Dolphins speak

On 19/12/2007, news has it that Australian scientist Dr Liz Hawkins and her team has unraveled the meaning of squeaks and whistles that make up dolphin speech. They observed bottlenose dolphins for three years and from the starting frequency of the sound, its duration and its end frequency, she identified 186 different whistle types, of which 20 were particularly common, that dolphins make to communicate in a complex and contextual manner.

The scientists have recorded 1,647 different whistles. These were grouped into 5 tonal classes which are related to certain behaviors. In a sense, that makes these sounds a language.

To think of only human beings are capable of having language is, to me, beyond the intension of anthropocentricity and over limiting the definition of language. After all, the Oxford English Dictionary does allow for the inarticulate sounds used by the lower animals, birds, etc as part of the definition of language. In the same dictionary, the generalized definition of language is "words and the methods of combining them for the expression of thought”. Based on this definition, as long as we accept that some animals have thoughts and words can be any definite audio or visual or other tangible symbols of any kind, then it is plausible to think of dolphins having a language as long as they can use it to communicate their thoughts. Dr Hawkins has just discovered that and I won’t blame her for claiming she has unraveled dolphin speech.

I tend to entertain the belief that many common animals we encounter like dogs, cats and birds have their language. Even bees and ants too have their language of sort. They communicate among themselves though we do not understand them. I would venture to say that if we pay enough attention to them, we can understand their language. Dr Hawkins has just done that with the dolphins.

What Dr Hawkins did with dolphins others can do with dogs or birds and learn a dog’s language or birds’ language. I would venture to say that someone somewhere might have already done that.

Can the same principle be applied beyond animals or living things? Science presupposes definite patterns that make prediction possible. If we care to observe, to attend, to meditate, we see patterns everywhere. Every pattern is, in a sense, a language. Attending to or meditating on these patterns enables us to learn that language. Learning a part of that language enables us to better observe the patterns and by iteration, we can learn more of that language. We, in short, thereby gain knowledge and know the world better.

In 1993, my Master has performed something extra ordinary in our presence by blindfolding himself and told what was written by a subject. When asked, he told us it was from the pattern of the subject’s breath that he could tell what was in the subject’s mind. In this case, though blindfolded, he was able to perceive someone’s breath in great details to decipher the breath patterns and deduce his thoughts which I presume have influenced the subject’s breath patterns. Isn’t the subject’s breath patterns a language to be learned?

Our problem is we do not attend sufficiently. We are careless. We take things for granted. We are distracted. We look but we do not see. We hear but we do not listen. We let knowledge slip by our senses or mind.


By Hiew Jan 2008

树灵的对话

是的，是树灵，并非树林；不是手民误植，也不是「太婆」（Typo）或「打错字」。人类在他们的公元二十、二十一世纪之交，也没有手民误植这事。出版事业都用电脑打字了。然而，在二十一世纪初年，灵已是一种过时的语汇。人类在物理学上，已找到了一条可以兼融“相对论”和“量子物理学”并解释所有人类所已知的物理现象的定律。这条定律叫做弦论。是五弦琴的弦。物质分析到最后不是一个质点而是弦，会振动的弦，而弦又不单是如二胡的一维的线，它是可以多维的。而灵，一个不很合时宜的名词，可以说是一组组很复杂的振动，构成一种信息。信息可以被破释为人类的语言，语言是一类信息，一种信息可以翻译为另一种信息，而使人类能与非人类沟通。以前叫做灵，现在还没有一个比较恰当的被广大接受的名字，只好就沿用旧名－灵 － 了。

X X X

有三棵树，生命长短不一，遭遇不同，死后信息仍留下来, 记载它们的一生经历。这一组组信息，飘浮于宇宙间，偶尔相遇，对起话来。其实，这是古老的说法。现代的说法是，这三股信息，在某种或然率下，展现了各自的一部分于三者的相互交接下，而这展现，被第四者观察到，破译为人类语言如下。

