人所想像中的神應該有的能力就是能跨越時空，知道過去，能預測未來。
所以，三度空間的人類，認為能跨越時間維度的四度空間的生物是神。二度空間的生物，會認為三度空間的生物也是神。
每個人在另一個維度都是「神」。
而孫悟空翻不出如來佛的手掌心是因為如來佛的維度大於孫悟空。
2023/05/17
2023/04/23
2022 讀(聽）福爾摩斯故事時的一些記錄
（2022.07.31）
福爾摩斯系列第二部小說，四簽名。
(1888某天)
Morstan 小姐來找福爾摩斯，說父親十年前從印度回到英國，約她在倫敦會面，後來父親卻失蹤了。父親在倫敦有個友人叫 Sholto ，但對方也說不知情。過三四年後，一個報紙廣告要她的地址，她回覆後，每年都收到一顆珍珠。父親的行李裡有張繪有地圖的紙條上有四個簽名，很慎重地收存著，但不知道有啥意義。
之後，就牽出 Sholto 的兩個雙胞胎兒子，珍珠的來源和寶箱。
Morstan 小姐的父親在倫敦時的確有去找 Sholto，但在爭論寶箱要怎麼處理時心臟病發。Sholto怕寶箱的事情曝光，沒有報警，私下和僕人把 Morstan 的遺體處理掉了。Sholto臨死前說出有寶箱的事情，而且有一半是屬於 Morstan 的，遺言交代將要將珠寶分給 Morstan小姐，說著說著突然看到窗外有張恐怖的臉，大叫之後就走了，沒能說出寶箱的下落。
Sholto 曾經從寶箱中拿出一串珍珠項鍊，珍珠碩大珍貴。雙胞胎中比較小的
的雙胞胎兒子意見不合，大的不想分，小的小分，
Sholto 的大兒子遭謀殺，寶箱失竊。福爾摩斯抽絲剝繭一路追蹤嫌疑犯，在泰晤士河上上演兩艘快艇驚險刺激的追逐賽後，終於抓到主嫌 Jonathan Small 。
Jonathan Small 說這寶箱裡的珠寶是他跟三名印度人共享的，他們有一起簽名立誓。結果被 Sholto 騙走，經過多年的追蹤才總算找回寶箱。
華生最後跟 Morstan 小姐結婚。
Jonathan Small 在印度的故事又牽扯到印度19世紀中葉反英國殖民的暴動。還有東印度公司，當時英國在印度種植大量罌粟，為了賣鴉片，也跟中國發生鴉片戰爭，之後又有香港割讓等事。
讀福爾摩斯的的好處跟挑戰是他會以當時的時事為背景，認真查的話，可以學到很多十九世紀的事情。
比方說第一本小說血字的研究的背景是美國十九世紀初摩門教的西部大遷徙，到鹽湖城的建立，到摩門教徒的多妻制引發的衝突等等。
(2022.06.01)
讀 the scarlet letter 時記下來的
讀福爾摩斯還能學到摩門教派的由來。
剛剛看到 Mormons, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith, Zion, Nauvoo, Illinois 就查了一下摩門教相關的 wiki，都是真有其事其人。Brigham Young 於19世紀中率領教徒從伊利諾州到現在猶它州的地方創立鹽湖城，還是首任的猶它領地領主（當時還沒有州）。也算是美國西部大開發的重要人物。
這也是為什麼台灣的摩門教徒幾乎都是從猶它州來的原因。
最近在讀福爾摩斯，讀完一個段落之後，有時會對照一下日文版的，日文版看兩個版本，一個版本相對比較精簡，另一個就翻得很冗長。
(2022.06.22)
The new annotated Sherlock Holmes. 福爾摩斯新註解版。
美國亞馬遜下單不到一個禮拜就到貨。很多照片，插畫跟注釋，注釋搞不好都比原文多了。
The Man with the Twisted Lip (歪嘴男)
福爾摩斯有個故事 The Man with the Twisted Lip (歪嘴男) 很有趣。
有個婦人跑去找福爾摩斯說她老公可能被謀殺了。
她老公叫 Neville, 幾年前出現在倫敦的市郊，看起來很有錢，在那邊置產，然後跟她結婚。她只知道她老公在倫敦市區有做生意，做什麼不清楚，反正他每天就到市區工作會準時回家
有一天，她有事到市區，突然看到她老公在一間鴉片屋二樓的窗戶旁，跟她揮手，然後好像被拉走一樣不見了。她想衝上樓，被門房擋住，找警察上去後，樓上只有一個長相醜陋骯髒的乞丐。還有一件她老公的外套，口袋裡有幾百枚一塊兩塊的零錢。但人就不見了。後來警方就把那個骯髒的乞丐抓進牢裡。
她想要找福爾摩斯看看能不能找回她老公。福爾摩斯初步看覺得她老公有可能被謀殺丟進鴉片房旁邊的河裡了，外套會放零錢可能是乞丐為了滅跡放零錢進去要把外套丟進河裡，但來不及丟，所以被發現。
不過過兩天她跟福爾摩斯說，她收到 Neville 的信，要她放心，事情解決後就會回去。福爾摩斯認為那封信可能是遇害當天寫，之後晚送到的。不過他也從頭再看看那案子，現場只有一個乞丐最有嫌疑，語焉不詳，要說 Neville 被謀殺似乎也很難這樣認定。
然後他又經過一夜長考。隔天就跟華生跑去牢中去看那個乞丐，然後，他帶了一個超大的海綿，趁著那個乞丐在睡覺的時候，拿海綿在他臉上擦一擦，原來那乞丐就是 Neville 化妝的！
Neveille 被抓包後，只好認了，他說，他本來是一個記者，有次長官要他查一下當乞丐可以要到多少錢，因為他以前當過演員，很懂得化妝，他就假扮成乞丐在倫敦街頭乞討。沒想到，當乞丐賺的錢竟然比他當記者還要多。所以後來他決定辭掉記者的工作，當專業的乞丐，而且他化妝術好，又很會演，比一般乞丐要的前還多。他在市區鴉片房樓上租房子，給房東不錯的分紅幫他保密，就這樣每天在倫敦市區裝乞丐賺錢。後來賺太多錢，就在市郊置產成家。那一天因為突然看到他老婆在街上，怕被揭穿，來不及跑之下，只好趕快裝回乞丐被抓，想說過陣子就可以回去了。
