Lu Shi refused to be nominated for the Nobel Prize, so he did what he was supposed to do.
Just like this, a week passed,
Preparations for the "Mirror" are entering the final stages, and Scott and Cooper will come to visit to decide on the final details of the newspaper.
On this day, Lu Shi got up early.
He feeds us chicken,
After devouring the food, the little guy was still not satisfied and licked his tongue cutely.
Lu Shi complained: "You are obviously a calico cat, but you can eat it so much. If you don't know, I thought you were an orange pig~"
As he spoke, he picked me up,
"Hiss...it's so heavy!"
My generation: "Meow~"
Acting cute to Lu Shi.
Lu Shi asked: "Natsume, what do you usually feed me? Is it because you don't control your appetite? This guy is already seriously overweight."
Natsume Soseki smiled sheepishly,
"I think he likes to eat, so...hehehehe..."
Lu Shi: "..."
Now I understand what it means to be a loving father but a loser.
If we keep feeding like this, next year we will be able to get a stamp of "quarantine passed" and be sent directly to the slaughterhouse.
The big elbow it produces must be very solid.
Lu Shi put me on the ground, picked up a piece of discarded manuscript paper, rolled it into a ball, and shook it to attract my attention.
Me: "Meow?"
Looking at Lu Shi is like looking at a fool.
Lu Shi took this opportunity to quickly pop the paper ball at me with his finger.
Natsume Soseki said: "We are all so fat, how can we accept..."
The next words were choked back.
Because like a goalkeeper, I quickly caught the paper ball with my paws with a perfect saving action.
We are usually lazy and lazy, but when it shows its instinct, stupid humans will discover that cats can react so quickly.
Lu Shi rolled up two more paper balls and handed them to Natsume Soseki.
"Let it exercise for a while. You can try popping all the paper balls together and see if you can pop them faster or I can catch them faster."
Natsume Soseki took it and tried it once.
As a result, we were actually able to catch them at the same time.
One person and one cat had a great time.
After about ten minutes, Natsume Soseki became tired first.
"Lu, how come you know everything? You're even so good at raising cats."
He stretched and said, "Are there any other games?"
This guy is more playful than me.
Lu Shi waved his hand,
"We can't get all the games out so quickly."
Cats are curious creatures.
But this kind of curiosity comes and goes quickly, so it must be guided step by step. This is the right way.
Natsume Soseki nodded and continued to tease me.
After playing for a while, he said, "Lu, don't you regret rejecting the Nobel Prize for Literature?"
He already knew about Lu Shi's rejection of the Nobel Prize.
Lu Shi replied: "I don't regret it."
Natsume Soseki sighed: "You really don't care about fame and fortune. The Nobel Prize in Literature is..."
Just as he was saying this, there was a knock on the door outside.
Lu Shi walked over and opened the door.
Scott was standing in the doorway.
The two said hello,
Scott took off his hat and walked into the room, saying at the same time: "The serialization of "The Hobbit" has ended, and Cooper is working on the issue of a single book. He has a lot of trivial matters at hand and can't get away for the time being, so I came alone. .”
He bent down and touched my brain.
We nimbly hid under the table.
Lu Shi asked: "What happened to the Mirror?"
Scott said: "Don't worry, we are professionals in running newspapers and there will be no problems in the process. But the Mirror is different after all, so I am still a little unsure and want to ask you about the content."
Lu Shi was surprised,
"Now? Are you ready to launch the first issue?"
Whether it is a broadsheet or a tabloid, the cycle requirements are very strict. It is common for the draft to be finalized in the middle of the night or to be revised unexpectedly. The printing must be completed that night and delivered and distributed on time.
There is no need to decide the content too early in advance.
Scott waved his hand,
"You understand wrong...well...let me give you an example."
He looked around, his eyes wandering, and finally locked on the "Times" and said: "Take today's fourth page as an example. How should the Mirror write the news about Queen Victoria moving to the Isle of Wight?"