盆栽灵说，“我本来就长得小个子，在众树中早已是很自卑的了，想不到给人选中了，栽在盆里。起初觉得很好，不再给劲风吹，烈日晒，水分充足，食物丰富，心里很高兴, 庆幸自己运气好，有人来照顾。后来有些枝桠过分发展了，也有人加以修理，不致累赘。正高兴时，那人却用铁丝缠在我的一些枝上，并加以扭卷，痛得我叫天不应，叫地不灵。经太阳一晒，铁丝热得发烫，比以前曝晒在猛烈的正午阳光下还要热得多，把我炙得半死。那人几乎天天来看我，时不时扭我，剪我，给水我喝，给食物我吃。我骂他，求他，咒他....他只是很满意得对着我笑。还带朋友来看我。他的朋友称赞我，他更高兴。高兴了就更加剪我，扭我，餵我，向我笑，称赞我....而我呢？我痛，我苦，我恨，我失去生命的欲望，我失去自由发展的希望。我的意志大都被压制，神在我身上所发挥的力量也给人腰斩了，扭曲了，蔑视了。

林树灵说，我很少见过人，人对我却影响巨大。我长在所谓热带原始森林中。我一出生，就感到一片阴凉，很舒服。地上潮涩，一片厚厚的听说叫做腐植质的很滋养的东西遍布我左右，后来我才知道那是我们的尸体再循环的产物，也是我们的食物的一个环节。另一种人类叫做水的东西，也无时或缺，吸起来，满有意思。它充满了我的身体，像一股清流，然后它改变 状态了，化为气体，从我的叶表飞升，令我叶凉快愉悦。后来我还知道，土地上的食物，是它为我带送的。但是，我还须要一种很奇怪的东西。它有光，有热。光令树欢乐，热却不同。太少了，树难受；太多了，树又有另一种难受。但要恰到好处，却不易得到。在森林，这种人类叫做阳光的食物，是难得的，对年轻和矮小的树更难得。我年轻时，身旁有三棵几百年的老树，它们比我高大得多，它们几乎抢完了阳光这种食物，令我营养不良，只有少许从它们的枝叶间漏射过来，为我所摄取。这有限的阳光，使我年幼、年少时都生长得不茁壮。后来其中一棵老树死了，我才得到更多的阳光养料。那时我很希望另外两棵树也快快死掉。但，有时有福必有祸。这大树死后不久，它的一段枯枝，比我大好几倍，却摔在我身上，把我压成驼子。从地上算起，我一半的身躯被压得弯到地面。那种痛苦，大概不亚于被铁丝扭卷吧？痛归痛，树在林中，还得活下去，也早就学会了在恶劣的环境中自保，自求发展。我倒下的上半身，正处在枯树的位置，阳光养料非常充足，我好好利用机会，在几年内，大大吸收了阳光，快快地生高长壮，虽然驼背，却俨然一棵中树了。那两棵大树之外，我就是在我能感到的范围内的老三了。而我的老三地位，也在五六年后，提升为老大了。那是因为人类大批地，像风卷地似地，侵入了我们的地盘，把所有的大树都杀了，连那应该是我们以后的食物的树尸也搬走了。于是我称起老大来。霸占了邻近的阳光，长得更快了。

可是，在森林里，大未必就是强。有好几种韧细的寄生植物，吸附在我身上，把我的食物抢走之外，还伤害我的身体，抢掠我的阳光，令我痒得难受，长期的痒。
由于年幼时阳光不足，我为了抢阳光而拼命往上伸，把身体拉得长长的。结果，我当了老大后，便是这区的高佬了。有一次，在雷雨交加的夜里，一道强光掠过我的头上，一阵巨热，把我烧死了。我死后灵魂不散，久久逗留原处，还看见人类把我的树尸搬走。由于我的执着，我跟着树尸，一直看到它被锯，被刨， 被压。后来变成一片片被涂上胶水的东西，乘船到寒带去了。人类真是不可思议！

