2017-05-15

【Aiden in English】

        There are many ways people view time in the universe. Some think the future lays undecided. Others believe in fate and destiny, where a person’s eventual destination has already been determined. More recent views, such as the movie Arrival, it depicts time as a timeline, already set. This theory proposes how everything has happened; time is just how we perceive it, moment by moment.

        Even if the debate remains unsettled whether each of these theories is true or another convincing fictional novel, some people don’t enjoy the idea of how their future has been pre-written for them.

        So why am I bringing this up? Well, today my family visited a 94-year old lady who has just been hospitalized. Living to that age duly signifies one’s great experience through time. They have perceived so much in life.

        People commonly say to respect your elders. I see how that is true, especially when involving a theory of time. Choices define a timeline of a person. Essentially, the position of a person reflects upon the choices and therefore the timeline. As people move further along their timeline, I think the choices they make in earlier years play a much larger role in shaping the course throughout life. At the end of the timeline, the result of the events becomes the legacy of a person.

        In conclusion to this “timeline” situation, let’s propose a slight metaphor:

        An artist is drawing a scene of a beach. He starts by sketching faint outlines of important objects like the sand and water line. This is the timeline’s first few years of childhood and adolescence.

        The artist then adds a color of broader objects, such as the yellow sand and blue gem water. This is the bulk and main focus of the artwork, symbolized as the young adulthood through the physical peak of a person’s life. It also is the main setting for the final product.

Finally, the artist adds on the boardwalk, seagulls, and humans. He puts the finer specks among the looming giants, yellow and blue. These details are the later years; rest and retirement for some, adventures for others. However diaphanous, the specifics will give the picture life, attracting the attention of viewers.

        As an eventual result, the painting adds up to either a beautiful, glorious work of art or, on the contrary, a disaster of colors, washed with madness. Each phase of the artwork can stand for a distinct section within the story of a person. Furthermore, it also describes which part of life the ultimate form of the person will be affected by.

        So where does the legacy come into play? Well, the artwork is, if exemplary, usually displayed for others to see. The art itself is the legacy. And similarly, a life’s timeline is, too.

【紅霞譯文】

        世間審視年華歲月的方式很多，有些人覺得未來無法預知，其他人則堅信生死有命富貴在天，人壽長短早有定數。像電影《降臨》闡明的最新觀點，若以時間為軸，那麼時光之旅無異於早已規劃的人生歷程，其上標明所有發生的事情，人們根據先後順序逐一把它們分門別類。

        無論所述各種理論或者那部當紅科幻小說講得是否正確，宿命論一直頗受爭議，有人壓根就沒幻想要把希望寄托在預言之上。

        那麼我幹嗎要扯出這個話題？今天我家老少前往醫院看望一位九十四歲的老奶奶，進入鮐背之年的長輩簡直就是睿哲玄覽的象徵，飽經人生世故。

        總而言之，針對“人生歷程”，讓我們來打個比喻：

        一位藝術家正着手描繪一幅海濱圖畫，先是輕筆勾勒像沙灘和海岸線關鍵物體的大致輪廓，意味着人生歷程中最初幾年的童年期和青春期。

藝術家接着給這些東西塗色，譬如黃燦燦的沙子和藍寶石般的海水，以此為基調來表現作品的主題思想，象徵着青壯年正值人生成長巔峰時期，也是成品生產的關鍵工序。

        藝術家末了再畫上木板路、海鷗和人群，用黃藍兩色渲染宏大場面，這些具體細節代表晚年生活，適於那些閒下來退了休或者熱衷冒險的人士。然而奇妙性這一特徵將給畫面帶來生氣，吸引觀眾注意力。

        至於最終結果，這幅畫要麼是漂亮高雅的藝術作品；要麼恰恰相反，是充滿傷感悲情色彩的垃圾廢物。創作過程中每個階段不但反映出人生獨特經歷，而且還描述了究竟哪個環節至關重大。

        傳奇在哪裡發揮作用呢？通常情況下，藝術品是供人觀賞的，既然藝術本身帶有傳奇性，同樣地，人生歷程也該如此。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: Sixth-Grade Social(初中一年級社交盛會)

2012: 學校午餐(School Lunch)

Crosslink(相關博文):

Hospital Visit(醫院探訪)