跃提问的好像很少吧。第一个问题是,“宇宙边界外面是什么”,大猫立马囧了,嘉宾们窃笑,一副很不以为然的样子,老师赶紧上前说“大家提的问题不要太难”,结果下一个问题是“宇宙有多少颗星星”,大猫更囧了…… 半小时的提问下来大猫满头大汗,却面带微笑,于是乎又给大家签名。虽然00后的小学生活和我们那时候截然不同,可看得出来,他们对这场讲座很兴奋。
哎,从小学生到大学生,恐怕确实退化了。这几天开会,听到了各种各样古怪而有趣的研究报告,可我们干这么多事,花这么多钱,回答的还不是那几个简单的问题吗?宇宙有多大?边界外面是啥?有外星人吗?等等。可我们搞了这么多东西,这最初的几个问题好像反倒给弄忘了。从物理学的角度来看,这从另一个角度说明了熵确实是在不断增大的……
有时候人也确实是挺可笑的啊,上帝的笑料确实不少。
Meeting Day 2: Everything's more than good
Oct 7th
The meeting moved into the second day and I'm feeling even better with how the things go. When there is a will, there is a way! I'm feeling rather lucky.
Again I got up at 6 a.m. in the morning for the sunrise, unfortunately it was slightly foggy in the morning to eliminate the possbility of a beautiful sunrise. So I went to the restraut for breakfast (everything went smooth as I was familiar with the procedure this time), then got prepared for the morning session.
The morning session was about the annoucement of awards and prizes in the field of planetary science and invited lectures for the recipients. I was adviced to attend the lectures, so although the titles were not yet specific, I still arrived early. The first lecture was the Urey Prize recipient, Dr. Sarah Stewart from Harvard University, presenting her work about the theory of icy body impacts. Then came the next, Dr. (Prof.?) Tobias Owen for the well-known prize, Kuiper Prize. This prize is the top prize in planetary science, and Dr. Owen must be a well-known and respected scientist, because when the annoucement was made, all the attendees stood up to show their respects for him. Woo, really cool.
And then the annoucement confirmed my guess, Dr. Owen was indeed a spectacular person in the field. He was said to be the father of Cassini Project -- the spacecraft that is now exploring Saturn. This reminded me something -- it was, actually, 12 years ago, I was 9 years old and had watched the news about the launch of Cassini, then keep track with it, and wondered what I would be doing in 2004 (the expect arrival time of Cassini to Saturn). After 12 years, I'm now sitting at this top-class planetery science conference, meet spectacular persons in the field, including the Cassini-related people. Everything is fantastic.
During the noon I managed to figure out the explanation of the Coriolis issue on the unusual trajetory of 2008 TC3 and sent an email to Dr. Jenniskens about this, really excited to be able to answer a question given by the big-names -- even the later discovery of being failed on getting the regular scholarship this year cannot eclipse my happiness. In the afternoon it was the comet's session, but I had a great discussion about 1998 CS1 with Alan Harris et al at the exhibition hall and was too excited to go to the talk's. At the end of the discussion they invited me to the lunch on the next day -- wow this is great!
Okay tomorrow will be a big day for me. Don't forget my presentation on the poster in the afternoon -- you are warmly welcome to Puerto Rico and have a look at it
Meeting Day 1: Everything's fine
Oct 6th
I woke up at 6 a.m., the sun was about to rise and everything's quiet. As there were some cumulus at the horizon I didn't get the sun until it's high enough, but I still wait at the balcony until the sunlight reach my face. It's nice, although not yet spectacular. I'll manage to get every sunrise while at El Conquistador.
Then I went to the restraut for the complimentory breakfast. I did have problems though, since I'm neither familiar with the customs nor with the food's name. It's, actually, funny, but I finally find way to work everything out and get myself fed.
I finally got into the oral talks session. Thankfully I'm getting myself used to listen to complex and speeding English now. Although I cannot understand every word them say, but at least, no problem for understanding what they want to express without paying too much attention, so I'll not be too tired.
I went to the Pluto session in the morning and listen to two talks about the occultation of Pluto, but they didn't interest me much. I had wish there would be free lunch supplies, but unfortunately, no... instead there were sandwiches at a price of $15 @_@ so I ate nothing.
