Green Island Serenade

那是囚犯的心声吗？
《绿岛小夜曲》真相大白

孙松堂 (2002-09-18)

　　“这绿岛像一只船，在月夜里摇呀摇，姑娘哟你也在我的心海里飘呀飘，让我的歌声随那微风，吹开了你的窗帘，让我的情意随那流水，不断地向你倾诉。椰子树的长影，掩不住我的情意，明媚的月光更照亮了我的心，这绿岛的夜已经这样沉静，姑娘哟，你为什么还是默默无语。”

　　最近媒体报道，《绿岛小夜曲》作曲人高钰铛辞世，高雄县长杨秋兴在高辞世前前往探视时，曾允诺协助高钰铛要帮忙寻找《绿岛小夜曲》的作 词人王博文，要让这首歌得到正名。言下之意，流传已久的《绿岛小夜曲》是由高钰铛作曲、王博文填词。未料，媒体隔日连着两天以大篇幅报道《绿岛小夜曲》的 作曲人是周蓝萍、作词人是潘英杰，推翻了高钰铛与王博文是《绿岛小夜曲》的原创人。报道中还访问了今年83岁，目前在荣总养病的潘英杰，及资深音乐工作 者，由他们细说这一段尘封已久的往事，让事实还原，否则《绿岛小夜曲》还要永远争议下去，歌迷也永远难分真假。

●诞生于1954年仲夏夜

　　事实上，《绿岛小夜曲》的确是周蓝萍与潘英杰共同创作出来的；那是1954年一个仲夏夜的晚上，同在中广音乐组共事，并住在中广仁爱路 单身宿舍的周、潘二人，闲聊时谈到创作流行歌曲的话题，喜爱文学的潘英杰建议以“抒情优美取胜”的小夜曲来创作一首流行歌，得到周蓝萍的和声。

　　第二天潘英杰就把抵台数年的观感融于歌词中，交给周蓝萍，正处热恋的周蓝萍看了相当满意，有深获我意之感，在爱情甜如蜜的企盼下，立 刻谱成《绿岛小夜曲》。这是一首以“绿意盎然”的台湾景观为背景，描写恋爱中男女的患得患失、起伏不定的心情，并交由紫薇在中广录音室灌录。

●盛传是杀人犯的狱中情书

　　《绿岛小夜曲》原本要用在一部电影中，但是没有成功，想不到菲律宾的万国唱片看上这首歌，把它灌成唱片后引介到菲律宾，立刻在当地十分 风行起来，甚至还流传到马来亚（当时马来西亚还没有成立）、印尼一带。马来亚的报纸还绘影绘形地描述，说这首歌原来是一名争风吃醋的杀人犯在狱中写给女友 的一封情书，情意感人。在那个资讯不发达的年代，这首充满“凄美”故事的流行歌曲，博得了许多人的同情，而且广为流传，大家都以为这个故事是真的。

　　1958年，台湾的凤鸣唱片发现这首悦耳动听的歌曲，居然是台湾创作的，于是取得紫薇当年在中广的录音在台湾发行，歌迷才初次接触到 这首歌曲。1961年，四海唱片重新灌录此曲，仍由紫薇演唱，配合广播的播送，很快就在大街小巷流行起来。大人小孩都会唱，各学校社团也纷纷采用此曲当做 演唱的曲目。

●60年代紫薇的招牌歌

　　《绿岛小夜曲》流行的范围并不限台湾，东南亚华人居住的地方同样争着传唱；紫薇在1966年当红时，曾到东南亚各地演唱，所到之处，华 人热烈点唱《绿岛小夜曲》，而且跟着哼唱，场面相当热络；甚至当年海外台独异议人士也热烈传唱这首曲子，俨然成了“国歌”。不仅如此，连沿海一带的中国 人，也知道这首曲子。1990年，中国大陆演唱家吴霜（剧作家吴祖光之女）到台湾开演唱会，即公开演唱此曲，她并表示，很早就听到这首歌曲而且经常演唱。

●给作曲及作词人带来麻烦

　　《绿岛小夜曲》在台湾走红后，给作曲及作词人带来不小的困扰。周蓝萍、潘英杰经常被有关单位叫去查问。主要是当时台海情势紧张，任何风 吹草动都会被有心人士拿来大作文章，弄不好当事人就身陷囹圄，这是听歌者无法想像的事。所幸二人福人福相，并没有发现有什么密谋，可说是有惊无险。

