Chapter 17 15. Cafe

one While lecturing, Mr. Yang accidentally mentioned an article by Xu Zhimo.That article praised nature and criticized urban civilization, arguing that urban life is a sick life, and only nature can give people a healthy and normal life.Seriously, today's metropolis is full of asphalt, cement, and soot everywhere, completely crowding out nature, not even a speck of real dirt.Therefore, people in the city have to plant flowers on balconies, spread grass in parks, and plant trees in cafes. Mr. Yang heard giggles from below.He stopped, looked into some cunning eyes and asked: Is there anything ridiculous?

The teacher has been in the cafe?student asked. go often. The student laughed. how?Can't you go? Can't! Why? Because cafes are bad places. oh!Mr. Yang understood.Have you ever been there? No! How do you know it's bad if you haven't been there? The following answers are messy: I heard what my parents said, what my classmates said, what I heard on the radio, what I saw in the newspaper, etc. I also know.Mr. Yang pretended to be suddenly enlightened.A coffee shop is a place where a gentleman does not go.After a pause, he pointed at everyone: I heard what you said. In the afternoon, Mr. Yang went shopping on the street and saw a publicity vehicle approaching slowly. There were billboards erected around the vehicle, which read words such as city council candidate Zhang Xinzhai bowing, asking for a vote, and serving the people without hesitation. .A portrait of the candidate hung high in front of the car, and a loudspeaker mounted on top of the portrait blasted music.The election for city councilors has begun!Mr. Yang thought.The publicity vehicle went slower and slower, and stopped beside Mr. Yang, and the music also stopped, and was replaced by a woman's screaming loudly: Fathers, brothers and sisters!City council candidate Zhang Xinzhai wants to speak to you.Pedestrians gathered around and watched the figure exactly like the portrait appear from behind the portrait.He made a few bows to the audience around him, then took a step higher, and then stood like a bronze statue above the heads of the crowd. There was a temporary podium on the car.When he got to the stage, he bowed to the surroundings again.

Guys then, he said.Brother Zhang Xinzhai, I am here today to complain to you all.Brothers inherit the love of all the elders and brothers, and come out to campaign, not for fame or profit, but to serve the local area.Brother has no money, no power, and can't use conspiracy, but brother, like you, looks down on money, power, and conspiracy.What brothers have is a heart. Brothers believe that what the voters want is also the heart of the candidates.Now, there is a rich and powerful man who plots against his brother. He sends a lot of people to spread rumors, saying that his brother is sick, he is dying of illness, he is paralyzed, and he can’t write with his right hand.Think about it, everyone, who is willing to elect a disabled person as a member?Can people with hemiplegia still serve everyone?So, brother is very affected by such rumors.But, gentlemen!This is a rumour.In fact, the brother is healthy and not paralyzed.I am here to perform a section of Tai Chi for you to see.

As he spoke, the candidate performed Tai Chi on that narrow stage, as if swimming in the air.The audience watched, some laughed, and some audience sympathized with the candidate and clapped and clapped.After performing several poses, the candidate said excitedly: Am I a paraplegic?How despicable is the liar!They also said I couldn't write!Now he jumped off the podium, got out of the car, stood in front of the audience, and took out both hands in his pockets, a stack of cards in his left hand, and a ballpoint pen in his right.He put on a very exaggerated pose, signed the card, and distributed it to the audience.Some students rushed forward and grabbed one each.Where are these students from?Mr. Yang saw that it was Liu Baocheng and other children.They were still carrying schoolbags, and they seemed to be passing through this place on their way home from school.

The car left and the people scattered, but Teacher Yang gathered his students together and counted them, there were eighteen people in total. Come, let me buy you a soda.Mr. Yang pushed open a glass door. What a beautiful house it is!The students have never seen such a beautiful house.The first feeling is that it is very big, much bigger than their classroom, beautiful tables and chairs are arranged in clusters, and flowers are placed on the tables.The opposite wall was entirely lined with French windows of enormous panes of glass, and the smooth blades of the venetian blinds were parted because a man, writing at a desk, needed more light.A dozen cypresses lined up in front of the window, very neatly.There was soft music floating in the room, and it seemed very quiet, quieter than a church.Suddenly, there was a sudden sound of water. It turned out that there was a fish pond in the house. The water was very emerald, with fish in it and shadows of orchids. Phalaenopsis hung above the fish pond.