Lu Shi raised his eyebrows,
Isle of Wight…
I always feel that this news has some impression. I seem to have read it in some materials or biographies before traveling.
But he couldn't recall it for a while, so he shook his head, threw it away, and asked Scott: "Are you talking about the content of this article?"
Scott replied: "It's not the content, I mean...well..."
It seems I don’t know how to describe it.
Lu Shi could roughly guess what the other party wanted to express, so he said, "You're talking about typesetting, right?"
Scott nodded repeatedly,
"right!"
Lu Shi gestured on the newspaper,
"The layout of a tabloid must have a visual impact. For the title, you can put 'Moving to the Isle of Wight' at the front, followed by an exclamation point and then a question mark. Make the three words 'Isle of Wight' bold and enlarged. And changed it into cursive characters.”
This type of layout is very tabloid style,
It is a pity that there are only six-color rotary printing machines now, and there are not many colors that can be used when printing newspapers. Otherwise, the layout can be more eye-catching.
Lu Shi took out a piece of white paper and drew the title position on it.
He added: "Then, add a huge portrait or photo of the Queen next to it, which should occupy one-third of the entire page."
Scott has already seen this style of minimizing text.
——
THE SCOTSMAN
SOLD
20,000 COPIES!
——
The memory is still fresh to this day.
Scott asked: "So, the portrait or photo should be vertical?"
Lu Shi said: "It doesn't matter. Whether the picture is vertical or horizontal, what does it matter?"
He drew a random frame on the white paper.
Scott glanced at it and said, "This box represents the picture, right? Why is the title covered?"
Lu Shi shook his head,
"Wrong. It's not that the picture covers the title, but that the title covers the picture. Press the title on the picture, and deliberately make some strokes beyond the edge of the picture, which can make people more impressive. That's why I said that the picture is vertical It doesn’t matter if it’s upright or sideways, even if it’s irregular.”
Scott became more and more shocked as he listened;
Lu Shi's thoughts were really too wild.
In Scott's memory, it seems that all newspapers have a regular layout. Even advertisements are printed in invisible squares.
This kind of title breaking through the restrictions is unprecedented.
Seeing that Scott was silent, Lu Shi asked, "Can't it be realized with current printing technology?"
There was no offset printing in 1901, and rotary printing presses might not be able to break through those troublesome rules.
Scott pondered,
"No, it should be possible."
Lu Shi nodded,
"That's fine."
When Scott looked at the landing, he secretly sighed that Cooper didn't come and missed such a good learning opportunity.
He continued to ask: "We have discussed before that the pages of the Mirror include people's livelihood, cartoons, gender, jokes, and common sense of life. Let's talk about the people's livelihood page first. How should its layout be?"
Lu Shishi: "This is simple, just draw a diagram~"
Scott scratched his head,
“Are the charts a little too professional?”
Lu Shi smiled,
"It's just simple bar charts, line charts, and pie charts. It's impossible for the citizens of London not to be able to understand them."
As he spoke, he drew three kinds of pictures on the back of the white paper.
"
Histograms use the height of the columns to reflect differences in data;
Line charts reflect changes in data trends, especially when the trend is more important than a single data point;
A pie chart reflects the proportion of a certain part to the whole, such as the percentage of poor people in the total population.
"
Scott's eyes changed when he looked at Lu.
He whispered: "Lu, how come you know everything?"
These words sound familiar,
Natsume Soseki seemed to have said this just now.
Lu Shi smiled and didn't answer.
Seeing that he was unwilling to explain, Scott turned the topic back to the Mirror and said, "Lu, after much hesitation, I decided to ask you how the gender section should be written."
He asked last time, but Lu Shi hesitated and answered.
Lu Shi couldn't help but be speechless.
He really can't write that kind of thing.
But he was the one who proposed the gender issue, and he can’t back down now.
He said, "Mr. Scott, do you want to accept the challenge?"
