Lu Shi knew about Zheng Guanying.
However, this kind of knowledge is only heard about, and the specific life of Zheng Guanying is not well understood.
He ushered the two into the house.
Unexpectedly, Natsume Soseki spoke first: "Mr. Zheng, are you the author of "Yi Yan" and "Shengshi Weiyan"?"
Zheng Guanying was surprised,
"Who is this?"
Lu Shi introduced the two of them.
There was something wrong with Zheng Guanying's face.
"Warnings in a Prosperous Age" written by him runs through the two major themes of prosperity and national salvation, and puts forward plans for reforms in many aspects of politics, economy, military, diplomacy, and culture.
The creative background is the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894.
It's strange to have a good face when meeting Japanese people.
Natsume Soseki also realized that he had just said the wrong thing, and hurriedly stepped forward, as if he wanted to "shock your private Marseille!".
Lu Shi had a big head,
"Natsume, please stop messing around."
Natsume Soseki was embarrassed and kept silent.
Lu Shi turned to Zheng Guanying and said, "Mr. Zheng, can you give me the newspaper?"
Zheng Guanying handed over the Times.
After flipping through a few pages, you can see an open letter from the University of Cambridge, inviting Lu Shi to be a professor at King's College, where he will lecture on Chinese literature, translation, and linguistics.
The open letter is signed by many literary figures from Cambridge.
After this, there was an open letter from Oxford University with similar content.
Natsume Soseki murmured in a low voice: "Sir Wodehouse and Mr. Xiao are probably going to have a headache."
Lu Shi chuckled and put the newspaper aside casually.
It's not unexpected that things developed like this.
Zheng Guanying couldn't help but be surprised when he saw Lu Shi being so calm.
It is really exciting to see Chinese people being sought after by white people overseas and receiving open invitations from top universities like Cambridge and Oxford.
Gu Hongming whispered: "How is it? Is it consistent with what I said?"
Zheng Guanying gave a shallow "hmm",
"Yes, a true young talent... young, too young!"
This emotion was exactly the same as when Gu Hongming first met Lu Shi.
The two of them whispered,
Lu Shi was not in a hurry and waited quietly.
After a while, Gu Hongming said: "Lu Shi, we came to London by train and heard the students discussing your speech... By the way, "I Have a Dream" was also published in the newspaper. Did you know? In "Every Day" The Telegraph."
Lu Shi asked: "The Daily Telegraph?"
Because he knew the tendencies of the three major newspapers, he was a little surprised. He didn't know what the conservative "Daily Telegraph" thought.
The logical explanation is that Cambridge exerted influence.
Lu Shicha changed the topic: "What do you mean by this visit?"
Gu Hongming replied with a smile: "I heard his voice and saw his person. After listening to your speech, I was very inspired, so I went to visit you without thinking too much. I thought I could have a chat with you and I would be in a good mood. ah."
There are not so many reasons for literary exchanges.
Lu Shi also understood, so he turned his attention to Zheng Guanying and asked, "Mr. Zheng, where are you?"
Zheng Guanying remained silent.
In fact, he wanted to persuade Lu Shi to serve the Qing court,
But Gu Hongming made it clear that it was impossible to accept it when crossing the mainland, so he could only settle for the next best thing.
He said: "Lu... uh... Mr. Lu doesn't have a nickname yet, so I'll call you that. Mr. Lu, your works are very popular in London, and your plays and speeches are also very popular. Now you are the one of the London Political and Economics Guest lecturer, even taught by Cambridge and Oxford..."
Lu Shi raised his hand,
"Mr. Zheng, don't you still know what my situation is like in London?"
Between the lines, let the other person speak directly.
Gu Hongming laughed loudly,
"Zhengxiang, I told you before, Lu Shi is not a 'respecting the old and loving the young' kind of person. There is no need for you to add so much praise and praise."
Zheng Guanying had been vaccinated and was not embarrassed.
He said: "I already know that Mr. Lu is not planning to return to China for the time being. In that case, have you ever thought about writing textbooks for the Capital University? I believe that the people openly invited by Cambridge and Oxford universities must be talented and learned."
This request really caught Lu Shi off guard.
He looks down upon the Qing government and will not work for it.
But the purpose of writing textbooks is to inspire people's wisdom, and the two must not be confused.
Lu Shi asked: "Is the university hall open again?"
Founded in July 1898, Capital University was the first national university in modern China, marking the beginning of national higher education in modern China.
However, events such as the Boxer Rebellion and the Eight-Nation Allied Forces' invasion of the capital caused repeated damage to the university hall, which led to its suspension.
Zheng Guanying sighed and said: "The university hall is indeed closed now. There is no way. The German and Russian invading forces occupied the school as a barracks. The school buildings, books, and equipment were severely damaged, and classes are temporarily unable to start."