园树灵，即公园里的树的灵，很平静地说：听了你们的遭遇，我觉得自己很平凡。而这平凡，却是居于你们两种极端遭遇之间。我在苗场出生，一年后，被一队自称为环保份子的人类搬去植根于一个宽敞、一片绿草如茵，常有人类小孩和狗出现的地方。据说那地方人类把它叫做公园。我一生受到一定的照顾，也有机会自然发展。小时，当有小树、杂草要来同我竞争时，人来了，把它们杀掉。有小动物来咬我时，人来了，把它们干掉。食物快用完了，有人来，把食物添加。我病了，又有人来，给我服药，把病菌杀死。天旱时，人来了，给我加水。寄生物出现了，有人把它们除去。枝枯了，成为累赘，有人把它锯掉，令我轻松。我一时贪玩，大大的发挥了我的生命力，长出了许多嫩枝，太多了，多过我所能负担。正在懊悔，人来了，把一部分剪去，留下来的，正是我的灵魂所许的。我五岁以后，人少来照顾我了；大概一年来一两次，除非我病了。他们来了，也只是看看就走了。好多年才给我剪除枯枝赘枝。在一定的范围内，我越来越依自然规律生长。我长得很壮、很健、很美，正是一棵树在自然之神的爱护下，所能发挥的极致。人类把这叫止於至善（破译者注：那是树的误译。止於至善，指的是道德上的事，不是用於形容物质生命的发展。）但是同你们俩比较，我是多麽的平凡啊！

X X X

述者破译对话而笔之于文，是希望一种叫做老师的人和另一种叫做父母的人听听树灵的心声,因为在高速率的电脑分析下，树灵的心声和人类在儿童，少年,青年时期的心声的组成信息，在弦的层次上相似。穷困家庭,放任家庭的目无尊长无人管教孩子...的心声信息,有点像林树的;某些保守国家,某个时代被管教极严从小接受填鸭式教育的孩子....他们的心声信息有点像盆栽灵的.而那些从小得到父母老师的爱护,启发,赏识,适度管教的孩子,他们的心声信息,就有点像园树灵的.



隽野 2003 年7 月初稿, 2008年1月修订

One meal to good/bad health!

If you try to emulate me on your diet and you think you will be benefited even if you occasionally indulge in “good, delicious food”, you must read what I read after I have posted “My Diet”. You will be delighted and benefited from reading it.

‘Just one high-fat, high-sugar meal can trigger a biochemical cascade, causing inflammation of blood vessels and immediate, detrimental changes to the nervous system, according to the paper, published in the 7th week of 2008 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. And just one healthy meal helps return your body to its optimal state. "Your health and vigor, at a very basic level, are as good as your last meal," says lead author James O'Keefe, head of preventive cardiology at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo.

Here's how it works. When you eat, your body breaks down the food into a stream of nutrients, including glucose (sugar), lipids (fats), and amino acids (the building blocks of protein). If your meal happens to be junk food the rush of sugar causes something called "post-prandial hyperglycemia": a big spike in blood-sugar levels. Poor diet in the long-term leads to hypertension and build-up of gunk in blood vessels that increases heart-attack risk. But there are short-term effects too. Tissue becomes inflamed, just as it does when infected. Blood vessels constrict. Free radicals, unstable molecules that cause cell damage and are thought to contribute to chronic disease and aging, are generated. The body's stress response has a bigger effect on blood pressure, raising it higher than normal. People may notice they feel crummy a few hours after eating junk food. And the sudden surge and drop in insulin — the hormone that spurs your body to store energy — also leaves them feeling hungry again soon after eating, despite having had plenty of calories.

The good news is that these blood-sugar spikes and crashes are easy to regulate. Blood sugar will rise and fall quickly if, for example, a person eats an easily digested meal of only white bread. The common denominator of all these slow-release foods, says O'Keefe, is a generally high nutritive value with low calories. The healthy foods are exactly the ones you would expect, all that stuff your mom (and your doctor) told you to eat: lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, lean proteins like fish and legumes, and high-fiber whole grains. All of them blunt the post-prandial spike..

"You can improve your health, basically, from hour to hour," he says.’

I keep on saying that we are limited by our personal knowledge and our personally knowledge is in turn limited by human knowledge of our time. The above piece of human knowledge is new and is not yet widely possessed and its validity is not widely tested. I quote it in my blog as an attempt to propagate it so that, in time, it will be more widely known and tested.

If this research result is not falsified in time, then, what we eat does more than just directly affecting our physical conditions by being part of our physical constituent; it affects us also by stimulating our nervous response to generate biochemicals from our body which affect our physical conditions. What we eat that is not excreted is absorbed and/or stored; what is absorbed will be part of us physically. Now this research is telling us in addition, what we eat stimulate us to generate biochemicals from our body that will have tremendous effect on our body, at least in the short term.