Scott scratched his head,
"Challenge? What challenge?"
Lu Shi smiled and replied: "Please write a story starting with 'If there is an afterlife, I will never like you again'. Or, write a story starting with 'Everyone thinks I like her'."
Scott was slightly stunned,
But as I thought about those two sentences, all kinds of bloody plots rushed into my mind.
For a moment, he fell into his own confusion.
Natsume Soseki's eyes widened in surprise.
"Is this some kind of composition?"
Lu Shi said: "I just want to tell Mr. Scott that bloody... ahem... articles involving both genders must have gimmicks. At the same time, they must also stimulate readers' imagination and allow readers to generate corresponding substitutions. feel."
Natsume Soseki was surprised,
"Can this also be substituted?"
Lu Shi nodded and nodded in Scott's direction.
Scott was thinking about how to continue writing the story, and he looked dazed, as if his soul had left his body.
Lu Shi said: "Actually, there are many similar beginnings, such as 'The last person on earth was sitting alone in the room, and then suddenly there was a knock on the door...'. Isn't it very touching?"
Natsume Soseki was stunned for a moment, then said: "It's more than just feeling!"
Lu Shi asked, "What's wrong?"
Natsume Soseki said: "This is simply a novel. It has all three elements: characters, plot and environment. The most exciting thing is that it only uses a few dozen words to make people feel chills on the back and immersed in the situation. "
What Lu Shi was talking about was indeed an article called "The Last Man".
This article is the shortest science fiction article in the world. The author is Fredrick Brown, a famous modern American science fiction writer.
Although the number of words is very short, it allows readers to burst out countless fantastic ideas and outline the huge worldview behind it through imagination.
Natsume Soseki was filled with emotion,
The most difficult thing about writing is to make readers feel involved.
Lu Shi was better, he could easily get it done with just one sentence.
At this time, Scott suddenly let out a long breath and said: "Lu, you said last time that articles in the gender-specific format must have a narrative function, as well as a personal feeling of prose and poetry, and a documentary component of reportage. essential."
Lu Shi smiled dumbly,
Unexpectedly, the other party still remembers it now.
Scott said: "I think I know how to write this kind of article. Can you lend me a pen and paper?"
Natsume Soseki immediately took out a pencil and handed it over along with the manuscript paper.
Scott wrote quickly.
Lu Shi watched from the side and read out in a low voice:
"
Everyone thought I liked her. I also thought that I really liked her. Until that night I realized that I was just a stand-in...
"
This is so meow,
The taste is too good!
Lu Shi felt like he had turned on a strange switch in Scott.
Natsume Soseki on the other side nodded frequently and said: "This paragraph is well written. Lu, I have to admire you. If you just give the beginning of a sentence, it can make people start unlimited associations, and your creative level has also improved sharply. .”
Lu Shi: "..."
Only remain silent.
After a while, Scott finally stopped writing,
"how?"
Lu Shi praised: "Well written. This is how articles in the gender section should be written."
Scott seemed to have opened up the two channels of Ren and Du, and took a deep breath.
"Hahaha! I knew it!"
He stood up, paid a gentlemanly courtesy to Lu Shi, and said, "Lu, thank you so much! You have made unparalleled contributions to the development of British media! You are simply John Walter alive!"
John Walter, first editor-in-chief and founder of The Times.
Lu Shi clenched his hands in embarrassment.
His palms were filled with sweat.
Scott smiled and said: "The most important thing for writing this kind of article well is for the author to provide readers with a sense of involvement."
Lu Shi coughed lightly,
"Yes, that's right."
Scott geared up,
"Now, I have basically mastered how to design the layout and how to write the article content. When will we publish the first issue?"
Newspapers are usually launched on special days.
Take "The Times" as an example. The first publication day was New Year's Day in 1785, a new year and a new atmosphere.
Or, it may be published on the day of a big news, as is the case with the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail.
Lu Shi asked: "Can the publication be launched within a week?"