Lu Shi: "..."
Gu Hongming: "..."
Natsume Soseki: "..."
The three of them didn't know what to say.
Silence filled the room.
After a while, Gu Hongming said: "Lu Shi, I know the reason why you don't return to the country, and I can understand it. But 'the wisdom of young people will make the country wise, the richness of young people will make the country rich, and the strength of young people will make the country strong'. If you can There is no greater good than writing textbooks for a university."
Lu Shi laughed loudly after hearing what the other party said.
"Mr. Gu, don't you despise the reformers the most? Why did you quote Liang Rengong's "Young China"?"
Gu Hongming twirled his beard and replied: "The person whose surname is Kang is what I despise."
After saying that, he couldn't help but laugh.
Lu Shi thought for a moment and whispered, "I'm afraid not."
Gu Hongming and Zheng Guanying looked at each other,
"Why?"
The two said almost in unison.
Lu Shi smiled bitterly,
"It's not that I don't want to write textbooks, but...but..."
I'm not good at writing classical Chinese, which is really hard to explain.
Zheng Guanying asked: "But what's the secret?"
Lu Shi had no choice but to say frankly: "Mr. Zheng, one of the reasons why I came to London to study but did not take the academic exams in China is that my writing in classical Chinese is extremely poor. If I were to use English or vernacular, there would be no problem."
Zheng Guanying:? ? ?
"this……"
He never imagined that there would be such a reason.
Gu Hongming nodded repeatedly.
"I see."
He could understand Lu Shi because he was born in Penang, British Malaysia. Even though he had been studying classical masterpieces, he would sometimes find it difficult.
This is also the reason why although he has translated many works, he is always ridiculed for his lack of knowledge.
Gu Hongming pondered for a moment and thought that the theme of Lu Shi's lecture in Cambridge was "Faith, Expression and Elegance", so he said: "Then you write a book and talk about translation issues, such as grammatical gender and so on. This is easy to write. .”
It is really easy to write this kind of explanatory text in classical Chinese.
Lu Shi frowned,
"Mr. Gu just mentioned Liang Rengong's "Young China", do you still remember the first sentence?"
Gu Hongming nodded,
"If I remember correctly, the first sentence of "Young China Talk" should be 'The Japanese call me China'."
Lu Shi asked: "Why is the grammatical gender of the word 'China' feminine in French, masculine in Russian, and neuter in German?"
This question stopped Gu Hongming.
He looked at Lu Shi blankly,
"Why?"
Lu Shi said: "From a linguistic perspective, yin, yang, and neuter belong to word formation under grammar. They are the characteristics of known words, and we can study the rules summarized by the common characteristics of a type of word group. In short , it means that the word comes first and the nature of the word comes later.”
Gu Hongming understood,
"So you can't ask the other way around, why is this word a certain grammatical gender?"
Lu Shi nodded,
"Yes, because this is the characteristic of the word itself, and it is the rule of linguists. Therefore, when it comes to translation to pursue grammatical gender, it means focusing on the details."
Gu Hongming is also a translator himself, so of course he understands this.
Just like why decimal is used in mathematics and why addition is represented by "+", there is no reason to explain.
Natsume Soseki on the side nodded,
"It's really useless to focus on the minutiae."
He was sent to study abroad, but the Japanese Ministry of Education gave him an ambiguous goal of "study English", so he was deeply touched.
For countries in crisis, school teaching materials are still based on pragmatism.
Lu Shi said: "English is the 'beginning of Western learning', not the 'ultimate end of Western learning'. Learning foreign languages is necessary, but taking translation as a specialized study, pursuing faithfulness and expression, but pursuing elegance is actually putting the cart before the horse." "
This is the final word.
Zheng Guanying sighed,
"well……"
The country is weak and it is so difficult to compile textbooks.
Lu Shi thought for a moment and said: "Guns, Germs and Steel is a liberal arts work. If it is translated into Chinese, it may be used as a teaching material."
As soon as he finished speaking, he was rejected by Gu Hongming and Zheng Guanying.
"No!"×2.
The two said in unison.
Lu Shi asked: "Why?"
Gu Hongming showed a helpless expression and replied: "Inappropriate."
It is true that "Guns, Germs and Steel" is an immortal work, but it involves too many disciplines and is too comprehensive.
Because he had to visit Lu Shi, Zheng Guanying also read "Guns, Germs and Steel" all night long.
He said solemnly: "This book is amazing, but when I was reading it, I couldn't help but think, which subject does it belong to? Mr. Lu just said liberal arts, but politics, geography, history, health, biology... It seems like which one All subjects are fine, but none of them are accurate."
Gu Hongming echoed: "It can be used as extended reading, but the textbook is really not suitable."
Lu Shi couldn't refute this.
He asked: "What subjects are there?"