看來當乞丐致富這種事也不是現代才有的都市傳說。
2022/09/25
不用安裝 anaconda, 單獨安裝 Jupyter Notebook 與設定 Jupyter Notebook 啟始路徑的方法
分享不用安裝 anaconda, 個別安裝 Jupyter Notebook 的方法
1. 到 Python 官網下載 Python安裝程式, 安裝時也要把 Python 路徑加入環境變數
2. 打開命令提示環境 (cmd.exe)
3. 執行 python -m pip install notebook
就可以安裝 jupyter notebook
4. 安裝完後 命令模式下執行 jupyter notebook 就可以了
另外分享如何設定 jupyter notebook 開啟時的預設目錄
1. 執行 jupyter notebook --generate-config
會產生設定檔 jupyter_notebook_config.py
2. 修改設定檔, 找 # c.NotebookApp.notebook_dir = ''
comment 拿掉, 把路徑設定進去
如改成
c.NotebookApp.notebook_dir = r'c:\python\work'
儲存後重新執行 jupyter notebook
這樣 Jupyter notebook 開啟預設目錄就會切換到 c:\python\work 下了
2022/04/23
A Small, Good Thing (1983) by Raymond Carver
(2022.4.23 讀完)
會知道這個故事是前陣子在 MyDearTeacher 尋找課程的時候看到一位名叫 Thomas 的老師開了一堂短篇故事課，然後他附上了這篇故事的連結 http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/sgthing.html
不過因為時間跟日文課衝堂就沒有報，後來課也沒開成。MyDearTeacher這一類比較文學類的課程似乎很難開成，之前有去上過兩堂時事討論課，the economist, global politics，覺得就是去唬爛的，就沒有想上了，但文學文化課又很難成，就沒再去了。這是題外話。
花了幾天想到時就讀一下把它看完，整篇將近一萬字，不是網頁說的五千字。趁著剛讀完記憶猶新寫一下，免得忘記。
＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝
一名母親 Ann 週六下午去蛋糕店為兒子 Scotty 訂了一個巧克力生日蛋糕，Scotty 週一就要滿八歲了，但是週一一早 Scotty 上學途中與同學遊玩時卻被車撞了，Scotty被撞倒後還是有站起來，也沒有哭，同學問他還好吧他也沒說，於是同學就去學校，Scotty就走回家，回到家後跟 Ann 說被車撞了後沒多久就昏倒了。
Ann 很慌地趕緊打給老公 Howard，Howard 叫了救護車，他也匆匆離開辦公室趕往醫院。
醫生 Francis 初步診斷說只是沉睡，不算昏迷，但 Scotty 一直沒有醒。兩夫婦在醫院守著 Scotty 一整天，晚上 11點 Howard 先回家一趟，接到一通電話說有個 16塊（美元）的蛋糕，但 Howard 搞不清楚，就掛了電話。後來又接到一通無聲電話。
回到醫院，週二一整天，只見護理人員跑來跑去，但 Scotty 就是沒有醒。醫生說要會診，照更多的 X光，做檢查，也說可能是昏迷。
夫妻倆守著 Scotty，無能為力。
晚上 Howard 要 Ann 先回去沖洗休息一下再來，也餵餵狗 Slug，她在找電梯時走進了一間等候室，遇到一個黑人家庭，一走進去所有人都跑過來問 Franklin 怎麼樣了，他們把她當作護士了，Ann 說自己的兒子被車撞了現在躺在醫院，黑人家庭的男主人說他的兒子 Franklin 無緣無故被砍了現在在手術。兩邊同樣都是焦急等待的心情。
Ann 回到家，梳洗餵狗休息，五點左右接到一通電話，「是有關 Scotty 的事？妳忘了嗎？」，然後就掛斷了。
Ann 以為是醫院打來的，立刻打到醫院找 Howard，Howard 說沒事，Scotty 還是一樣。
Ann 在週三清晨七點左右回到醫院，等候室裡的黑人一家人已經離開了，Ann 在護理站問了護士，昨晚有個叫做 Franklin 的黑人男孩手術的狀況，護士回說手術失敗走了。
回到病房，Howard 說 Francis 醫生剛有來，還有另一名神經科的醫生一起來，可能要動手術。這時候 Scotty 突然眼睛張開，看著他們，卻好像認不出他們似的，兩人跑到旁邊， Howard 緊緊抓著 Scotty 的手， Ann 親著 Scotty 的額頭，之後 Scotty 嚎叫著，叫著叫著就走了。
醫生希望能夠解剖找死因。
Ann 與 Howard 回到家，又再度接到無聲電話，他們以為是開車撞死 Scotty 的人，很生氣。最後 Ann 才想到可能是麵包師傅。
Ann 很生氣的說要殺了他。