I can’t help asking the next question: how does our volition come into play in such a case since our volition may override our response to physical stimulation in some cases? If our volition does play a role here, then, for the some person when he takes the same food at different times in a different state of mind, or with different attitude towards the food he eats, the effect of the food on his body will be different since different nervous responses will be effected to generate different biochemicals. I tend to believe in this speculation and do advise that you have good mental attitudes towards your food every time you eat. Be grateful to the providers and enjoy your food, and get more benefits out of it, why not?

Further more, even if when we are not eating, that is to say, when there is no physical stimulation, can our volition trigger nervous responses that generate biochemicals in our body? Again, I tend to think it can. One way to do this is by visualization. Do you want to try it? If so, do be “positive”! "Negative" thoughts may be harmful.

By Hiew Jan 2008

My diet

I am now taking a simple diet which I think is healthy though I am limited by my dietary knowledge which is in turn limited by human knowledge of our time.

Being born into a poor farmer’s family at the end of the Second World War(1944), we, for years, barely have enough to eat for survival. We normally ate three simple, small meals a day of similar food: white rice, vegetables of various types grown in the farm, fish bought from neighboring fishermen, eggs from chicken reared by my mom. Pork and chicken were only available on festive days when these were first offered to deities and ancestors that my family used to worship.

My parents held fast to their belief that rice is the only main food that we need for survival; other foods are appetizers or supplementary or condiments to go with rice and fruits are kids’ junk food that are harmful. We grew up till adolescence based on this dietary philosophy. In those days, instead of plain water, we drank plenty of a brand of green tea called White Monkey(白毛猴) which is still available in the market. At times of coconut harvesting, as we have to work laboriously the whole day, we also have morning and afternoon tea which normally consisted of coffee, biscuit or boiled banana, to give us enough energy. The water we used was either well water or harvested rain water from the roof. The cooking oil was home made coconut oil. This is a counter example to common belief that poly-saturated oil is harmful as my cholesterol and triglyceride have been low despite more than 15 years consuming coconut cooking oil.

I stayed in hostels from Senior Middle one to Upper six. In Senior Middle school I ate bread with jam and tea with milk for breakfast and similar lunch and dinner as before. In the two years in Form Six, I have similar breakfast as in Senior Middle School and an improved lunch and dinner which were prepared more in line with the food pyramid of the 1960s. In my 4 years studying in an Australian University, I have bread with butter or jam, or fruits only for breakfast, Australian dishes for lunch in the cafeteria, and I cooked my own dinner mainly consisting of vegetables and beef or mutton or pork or chicken and sometimes fish. Up till then, I knew little about food pyramid or dietary values. From the age of 15 to 25, my body weight remained more or less constant at 57 Kg, despite the Sydney winters and some fatty Australian diets and that fact that I ate as much every meal as my contemporaries during this phase of my life.

From the early 1970s, I have my own family and diets of our choice. But our dietary knowledge did not go beyond the popular food pyramid posters on the walls of private clinics in town. In the early 1980s, we started to read Western dietary books and started to pay more attention to our diets as we started to put on weight and feel fatigue due to age and workload. But there were not without controversies in these dietary books. Shall we eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a queen and dinner like a pauper? Or shall we skip breakfast, eat light lunch and heavy dinner? Shall we emphasize on carbohydrate or protein? These were unsettled questions that bothered us.

In 1992, I started to take up Yoga and follow somewhat faithfully a “Yoga diet for office worker”, a term I coined for my diet since 1992. This diet consists of fruit for breakfast, carbohydrate and vegetables for lunch and protein and vegetables for dinner; no supper, no snack, no coffee, no red tea and no refined sugar. When I first started this diet, within a month, I loss some 5 Kg extra weight that I didn’t need and I felt my health has improved. I more or less maintain this diet most of the time till date. I do take snacks and tea with milk at times in coffee shops though but not really very often. My weight is now 70 Kg with a height of 178 cm to match.

I mainly eat vitamin A and C-rich papaya for breakfast. Other fruits include pineapple, banana, guava, star fruit, pomelo, local orange, apple, dried prune, imported orange, mandarin, jackfruit, Kiwifruit, dragon fruit, grapes, avocado, water melon. I eat fruit breakfast generously. Sometimes I do take bread mostly whole meal bread, dim sum, oatmeal for breakfast. I hardly use butter or margarine to spread on bread. Yoghurt is a recent addition.

