Monday, April 15, 2013

the Course Cervantes' Don Quixote

Last a few months, I watched the online lectures from Yale's Open course, Cervantes' Don Quixote. The course was taught by Professor Roberto González Echevarría. He is an old gentleman and did a marvelous job telling about the book.

http://oyc.yale.edu/spanish-and-portuguese/span-300

All the lectures we can watch here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-D0iXLZWO0&list=EC4A35EEAEE3880943&index=1

To watch them with transcripts:
http://v.163.com/movie/2011/6/0/F/M83ELFK0R_M83ENE50F.html

The lecture is so wonderful I decided I must read the book to have a better understanding. So I ordered the book from amazon. Now I have finished Part I, both the watching and the reading.

It is true that reading the book Don Quixote is learning about life. I wish I had done this years ago so I could have avoided some mistakes in life. And the lecture is the best addition to reading the book. Without all the background, all the interpretation by the good old professor, I would not have learned so much as I have now.

I think that is the meaning of education. It is to help us make less mistakes in our life and to let us live more happily. The purpose of education is not about what we can do, but about what we can not do in life.

Sunday, April 07, 2013

The Character Beautiful


This is a character,  whose equal in English is the word BEAUTIFUL. It is pictograph, the upper part showing a big male goat with strong horns, down the upper part a man. That is the word BEAUTIFUL comes from, men are beautiful - so our ancestors believed.

It is universal that the males are more beautiful than females. A male lion with all the mane looks much better than a female lion. Most male birds are more colorful than their females.

Why? Females do not have to be good looking to be attractive, they are noble. They are noble because they are female, the precious resource for their species. As we know, eggs are always much less than sperms.(注:以上来自王东岳先生的讲座)

Pretty look is not a priority for females in animal world. Females just put their energy on other important aspects, which is a RIGHT thing for their species to survive.

But now we human is the other way round. Women are supposed to be prettier. Women put more effort on being good-looking. Is it the outcome of long human history when males are more powerful in society? So women put much of their energy on looking good outside, sometimes in the value of ignoring the harm to their body/health. Think about the huge market for silicone breast implanting. Breasts are for babies, or for men?

Can this culture/social phenomenon lead human beings to go extinct?