New york Times, September 3, 2009

Author Alexis mainland

Middle-aged women in black sweaters have been standing like this: their feet are shoulder-width apart, their arms are slightly bent, their palms are gently held, their muscles are relaxed, but they are also alert.

She is not preparing for the Taekwondo competition, but among the tens of thousands of people in new york, Qian Qian, the daily subway commuting drama is like a war-the D train of the night shift has been whistling towards Brooklyn, and people are crowded in the carriages to read carefully.

"I'm from new york," Robin Kornhaber, a 54-year-old woman, told reporters simply. "I can do anything when I take the subway."

Reading in the subway is a tradition of urban culture in new york. For Ms. Cohen Harper who lives in Park Slope but works on the Upper East Side, when she takes the subway, she can read many beautifully bound news newspapers. This is true for girls who often turn over magazines, actors who recite lines, company employees who plan plans, and immigrants who have just adapted to the environment. In today's new york, a few crumpled newspapers may not be the highlight of the city, but since the subway canceled the network and cell phone signals, taking the subway has become a rare time to relax in a fast-paced busy city. Therefore, everyone spends this time reading.

People can't change their reading habits even if they don't occupy seats in the subway, crowd into a sea of strangers, or even listen to someone playing the organ, throwing coins into the coin box, or stumbling home after drinking with friends.

Some people can read all the articles boasting about urban and rural areas in People magazine in new york before they arrive at the subway station. Some people use this time to read classic works carefully, and some people carry two novels with them, so they do nothing after reading the first one on the slow sixth route. A lawyer in Brooklyn classified the books read by subway passengers in the first two months, and she put the results on her blog. A student of "Metro Reading Club" and new york New College spent the whole summer vacation distributing more than 600 books to passengers, and passed on his passion for reading to more people.

Others look at readers in the subway and imagine the stories they are reading. In the subway line 2, a man in a formal suit is reading "Lasta Shixue Level 3 Italian". Maybe he will visit his fiancee's parents. 8 1 Is the woman reading children's novels in the street a lesson preparation teacher? Most people just guess, but I spent 12 hours shuttling between four subway stations to find out what they are reading and why they like reading.

Bob Edersen, a 46-year-old patent lawyer, is studying Italian. He has no definite travel plans, but he is bent on going far away. "I will go to Italy one day, so I want to learn Italian now." He told reporters.

What about this woman who is watching Glass City? Does she think of drooling demons and handsome wizards? Kimberly Nessel, a 26-year-old dog walker with a degree in trial psychology, told us that when she worked in a bookstore, she was fascinated by the dark plots in science fiction.

Just browsing

135 3rd street subway at 9: 30 a.m.

A blue bag is full of management information and documents of medical institutions, but Deborah Hairston, who works in the Cancer Center of Columbia Christian Hospital in new york, has been reading the shopping guide sent to her by the store every week.

"Sometimes I find what I want to buy, but most of the time, I just browse." As she spoke, she turned over a page introducing hanging beads sweaters. "I don't want to watch those depressing news, because I usually have too much contact."

Read a page every day.

96th Street Subway Line 2, 65438+ 00: 00 am

In order to understand the 2,765,438+065,438+0 pages of the Jewish classic Tamoud, many apprentices insist on reading one page every day, which helps readers find their own study partners. Harry and David are the Tseng brothers who live in Fort Washington. They have been reading Tamoud. On the way from home to work in the West Outer Ring Road, they are all studying Jewish classics.

Wednesday is my brother Harry Zeng's day off. My brother is 28 years old and runs a small Jewish restaurant called Mike's Bar on West 72nd Street. Every Wednesday, Harry Tseng will temporarily put down the Talmud and study the articles in The New York Times's diet edition.

"Besides the Talmud, I also study this," he told reporters, as he spoke, stuffing a Babylon book with a thick leather cover into a delivery bag for reading next time. "It's appropriate to read this book when taking the subway."

My brother David 19 years old. He is also studying Islam, but he is helping his brother this summer. He is sitting beside him, reading an English translation paper about Aramaic. "I watch Tamoud in the subway every day," he said. "Wednesday is no exception."

Busy work

23rd Street 1 Subway 65438+ 02: 30 am.

Donalay Thomas likes to open up a private space for himself after his busy work, whether in a crowded crowd or in an empty carriage. Thomas hung his headphones and listened to K'Jon's On the Sea. On his knee was a thick new book by Eric Jerome Dickey, Midnight of Resurrection. He read it with his head down and ignored all the noise.