For lunch, I eat rice, now mostly unpolished local rice or rice noodle soup. Vegetables are either raw or cooked, mainly green leafy vegetable like kale, broccoli or spinach, tomato, cucumber, beet root, carrot, radish, cabbage, long bean, capsicum, pumpkin, bean sprout, garlic, onion, yam, egg-plant, lady’s fingers, Chinese cabbage, bitter gourd , sea weed, lotus root et cetera. Vegetables are steamed or stir fried or boiled in soup. Cooking oils are vegetables oils and are used sparingly. Very little salt is added to my food which is strictly free of MSG (Monosodium glutamate). Meat is consumed for lunch sometimes, but in small quantity.

For dinner, I eat fish, prawn, poultry, egg and pork meat or liver with vegetables. I seldom take beef or lamb or duck. Mostly the meat is steamed or braised; seldom do we fry or grill meat. I eat no rice or very little rice for dinner.

I also take soup that contains both meat and vegetable, and sometimes herds too during lunch and dinner. The other item I take is nut, such as almond, walnut and some seeds, mostly for breakfast. For each meal taken at home, we have soup and two other dishes, normally one vegetable and one meat dish. The meat dish may be meat fried with vegetable. No dessert is taken after lunch or dinner at home, whether it is fruit, sweet, cake, sweetened tea or coffee. The quantity of each of my main meal is small compared to what most of my friends are taking. Processed food such as canned, pickled, dried and preserved food is avoided almost totally.

I drink plain unboiled water mostly, green tea daily and sometimes a few pegs of red wine after dinner. Now I seldom drink Coke or other similar sugared drinks except iso-tonic drinks like 100plus occasionally.

The list is by no means exhaustive but it covers the main items I usually take. I try to eat what my body needs and avoid what is harmful to it. Based on my dietary knowledge, I eat more anti-oxidant food, low caloric food, wholesome, nutritious food with plenty of fibers to help cleansing and I eat about ¾ full each meal.

By Hiew Jan 2008

语言的功用

Irving Copi 于 1961 年二版的“逻辑入门”（ Introduction to Logic）第二章，概说了语言之功用. 译者觉得此文今日读来，还很精彩、适用, 对一般读者在日常生活的沟通上，很有益处，所以决定把它节译出来，以期读者消化后，可以应用它来减少因沟通失误而产生的许多误会。译者相信，人与人之间的许多困难与问题，都源于沟通失误。若此失误减少了，这种困难与问题，也就跟着减少了。译者



语言的三种基本功用

语言既奥妙又复杂，而人们却常忽视它的多重用法。
对语言的适当使用抱狭隘观点的人，常投诉说语言在社交上常被“浪费”。“讲了一大堆，却什么也没说着。”总括了这类批评。常听人说“某人见面总问我好吗；简直是虚伪，他才不关心我到底怎样！”这类评语泄露了说者不明了语言的复杂用途。他不明白人家问“你好吗？”只是友善的招呼，不是要求他作健康情况报告。

英哲柏克莱曾说过，“不像一般人所以为的，传递意思(ideas)不是主要更不是唯一的语言目的。语言还有其他目的，如引发情感，激发或防止行动，支配人心。而常常前者只不过是后者之辅助，有时是略而不用的。”

更近期的一些哲学家更详细地论说了语言的许多不同用途。在“哲学研究” ( Philosophical Investigations)中，维根斯坦坚持：语言、符号、文字和句子，有无数种不同的用法。维根斯坦提出了以下的例子：发号施令，形容物相或提供它的尺寸，报告事件，推度，造作和检验命题，以图表提呈实验报告，虚拟故事，做戏，唱几段歌，猜谜，说笑话，解答数学难题，翻译，询问，致谢，诅咒，招呼，祈祷。

为了方便处理，我们可以把这许多不同的语言用法归为三大类。这语言功用的三分法，的确是一种简化，但它不致于是过分的简化。许多逻辑学家和语文学家，都认为这三分法很有用。

第一个功用是传递信息。一般来说，传递信息是以肯定或否定一个命题来达成。在这里，信息包括正确和不正确的信息，正确和不正确的争论。这种语文，是用来形容和讨论这个世界的。至于采用的事实重要与否、是普遍的还是特殊的，那就无关痛痒了。

除此之外，还有另两类语言的功用：表达与指令。科学是语言传递信息的最明显的例子，诗词则是语言表达功用的最佳代表。伯恩的诗句

哦，我的爱正如六月
新绽的深红玫瑰；
哦，我的爱恰似一首
甜美和谐的歌曲！
（O my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune!)

