絕對

教對聯的老師道，對聯是茶餘飯後有趣的話題，並即場示範，在白板寫了一道上聯：

一輪明月

叫我們猜猜下聯看。同學們靜默半晌，老師施施然寫出下聯：

三級艷星

班上頓笑作一團，拍案叫絕。對得多麼工整，卻又那麼狡猾！

老師又謂，對聯歸根於中國人的思維模式：凡事講相對而非絕對。道德標準是先有父慈才有子孝，天地萬物又是陰陽相對，自《易經》已有之。不禁失笑，心想小弟正同時報了貴校的《易經》入門，可真是巧合之極。想到八卦，乾坤震巽離坎兌艮，確又真的是自成四對，暗暗為那皮毛的所謂融匯貫通而沾沾自喜了一會。

中國人有時真是聰明過頭，反被聰明累 -- 早熟地悟出了萬物互相制衡的道理，而過份順應自然，窒礙了科學的發展；文學上講究對仗，令文人窮畢生的精力雕琢造句，留下令世界驚艷的美文，卻走上八股之路。在相對的思維裏追求「絕對」 -- 令人叫絕的對仗 -- 這是自古以來中國人的命運，有時真叫人感到心疼，卻又怪不得誰。

Oxford? Cambridge

NIXON: We've sat in chairs opposite one another, talking for hours, it seems - days on end - and yet I've hardly gotten to know you. One of my people - ah - as part of the preparation of this interview - did a profile of you, and I'm sorry to say - I only got around to reading it tonight. There's some interesting stuff in there. The Methodist background, modest circumstances. Then off to a grand university. Full of richer, posher types. What was it? Oxford?

FROST: Cambridge.

NIXON: Did the snobs there look down on you too?

FROST: I ... I ...

NIXON: Of course they did. That's our tragedy, isn't it, Mr. Frost? No matter how high we get, they still look down at us ...

* * *

Not so much about the snobs but the fine distinction between Oxford and Cambridge...the correction by Frost in the film is so familiarly awkward that I question myself the need for it whenever I make one. And then I question myself why (I questioned myself). Ah I hate the feeling - such much ado about nothing - yet I can't help feeling that tinge of awkwardness.