"I often read books while listening to music. Music can make me quickly integrate into the story. " Miss Thomas, 2 1 year old, told reporters. Engaged in a variety of occupations, she is on her way from Ajiwu, New Jersey to West Fourth Street, and will take part in a skateboarding competition in the afternoon. "When I was studying, I felt like a character in the story."

But she won't be obsessed with the story and forget the passengers around her. "I will talk to the passengers around me about the books we all like." Thomas said.

Then she turned to a lady in the aisle and said, "You are almost at the station." I can see that she is also paying attention to things around her.

Subway stage

42nd Street No.2 Subway 65438+ 0:30 pm

If every restaurant in new york employs an actor, there must be at least two people on each subway, whether it's auditioning or dreaming of acting.

Rachel, a 25-year-old actress, thinks wearing sunglasses can help her get into the role. She came by train from Los Angeles to audition for various actors. She is going to audition for the role of Sosa in the TV series "Team A" filmed in the 1980s, which was adapted into a movie on 20 10. "Susa is an assistant to the Secretary of Defense," she explained to reporters. "I am trying to experience this role. She is sexy, but she is a government official. "

In the subway corridor, james wright, 3 1 year-old, wears a white T-shirt and a black coat and sits on the armrest. With the award-winning masterpiece Death of a Salesman by the late playwright Arthur Miller in his hand, he is heading to the cast of As the World Turns and is absorbed in reading. It is his dream to play Biff, and he is concentrating on warming up for the audition.

A few minutes later, actress Angelica Ayala began to recite lines and gestures by herself. This 45-year-old multi-personality woman doesn't feel inappropriate at all in the subway. "I just do what I have to do," she said. "Others may cast strange eyes, but I have to rehearse." Her play Peccatoribus has been staged at the Prius Theatre in the Bronx.

"This is a story that reflects people's self-struggle," she told reporters.

Use this time to read, write and write.

59th Street 19 Subway 4: 30 p.m.

Alicia Varas, who took the early subway home, just finished reading nimrod Liput, a collection of short stories by Egyptian writer Etgar Keret. Her home is in the west outer ring. Villars opened her diary, which was full of her impressions of new york all summer.

"I am usually used to writing unforgettable things every day," she said. "I will write down all the good places I have been to and the strangers I saw in the subway."

In this simple notebook, she also recorded the guitar chords she copied from the New York Public Library.

Villars, 2 1 year-old, is a student at Grinnell College in Iowa. She worked as an intern at the Queen's Library Health Medicine Joint Center this summer. She said that she especially liked reading and writing when she took the subway.

"This time it's really me, there is no heavy task, it's easy." She thinks so. "Although I am surrounded by strangers, they don't care."

Little readers in the subway

42nd Street, 2 nd Road, 5 p.m.

Several campers aged 5 to 8 from Tremont United Methodist Church looked exhausted. They have been busy with various activities since 7: 30 in the morning, during which they also visited the new york Science and Technology Museum in Queens.

The children stood on the platform of Times Square, planning how to grab seats. If there are few seats, whoever occupies them will sit. The two little girls held hands and rested on their heads for a few minutes.

The train pulled into 42nd Street station, and Yue Se Groia, the coach who had organized six camping trips, greeted the students and told them, "Everybody get your books ready." At that time, the students took out all kinds of books from their schoolbags-Jigger and Magg, a rose, a bridge and a wild black horse, the child who invented the popsicle. ...

The church stipulates that if a camper occupies a seat in the subway, he must sit down and read. Campers bring a book from the church library or home every day to train their reading speed in a short time. No matter where they are, they must read for more than 20 minutes, and then write down their reading progress in their diaries.

"Doing this will allow children to concentrate on reading while taking the subway, and it will also help improve their reading ability." Gloria, a 20-year-old teacher, told us this.

In the subway car, children who haven't found their seats are also reading. Christopher, an eight-year-old boy, kept his center of gravity with his feet wrapped around the tie rod, and watched with relish with Time Together in his hand. Steven, who was seven or eight years old, took Mr. F. Groia in one hand and opened 50 Little Things Children Can Save the Earth in the other, reading with great interest.

Eight-year-old Larenda sat between two men and read a newspaper, pointing to every sentence on the fourth page of Mary Ann's Rescue, one of the series of nanny clubs. She looked up and answered our interview very briefly. "A lot of homework." She said. "But it's fun." Then he lowered his head and read a book.