Scott nodded,
"Can."
After finishing speaking, he sighed again and said: "But there has been no hot news recently. If it is always the same thing, the sales volume will probably be average."
If it were any other newspaper, Scott would never use the word "more general".
He would simply say "Dead".
But the Mirror is very different from ordinary newspapers.
It is the world's first tabloid. It has a special layout plan and an unprecedented design of each page. The content is popularized to the end, so its survival is definitely not a problem.
Scott said: "Lu, I am an ambitious person."
After Lu Shi heard this, he smiled and said,
Of course he could hear what Scott meant,
Ambitious people will not settle for "survival" or "comparatively average". It would be a pity if "Mirror" has such a good foundation and cannot become a hit.
Lu Shi said, "Then wait."
News will come eventually.
The corner of Scott's mouth curled up,
"If it doesn't work, use your "The Fellowship of the Ring" to protect the "Mirror". It just so happens that "The Hobbit" has just finished. With this shareholder momentum, the "Mirror" can definitely sweep London's journalism industry. .”
Lu Shi said: "To be honest, I haven't decided whether the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy will be serialized or published directly."
Scott didn't force him either;
"It doesn't matter. All good things come hard, and we journalists are the most patient."
Are news people impatient?
Lu Shi was about to complain, but he heard someone knocking on the door again.
Scott stood up from his chair,
"I'll drive! Cooper should be here!"
According to etiquette, there is no reason for guests to rush to open the door.
But Scott is very excited now and wants to see Cooper immediately and share the "Sunflower Book" he just learned from Lu Shi with his close friends.
Scott went over to open the door;
The person standing outside the door was not Cooper, but a British gentleman with a somewhat familiar face.
Scott was stunned for a few seconds and recognized the other person,
"Mr. Xiao!?"
When Lu Shi heard this, he quickly walked towards the door, only to find Bernard Shaw standing there.
He asked in surprise: "Why are you here, Mr. School Superintendent?"
Bernard Shaw nodded to Lu Shi, then looked at Scott,
"Who is this?"
Lu Shi quickly introduced the two of them.
Bernard Shaw walked into the room and said at the same time: "I have heard Sir Wodehouse talk about the Mirror before, and I also know that Mr. Scott has made great efforts. I am very grateful."
Scott waved his hand,
"No, no, I should be the one thanking Professor Lu."
In front of the London School of Economics and Political Science, Scott no longer called Lu Shi "Lu" to show respect.
Scott pointed to the beginning of the article he had just written and said: "Without Professor Lu's guidance, I definitely would not have been able to write such a spiritual article on gender."
Bernard Shaw was confused,
"Both genders?"
Why does this word sound weird?
Scott laughed and told the newspaper story from beginning to end.
Bernard Shaw suddenly understood,
"So that's it, I thought just now...hehe..."
He smiled a smile that all men understand.
The tabloids are indeed not that serious in some respects;
Take the top-selling newspaper "The Sun" as an example, which has the famous "Page 3 Girl".
Originally, the girls on the third page were just portraits of famous models. Later, the form changed and they simply became fruit girls who appeared on the stage every day, with bulging front and back.
Given the current level of conservatism in the UK, Guo'er is still too ahead of her time.
Lu Shi said: "After all, it is a university newspaper, so we still have to pay attention to the impact."
Bernard Shaw nodded,
"Of course~Of course~"
He stopped talking about the "Mirror" and instead talked about the purpose of the visit, saying: "Lu, look at this list."
Bernard Shaw took out a thick stack of paper that he had with him.
Lu Shi looked familiar,
“Isn’t this the list for the Nobel Prize in Literature?”
He flipped through the list,
Same old thing, twenty names per page,
But for some reason, most of the names were blacked out or crossed out with a long line.
Lu Shi was puzzled.
"what happened?"
Bernard Shaw lowered his voice and said: "It seems you don't know yet..."
He made a scratching motion with his finger, and then said: "These people all contacted the Swedish Academy to reject this nomination."