I was highly anticipated the 2008 TC3 session in the afternoon, it indeed turned out to be an interesting one. Dr. Peter Jenniskens -- a big-name scientist which I had heard of for many times -- served as chair, and gave a report about the recovery of TC3 meteoroids. After the session I went into front and had a nice acadamic chat with Peter and other big-name scientists, everything works great, it seems I had overestimate the difficulties.
The only problem might be eating. As the price is terrible here, I'd rather to bear hungry. But there are still ways -- since the breakfast is free, I can eat as much as I can in the morning, then take some biscuits and coffee at the break, then it should work fine. Anyway, tomorrow will be a busy day, with several lectures by prize-holders, and dozens of posters and talks, I must get myself well prepared. Nevertheless today is a good start.
Great Carribean days, great challenge on the way
Oct 5th
I met Dr. Alan Harris and Robert Stephens at the airport, and Dr. Harris drove us to El Conquistador (the meeting place). There is much to see from the highway.
El Conquistador must be one of the best place I have ever been, I stay at a room which is faced to the Atlantic Ocean, with beautiful beaches, coconut trees and some remote islands to be seen from the balcony. I did not spend much time to walk up and down here but I'll do this in the following days.
The on-site registration opened at 3 p.m. and I completed it immeadiately, and eagerly hung up my poster at the Carribean ballroom. It appears I was the first to hang the contributed poster up. There some big-names around, like NASA or so, with their staffs busily hanging up their commercial poster -- or advertisement, on their research projects or products.
The Fajardo scenery and the meeting's atmosphere is great, it can't be better for me, and I can see those big-name scientists drifting around me, friendly and easy-going. However I'm feeling quite unease. Everybody speaks a speeding English which I must pay extra attention to understand and respond, all day long -- it could be exhausted for anyone. But the meeting is not yet began! What's more, even if I can get a quasi-infinite energy on processing those English, how to approach them? During the dinner time, the top scientists sorted into groups and speeding their English with lots of special words which I could barely identify, such as "2MASS", quasars, or galaxy redrifts. It's quite deflated.
Okay, even if I was indeed too confident about my English ability, now I have traveled across the globe and attend this top-class meeting, so I must work everything out. I'll listen to two sessions tomorrow -- Pluto and 2008 TC3, let's see what's over there. I should go for pre-study of these programs now.
Mid Autumn Day at San Juan
Oct 4th
It seems I don't have a jet lag problem, at least for this journey, so I got up early and plan for a day tour around the city.
Oct. 3 is the traditional Mid Autumn Day (中秋节) for Chinese people. Since there is 12-hour timezone difference from Puerto Rico to China, short messages from friends flood in to remind me for a moon-seeing. Quite interesting.
Nevertheless, I chatted with parents and friends in the morning, and then went out at noon. The target today is Old San Juan, the oldest district has a history of 500 years. The friendly hotel assistant (I'd wish to stay at YHA but there are no YHA hostel at San Juan, and I'm not sure if it's safe to find a hostel) informed me I could take B-21 bus to Old San Juan terminal. However I got attracted by the beautiful scenery of Condado beach, so I decide to walk to Old San Juan (~6km to go).
It took me about an hour to reach Old San Juan. Holding a GPS device (installed on my Nokia N79) in hand felt great, I located a McDonald's by it and made straight in. It might be a little bit nonsense to search for a McDonald's after flying around the globe, but the most important thing is get myself fed so I don't care about it.
After having a BigMac at the McDonald's I walk to Fort San Felipe del Morro, or "El Morro" in short. Unfortunately it began to rain, but oddly it was mostly clear, except a small convective cloud overhead. But the cloud kept growing and poured down the rain despite the clear sky and sunshine, quite freaky, so I was held at the stores along the street. My biggest fault should be forgetting to bring an umbrella.
I finally arrived at El Morro, unfortunately when I was on the top of the fort it poured again. But the fort is great, a very fine historic place, although without much introduction around the park, the old fort speak itself. Another famous castle, Fort San Cristobal, is nearby and the ticket is only $5 for both forts, so I decided to walk to San Cristobal's.
