1 - 阅读感悟
（1）跟林语堂学写作。
①中文写作喜欢用成语，或者是把长句拆成很多短句，读起来很有节奏感。林语堂的写作似乎也受中文底蕴的影响，长句往往会拆做拆分。如：
“There stood the Yellow Tower, a hundred feet high, on top of the East Gate, with flag poles fifty feet high below.”
长句拆短、倒装句、介词短语等技巧的运用，使文章读起来朗朗上口。
②在表达“何人在做何事时”，林语堂用到了不用的表达，值得学习。
Han Chi and Ouyang Shiu were dead. Fu Pi and Fan Chen were living in retirement.
SzemaKuang devoted himself to authorship, Chang Fangping gave himself to drink,
while Tungpo's own brother was wise enough to keep his mouth shut.
③林语堂写作时，善用画面感很强的动词，比如“He knew that his lines traveled fast to the capital”一句中的travel。
林语堂遣词造句很有讲究，比如“for the government was clever enough to open wine shops and amusement places right next to the loan bureaus.”一句中，用clever enough和right next to来表达感情。
此外，十三章对苏东坡名声地位的描写，与十四章苏东坡逮捕审判形成了鲜明的对比，正如末尾写到的：“It was because of his popularity and prestige that his arrest and trial became a national sensation.”
（2）了解到黄楼的命名的原因和金木水火土的文化。
Curiously,yellow stands for the earth and black stands for water, and the yellow earth is supposed to overcome the black water by its power of absorption. The name given the Yellow Tower was, therefore, symbolic of the power to resist water.
（3）文中还写到了一些十分有智慧的小人物，比如Miao Chungshien利用苏东坡发财的小故事。
2 - Words
（1）draft：这个词在文中多次出现。
搭配：draft sb ↔inalso draft sb into sth 抽调，选派。文中一首诗写道“ My sons are drafted."
（2）preposterous：
（形容词）completely unreasonable or silly荒唐的，荒谬绝伦的;SYN absurd
•The whole idea sounds absolutely preposterous! 整个想法听起来荒谬透顶！
（3）flog: 文中写的是“who had flogged prisoners to death”
（动词）1.to beat a person or animal with a whip or stick 鞭打，棒打〔人、动物〕:
•He was publicly flogged and humiliated.他当众受到鞭打和羞辱。
2.informalto sell something 出售，卖:
•I'm going to flog all my old video tapes.我准备把旧录像带都处理掉。
3.be flogging a dead horsespokento be wasting time or effort by trying to do something that is impossible 浪费时间，徒劳，白费劲
4.flog sth to death （BrE informal） to repeat a story or use an idea etc so often that people become bored with it令人厌烦地重复某事:
•They take a good idea and flog it to death.他们有了一个好主意就会唠叨个没完。