The students sucked on the straw gently, looking around, looking at the room and the people in the room.The teacher said softly: "Have you heard that?"This is Chopin's piece!The person who wrote the article next to him is the novelist Mr. Hu.Many poets often come here to discuss the issue of creation.look!The guy who just came in was an Air Force hero, his picture was in the papers.The one who came in behind was his wife and child.see that?Some people over there eat watermelon, they are very short-sighted, six hundred degrees.The textbooks you read were edited by him.Someone came in again, not just one, but seven or eight, both men and women, laughing and laughing.Nothing could be heard except their giggling and laughing.These are the students of XX University, and they are also after school.

After drinking the soda, Teacher Yang asked: Is this place good?Only then did the students stabilize Gulu Gulu's eyeballs and express their goodwill.So, do you know where this is? have no idea. Here is a coffee shop! What!impossible!The students were startled.However, when I went out to look at the signboard, it clearly said music and coffee. In fact, not all cafes are bad.Teacher Yang said. two In the evening, when lecturing in a cram school, Mr. Yang mentioned what happened during the day.He said: I deeply feel that before we comment on right and wrong, we must first clarify the truth.

He said: We comment on right and wrong, saying that this is wrong and that is right, that this should be rewarded and that should be blamed, and the most important thing is to find out the facts first.If you don't fully understand the facts, your judgment may be wrong.When two people are fighting, you must first figure out why they are arguing, how the quarrel turned into a fight, and who started the fight before you can express your opinion.Otherwise, if you say that Party A is wrong, you may have wronged Party A, and if you say that Party B is wrong, you may have wronged Party B.To wrong someone is to create injustice, and we cannot create injustice.

When it comes to ascertaining the facts, don't you think it's an easy job.You have all seen the movie Rashomon. This movie is about a murder case in a remote place. When the crime happened, three people were present. What they say is very different. Everyone has their own selfishness, and when describing the facts, everyone considers what is beneficial to them.This story reminds us that what we hear from other people is not always reliable.Since hearing is false, then seeing is true, right?Not quite.In his novel, Moravia described a newlywed couple quarreling. The husband said that it was unlucky that there were thirteen people sitting at the table when we were invited to drink on the wedding day.The wife said, there is no such thing!I counted only twelve people.Thirteen, twelve, the couple insisted on their own words, from a small quarrel to a big quarrel.The mother-in-law came to mediate and told them that there were neither twelve nor thirteen people at the banquet that day, but in fact there were fourteen people, twelve adults plus two children.While the groom was counting, one of the children got under the table and saw thirteen.While the bride was counting, both children got under the table, and she saw twelve.This story reminds us that even when we see something with our own eyes, we may not observe it closely enough to get an accurate impression.This kind of inaccuracy is actually the most difficult to correct, because I have seen with my own eyes that we tend to be conceited and self-confident.

We now find the real difficulty.On the one hand, we deeply know that the truth must be clarified before writing, on the other hand, we also deeply know that the so-called truth is not easy.Life is too complicated, and many things are not as simple as doing Tai Chi in public to prove the limbs are flexible. It often takes a lot of effort and methods to find out the truth.As far as I know, there are three kinds of people in society who are good at discovering the truth.One is a journalist, who interviews news, contacts all kinds of people, listens to all kinds of truth and lies, and sees all kinds of truth and disguise. He has to find a way to clarify the real facts.Also, judge.When a judge asks a case, there are plaintiffs, defendants, plaintiffs' witnesses and lawyers, and defendant's witnesses and lawyers. Each of these people speaks for their own interests, and everyone wants to influence the judge and make the judge believe his words. , the judge must find a way to clarify the real facts.Also, historians.Historians seek the truth of history based on historical materials.The historical data itself, some are true and some are false, some are just and some are partial, but historians can uncover the ancient people's numerous deceptions and deceptions, and find the true face of history.Journalists, judges, historians, these three kinds of people have received special training and can use special methods.Even so, journalists may still make mistakes in reporting, judges may still cause unjust imprisonment, and historians cannot completely avoid misjudgments.Think about it, how can we be careless and careful when we write and discuss things!

