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我写中文在工作。我很难写中文在工作。但是现在我会写中文工作的电脑。
明天我不去工作，可是我星期五写多。明天我去音乐会看"British Sea Power"中文“英国海力”。我很高兴。我明天早上七点半回家睡觉。我在下午晚的起床。我先去晚饭再去音乐会。
明天我不去工作，可是我星期五写多。明天我去音乐会看"British Sea Power"中文“英国海力”。我很高兴。我明天早上七点半回家睡觉。我在下午晚的起床。我先去晚饭再去音乐会。
I'd not read Gilgamesh before until a few days ago. I think it's now my new favorite epic. Bill had a very nice copy by John Gardner and John Maden that went tablet by tablet, with copious footnotes that was written in a very poetic style. I enjoyed it tremendously.
I always loved the idea of Gilgamesh being the ancient story with the account of the flood that predates the Biblical one. But I wasn't really prepared for the rest of the story. Such a big gay epic it was, and so tragic. I liked the fact that the battling of the monsters while important to the continuing of the plot was kind of just a side description, rather than the main thrust like the Iliad. I loved how it was mostly a quest for immortality after the loss of his boyfriend and how sad the world became afterwards. How man was doomed, and there was a bar at the end of the world, and of course the nice scorpion people, and lastly but definitely not least, the gay romance! And when Gilgamesh told off Ishtar when she tried to seduce him and pointed out how terrible it was to be seduced by her and then when she went to complain about what he said the gods just pointed out he was right. I like epics that have a realistic vision of their Gods behavior.
I enjoyed it so much, I can't believe I never got around to reading it before. But now I think I too shall add it to my list of lovely books to read every so often. Though unlike Bill I don't think I'm ever going to add akkhadian to my list of languages I need to learn. (Especialy as I can't seem to spell it, but then it's almost 6am and I have been up all night!)
I always loved the idea of Gilgamesh being the ancient story with the account of the flood that predates the Biblical one. But I wasn't really prepared for the rest of the story. Such a big gay epic it was, and so tragic. I liked the fact that the battling of the monsters while important to the continuing of the plot was kind of just a side description, rather than the main thrust like the Iliad. I loved how it was mostly a quest for immortality after the loss of his boyfriend and how sad the world became afterwards. How man was doomed, and there was a bar at the end of the world, and of course the nice scorpion people, and lastly but definitely not least, the gay romance! And when Gilgamesh told off Ishtar when she tried to seduce him and pointed out how terrible it was to be seduced by her and then when she went to complain about what he said the gods just pointed out he was right. I like epics that have a realistic vision of their Gods behavior.
I enjoyed it so much, I can't believe I never got around to reading it before. But now I think I too shall add it to my list of lovely books to read every so often. Though unlike Bill I don't think I'm ever going to add akkhadian to my list of languages I need to learn. (Especialy as I can't seem to spell it, but then it's almost 6am and I have been up all night!)
我要写但是我的先生早回家所以我没有时间．现在他要睡觉所以我能写！
我今天晚上朋友们去音乐会．我等不了．
今天天气又晴又热，天觉得夏天．我要下雨了．它是四月不是七月．什么中文谚语＂四月阵雨带来五月花＂？
我今天晚上朋友们去音乐会．我等不了．
今天天气又晴又热，天觉得夏天．我要下雨了．它是四月不是七月．什么中文谚语＂四月阵雨带来五月花＂？
A couple nights ago I finished reading Aborigine Myths and Legends by William Ramsy Smith, part of Senate Publishing's great Myths and Legends series. This was the secound book on Aborigine myths that I read, the first being written in about 1890 this one was written in 1930. The book was illustrated throughout with pictures of the myth, illustrations of objects used by the aboriginals and reproductions of actual photographs from other books.
The book seemed in parts like an early unscientific ethnography for the general reader, as apart from myths also included were hunting, games and magic practices. I enjoyed the look at aboriginal witchcraft a great deal, though the way it was written was full of very telling adjectives like "pretends" and "deceives". It was an interesting look into life, but also a telling look into the people writing at the time. Despite a rather lengthy section on aboriginal life there was nothing about what the women did and everything referred to was a male activity. Which seemed especially odd when compared with the mythology itself where women had frequently a very active role.
