买了一个The Economist的app–World Figure，查到一些很无聊的数字，比如经济增长率最快的国家（赤道几内亚），农产品出产总量最大、粮食、肉、蔬菜产量最多的国家（盛产瘦肉精和膨大剂的那个国家）。不过也有一些有趣的数字，比如诺奖排行榜。

从这个表格可以看出诺贝尔文学奖之荒诞。如果说法语、英语、德语文学在世界上占有重要地位的话，是因为他们文学传统深厚，那么瑞典获6个，挪威获3个，只能用近水楼台先得月来解释了。美国的12个奖也不合理，这么没文化的国家，还一下子出了12个文豪，谁信？

所以千万不要把诺贝尔文学奖当回事。它只不过是一次国际化程度更高的茅盾文学奖而已。

在Google的协助下，以色列博物馆终于把《死海古卷》搬到网上：The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls。在这里，既可以放大阅读古卷的希伯来原文，又可以看到经文的翻译。

1947年春，阿拉伯牧童穆罕默德－伊尔迪伯在死海的西北岸寻找迷失的羊，走进一个叫库兰的山谷里。他把石头扔进山洞，听见了陶瓮被击碎的声音。惊奇之余，他约了同伴进洞，发现了陶罐碎片和整器，里面发现了被布包着的卷轴，打开发现是写着文字的羊皮卷和蒲草文件。他们拿到耶路撒冷去叫卖，辗转卖到了圣马可修道院。经该修道院的叙利亚大主教塞繆尔研究，初步认定这是几篇最古老的希伯来文《圣经》。这一发现，引起轰动。考古学家和史学家前往该地进行系统发掘。到1956年为止，在库兰一号洞附近，又找到11个洞穴里藏有《旧约》和其他文献的手抄本。种类600多，残片数万计，被称为当代考古最伟大的发现。

这些古卷共分五大类：

1. 库兰宗团法规，最重要的是《会规手册》《撒督文献》《会众守则》。

2. 希伯来文旧约39卷，其中《以赛亚书》（The Great Isaiah Scroll）是唯一完整无缺的抄本。《撒母耳记》也相对完整。

3. 次经，伪经和其他经外书。

4. 圣经注解讲义。

5. 感恩诗篇及其他。

目前以色列博物馆和Google数字化的内容是以下几类：

• 以赛亚书 The Great Isaiah Scroll

• 战事古卷 The War Scroll

• 圣殿古卷 The Temple Scroll

• 会众守则 The Community Rule

• 哈巴谷书注释 The Commentary on Habakkuk

《死海古卷》的意义重大，对于校订旧约，考证圣经的成书年代，以及希伯来文和闪米特文的发展，都有重要价值。古卷除个别段落用亚兰方言、希腊文之外，其余都用希伯来文写成。死海古卷比之前发现的最早的圣经抄本（895A.D.），还要早1000年。

旧约《圣经》的一些经文，可用古卷校对勘误。例如《以赛亚书》23:2节，传统译成：

“沿海的居民，就是素来靠航海西顿的商家得丰盛的，你们当静默无言。”

查死海古卷原词：

“沿海的居民，西顿的商人，你们的信使经过大海和许多江河。”

原来“他们使你丰盛”与“你们的信使”字形相近，后人抄错了。

The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls 提供的英文译文，不同于常见的任何英文译本，它是Jewish Publication Society在1917翻译并通过 the American Israeli Cooperative Enterprise 印行的，是犹太教的旧约《圣经》版本，简称JPS。换句话说，The Digital Dead Sea Scrolls 的英文译文并非为《死海古卷》新译的，为便于比较，网站专门提供了一段翻译对照，使用的是加拿大三一大学Peter Flint的《死海古卷》译文。

自从《死海古卷》发现以来，有很多学者致力于它的翻译工作，其中Theodore H. Gaster的 The Dead Sea Scriptures，已经由王神荫翻译成中文《死海古卷》，由商务印书馆出版。此外，还有两个重要的版本：

• The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation [Paperback,] by Michael O. Wise Martin G. Abegg Edward M. Cook

• The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English: Complete Edition (Penguin Classics) [Kindle Edition]

我将陆续推出《死海古卷》的学习笔记，如果我能坚持的话。

工欲善其事，必先利其器。

如果用mac学英语会事半功倍，我现在的学习方法是：

1. 安装《牛津英语辞典》OED，这是所有英语辞典之王，纸质版有20多卷，电子版有一张光盘，幸运的是借助bt，我们可以下载到。

2. 安装一个碎片信息整理软件，yojimbo是一个选择，当然未必是最好的选择。不过用起来十分爽利。

3. Let’s go.

我的方法是：

• 首先为yojimbo设定一个快捷键。我设定的是：⌥⌘z（无它，三个键挨着很方便）

具体设置方法如下：进入preference-keyboard.