There are much more introduction at San Cristobal about the history and construction of the fort. San Cristobal is much smaller than El Morro, but it preserved several original "garitas", i.e. a lookout tower, which is the symbol of Puerto Rico. A small poster presentation informed the visitors about the history of San Juan forts and Puerto Rico. Interestingly, it doesn't contain any information about the American victory against Spain in 1898, which Puerto Rico was transfered after ruled by Spanish for about 400 years. Deep under the fort, there is some ship paintings on the wall, which is remarked as "opus of a to-be-execute Spanish captain". Poor captain, but his doodles kept himself alive after so many years.
It was about sunset after I walked out from Fort San Cristobal. I didn't want to walk for another hour to back to Condado so I decided to take a bus. The public transportation system in San Juan is not quite visitor-friendly, I spent quite some effort at the bus terminal to figure out how it works. The buses are also rare (maybe I got used to frequent bus service in Guangzhou or Beijing...), I did wait for nearly an hour to get on a C-53 to Condado. There are no site-reminding boardcast on the bus, and the driver would not stop without a stop request -- very inconvenient, but I finally figure out the right stop to get off. The moon had rised when I back at Condado, it's now my time to do Mid Autumn Day moon-seeing -- but without mooncakes.
So here ends the day. Tomorrow I'd met Dr. Harris et al at the airport and we are heading to Fajardo -- the meeting place. Real oral-speaking challenge here!
Hello, America
Oct 3rd
I should post this earlier when I got internet connections at Mt. Davis YHA and Hong Kong International Airport, however the battery of my laptop run out and I do not have an adapter for Hong Kong-style outlet, so this post got hold. During this cross-the-globe journey I'll keep you tuned by writing a few lines on the blog when I get able to access the internet (and should be able to do so frequently).
I left Guangzhou on Oct. 1 for Hong Kong, shouldn't comment more on the atmosphere of the National Day, you'll got a lot to read on the news media if you like. It's my second visit to Hong Kong, and everything seems as great as my first visit in 2007, but I still don't get myself able to stay here for more days. I met Mr. Johnson Lau (an amateur astronomer in Hong Kong) and he suggested me to take a look at the firework on that night. The firework was great, too, and I was surprise to see so many Hong Kong residents on the show -- they are still happy for the Day, right?
I stay at Mt. Davis YHA that night, it's a western-style house at the top of Mt. Davis and has a prefect view of Victoria. The room was not luxury but everything was really nice, especially the view. Viewing sunrise there should be great. Its only disadvantage is being considerably far from the airport -- good for a brief car-tour of the city, but not good for the budget (HKD 290 for taxi!).
The check-in precedure went quite smooth, the friendly staff didn't ask twice about my poster bottle. The take-off time was delayed for a couple of minutes due to the ATC control linking with the National Day parade. "Our plane is large and require more space, so we have to wait for another 10 minutes..." the captain humorously remarked. Despite so, it feels great to see the blooming landscape when flying over mainland China and compare the view with Hong Kong. We directly passed Beijing around 13:30(CST) and I got a view of the T3 Terminal and the Forbidden City.
With the in-flight power outlet to keep my laptop operating, the journey was not boring at all. Besides from eating nice meals, playing laptop or sleeping, I was excited about the Arctic sunset and sunrise, and aurora (although not in active period) was also beautiful. Our flight reaches a northern limit of 79.3N -- only 1,100 kilometers from the North Pole! Let's see how much further I can get on the return trip.
Our plane landed in schedule and I got a nice view of NYC and the Atlantic Ocean in background while approaching. This Continental service is the best air service I have ever had, mainly, because the electronic supply and nice dishes.
Then I was going to the connected flight to San Juan. The security check at Newark Airport is the very, very strict, even more strict than that of Olympic-China. My bag was checked twice for a confirmation of my pencil-box. On the other hand, I still have to pay extra attention to the speeding English from the Americans. Unfortunately I'm affected by jet-lag now (12-hour difference from China to America!), so paying more attention for me is more difficult than ever. Hope I can get myself well-warming-up before the DPS meeting.