　　根据当年任职中国广播公司的作家王大空，在一篇《想念紫薇》的文章中透露：《绿岛小夜曲》是中广的招牌歌，每次演唱会都有歌星演唱此 曲；作词的潘英杰、作曲的周蓝萍和首唱的紫薇都是他可敬的中广同事。这首歌刚出炉的时候，曾被安检单位认为不妥，原因是歌词里一开头这么几句：“这绿岛像 一只船，在月夜里摇呀摇。”当时的危机意识，炽热又强烈，他们认为，歌中的“船”，指的就是“台湾”，“在月夜里摇呀摇”，不是暗示就快翻覆了吗？

　　王大空最后又补充道：“人说中国人的联想力，特别是对恶的联想力，一向就很丰富，从这件事就可以充分证明了。”王大空还说：“其实《绿岛小夜曲》真是一首百听不厌，荡气回肠的好歌。”

　　48个年头过去了，周蓝萍过世也已31年，没有想到，由他作曲、潘英杰填词的《绿岛小夜曲》，居然被谣传是一名关在绿岛监狱之人所作，且很多人都深信不疑。如今真相大白，谣传从此可以休矣。

　　 （转载自台湾《光华》月刊）

《联合早报》

(http://www.zaobao.com/chinese/region/others/pages/taiwan_chinese180902.html)

Words a mouthful

Ready? Say these three times quickly:

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The valley of the shadow of death.

Spring Summer

Fall. Just realized why the season of leaves turning color is call 'Fall.' Not because the leaves are falling off the trees, but the Fall of human. In Genesis Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After that, 'the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.; Then in verse 3:8, 'in the cool of the day' they 'heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden.' See, the season they sinned, or fell, is when the weather turned cool (not the hot wind from summer nights). Hence, the name.

Come to think of it, they spent their first winter outside of the Garden of Eden. No wonder God had to make 'coats of skins' to 'clothed them.' (v. 21)

p.s. who says we can't wear animal skin? But I must say I'm against hunting down animals even to their extinction for their skin. That is not a responsible way to manage the world, which is God's mandate for men.

Envy vs. Jealousy

一个是你有我也要！ 一个是有你无我，不共戴天。

Jealousy consists of conflict of interest. Consequently, it implies that in any situation where opponents compete for the same spot that cannot be shared (e.g. election of an official, selection of spouse), any party which is displaced of the ownership of the spot is by defination open to the feeling of jealousy. This fits the Biblical notion that God is a jealouse God.

Law and order

Second law of thermodynamics: Intense or concentrated energy tends to spread out and diffuse. (misconception: objects tend to be more disordered)

Merphy's law: if anything can go wrong, it will (misconception: all misfortune comes at the same time)

Lazy poeple's pipe-dream

Here are some of the perfect examples:

1. Perpetual Motion Machines (a bit ancient)
2. Money generation machine (not for printing money, but can trade stocks automagically for pure gain)
3. Born rich and noble ('born with a silver spoon in one's mouth. i.e. never have to work a single day for the entire life--keyword is 'have to')

Robert T. Kiyosaki

He's the one who teaches about Rich Dad and Poor Dads. I am watching his seminar on PBS now. In essence, here are the main points:

1. Balance sheet

I
--
X

A | L

- Income vs. Expenses
- Assets vs. Liability

The goal is increase the Asset.

2. Assets have three types:
a) Business
b) Paper assets
c) Real Estate

3. Four types (quadrants) of peoples judging by how they manage money:

E | B
--+--
S | I

a) Employees
b) Business
c) Self-employed
d) Investor

The goal is to move from left to the right half. Example, Bill Gates, Dell are Business people; Robert himself is Investor (invest land without having any money???).

In general, I'm skeptical that there is a formular to richness. Basically it's the old song.

