April 5, 2025

《Solaris》书摘

也是第二遍,我看的是Claude 3.7版,看评论说花城版翻译比较用心,不记得上一次哪个版本了。 我没有发疯。最后一丝希望熄灭了。我关闭了发射器,喝完了保温瓶里剩余的肉汤,然后去睡觉了。 Read more

April 5, 2025

《Why Nations Fail》书摘

Various elites also opposed political centralization, for example, preferring oral to written interaction with citizens, because this allowed them maximum discretion. Written laws or orders could not be taken back or denied and were harder to change; they set benchmarks that governing elites might want to reverse. Read more

April 4, 2025

《Down and Out in Paris and London》书摘

第二遍了,第一遍听完的,意犹未尽。 Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work. Presently the clergyman appeared and the men ranged themselves in a queue in the order in which they had arrived. The clergyman was a nice, chubby, youngish man, and, curiously enough, very like Charlie, my friend in Paris. He was shy and embarrassed, and did not speak except for a brief good evening; he simply hurried down the line of men, thrusting a ticket upon each, and not waiting to be thanked. The consequence was that, for once, there was genuine gratitude, and everyone said that the clergyman was a—— good feller. Someone (in his hearing, I believe) called out: ‘Well, he’ll never be a f—— bishop!’– this, of course, intended as a warm compliment. Read more