The New York airspace was extremely busy, our flight delayed for an hour due to ATC control. But when the plane cruising over the Atlantic Ocean, the scenery was great, with the full moon illuminating the convective cloud. By the way, we also flied thru the famous Bermuda region -- nothing happened. When descending I saw big thunderstorm clouds about 250 kilometers away, the powerful lightning was very impressing.
I'll keep this updated -- stay tuned.
逍遥
Sep 23rd
最近忙得太不亦乐乎,以至于又两个星期没更新,谨向各位来串门的朋友表示歉意。打开博客的统计,看到朋友来访的足迹,是很让人高兴的。不过,这感觉比较奇怪—— 就好像你经常不在家,但时常有人来访,在门上贴了张小纸条,但又不见其人一样。总之,为了尽量减少见人来访却无礼以呈的愧疚感,博客还是要时常打理的。
到了大四,学分已经修够,事情也越来越多,干脆把所有课都退了,让大学的最后一年变成真正“独立自主”的一年,这种体验,或许以后很长一段时间都不会再有了。回到学校的第一晚,寝室30度以上的高温让我简直是夜不能寐,第二天索性把铺盖搬到了实验室,从那以后的好几个星期我差不多“以实验室为家”了。
嘉子坦言她不喜欢实验室,但我每次都会兴致勃勃地反驳说,“我们的实验室和你们的实验室不一样”。我们实验室位于实验楼最高一层,一共有4个房间,其中两个大约100平方米, 另外另外两个大约10平方米。当然,还有附属的大约几百平方米的露天场地,以及大学城制高点之一—— “看风台”。我一般呆在其中一间100平方米的大气探测实验室。它的确不怎么“实验室”:几张实验桌,仪器寥寥,却宽敞明亮,从中央空调到微波炉电冰箱,应有尽有。从面朝北面的窗户看去,便是珠江水道官洲岛,只要天气晴朗,广州市区的高楼大厦和更远一点的白云诸峰便可尽收眼底,可谓“风景这边独好”。我做了一张在观测场看到的全景照片(其实没有360度,只有大概150度,而且也有一些瑕疵,还请各位拍砖),各位不妨也体验一下在这样风景环绕下工作的感觉。
实验室虽然有弹簧床,但我还是喜欢垫上床垫睡地板,因为实验室很大,而且也很干净,可以毫无顾虑地随意翻滚。早晨6时,从窗子里射入的阳光便将我唤醒,基本无需闹钟骚扰美梦。假如天气晴好,洗漱的时候便可透过窗子欣赏夏日清晨的广州:一切寂静,金光慢慢涂遍整座城市。与闹哄哄的傍晚大不相同,这一切只属于我一个人。
6点半,在安安静静的校园里,骑着单车去游泳。戏水罢了,回宿舍洗澡吃早餐的时候,可以欣赏到典型的八九点钟大家去上课的热闹场景。当然,现在我只是站在旁边的看客而已。我也要“上班”——老板是自己。慢悠悠地骑车晃过校园,差20分钟9点到实验室便可,大声朗读一会英语(考完托福以后会变成读诗词,我保证!),之后开始一天的工作。
从实验室到饭堂要走5-7分钟路(具体时间取决于我是吃饭前还是吃饭后),可以沿着河畔草地上的小径走,看看沿途上的小树是不是又有花开了。尤其是在傍晚去吃饭的时候,气温适宜,光线柔和,可是件很惬意的事情。