Liu

姓氏：刘
祖宗：刘累
分类：以邑为氏


姓氏起源：
　　一、出自祁姓，为炎帝尧陶唐氏之后。相传祁姓是黄帝的后裔所分得的姓氏之一，后来祁氏被封于刘国，亦即今定州唐县。其子孙以国为姓，相传姓刘。史称刘氏正宗，这就是陕西刘氏。
　　二、出自姬姓，为周太后的后裔。相传周武王去世后，周成王继位 ，封王季的儿子于刘邑，其后裔以邑为氏，世代相传姓刘，这就是河南刘氏。
　　三、出自他姓，为他族、他姓改嫁或赐姓刘。据史书记载：1、汉高祖刘邦实行和亲政策，以皇室宗女嫁于单于为妻。依照匈奴的习俗，贵者皆从母 姓，单于的子孙于是皆从刘姓。于是便生成这支刘姓。2、据史籍记载，齐人娄敬在洛阳向刘邦献入关中建都之策，得到刘邦的重用，刘邦称帝后，赐姓刘氏，其后 保持此姓；刘邦为了感谢项伯在鸿门宴上对他的救命之恩，赐他刘姓。3、北魏孝文帝迁都洛阳后将鲜卑族的复姓独孤氏改为汉字刘姓，成为当时大姓之一。其他入 迁中原的少数民族也有改作刘姓的。
郡望：
　　1、彭城郡：西汉的时候设立，当时将楚国改为彭城郡，后又改为彭城国，治所在彭城。此支刘氏是汉高祖的后代。
　　2、沛　郡：西汉置郡，治所在相县。相当于今安徽、河南等地。
　　3、弘农郡：西汉置郡，治所在弘农。此支刘姓开基始祖为汉时刘贾。
　　4、河间郡：汉初置郡，治所在乐城。此支刘姓开基始祖为东汉章帝之子河间王刘开。
堂号：
　　彭城堂：这是刘氏使用最普遍的堂号，因为彭城刘氏其源出西汉皇族，时间较早，人口、支脉较多，影响较大，因此被刘氏看作是郡望堂号的正宗。
迁徙分布
　　刘氏最早发源于河北唐县，而始姓刘氏却在今天的陕西省境内。公元前300多年前开始向河南及江苏传播。战国时晋大夫会有子留居秦国，称刘氏， 其十世孙在魏国任职，魏灭后迁至大梁，生子刘清辗转到今江苏等地。后来刘氏建立东、西汉两朝，统治天下，于是其 孙分布于天水、中山、南阳、彭城、东平等十四处之多。汉末三国之际，中原的刘氏为避“董卓之乱”不断向四方迁徙，主要是向东南投奔孙吴和向西南进入四川投 奔蜀汉。魏晋南北朝时期刘氏大举南迁，在江南影响很大。唐代和宋代，刘姓已遍布大江南北，盛于全中国，直至今日。

又是一个多事的春夏之交

今年的三四月，中国高校的BBS网站被教育部大规模地“整顿”。 北大、清华、南大、科大等名校的网站都受到不同程度的影响。 主要改变有二：实名制和不对外。 由于高校网站影响巨大（几十万的注册ID,上万人同时上网)，此事自然掀起轩然大波。 连美国《基督教观察报》在四月初也在显著位置作了报道。到今天，更是又起高潮（见回文“水木414事件”）。不仅如此，最近因日本可能成为联合国常务（“入常”），现在国人正是抗日情绪高涨。日本外相要访华，有十七个城市组织示威游行。这两件事加在一起，恐怕会让当局神经紧张了吧。真是多事之时啊。

Prince Charles has a new wife. After seeing the photos, I can't say I like her (Diana coined her 'Rottweiler') or the whole thing of Charles' second marriage--just don't feel right; and I found myself wanting to see the old wedding pictures of Diana. (The now famous 'whatever-love-means' line from Charles makes this whole thing even more tasteless, even repulsive. Yuk!) What a shame for the British people to have to deal with such a disgraceful royal story. No wonder the Brits want to skip Charles for their King and go directly to Prince Williams, or even end it all by switching to republic.

Perhaps I am somewhat misguided by the media, which is obviously unfriendly to Charles and Camila at all. Perhaps they are both decent people and don't derserve all these. Perhaps Diana also has her faults and cannot really be blameless, which, quite sadly, is probably true. Perhaps when it gets up close the whole thing is nothing but a can of worms.

Can goodness and beauty survive in this rotten world? ... Maybe not!