I like aboriginal myths a lot, like China they are a very ancient culture that's existed as such for thousands of years, and when reading their mythology it becomes clear what a fundamental grasp they have on the world around them, how well they understand it and are a part of it, almost as if they were the true daoists. At least before the effects of colonization which I don't want to get into too much here as that's a whole big topic of controversy which is in many ways terribly sucky.
But I very much enjoyed the creation myths, the Goddess who created the world and the way it was filled, how intelligence was given to the animals to grow and develop before it was given to man was such an interesting concept. I find native American animal myths, and western European animal fables to be not that interesting. The Australian ones though for some reason I like. I think it's because they act like humans, or have real feelings and behaviours but then they still do something cool and animal related like fly.
I feel unable to draw any conclusions about how I feel about how women were treated in these myths. In the first book I read they seemed to be treated a bit more equally with a strong feeling of justice and a sense of value applied to them and their roles. But I didn't get that so much from this book. I think perhaps the difference may be that the first book was written by a woman and the second by a man. The first book was also a specific tribes tales, and the secound book looked at the whole country, and it's hard to draw specific conclusions from a more diverse population.
There was one story I read which I found rather disturbing, it was about two sisters who ate a fish that was forbidden to women and if a woman ate it she was condemned to death. I was a bit horrified that there was something that was so tasty that they wouldn't let women, on pain of death, eat it but wanted to keep it for the men. That seemed a bit excessive to me. The woman's husband found out that his wives had done this and tracked them down after they fled for their lives and decided he had to kill them for their "sin" even though he loved them. I felt myself being very indignant and outraged, and then the last line was after he killed them and turned their bodies to stone, he went into the sea, drowned himself and collected their souls and they all went up to heaven. Which totally threw me for a loop, perhaps a later hollywood ending stuck on? or perhaps the real story? But nonetheless it was a very interesting read.
The book seemed in parts like an early unscientific ethnography for the general reader, as apart from myths also included were hunting, games and magic practices. I enjoyed the look at aboriginal witchcraft a great deal, though the way it was written was full of very telling adjectives like "pretends" and "deceives". It was an interesting look into life, but also a telling look into the people writing at the time. Despite a rather lengthy section on aboriginal life there was nothing about what the women did and everything referred to was a male activity. Which seemed especially odd when compared with the mythology itself where women had frequently a very active role.
I like aboriginal myths a lot, like China they are a very ancient culture that's existed as such for thousands of years, and when reading their mythology it becomes clear what a fundamental grasp they have on the world around them, how well they understand it and are a part of it, almost as if they were the true daoists. At least before the effects of colonization which I don't want to get into too much here as that's a whole big topic of controversy which is in many ways terribly sucky.
But I very much enjoyed the creation myths, the Goddess who created the world and the way it was filled, how intelligence was given to the animals to grow and develop before it was given to man was such an interesting concept. I find native American animal myths, and western European animal fables to be not that interesting. The Australian ones though for some reason I like. I think it's because they act like humans, or have real feelings and behaviours but then they still do something cool and animal related like fly.
I feel unable to draw any conclusions about how I feel about how women were treated in these myths. In the first book I read they seemed to be treated a bit more equally with a strong feeling of justice and a sense of value applied to them and their roles. But I didn't get that so much from this book. I think perhaps the difference may be that the first book was written by a woman and the second by a man. The first book was also a specific tribes tales, and the secound book looked at the whole country, and it's hard to draw specific conclusions from a more diverse population.
There was one story I read which I found rather disturbing, it was about two sisters who ate a fish that was forbidden to women and if a woman ate it she was condemned to death. I was a bit horrified that there was something that was so tasty that they wouldn't let women, on pain of death, eat it but wanted to keep it for the men. That seemed a bit excessive to me. The woman's husband found out that his wives had done this and tracked them down after they fled for their lives and decided he had to kill them for their "sin" even though he loved them. I felt myself being very indignant and outraged, and then the last line was after he killed them and turned their bodies to stone, he went into the sea, drowned himself and collected their souls and they all went up to heaven. Which totally threw me for a loop, perhaps a later hollywood ending stuck on? or perhaps the real story? But nonetheless it was a very interesting read.
.