实验楼斜对面是保存较好的一小片森林,白天可听鸟叫,晚上可听虫鸣,偶尔还会有倔强的蜗牛一口气爬五层楼,在实验室的窗上爬来爬去。实验室里还有几只蛐蛐,它们最爱干的事情就是站在浸泡在水中的日照纸上,好像大船的船长一样,神气活现地立着,一动也不动。最害羞的动物可能是一只小灰猫,它从来不在上课时间出现,只有在早上六点多钟或者晚上八九点的时候,才偶然能撞见,远远地冲着你叫;往它走几步,便又跑开了。我到现在还没弄清楚它住在哪儿。
晚上九点半,当实验楼大多数灯光都已熄灭的时候,我便开始拉琴。实验室方正又空阔,站在正中间拉琴,那种辉煌的音响,真让人百听不厌,配合着窗外不间歇的虫鸣,似乎让人来到了柏林瓦尔德尼森林剧场,面对着千万千万棵树,独自一人静静地拉琴,不似仙境,胜似仙境。琴声远逝,22:30,我又回到了那舒舒服服的地床上,在依然不停歇的虫鸣声中进入梦乡。高楼之上,绝无打搅,一觉到天明。
这样的生活啊,我看,用不着更多的形容词,逍遥二字足矣。叶子者其真逍遥也!时己丑年八月六日。
访东坡书院记
Sep 4th
初稿 二十一年九月三日 修订 二十一年九月四日
己丑年六年廿一,叶子访儋州,沿路西北行而得中和。夫中和者,古儋州城也;宋绍圣四年,苏轼贬琼州,世传居城外桄榔庵,现经复修善置,谓之曰“东坡书院”。叶子固仰东坡,故往而期拜。
由中和东行百余步,纵横陇亩间,得红墙,远观似堡,森森兮,不若书香门第;愈近见门,四下无人,但有一碑曰“东坡书院”,方知此乃所寻也。虽森然不若所期,思此亦东坡故居耳,缓步而入。不足七步,忽闻大喝“买票!买票!”见一大汉,手提扫帚,不知何处奔出,擎一小牌,上书“参观十五元”。叶子不悦,予之。大汉点罢钱财,复去而打扫。院内亦可罗雀,惟大汉与售“苏公香”之小贩二三人。正堂内陈东坡教书之像,如小儿之画,木然可怪;古碑二三具,所存不善,文亦漫灭;祠之所陈,多乃今人之书也,不乏高官之所幸,而古迹甚稀。叶子所感无甚可体悟者,遂出而返。
归途,有乡人搭讪,自言居儋州,问曰:“汝何而来?”叶子对曰:“游而览者。”曰:“儋州者,无甚游览之处。古时一大官,不知何许人,贬来此地,其居经复修善置,曰‘东坡书院’,名似远扬。吾尝游之,无他,惟一小院耳,举吾居而不如。有传乃儋州之宝,其竟如此,实可笑也!”叶子默然。其后,虽途冗长,不予与对。
古人云:夏虫不可与语冰。吾观其夏虫之人也多,而其识冰之人也少。虽闻道有先有后,然东坡故人不识东坡高名,其可笑也欤?或曰,“不笑不足为‘东坡’也”。时己丑年七月望。
夜游鲁迅故里
Aug 27th
初稿 二十一年八月二十三日 修订 二十一年八月二十七日
来到绍兴,我不想去看后人翻建的兰亭,对供人八卦陆游的沈园也毫无兴趣。这里唯一可看的或许只有仍然保持原貌的鲁迅故里了;至少,当看到连“越国文化博物馆”门前的大显示屏都打出“越王会馆招聘厨师”的时候,我是这么想的。
那是一个冬天的傍晚,景点的开放时间早已经过了,路人稀少,纷飞的细雨将刚刚燃亮的路灯折射成一团团光晕,一切显得安静又神秘。我来到了写着“鲁迅故里”的白墙前,首先映入眼帘的是鲁迅先生的画像,画得如同教科书一样千篇一律:手夹烟卷,一副极深沉的样子。在距离白墙十几步的地方,有一座小木屋,看上去还有那么一点意思;木屋上书一匾,在夜色中朦胧不清,在好奇心的驱使下,我走近一看,匾上工整的字竟是“孔乙己土特产店”,不禁莞尔。我猜想,在熙熙攘攘的大白天,大概连鲁迅本人都会觉得这间“孔乙己土特产店”确实是“充满了快活的空气”的。不过,这和《孔乙己》的那种“快活的空气”恐怕不是一回事吧?