Pope John Paul II

An era ended with John Paul II's death on Sat 4/2 (11:37 PST). He's been in the position for over 27 years (from 10/16/1978) and was highly repected by the world. He survived an assasination attemp in 1981 and later went to visit and pray with the person, who wanted him killed. His funeral is set to be on Friday 4/8.

Also set on that day was, ironically, Prince Charles' wedding. Now he has to move his big event one day later to Saturday (better do it after than before).

Just to help remember Saturday, I gave i his second shave. :-)

這位耶穌對我挑戰

我激怒時，他告訴我：寬恕！
我恐懼時，他告訴我：要勇敢！
我懷疑時，他對我說：要相信！
我焦慮時，他對我說：要冷靜！
我喜歡走我自己的路，他告訴我：來，跟隨我！
我做我自己的計畫，他告訴我：忘記它們！
我趨向物質的財富，他說：和它們背道而馳！
我想要安全感，他說：我絕不給你任何許諾！
我喜歡過我自己的生活，他說：失去你的生活！
我相信我是好的，他告訴我：好是不夠的！
我喜歡成為老闆，他說：服務！
我喜歡命令別人，他說：服從！
我喜歡了解，他說：相信！
我喜歡清楚明白，他用比喻對我說話！
我喜歡詩意，他用真實對我說話！
我喜歡寧靜，他喜歡我被打擾！
我喜歡激動，他說：願你平安！
我拔出刀劍，他說：放下它！
我想報復，他說：把另一邊面頰轉過來！
我談到秩序井然，他說：我已帶來刀劍！
我選擇憎恨，他說：愛你的仇敵！
我要播種融洽，他說：我來是為把火投在地上！
我喜歡成為最大的，他說：要學習像小孩子那樣小！
我喜歡隱藏，他說：要讓你的光照耀！
我注視最好的位置，他說：坐到末位去！
我喜歡被人注意，他說：拴上門在你的內室祈禱！
不，我不認識這位耶穌。
他挑動我。他使我困惑。
他的誡命太多，我寧可去跟隨另一位更明確並且要求少的師傅。
但我經驗到的幾乎和伯鐸一樣：「我不知除你以外，還有誰永生的話。」

巴西 SCJ會士Pe.Zezinho

Good communication

Good communication begins with conveying what's the obvious. For one thing, the obvious to the speaker may not be so to the others and hence avoiding confusion. Secondly, it establishes a fundation for further discussion, which helps to identify the differences in opinions. Most of the time I jump to what I think is the key of the matter, skipping what I assume is the agreed common ground.

The ability to go down to the root of the matter is a very important skill, if not the most important one. Next to that is the ability to provide a bird's eye view of the entire situation. Both requires a very sharp mind.

Taiwan

Let's do the numbers.

	Taiwan	China	California	L.A. County	Israel
Area (miles^2)	13,892	3,705,386	163,707	4,084	8,019
Population (Mil)	22.7	1,298.8	33.9	3.6	6.2

The thick wall

Many times in life I feel I'm in front of a thick wall. There's no way around it and I have to somehow get through it. The situation reminds me of the graduate school days when I made no progress in my research project for weeks. Pressured by time and commitments, frustrated by the complexity or difficulties of the problems, I'd feel ashamed and discouraged.

Sometimes I wish I can find a crack in the wall and use a sharp tool to make it bigger so the wall would crumble; sometimes I feel I need a strong and powerful drill to penetrate and make a breakthrough (the image of a coal mine worker in the narrow and obsure underground tunnel). At other times I feel I just need to have the persistence to push the wall and move it a little bit each day (especially with people, where hard methods wouldn't work so well), and eventually it'll tip over and fall on its own weight.

Most of the time I feel I lack those tools or the character. And I wander around. I waste time on browsing the web or entering mindless blogs (writing and editing it). I don't talk to other people in those situations (why bother others).

Exercise is a way to help me in the long run. I think if I'd swim or play balls then my focus and attention would restore over time.

Vision is the sharp tool; focus and sustained attention are the drill head that is made of diamond, which would cut through any hard problems.

It's all in the mind.

A clear mind, a sharp vision, a strong will and resilience. Those are the four foundation characters I believe I need to overcome the walls and roadblocks on my way. On top of that, I just need the wisdom to know which one is the best way.

格物 至知 意诚 心正 修身 齐家 治国 平天下

Trip to L.A.