他們兩人晚上開車到蛋糕店，到後門敲門麵包師傅才開門，一見面 Ann 就很生氣地說我要殺了你，麵包師傅被她的氣場嚇到，問她要把蛋糕拿回去嗎？但是放太久應該已經不能吃了，他可以退她錢。她說她兒子死了，吃不到了，他這樣一直騷擾很過份之類的。
麵包師傅知道後感到很抱歉，邀他們倆個坐下，請他們倆個吃肉桂捲，咖啡，Ann 跟 Howard 也好幾天沒好好吃東西，也好好地享用了麵包師傅的食物。
他說他只是一個人，很孤獨，不知道他們這種狀況，只能想像失去親人的痛苦，他自己幫人家做了無數個蛋糕，但都是別人的節日。他很抱歉他們遇到這種狀況，三個人就這樣徹夜在麵包店裡聊天，聊著孤寂，聊著失去的親人，到天亮都不想離開。
=====================
這篇文章的用字平實，沒有什麼艱深的文字句子，但傳達的感情卻很真實，場景的描述也很寫實。可以感受到父母在醫院裡的無奈，面對醫生，想問又問不到，醫生剛開始只說很正常，但小孩一直不醒他們也只能乾著急。在醫院裡，遇到黑人一家，同在醫院，同病相憐。在麵包店裡，最後與孤獨的麵包師傅徹夜長談，也要面對失去兒子的孤獨吧。
Google 找了作者 Raymond Carver 的資料，50歲就過世了，很可惜，曾經有酗酒的紀錄，但後來有戒掉。他另一篇文章 Where I'm calling from 有被 John Updike 收錄到 The Best American Short Stories of the Century 裡頭。有空再拜讀了。
Raymond Carver wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Carver
2022/04/15
The Necklace 項鍊
(2022.4.9)
The Necklace 項鍊 (1884, Guy de Maupassant 莫泊桑)
＊＊＊
[女主角名字叫 Mathilde Loisel （瑪蒂爾德。羅塞爾）。她的丈夫沒有名字，就只是 Monsieur Loisel （羅塞爾先生）。女主角的有錢朋友叫 Jeanne Forestier ( Madame Forestier 芙葉琪女士）]
＊＊＊
她長相甜美，頗有姿色，卻投錯胎，落入平凡的家庭中，沒有錢，沒有嫁妝，沒有知名度，無法攀上枝頭變鳳凰，只能嫁給教育部的一個小官員。
Guy de Maupassant
The Necklace
She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as if by an error of fate, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of becoming known, understood, loved or wedded by a man of wealth and distinction; and so she let herself be married to a minor official at the Ministry of Education.
She dressed plainly because she had never been able to afford anything better, but she was as unhappy as if she had once been wealthy. Women don't belong to a caste or class; their beauty, grace, and natural charm take the place of birth and family. Natural delicacy, instinctive elegance and a quick wit determine their place in society, and make the daughters of commoners the equals of the very finest ladies.
She suffered endlessly, feeling she was entitled to all the delicacies and luxuries of life. She suffered because of the poorness of her house as she looked at the dirty walls, the worn-out chairs and the ugly curtains. All these things that another woman of her class would not even have noticed, tormented her and made her resentful. The sight of the little Brenton girl who did her housework filled her with terrible regrets and hopeless fantasies. She dreamed of silent antechambers hung with Oriental tapestries, lit from above by torches in bronze holders, while