在白墙和小木屋之间,有一条老街,现在称为鲁迅中路。鲁迅故里其实就是由这条老街、一条小河和许多老屋组成的。沿着老街信步而行,左手边是一条与街平行的小河,右手边先是鲁迅祖居,然后是鲁迅故居,之后是百草园。因为现在这些景点都是大门紧闭,只要花十来分钟就能把老街转得差不多了——如果忽略掉老街上摩肩接踵的、诸如“周家食品店”、“三味臭豆腐店”之类的牌匾的话。我站在百草园大门边上,看到有牌子分别指向“土谷祠”和“咸亨酒店”,又看了看各店铺灯火辉煌的盛景,便想:“阿Q”若是在现在,门票早就赚得盆满钵满,应该早就蒙头大睡了;而“孔乙己”呢,这时候也犯不着在装满游客小费的小碗前念叨“不多不多,多乎哉”的。这么一想,对这两个熟悉的地名已然无了兴致,摇头为又一个粉饰着人文气息的商业景点叹息着。可是去杭州的火车还有两个小时才开,所以我只能呆在这里——如果我不想去沈园加入八卦陆游的行列,或者去看正在招聘厨师的“越王会馆”的话。
“孔乙己,阿Q,”我自言自语着,“好像还缺了一个什么…… 呀,对了!”我的目光再度遇到了“百草园”的牌子,一个题目跃入我的脑海——《从百草园到三味书屋》。是啊,三味书屋在哪里呢?我本以为它会和其它人们耳熟能详的景点一样,都在老街一字排开,等待游客们的玩赏;然而走了两圈,却发现它原来安然地隐居在小河对面的一处角落,与老街只有一座小桥连通。到了夜晚,匆匆而过的行人更难注意到它。在寒冷的冬夜里,只有宽大屋檐下面一个孤独的灯笼发射出黯淡的红光,温暖着“三味书屋”那四个褪色的烙金字。
“这倒真是寿镜吾老先生的三味书屋。”我想到。于是我慢慢走过小桥,来到那灯笼下。凹凸不平的石墙,漆色斑驳的梁木,一切显得简朴残旧。黑油的老竹门紧紧地关着,上了一付略锈的锁,把我和历史隔在了两边。
但我却有一种奇妙的感觉:似乎有另一扇门对我打开了,而且,仅仅对我一个人。
油灯只有一盏,昏黄的火焰摇曳不定,墙上的黑影也随着轻轻晃动。屋的正中,老先生穿着那件打补丁的长衫,正在专心致志地读一本书。我轻轻地敲了敲门背,表示我的到来,这位“极方正,质朴,博学的人”抬起头,“和蔼地”向我这个方向看了一眼,好像知道我到来了,又将目光落回到泛黄的书页上。我恭恭敬敬地站着,四处打量。“三味书屋”的匾和有梅花鹿的画,依然保持原样吧?是的,就在那里,和鲁迅笔下的一模一样;看,那里,那张刻有“早”字的硬木木桌,一定就是鲁迅的位置吧?他以“早”字自勉,每天都会按时来读书。或许,我可以在木凳上眯一晚,明天早上就能碰到他了?不,这是冒昧的。“老先生,做学生的要告辞了。”我向想象中的先生行了个礼。先生“和蔼地回礼”,并没有说话。他也许会打算说“有朋自远方来,不亦悦乎”之类的客气话——且慢,寿先生完全不可能知道我—— 但又不是,我刚刚不是才拜见过他吗?你看,我现在就站在三味书屋门口那褪色的红灯笼下哩。我又轻轻地敲了敲门,传来屋里空洞的回音;他不在。我转过身环顾四周。这时,路灯已较明亮,月亮从乌云中探出头来,影子在小河里荡漾。
看了看表,是时候上火车站了。我又走过小桥,安静地回到老街上,四下里空无一人。那个孤独的灯笼依然发射着黯淡的红光,在蒙蒙细雨下折射成一圈光晕,温暖着同样孤独的“三味书屋”四个字。我将这四个字又默念了一遍。是的,在这个安静的冬夜里,我来到了三味书屋,来到了一个大白天里闹哄哄的游客们所不能到达的三味书屋。想到这里,我浅浅地行了个礼,默默地走了。
而在那条小河里,食肆飘来的油腻和垃圾也继续顺着水往东流着,在绿色景观灯的照射下,显得绿油油的。
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