On Feb. 19, we moved to L.A. Driving in the white Toyota with i and G, 400 miles and almost 7 hours later, we arrived at our friend's place in Fullerton (and they were waiting for us to have dinner together!).

What a journey from almost exactly one year ago when LS got the phone call from M for an interview at B University. Yes, after one year and the seemingly long process of house-selling, house-hunting, house-buying, etc., the costly relocation is finally ending. And the date happened to be our 7th wedding anniversary. Champainge!

Another thing, it's the 5th wettest year in the history of L.A. Rain. Rain. Torrential rain. Thunderstorm. Floodings. Mudslides. Fatal accidents. Desarester area. etc. etc. etc. When it finally stopped, it was then the blue sky, the lingering gray clouds, and the majestic mountain all covered with snow. What a welcoming show we had!

And what a friend we have. They cooked, they buy groceries, clean, borrow futon, baby chair, etc. The food. Mmmm. Cantonese soup, hand-made Jiaozi, hotpot on Yuanxiao night, etc. etc. etc. And what friends we had for the past 5 weeks. PP, UC, YT all showed us their hospitality. i had 2 birthday parties, he learned to walk at YT's place and now improving in DY&ZR's. We've been cared by the angels!

Now the rain had stopped, we'll be moving into the new house Friday 225! We've put in new ceiling, the recessed lights, and the wall by our contractor MB and had the house and the carpet all cleaned, bought the frig and washer/dryer. BU is even agreeing to pick up the tab for the local move. PTL!!

What a beginning of a new chapter in our lives.

指 九 天以 為 正 兮, 夫 唯 靈 脩 之 故 也

-- 屈原 离騷

指 ， 語 也 。 九 天 ， 謂 中 央 八方 也 。 正 ， 平 也 。

靈， 神 也 。 脩 ， 遠 也 。 能 神 明 遠 見 者 君 德 ， 故 以 諭 君 。 言己 將 陳 忠 策 內 慮 之 心 ， 上 指 九 天 ， 告 語 神 明 ， 使 平 正 之。 唯 用 懷 王 之 故 ， 欲 自 盡 也 。

Mardi Gras

It's French for "Fat Tuesday", a day of feasting before the Lent, which is the 40-day fasting period prior to Easter. The 40-day measures 6 six-day-weeks plus 4 days before Easter Sunday, so Lent always begins on a Wednesday (called Ash Wednesday). Naturally, people will have a big feast on the Tuesday before they starting fasting on Wednesday. Since Easter moves, so does the day of Mardi Gras each year. The date generally falls in February or early March:

2004 - February 24
2005 - February 8
2006 - February 28
2007 - February 20
2008 - February 5
2009 - February 24
2010 - February 16

The craziest time during Carnival is the Friday before Mardi Gras through the holiday itself.

The three colors of Mardi Gras were decreed by Rex and the colors mean the following: purple = justice, green = faith and gold = power.

Theology

Haven't seen Pastor C and his wife for 3 years. They haven't changed much (he even wore the same deep purple shirt I've seen at least 3 years ago). But for the last 3 years, Pastor has spend much of his time and energy studying theology, and he gave me a glims of it last night.

It is hard to summarize theology in a few words, but basically it is, as he said, Bible plus logic. The more I think about it, theology is men's struggle to answer the inevitable questions in Christian faith. That is, trying to use human logic to rationalize our understanding of God.

There're Calvinism (the TULIP), Arminianism, the 5C, 3C, 2.5C, 5A, Openism, etc. All these are results of serious thinkings of the same scripture, but probably the only thing they can agree on is the inerrancy of it. Since the Bible itself is not a book of doctrins and theories, but rather a book of mostly events and letters, it's neither explicit nor strict on the defination of doctrines such as predestination vs. free will, trinity, or ??? (the three areas where theologists have been debating for ages).

Without theology faith can be criticized as irrational, but too much of it are proven dangerous (poisonous, as Pastor C described). Many difficult questions from a non-believer may be found in the theology books, but none of them provides the same answer, probably.

What's my take? Well, to be brief: the existance of tri-une God and inerrancy of the Bible. Perhaps there's a middle ground somewhere between 5C and 5A that I can accept. One thing is clear, theology is interesting. As Pastor C said, you need a starting point even though later on you might find it wrong.