two tall footmen in knee-length breeches napped in huge armchairs, sleepy from the stove's oppressive warmth. She dreamed of vast living rooms furnished in rare old silks, elegant furniture loaded with priceless ornaments, and inviting smaller rooms, perfumed, made for afternoon chats with close friends - famous, sought after men, who all women envy and desire.
When she sat down to dinner at a round table covered with a three-day-old cloth opposite her husband who, lifting the lid off the soup, shouted excitedly, "Ah! Beef stew! What could be better," she dreamed of fine dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestries which peopled the walls with figures from another time and strange birds in fairy forests; she dreamed of delicious dishes served on wonderful plates, of whispered gallantries listened to with an inscrutable smile as one ate the pink flesh of a trout or the wings of a quail.
She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing; and these were the only things she loved. She felt she was made for them alone. She wanted so much to charm, to be envied, to be desired and sought after.
She had a rich friend, a former schoolmate at the convent, whom she no longer wanted to visit because she suffered so much when she came home. For whole days afterwards she would weep with sorrow, regret, despair and misery.
*
One evening her husband came home with an air of triumph, holding a large envelope in his hand.
"Look," he said, "here's something for you."
She tore open the paper and drew out a card, on which was printed the words:
"The Minister of Education and Mme. Georges Rampouneau request the pleasure of M. and Mme. Loisel's company at the Ministry, on the evening of Monday January 18th."
Instead of being delighted, as her husband had hoped, she threw the invitation on the table resentfully, and muttered:
"What do you want me to do with that?"
"But, my dear, I thought you would be pleased. You never go out, and it will be such a lovely occasion! I had awful trouble getting it. Every one wants to go; it is very exclusive, and they're not giving many invitations to clerks. The whole ministry will be there."
She stared at him angrily, and said, impatiently:
"And what do you expect me to wear if I go?"