Gu Hongming replied: "It is divided into two categories: general subjects and specialized subjects. For specific subjects, please refer to the "Regulations of the Capital University." In my impression, they include history, arithmetic, style, geography, literature, and of course, Confucian classics and Neo-Confucianism."
Zheng Guanying on the side added: "You forgot about gymnastics."
Gu Hongming’s head is full of black lines,
￣□￣｜｜
"Yes, and that weird gymnastics thing."
Everyone else felt that Mr. Gu seemed to have a problem with gymnastics, so they tried their best to hold back their curiosity and didn't ask.
Zheng Guanying said: "Then, can I write a literature textbook? I read the article "A Brief Discussion of Narrative Conspiracy and Mystery Works" and was deeply shocked."
Lu Shi shook his head,
"The reasoning is a small door and a small door, which is inappropriate."
Gu Hongming took over: "The piece "I Have a Dream" can definitely be selected."
Lu Shi: "..."
It is indeed a text, and some of it needs to be memorized.
Zheng Guanying held a different opinion.
"I don't think so. "I Have a Dream" is certainly very good, but don't forget that it was born when Mr. Lu was giving a lecture at King's College, Cambridge University. Based on this alone, it is difficult to use it as a text."
Gu Hongming nodded,
"Then, 'A Generation'? 'Answer'? Both poems are very good."
Zheng Guanying sighed after hearing this.
"How can two English poems be used as literature teaching materials?"
Lu Shi coughed slightly and inserted the topic: "These two poems are far more charming in Chinese than in English."
He chanted in Chinese:
"
'Despicableness is the passport of the despicable,
Nobility is the epitaph of the noble.
Look, in that gilded sky,
Filled with curved reflections of the dead. '
"
In an instant, silence swept across.
The others looked at Lu Shi with disbelief.
After a while, Zheng Guanying said: "Now I understand why Mr. Lu said that he is not good at writing classical Chinese."
As a Qing Dynasty native, he always believed that poetry had a strict rhythm.
Only then is it poetry.
But after listening to the first paragraph of "Answer", he had to admit that poetry written in vernacular also had a special impact.
It is more straightforward, and the feelings conveyed are naturally more direct.
Gu Hongming whispered: "This poem is indeed qualified."
Zheng Guanying glanced sideways at him,
"It's easy to write articles in vernacular. It has already been developed among the people. Books like "The Story of the Stone" that are in vain and have no writing have been written for a long time. But writing poems and songs in vernacular is a big deal in the world. Do you dare?"
Gu Hongming shook his head,
"Don't dare."
Don’t talk about him, Zhang Baixi, Wu Rulun, Yan Fu, Lin Shu...
None of these famous figures would dare to do it together.
Gu Hongming thought for a moment and then said: "It doesn't matter, there are also "Yes! Prime Minister" and "Roman Holiday". In many powerful countries, such as Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, special drama courses will be set up to cultivate professional talents."
Lu Shi coughed slightly,
"I can finally see it, Mr. Gu, you are trying your best to promote me..."
Gu Hongming was embarrassed and even blushed slightly.
Zheng Guanying on the side said: "Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu, you have great talent. When Hongming heard that you are willing to write teaching materials, he will naturally try his best."
Gu Hongming said "hmm",
"Zhengxiang knows me."
The last time I met Lu Shi, Gu Hongming was already extremely disappointed with the Qing government, especially when Lu Shi predicted that Cixi would order Guangxu to take the throne and follow the government to dominate the world.
The Qing government sucked, so what?
Education must not be bad!
Gu Hongming said: "Lu Shi, I am still full of enthusiasm for scholarship, education, and translation. You...you won't laugh at me, right?"
Lu Shi shook his head,
"Won't."
Gu Hongming took a long breath,
He himself didn't know why, but he always felt an indescribable feeling of oppression in front of a junior like Lu Shi.
Lu Shi said: "Let me think of a way. Literature, history, maybe..."
The first thing he thought of was "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli".
Because of "Guns, Germs and Steel", he proposed a modern view of history in London Political Economics, but so far there is no book as an example.
"The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" is undoubtedly qualified.
Moreover, the original work of "The Fifteenth Year of Wanli" itself was written in English. After it was written, it was used as a teaching material by many American universities. As long as the translation is in place, it can be used.
Of course, this book also has many problems. Even if you copy it, you cannot accept it all.
Lu Shi was thinking,
Gu Hongming on the other side could not suppress his excitement.
"I knew it, I knew it..."
He covered his chest with both hands and looked like he was going to lose his breath.
Lu Shi quickly supported the other party, patted him on the back and pinched him, and said: "Mr. Gu, the classes at the Capital University have not resumed yet. There is nothing wrong with the eight characters. Can you be more sensible? !”
(End of chapter)