Join a book club

Grand Avenue Line 4 5: 45 p.m.

Passengers may not have noticed that Carlton Clark in the crowd has been disturbed by the bustling crowd around him and is about to collapse.

He carries a bag with the logo of an accounting company on his shoulder and a stack of papers in his left hand, giving the impression that he is taking his work home.

In fact, the sheet piling in his hand is the first three chapters of J D Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, which Clark downloaded and printed from the company's book club. This club meets once a week, and each meeting will become a literary criticism meeting for him and his colleagues.

"I can only read books during this time, but I also want to see where the next stop is and whether it will arrive at the station." The train passed the Manhattan Bridge and suddenly tilted. He grabbed the handrail and kept his center of gravity.

In recent months, members of the company's book club have been reading the first two books of Bindemann's Maus series. "These two novels are vivid and unusual to read." Clark told reporters. "I have never seen such a unique genre."

When it comes to The Catcher in the Rye, Clark can't remember whether he has read it before. "I may have read it at school, but now I feel different." He replied to the reporter, "I definitely didn't read this novel when I took the subway before."

Keep quiet in trouble

Queens Plaza Line 7 6: 00 p.m.15

On the train to Jackson Heights, Penny Ma meditated alone.

In the past two years, Mapani has been running between the Queen and the fashion district, spending a lot of time designing her own beaded clothing. She has been reading the six-volume Buddhist classic Lotus Wisdom Sutra. On this warm Wednesday night, she picked up the last volume of Buddhist classics in the subway.

68-year-old Mapani is Korean. She came to America from Thailand on 198 1. Her accent is mixed with strong dialects. The purpose of her reading is simple. According to her words, "read more books to make yourself more tolerant and learn English better."

"I work hard every day," she added, meditating on the integration of secular complexity and spiritual world. "Let go of other thoughts and live a good day. I don't want to waste time. "

1945 Why did Chiang Kai-shek give up recovering Hong Kong after Japan surrendered?

Author: anonymous article source: original hits on this site: 165 update time: 2009-8- 17

China's recovery of Hong Kong is a matter of course.

On August 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender. On the third day after Japan surrendered, MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces in the Far East, under the authorization of President Truman, issued the No.1 surrender order: all Japanese troops in the Republic of China and Vietnam north of latitude 16 degrees should surrender to Chiang Kai-shek. Hong Kong is located in the north of north latitude 16 degrees, and belongs to China Theater in wartime. All this shows that Japanese troops stationed in China should surrender to the army, and it is natural for China to take back Hong Kong.

Chiang Kai-shek appointed Zhang Fakui, the commander of the Second Army, as the surrender officer in Guangzhou, Hainan and Hong Kong after receiving the surrender order of the Allied Forces No.1.. Command Zhang Fakui's new army and the 13 army assembled in Baoan area near Hong Kong to implement Hong Kong's surrender.

The face of British colonialism

Regarding MacArthur's No.1 surrender order, the British government quibbled that the war zone could not cover sovereignty, and made it clear that it refused China's troops to surrender in Hongkong.

In fact, it is Britain's established policy to resume colonial rule over Hong Kong. As early as 1943, at the Cairo meeting between China, Britain and the United States, Churchill declared to Chiang Kai-shek on the Hong Kong issue: "You can't take anything from Britain without war!" The colonialists' faces are obvious.

At the beginning of 1944, the British government established an organization called the Hong Kong Planning Group, which was responsible for planning the reoccupation of Hong Kong and determined the policy of occupying Hong Kong by force after the war. At the same time, the British are well aware that the attitude of the United States is very important in the process of Sino-British competition for Hong Kong sovereignty. Hong Kong belongs to which side the balance of the United States is biased. 1August 945 18, the new British Prime Minister Attlee called President Truman, saying that Britain could not accept MacArthur's No.1 surrender order, and strongly urged Truman to instruct MacArthur to reissue the order and let the Japanese troops stationed in Hong Kong surrender to the British army.

The attitude of Americans plays a key role.

After the outbreak of the Pacific War, the United States supported China to recover Hong Kong, hoping to encourage the Japanese government to continue the war of resistance, so as to reduce the pressure on the US military in the Pacific battlefield. At the same time, it also took the opportunity to drive the British and French forces out of the Far East and replace them. Therefore, President Roosevelt urged Britain to return Hong Kong to China after the war and make it an international free port under the control of China, but Churchill refused.