These words were spoken in cram school.The next day, when he returned to school for class, Mr. Yang had some thoughts again.He started to say: Your class is terrible! The students showed shock and grief. Someone said so.Mr. Yang went on to add.Some students laughed, and some students asked: Who said that? Doesn't matter who said it, is it right? wrong? Why not? Students come up with various answers. In my opinion, this statement is wrong because it does not correspond to the facts.There is no fact in this sentence, there are only feelings in it, and feelings are not equal to facts!If someone says that his wife is the best woman in the world, he is not expressing the facts, but expressing his own feelings.This sentence proves that he likes his wife very much, that's all.If anyone says that your class is the worst, it means that he personally dislikes you very much, that's all. Feelings are not facts, and opinions are not facts.It is a fact that all men are mortal, and it is opinion to say that man should work hard in time, or enjoy himself in time.It is true that Mr. Zhang slapped Mr. Li. It is another opinion to say that Mr. Zhang insulted Mr. Li, or that he bullied Mr. Li.Mr. Yang wrote on the blackboard: Mr. Zhang insulted Mr. Li for his opinion The fact that Mr. Zhang slapped Mr. Li Mr. Zhang taught Mr. Li an opinion Why do I say these words? Yes, why do you say these things?The student thought to himself. Because, for those who write essays, the facts are too important, and we have to make one thing clear before we can write criticism.In order to clarify things, we inevitably have to inquire and study.However, when we ask people for facts, what others often give you is not facts, but their opinions or feelings!If you take his opinions or feelings as facts and capitalize his essays, you are probably wrong!A lady once told me that the railway police are so bad, so hateful!I knew her words were just opinions or feelings, so I asked her for the facts.She said that their wives often went under coal trucks to pick up broken coal, and the railway police came to kick them.Later, I chatted with a railway policeman and asked him if he interfered with picking up media.He said that coal pickers often go under the wagons, nominally to sweep up the coal dust on the rails, but actually to see if there are any gaps in the wagon floor. The coal from the car leaked into his pocket.In another situation, a coal truck parked on the track was about to be towed away by the front of the car, and the coal pickers were still lying under the car reluctantly, so the road police had to urge them to avoid it with a not very elegant attitude.See, there's so much truth behind this opinion that there are rail police sucks.Essays should be written on these facts, not on the railroad police being bad. three Mr. Yang devised a small exercise: He first excerpted a passage from the selected Moravian novels translated by Mr. Song Rui.This text is a monologue of a man. The hero thought he treated his wife well, but the wife ran away instead.So the hero, in a tone that seems eager to get support from others, narrates how he loves his wife. In this passage, the hero's main opinion is: he is a good husband.He cites many facts.Just looking at the opinion, he is an ideal husband, but looking at the facts, there will be a completely different opinion from the hero, that is, he is hardly worthy of being a husband. The text excerpted by Mr. Yang is as follows: As I walked, in my usual fashion, stepping on every other paving stone, I began to ask myself what I should do about Agnes leaving in such a heartless way, as if she was trying to keep me from stepping down.I thought, let's see if Agnes can find any fault, even the slightest, of being unfaithful to her in me.I immediately replied to myself: not at all.I've never been fascinated by women, I don't know them, and they don't know me; and since I got married, they tell me they don't exist anymore.I turned to another completely different aspect of thinking, hoping to find out whether Agnes's departure was for money, which was completely impossible.Speaking of money, of course I never gave her extra money for any particular reason, but then again, what does she want money for?Please judge and judge: watch a movie every other week; go to a coffee shop once every two weeks, eat cold drinks and coffee according to her wishes; there are always two pictorial magazines every month, and there are newspapers every day; watch the stage in winter drama; summer vacations to Marino, where my father had a house.Isn't this entertainment enough?When it comes to clothes, Agnes shouldn't have any complaints.When she needed something, whether it was a pair of bras, a pair of socks, or a handkerchief, there was never a time when I didn't take action: go shopping with her, help her choose, and pay for it.The same goes for making clothes and buying hats. Every time she said to me: I want to make a dress, I want to buy a hat, every time I didn’t answer immediately: OK, I’ll go with you.Especially since you have to realize that Agnes is not greedy: within a year of our marriage, she almost stopped asking me for clothes and stuff at all. In this way, no matter whether it is spiritual or material, it is not a reason.Could it be that the rest is the so-called lack of temperament of lawyers?So I asked myself again: Is there any place where we may have dispositions?In the two years of husband and wife relationship, we have never had a dispute, the only one.We are inseparable, and if there is any discord, it is easy to see.But Agnes never had any trouble with me, in fact, it could almost be said that she never spoke.Just like when we go to a cafe at night or sit across from each