铁定不是要告诉我们这世界的事件或理论。诗人所关心的，不是知识而是感受和态度。这段文字，不是为报告信息而作，而是为表达诗人的深切的感情而作，以引起读者的共鸣。语言用以发泄或引起感触和感情时，即发挥了语言的表达功用。
不是所有的表达语言都是诗歌。我们以“太不幸了”来表达悲苦，“哗！”来表达热忱。爱侣以低徊的“达令”或“哦，宝贝”来表达幽情。这类语言的用法，不是在传递信息，而是在表达感情、感受或态度。这类语言，无分真假。若以真假、对错的标准来看待像诗词一类的表达语言，就要误解其意而失去它的价值了。


表达可分为二部。当一个人自责时，写诗自娱时，独自祈祷时，他的语言，是用来表达他自己的态度，而不会引起他人的共鸣。另一方面，当一个演说家不是为了促使听众有所行动，而是为了要听众分享他的热忱而激励他们时、当爱侣以诗样的词句追求他的所爱时、当拉拉队为他们的队伍加油时，他们所用的语言，不只是表达了他们自己的态度，而是要在听者心中引发同样的态度。因此，表达的语言，是用以表达说者的态度，或引发听者产生某种态度。当然，有时二者兼而有之。

语言用来引起或防止某种明显的行动时，即是起了指令功用。最明显的指令功用是命令和要求。母亲叫孩子饭前洗手时，她无意传递任何信息或表达和引发任何感情。她说话的目的，是要收到某种行动的效果。提问一般上是要求答复，因此也列入指令类。命令和要求的分别非常微细，因为差不多所有的命令词句都可以加上一个“请”字或适当地改变声调和表情而变成要求。

命令式的指令语言，不分真或假。“把窗关上”这命令，在任何意义上，都与逻辑上的真假沾不上边。命令被服从与否，并不决定它的逻辑真假值，因为它是没有真假值的。我们可以不同意这命令被服从了没有，应该不应该被服从，但我们从来没有不同意命令的真假，因为它的值是既非真，亦非假的。至于命令语句的合理性或恰当性，则与传递信息语言的真假性类似。曾经有人尝试发展一套“命令的逻辑”，唯至今还欠缺有系统的研究工作。(译者注：那是指60年代而言)

言谈的多元功用

上述三类语言的基本功用，是纯粹的标本。这个三分法很有启发性和价值，但我们不可以刻板地使用它们，因为在任何一般沟通之中，都或多或少例示了两三种功能同时并用。譬如诗词，它的主要功用是表达，但它可能寓有教育意义，且实际上促使读者采用某一生活方式及传达某种信息。另一方面，布道主要是指令式的，目的是促成听众采取某些恰当的行动，但它也可以表达或激发某种情绪，以达致语言的表达功用；也可以包括一些信息，传达一些实质资料。一部科学经典，虽以信息为主，也可以表达作者的热忱，达到语言的表达功用，也可以，至少是间接地，应用语言的指令功用，促使读者求证作者结论的对错。大部分平常语言的用法，都把多种功能混合在一起。

语言出现混合或多元功用时，并不是总是因为说者的混淆。那是因为有效的沟通需要多种语言功能并用。我们之间，只有少数人是父子或雇主与雇工的关系。在这种关系之外，我们不能期望只要发出命令就会被遵守。因此，使用策略(indirection)是必要的。赤裸裸的命令会引起敌对和愤懑而注定要失败。一般上，纯粹的命令，不能促成行动；要促成行动，有需要使用较高超的刺激手段。
促成行动，有很复杂的因素。其中包括欲望和信念。一个想吃的人不会动他的碟中物，除非他相信那是食物。同时，就算他相信那是食物，他也不会吃它，除非他有要吃的欲望。这种欲望，属于前说的态度。