• 进入英语媒体网站（我个人比较喜欢的是The Economist和New York Times）

选你不认识的单词，或者喜欢句子。输入⌥⌘z，然后这个单词就记录在Yojimbo里了。

• 日积月累，你的英文词汇量、优秀句子量就积少成多了。

Israel, Palestine and the United Nations Yes to Palestinian statehood Efforts to stop the Palestinians from winning statehood at the UN are misguided and self-defeating

Israel, Palestine and the United Nations: Yes to Palestinian statehood | The Economist

American and Israelite leaders are so short-sighted and stupid.

Anti Says: 《致欧盟》——波兰诗人托马斯·皮昂泰克

mranti:

发自Tomasz Piątek

亲爱的欧盟：

抱歉我的破英文，还有我在这门语言中犯下的语法错误。您知道，我是波兰人，波兰人就代表教育程度不高。我们波兰人很容易说好几门语言，但一门也不精通。我们必须学习外语但我们不喜欢，因为外语常常是我们敌人的语言。

亲爱的欧盟，我要请求您过来占领波兰。我要您统治波兰。您可以称之为侵略、占据或者您可以简单说买下波兰。我们生活在商业时代，所以也许买波兰现在是没问题了。

…

如果不幸被美国卫星砸中找谁理赔

科技的报复

New York Times: Journalist Is Detained in China for Article on Sex Slaves By ANDREW JACOBS

Original Link of the article

BEIJING — For a nation not yet inured to lurid and senseless crime, a report that a former civil servant in central China kept six women enslaved in an underground** bunker** — and that he killed two of them — was shocking enough.

But perhaps almost as disturbing, at least to some readers, was that the journalist who exposed the crime more than two weeks after the suspect’s arrest was detained by security agents who accused him of revealing state secrets.

After his release from questioning on Thursday, the reporter, Ji Xuguang, wrote an article that accused the authorities of trying to keep the public in the dark about a** heinous** crime that unfolded less than two miles from the city’s public security bureau.

“I was only thinking about how to make my story as accurate as possible and to satisfy the public’s right to know, but I soon discovered that I failed to address the most important issue — face,” wrote Mr. Ji, a reporter for Southern Metropolis Daily, one of the country’s most aggressively independent publications. “Before the truth becomes a state secret, the public and myself need answers.”

Still, much of the national media on Friday were mesmerized by the horrifying details of the case, which took place in the city of Luoyang, in Henan Province.

According to Mr. Ji’s account, the suspect, Li Hao, 34, kidnapped the women, ages 16 to 24, from the karaoke parlors where they worked and imprisoned them in a 215-square-foot dungeon he dug beneath a rented basement space. Over the course of two years, Mr. Li repeatedly forced the women to have sex with him, Mr. Ji said.

According to a police official who provided details to Mr. Ji, the suspect kept his captives perpetually starved so they would have little energy for escape, but he also gave them two computers on which they could “kill time” by watching movies and playing games. Mr. Li, who is married with an infant son, lived elsewhere in the city.

Mr. Li’s arrest came on Sept. 6, when one of the women escaped and found her way to the police.

Mr. Ji said the rescued women were still in police custody on suspicion that they had a hand in the murders of the two women.

In his posting on Friday, Mr. Ji said he stumbled upon the story this week after spending a few days in Luoyang to investigate the murder of a local television reporter. In his follow-up article, he said his questioners deemed the case a state secret because, he later learned, they feared that its revelation might tarnish Luoyang’s quest to become a “Civilized City” as part of a national competition.

Mia Li contributed research.

Search OED

inure

1.1 trans. To bring (a person, etc.) by use, habit, or continual exercise to a certain condition or state of mind, to the endurance of a certain condition, to the following of a certain kind of life, etc.; to accustom, habituate.

**lurid **

a : causing horror or revulsion : gruesome

b : melodramatic, sensational; also : shocking

bunker

c.4.c A military dug-out; a reinforced concrete shelter.

**heinous **

[a. F. haineux, in OF. haïnos, haïneus (12th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), f. haine hatred, f. ha-ïr to hate.]

1.1 Hateful, odious; highly criminal or wicked; infamous, atrocious: chiefly characterizing offences, crimes, sins, and those who commit them.

mesmerize

v.   施以催眠术,  迷住,  迷惑

parlor

1. a.B.I.2.a In a mansion, dwelling-house, town-hall, etc., orig. A smaller room apart from the great hall, for private conversation or conference (e.g. a banker’s parlour, the Mayor’s Parlour in a town-hall). Hence, in a private house, the ordinary sitting-room of the family, which, when more spacious and handsomely furnished, is usually called the drawing-room. Formerly often simply = ‘room’ or ‘chamber’, sometimes a bedchamber.

dungeon

2.2 A strong close cell; a dark subterranean place of confinement; a deep dark vault.