other at home, she will not speak at all, and I will be the only one talking.I don't deny that I love talking and hearing myself talk, especially with someone close to me.The way I speak is calm, consistent, without any intonation, methodical and flowing.If I talk about any topic, I will talk about it from the beginning to the end.At the same time, the topics I like to talk about are all housework. I like to talk about prices, furniture arrangement, cooking and temperature, and all kinds of trivial things. As long as it is about housework, this is the truth.As soon as I talked about these things, I was so interested that I forgot to be tired; my interest was so great that I seemed to be drinking wine, tasting and talking about it endlessly.It is said that let's talk about justice. For women, this is of course the most appropriate topic. Otherwise, what are we talking about? Husbands usually have their offices or shops, or else there are three friends and four friends who hang out with each other and hang out for fun even if they have nothing to do.As for me, my office, my shop, and my friends are all Agnes.I never left her for a moment, so much so that you might be surprised that I was with her when she was cooking.I have a hobby in the kitchen, three meals a day, I always put on an apron and assist Agnes in the kitchen.I can do everything: peel potatoes, peel broad beans, prepare seasonings, and check the heat.I am so strong that she often says to me: Go and do it. I have a headache and I need to lie down.Besides cooking, I like to do laundry, iron things, sew buttons, and even find some handkerchiefs and re-embroider the hems when I have spare time.As I said, I never leave her, even if her best friend or her mother visits, I will still stay aside; even if she suddenly wants to learn English for some reason, I will learn it together and work hard. Wrestle with that tough foreign language.A good husband like me is not easy to find. In this passage, opinion and fact intersect.The method of this exercise is: (1) distinguish which of them are opinions and which are facts; (2) erase the original opinions and keep only the facts; (3) write another article based on the facts, pointing out the shortcomings of this husband .There was a student in the cram school who deleted and corrected the original text and wrote a letter of repentance, which was labor-saving and flattering. As I walked, I thought: Why did Agnes leave me so heartlessly.My walking habit is to step on every other paving stone.I started to discover my own shortcomings from the habit of walking.My gait was so stiff, and it never occurred to me, when I was walking with Agnes, to match her gait.I have never loved a woman so much as myself, including Agnes.I don't know them, including Agnes.Then, I thought about money.Controlling the family budget is originally a woman's right. Going shopping and buying daily necessities are the hobbies of housewives.But I completely deprived Agnes of this right and pleasure.All the money is in my hand, and all expenses are planned and executed by me.I made it a rule to see a movie every week, go to a coffee shop once every two weeks, watch a stage play in winter, and go to Marino for vacation in summer. In her mind, life must be as dull as a barracks.Sometimes, she expressed that she wanted to buy something, a pair of socks or a handkerchief, and I immediately said, "I'll go, so I ran out and bought it without saying anything."It’s interesting to buy such a small personal item that you must choose it yourself. It shouldn’t be done by others. Why didn’t I think of it in the past!My arbitrariness must have made Agnes feel so distasteful about buying anything that, after a year of our marriage, he didn't want anything at all. There are many couples whose relationship broke down after repeated quarrels.Agnes and I haven't had any quarrels in two years.She never speaks, does not express any opinions, and listens to me talking endlessly.Looking back, that's where the crisis of our marital relationship was, I liked talking too much, and listening to myself talk too much, and the way I spoke was so low, without much cadence.At the same time, the topics I like to talk about belong to the category of housework. When I talk about housework, I enjoy it with great interest and forget about it. Agnes had to sit across from her and didn't speak.When I am enjoying the joy of talking, she is probably enduring the pain of being obedient!Poor thing, I didn't know that the art of conversation is to arouse the other party's interest in talking; I didn't know that hustling in a woman's world, memorizing furniture, prices, and cooking temperatures, is really not a husband! If I can have my own world, for example, office, store, three friends and four friends, then I won’t be invading and occupying Agnes’s world every day, then Agnes can enjoy herself occasionally and forget her troubles. Maybe not just walk away.However, my office, my shop, and my friends are all Agnes.I never leave him for a moment, even when she is cooking, I am always by her side.I can do everything: peel yams, peel broad beans, prepare seasonings, and check the heat.She often said to me: You go and get it, I have a headache, I'm going to lie down.I didn't even realize that her so-called headache was an expression of extreme boredom with me.Alas, poor Agnes, she never had a private life, and even when her best friend or mother came to visit, I stayed by my side.Once, she suddenly wanted to learn English. It must be a way she came up with over and over again, so that she always had two hours a day to escape from reality, and I just wanted to learn it together.I'm so clueless!It was my ignorant husband who drove my wife away!