2014-11-23

【Aiden in English】

            Moonlight reflects off the front of my bed.

            Could it be frost on the ground instead?

            I look up to view the bright moon ahead.

            Thoughts of hometown bring down my head.

                - Tang Dynasty Poet LI Bai (701-762 AD): In the Quiet Night

        Even though I am Chinese, I have little knowledge about Chinese classic poetry. I just haven't really seen it in my life either. This part of the Chinese culture has eluded me until today when the first poetry contest took place at Guanghua Chinese School in PA, which was organized by Principle Heng You and her team. Mom volunteered to take pictures for the events as usual. I, on the other hand, was going to spectate while she hopped around with her busy camera.

        Yet, what I didn't expect to see that more than 30 people of all ages participated the 100-poem competition, including parents and relatives. Some kids like Enya Su and Clare Chen looked as young as 5 years old from the kindergarten class and could barely read Chinese. However, Enya was fluently reciting the poems of Tang dynasty and the verses of Song dynasty with no hesitation.

【紅霞譯文】

                床前明月光，

                疑是地上霜。

                舉頭望明月，

                低頭思故鄉。

                —唐代詩人李白(公元701-762)﹕《靜夜思》

        身為中國人，其實我對琅琅上口的中國古典詩詞一點都不了解，中國古典詩詞從未走進自己的生活中來，是個地地道道的門外漢，直到今天親眼目睹由賓州光華中文學校游恆校長及其團隊組織舉行的首屆“光華好詩詞競賽”，我才恍然大悟。媽媽依然拎着她那閒半勤的相機，隨時捕捉各種動人場面，而我則遠坐一旁靜觀賽事經緯。

        沒想到來自全校各年級包括父母親友在內的卅多人競相參加了這次100首唐詩宋詞吟誦活動，年齡最小的蘇恩雅和陳昕然僅有五歲，方塊漢字認不了多少，但背誦起經典詩詞，一點看不出是今年秋季剛入學前班的新生，尤其恩雅對唐詩宋詞毫不含糊。