He hadn't thought of that. He stammered:
"Why, the dress you go to the theatre in. It seems very nice to me ..."
He stopped, stunned, distressed to see his wife crying. Two large tears ran slowly from the corners of her eyes towards the corners of her mouth. He stuttered:
"What's the matter? What's the matter?"
With great effort she overcame her grief and replied in a calm voice, as she wiped her wet cheeks:
"Nothing. Only I have no dress and so I can't go to this party. Give your invitation to a friend whose wife has better clothes than I do."
He was distraught, but tried again:
"Let's see, Mathilde. How much would a suitable dress cost, one which you could use again on other occasions, something very simple?"
She thought for a moment, computing the cost, and also wondering what amount she could ask for without an immediate refusal and an alarmed exclamation from the thrifty clerk.
At last she answered hesitantly:
"I don't know exactly, but I think I could do it with four hundred francs."
He turned a little pale, because he had been saving that exact amount to buy a gun and treat himself to a hunting trip the following summer, in the country near Nanterre, with a few friends who went lark-shooting there on Sundays.
However, he said:
"Very well, I can give you four hundred francs. But try and get a really beautiful dress."
*
The day of the party drew near, and Madame Loisel seemed sad, restless, anxious. Her dress was ready, however. One evening her husband said to her:
"What's the matter? You've been acting strange these last three days."
She replied: "I'm upset that I have no jewels, not a single stone to wear. I will look cheap. I would almost rather not go to the party."
"You could wear flowers, " he said, "They are very fashionable at this time of year. For ten francs you could get two or three magnificent roses."
She was not convinced.
"No; there is nothing more humiliating than looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women."
"How stupid you are!" her husband cried. "Go and see your friend Madame Forestier and ask her to lend you some jewels. You know her well enough for that."
She uttered a cry of joy.
"Of course. I had not thought of that."
The next day she went to her friend's house and told her of her distress.
Madame Forestier went to her mirrored wardrobe, took out a large box, brought it back, opened it, and said to Madame Loisel:
"Choose, my dear."
First she saw some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then a gold Venetian cross set with precious stones, of exquisite craftsmanship. She tried on the jewelry in the mirror, hesitated, could not bear to part with them, to give them back. She kept asking:
"You have nothing else?"
"Why, yes. But I don't know what you like."
Suddenly she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb diamond necklace, and her heart began to beat with uncontrolled desire. Her hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it around her neck, over her high-necked dress, and stood lost in ecstasy as she looked at herself.
Then she asked anxiously, hesitating:
"Would you lend me this, just this?"
"Why, yes, of course."
She threw her arms around her friend's neck, embraced her rapturously, then fled with her treasure.
*
The day of the party arrived. Madame Loisel was a success. She was prettier than all the other women, elegant, gracious, smiling, and full of joy. All the men stared at her, asked her name, tried to be introduced. All the cabinet officials wanted to waltz with her. The minister noticed her.
She danced wildly, with passion, drunk on pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness, made up of all this respect, all this admiration, all these awakened desires, of that sense of triumph that is so sweet to a woman's heart.
She left at about four o'clock in the morning. Her husband had been dozing since midnight in a little deserted anteroom with three other gentlemen whose wives were having a good time.
He threw over her shoulders the clothes he had brought for her to go outside in, the modest clothes of an ordinary life, whose poverty contrasted sharply with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this and wanted to run away, so she wouldn't be noticed by the other women who were wrapping themselves in expensive furs.
Loisel held her back.
"Wait a moment, you'll catch a cold outside. I'll go and find a cab."
But she would not listen to him, and ran down the stairs. When they were finally in the street, they could not find a cab, and began to look for one, shouting at the cabmen they saw passing in the distance.
They walked down toward the Seine in despair, shivering with cold. At last they found on the quay one of those old night cabs that one sees in Paris only after dark, as if they were ashamed to show their shabbiness during the day.
They were dropped off at their door in the Rue des Martyrs, and sadly walked up the steps to their apartment. It was all over, for her. And he was remembering that he had to be back at his office at ten o'clock.
In front of the mirror, she took off the clothes around her shoulders, taking a final look at herself in all her glory. But suddenly she uttered a cry. She no longer had the necklace round her neck!