After Germany surrendered, the United States and the former Soviet Union fought fiercely in Europe, and the United States needed the support of Britain. Therefore, on the question of Hong Kong, the United States' position of supporting China to recover Hong Kong has changed. So Truman supported Britain's return to Hong Kong. He informed MacArthur: "In order to accept the surrender of Japanese soldiers in Hong Kong more smoothly, Hong Kong must be drawn out of the China War Zone."

Since the United States doesn't want China to take back Hong Kong, it has to ask Americans to help him fight Chiang Kai-shek in the civil war. But Chiang Kai-shek gave up Hong Kong to win some face for himself. On August 20th, in his telegram to Truman, he changed his original intention of calling for the recovery of Hong Kong, and only asked himself to be the supreme commander of China War Zone and appoint a British officer to accept Japanese surrender in Hong Kong. After the surrender ceremony, the British army will send troops to Hong Kong under the authorization of the Supreme Commander of China Theater.

However, Americans and British people don't even give this face. Chiang Kai-shek was angry. He told Truman that whether Britain accepted it or not, he would appoint Major General Shaq of the British Pacific Fleet as the surrender representative of the Supreme Commander of China Theater. At the same time, he expressed his intention to use force to resist the actions taken by the British in the China war zone.

China's attitude made the British feel uneasy. In order to return to Hong Kong, they had to accept Chiang Kai-shek's suggestion and agree that Shaq would accept Japan's surrender on behalf of the British government and Chiang Kai-shek in Hong Kong.

On August 20th, 1945, the British navy task force from subic bay landed in Hongkong. /kloc-in September, 2000, Shaq established a military government and served as the commander of the British troops stationed in Hong Kong. On the same day, the military delegation sent by Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Hong Kong and reached an agreement with Shaq: the national government agreed to the British occupation of Hong Kong. 1 May, 9461day, the former governor Yang, who was imprisoned by the Japanese army for three years and eight months after the fall of Hong Kong, returned to Hong Kong to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the governor and resume British rule over Hong Kong.

Alcoholism and national disaster

Author: anonymous article source: original hits on this site: 150 Update time: 2009- 10-27

In the daily life of the Russian people, the "status" of wine is no less than salt and bread. Indeed, excessive drinking has brought many social problems to Russia. Among the 300,000 traffic accidents in Russia every year, 70% of the deaths are caused by drunk driving. President Medvedev even called alcoholism a national disaster.

"This is an extremely serious and acute problem, especially for our country. Frankly speaking, alcoholism has become a national disaster in our country. " On August 20th, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said at a meeting in Sochi on measures to reduce Russian alcohol consumption. This is the first time Medvedev has publicly criticized the national drinking habits so harshly.

In the daily life of the Russian people, the "status" of wine is no less than salt and bread. Some people say that Russians don't care what they drink. Indeed, excessive drinking has brought many social problems to Russia.

The number of people who died of drunk driving increased sharply.

In Russian news programs, you can see news related to alcohol almost every day, or traffic accidents caused by drunk driving, or freezing to death because of excessive drinking, or fighting because of excessive drinking.

According to statistics, among the 300,000 traffic accidents in Russia every year, 70% of the deaths are caused by drunk driving. In the first half of this year alone, there were 5,000 car accidents caused by drunk driving in Russia, and 8,000 people were killed and disabled. This is not a small number for Russia with a population of only 1.42 million. This phenomenon is particularly serious in the cold areas of central and eastern Russia. In Kurgan and other areas, more than14 of traffic accidents are related to alcoholism.

Alcoholism has become a major public hazard in Russian society.

On July 29th, a survey released by the All-Russian Social Public Opinion Research Center showed that 74% of Russians often drink alcohol. Among the interviewees, 13% men drink alcohol several times a week; 32% of men drink alcohol two or three times a month; 19% men drink alcohol once a month or so; Only 18% of men drink less than once a month, and 16% of men hardly drink. In addition, 3% of Russian women drink alcohol several times a week; 15% women drink alcohol two or three times a month; 18% of women drink alcohol about once a month. The results of this poll once again show the seriousness of the drinking problem of the Russian people.

The average life expectancy of Russian men ranks 136 in the world, and alcoholism is the third biggest culprit after suicide and traffic accidents. According to the statistics of Russian Ministry of Health, there are 1/3 adult males and 1/7 adult females who are "addicted to drinking" in Russia. At present, more than 100 people die of alcoholism every day in China.