Not only Riku Toki, but Scott and Natsume Soseki next to him were also shocked.
The three people's jaws fell to the ground and shattered on the ground.
Scott asked: "Mr. Xiao, is the Nobel Prize you just mentioned the Nobel Prize? Is it the international award that will be evaluated starting this year? The one with a bonus of more than 40,000 Swedish kronor?"
Bernard Shaw nodded seriously,
"right."
Scott was shocked: "Are these people crazy!?"
But he quickly regained his composure. Just like a hyena's semi-acute sense of news, he noticed something.
"What's the reason?"
Bernard Shaw pointed at Lu Shi,
"Because the Nobel Committee did not nominate the literary giant Mr. Tolstoy, Professor Lu believed that the Nobel Prize in Literature was not fair enough and lacked an international perspective, so he actively rejected the nomination."
In an instant, Scott's eyes fell on Lu Shi.
stare--
The sight is like a knife.
Lu Shi glared at Bernard Shaw,
"Mr. School Superintendent, did you pick yourself off too cleanly?"
George Bernard Shaw laughed loudly,
"I was just influenced by you~"
Lu Shi complained: "Don't make it sound like you have no personal thoughts."
After finishing speaking, he added: "But the problem is, how can this matter make people in Cambridge...well...there is no airtight wall in the world. The professors of literature and linguistics at both the Niu and Jian schools are very busy. It doesn't touch the ground, but the University of London Union is very leisurely. It's impossible not to be curious."
Bernard Shaw shook his head,
"It's not what you think."
He recounted the mistakes made by the British Consulate in Sweden.
Lu Shi heard this and vomited blood.
"Fxxk! No wonder I think this spread so quickly."
The news was known to Cambridge University, equivalent to the entire British literary world.
The British literary world knows it, and so does the literary world in Western Europe.
Lu Shi scanned the list again.
Almost all British literati have withdrawn from the selection for the Nobel Prize in Literature, followed closely by French, German and other big names.
Mr. Monson, the author of "History of Rome," was among them.
The rest are mostly Northern and Eastern European writers,
Then there are the few Asian and African faces. They didn’t quit because the news hadn’t spread there yet.
Lu Shi looked at those names,
After a long while, he said: "Among the remaining people, I have only read the works of Mr. Sienkiewicz."
Bernard Shaw stepped forward,
"What? I haven't crossed out his name yet?"
He looked around,
"Lu, lend me a pen."
Lu Shi: "..."
It's ruined now!
The whole thing is ruined!
The remaining 90% on the list were Nordic writers. Lu Shitong had heard of less than ten of them and had not read any of their works.
The most terrible thing is that Sully Prudhomme, the winner of the first Nobel Prize for Literature, also withdrew from the selection.
The world line has definitely changed.
George Bernard Shaw smiled and said: "Dear, fair, strict and humble Professor Lu, you are in big trouble this time. The Swedish Academy must have a grudge against you. From now on, you are destined to miss the Nobel Prize for Literature." ~”
This guy picked himself out again.
Lu Shi said: "It's just the Nobel Prize, it doesn't matter. But why did they withdraw?"
Bernard Shaw replied: "Hahaha, you are asking a redundant question, and you are obviously pretending to be confused. Why else? Of course it is the same reason as yours."
Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky have had a profound influence on the entire European literary world.
It’s no wonder that Lu Shi responded “one call and a hundred responses”.
He said: "I declined the nomination because I didn't want to wade into muddy waters. Now it's good that the muddy waters are myself."
These words made the three people present laugh.
We also stuck our heads out,
"Meow~"
Bernard Shaw said: "Lu, I came to you for another thing. Because of your fairness, the entire Western European world admires you. The French Academy would like to invite you to come and communicate with me for about a week."
Scott listened and said: "Professor Lu, you should go. Don't forget, the Mirror still lacks headlines~"
Ready-made news, there it is!
(End of chapter)