"What is the matter?" asked her husband, already half undressed.
She turned towards him, panic-stricken.
"I have ... I have ... I no longer have Madame Forestier's necklace."
He stood up, distraught.
"What! ... how! ... That's impossible!"
They looked in the folds of her dress, in the folds of her cloak, in her pockets, everywhere. But they could not find it.
"Are you sure you still had it on when you left the ball?" he asked.
"Yes. I touched it in the hall at the Ministry."
"But if you had lost it in the street we would have heard it fall. It must be in the cab."
"Yes. That's probably it. Did you take his number?"
"No. And you, didn't you notice it?"
"No."
They stared at each other, stunned. At last Loisel put his clothes on again.
"I'm going back," he said, "over the whole route we walked, see if I can find it."
He left. She remained in her ball dress all evening, without the strength to go to bed, sitting on a chair, with no fire, her mind blank.
Her husband returned at about seven o'clock. He had found nothing.
He went to the police, to the newspapers to offer a reward, to the cab companies, everywhere the tiniest glimmer of hope led him.
She waited all day, in the same state of blank despair from before this frightful disaster.
Loisel returned in the evening, a hollow, pale figure; he had found nothing.
"You must write to your friend," he said, "tell her you have broken the clasp of her necklace and that you are having it mended. It will give us time to look some more."
She wrote as he dictated.
*
At the end of one week they had lost all hope.
And Loisel, who had aged five years, declared:
"We must consider how to replace the jewel."
The next day they took the box which had held it, and went to the jeweler whose name they found inside. He consulted his books.
"It was not I, madame, who sold the necklace; I must simply have supplied the case."
And so they went from jeweler to jeweler, looking for an necklace like the other one, consulting their memories, both sick with grief and anguish.
In a shop at the Palais Royal, they found a string of diamonds which seemed to be exactly what they were looking for. It was worth forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six thousand.
So they begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days. And they made an arrangement that he would take it back for thirty-four thousand francs if the other necklace was found before the end of February.
Loisel had eighteen thousand francs which his father had left him. He would borrow the rest.
And he did borrow, asking for a thousand francs from one man, five hundred from another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes, made ruinous agreements, dealt with usurers, with every type of money-lender. He compromised the rest of his life, risked signing notes without knowing if he could ever honor them, and, terrified by the anguish still to come, by the black misery about to fall on him, by the prospect of every physical privation and every moral torture he was about to suffer, he went to get the new necklace, and laid down on the jeweler's counter thirty-six thousand francs.
When Madame Loisel took the necklace back, Madame Forestier said coldly:
"You should have returned it sooner, I might have needed it."
To the relief of her friend, she did not open the case. If she had detected the substitution, what would she have thought? What would she have said? Would she have taken her friend for a thief?
*
From then on, Madame Loisel knew the horrible life of the very poor. But she played her part heroically. The dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their maid; they changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof.
She came to know the drudgery of housework, the odious labors of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, staining her rosy nails on greasy pots and the bottoms of pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and the dishcloths, which she hung to dry on a line; she carried the garbage down to the street every morning, and carried up the water, stopping at each landing to catch her breath. And, dressed like a commoner, she went to the fruiterer's, the grocer's, the butcher's, her basket on her arm, bargaining, insulted, fighting over every miserable sou.
Each month they had to pay some notes, renew others, get more time.
Her husband worked every evening, doing accounts for a tradesman, and often, late into the night, he sat copying a manuscript at five sous a page.
And this life lasted ten years.
At the end of ten years they had paid off everything, everything, at usurer's rates and with the accumulations of compound interest.
Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become strong, hard and rough like all women of impoverished households. With hair half combed, with skirts awry, and reddened hands, she talked loudly as she washed the floor with great swishes of water. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down near the window and thought of that evening at the ball so long ago, when she had been so beautiful and so admired.
What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows, who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed for one to be ruined or saved!
*
One Sunday, as she was walking in the Champs Élysées to refresh herself after the week's work, suddenly she saw a woman walking with a child. It was Madame Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming.