Coincidentally. According to media reports a few days ago, "among Russians aged 15 to 54, the male mortality rate is five times higher than that of Western Europe, and the female mortality rate is three times higher than that of Western Europe. About 3/4 of the male deaths in this age group in Russia are directly or indirectly caused by alcohol; About 1/2 of the female deaths were directly or indirectly caused by alcohol. "

Russian Interior Minister Nurgaliev has confirmed that the average drinking amount of Russians exceeds twice the maximum limit set by the World Health Organization, which has seriously threatened the health of the whole Russian nation. He said: "Every year, 40,000 people in Russia die of alcoholism; In every five criminal cases, 1 case is caused by drunkenness. "

According to the statistics of the Russian Ministry of Health and Social Development, every Russian citizen, including children, drinks nearly 18 liter of pure alcohol every year, which is twice as high as the standard harmful to human health and life stipulated by the World Health Organization. "You can convert it yourself, which is equivalent to how many bottles of vodka-it will make your atmosphere breathless. This poses a serious threat to the national recession and population decline. " On August 20th, Medvedev told the participants.

Prohibition and irrepressibility have always been a problem.

Russians drink regardless of time, season, place and purpose, and they don't need anything to eat. They often drink the whole bottle and cup at one go and get drunk. With the arrival of summer, people walking and drinking with bottles can often be seen on boulevards, bus shelters, benches beside bridges and rivers, and even on sidewalks.

"It is no exaggeration to say that vodka has been deeply integrated into Russian culture. Russians have a soft spot for vodka. " A scholar who has studied Russian culture for a long time once told reporters. But now, vodka has become one of the biggest headaches for Russian leaders.

Prohibition of alcohol has always been a big problem for Russian leaders. Some people describe it as "no matter who is in power, Russians will always be held hostage by vodka." There have been many prohibition campaigns in Russian history. However, there are policies above and countermeasures below. Every time the prohibition comes out, there will be strong resistance from the people. The more severe the prohibition measures are, the more rampant the fake wine will be, and it will fall into the strange circle of "more prohibition and more abuse".

1985 In May, Gorbachev promulgated Measures to Eliminate Alcoholism, thus becoming the first leader in the history of Russia (the former Soviet Union) to ban vodka. Unexpectedly, prohibition immediately led to the national sugar shortage. People snapped up white sugar in order to brew white wine at home. Private winemaking in rural areas is blooming everywhere. This kind of private wok is simple in technology and equipment, and many harmful substances cannot be filtered clean, which is very harmful to human body.

In order to satisfy their addiction, some people even started to drink toxic liquids containing alcohol, such as cologne and nail polish remover. Finally, Gorbachev had to give up his ban. He told a joke to those who supported prohibition on TV: people lined up to buy vodka, and one person couldn't stand it anymore, so he said, "I'm going to the Kremlin to kill Gorbachev." An hour later, he came back. People who were still in the long line asked him, "Did you kill him?" He replied, "Kill him? The team over there is longer than here! "

Combination of dredging and blocking to break the "heart disease"

In recent years, although Russia has taken a series of measures, such as strictly restricting the production and circulation of alcohol, strictly restricting alcohol advertising and severely punishing drunk driving. , the "three strict" can't get drunk. In Medvedev's words, "nothing has changed."

"Although alcoholism is an ancient problem that cannot be eradicated in the short term, anti-alcoholism actions in many countries have achieved results." At the meeting that day, Medvedev said this. At the same time, he criticized: "In Russia, the cliche is still repeated, saying that it is impossible to fight alcoholism in China." Although Russian officials at all levels, including the President, are on vacation, in addition to First Deputy Prime Minister Zubcov, more than 20 ministers, heads of federal agencies and governors have also been summoned to offer suggestions, which shows that the problem of alcoholism has become one of the "heart diseases" of Russian high-level.

Medvedev stressed that experience at home and abroad shows that as long as systematic and long-term measures are taken, anti-alcoholism can achieve results. On the one hand, we should limit the production and circulation of alcohol, on the other hand, we should also pay attention to guidance and publicize a healthy and normal lifestyle. "The most important thing is that people should have the desire to live a normal, valuable, healthy and sober lifestyle and provide them with possibilities. All this should be there. "

Medvedev admitted that "anti-alcoholism cannot be solved by an administrative order." He said that all social forces, including the education department, the media and various social organizations, should be mobilized to pay attention to the problem of alcoholism among citizens, especially young people, and at the same time consider the psychology and interests of young people, "fighting alcohol at a brand-new and modern level."