Madame Loisel felt emotional. Should she speak to her? Yes, of course. And now that she had paid, she would tell her all. Why not?
She went up to her.
"Good morning, Jeanne."
The other, astonished to be addressed so familiarly by this common woman, did not recognize her. She stammered:
"But - madame - I don't know. You must have made a mistake."
"No, I am Mathilde Loisel."
Her friend uttered a cry.
"Oh! ... my poor Mathilde, how you've changed! ..."
"Yes, I have had some hard times since I last saw you, and many miseries ... and all because of you! ..."
"Me? How can that be?"
"You remember that diamond necklace that you lent me to wear to the Ministry party?"
"Yes. Well?"
"Well, I lost it."
"What do you mean? You brought it back."
"I brought you back another exactly like it. And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. It wasn't easy for us, we had very little. But at last it is over, and I am very glad."
Madame Forestier was stunned.
"You say that you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?"
"Yes; you didn't notice then? They were very similar."
And she smiled with proud and innocent pleasure.
Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took both her hands.
"Oh, my poor Mathilde! Mine was an imitation! It was worth five hundred francs at most! ..."
2022/04/07
The Lady, or the Tiger? 是美女還是老虎?
(2022/04/06) 很有趣的一個小故事
The Lady, or the Tiger? (1882, Frank R. Stockton )
是美女還是老虎?
很久以前，有個有點野蠻的國王，常常會有一些大膽又有創意的想法，而且總能實現。
在這個國度裡，國王建造了一個競技場，這個競技場的目的主要是為了讓罪犯能夠受到公平的審判。
當王國中出現重大案件，國王會裁定一個日期讓罪犯在競技場中接受審判，在罪犯的眼前，有兩扇門讓他選擇。
一扇門一開啟，裡頭會有凶猛的老虎衝出來，立刻將罪犯咬死。
另一扇門，會有宮廷幫罪犯精挑細選的女子走出來，然後牧師，唱詩班馬上登場，在國王與全國人民的祝福下當眾結為夫妻，在花童的引領下無罪釋放回家，無論犯人已婚與否都無法拒絕。
國王認為這樣的審判很公平公正又公開，犯人最終的結果完全是由命運來裁定，又完全掌握在犯人手中，事先不會有任何人知道門裡會走出老虎或美女。而全國人民也喜歡這樣的審判方式。
國王有個女兒，才色出眾，王公貴族追求者絡繹不絕，但，她卻瘋狂愛上了一位帥氣英勇的平民男子，這段地下戀情持續了幾個月，還是讓國王發現了。國王一怒之下決定讓這男子接受競技場的審判。
宮廷受命後，找來全國最凶猛的老虎，也為他精心挑選了一名年輕貌美可以匹配他的女子。
公主知道後很擔心，用盡金錢與各種手段，終於打探到哪一扇門會走出老虎。哪一扇門會走出女子。不過她也打探到那名女子是誰，那是一位王廷中最漂亮的宮女，她曾經見過這宮女與男子眉來眼去，也曾經見過他們短暫交談，也許沒談什麼，但公主就是無法接受，她恨死這宮女了。
審判日到了，國王與公主坐在觀賞台上，男子走進競技場，場上的民眾見到他長得如此英俊挺拔也是驚呼不斷。男子向國王與公主行禮，場上所有的民眾都直盯著男子，而男子則是緊盯著公主，他知道，公主一定有辦法知道哪一扇門能夠救他。公主悄悄地用右手快速比了一下，「右邊」。
男子一知道後，馬上轉身去開啟右邊那一扇門，請問，從門後走出來的，會是猛虎還是美女呢？
想想，如果你是公主，最後做出的決定會是什麼？
要知道，雖然公主只是快速地比向右邊，對她而言卻是個許多輾轉難眠的夜晚內心煎熬後的結果。
男子如果被咬死了，未來要承受多少的夢魘回想男子在她眼前被猛虎撕裂的恐怖畫面。
如果男子就在她眼前當眾和那宮女成親，對她而言又是何等的失敗和恥辱。
從右邊那扇門走出來的，會是美女，還是猛虎呢？
（ The Lady Or The Tiger? by Frank R. Stockton ）
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