因此，激发某种态度并传达有关信息，可能足以促成某种行动。假设你的听众是慈善的，只要你告诉他们捐助某一机构可以达到为善的目的，他们就会乐捐。在这个例子里，你的语言，最终是指令式的，因为它的使用是为促成行动。但在这种情况下，传达信息远较赤裸裸的命令有效。又假设你的听众已知捐献给该机构会达致为善目的，你也还是不可以单用命令就能期望成功；你若先引发他们的适当感情，成功希望更大。这种语言，是表达的语言。因此，你的语言，具有混合功用，包括表达与指令。又如果你的听众既不慈善，又不相信你的机构是慈善的，那你就必须使用传递信息又表达感受的语言了。在这例子中，语言的三种功用全用上了。这不是偶然的，而是有必要如此才能达到成功的沟通。



希启节译，2003年5月

Allocation from Minister of Education

Two years ago, Datuk Henry Chin, the Vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of Kota Kinabalu High School, took Mr. Lim Kiat Kong, the Chairman and me, the other Vice Chairman, to pay a courtesy call to the Honorable Minister of Education Dato' Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, in his office at Putrajaya. It was indeed rare for a Minister of Education to see representatives from a school Board of Governors of a secondary school and we were indeed honored. We took the rare opportunity to brief the Honorable Minister about the school history and development and invited him to officiate the opening of the IT Building then under construction and requested him to assist the school in its Computer Class Program. The Honorable Minister has kindly consented to our request and promised to bring some goodies when he comes.

On the 21st July 2007, the Minister came to visit KK High School to officiate the Opening of the IT Building as well as the laying of foundation stone for the Phase 4 Classroom blocks. He was impressed with what KK High School has done so far and announced to the pleasure of everyone present an allocation of RM 50,000 for the Computer Class Program and RM 350,000 for the Phase 4 Building fund. In addition, he promised to recommend the application of KK High School to be selected as a Cluster school and invited the dancing group who presented the multi-cultural reception dance to go to Kuala Lumpur to present it to international guests.

On the 2nd of January 2008, the Right Honorable Chief Minister of Sabah, Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman presented, on behalf of the Honorable Minister of Education, a mock cheque of RM400,000 to Mr.Lim Kiat Kong, the Chairman of the Board of Governors of KK High School. The ceremony was witnessed by the State Director of Education Department, senior Chinese political leaders in BN, members of the KK High School Management Committee, BOG and Administration.

By Hiew Jan 2008

牛肉吃不吃吃

这句话不是小孩学语.它有两种断句法：一， “牛肉吃不吃？”“吃！”. 二，牛肉：吃－不吃－吃. 这是表达我吃牛肉的过程.

2000年我离开沙巴公共工程局前,参加两次部门的官方晚宴,我的秘书费丽妲女士都特别为我安排素餐,引起同台朋友的好奇,问我是否素食,我挾了一块鸡肉塞进嘴去, 算是回答；也把素菜吃了.

我的瑜伽师父吃素，许多师兄也是. 瑜伽行者基本上是主张素食的。瑜伽行者把宇宙间性质分为Sattva, Rajas和Tamas三德. Sattva 是喜,乐,贪（能作光照)，Rajas 是忧,苦,嗔(能作生起),Tamas 是暗,舍,痴(能作系缚)。表现在食物性质上，Sattvic 食物最纯，吃了身心平衡健康，它包括五谷,新鲜蔬菜，水果,奶,牛油,豆类,果仁,种子,蜜糖,豆芽等；Rajasic 食物具刺激性,令心身不平衡,它包括干的,酸的，苦的、辣的，咸的食物；Tamasic 食物对心身都有害.它包括肉类，酒精，烟，葱、蒜、醋、腌肉等。瑜伽行者吃素，是在吃sattvic食物，它有助修行。我们的瑜伽学会出版了几本讲素食的书，很有分量。有教人如何以渐进方式改吃素食的，有讲素食的健康的，有分析素食比荤食更经济的，有介绍健康素食食谱的，内容丰富，包含了古印度智慧与现代科学知识。

我四十余岁时曾经吃了肉边菜两个月。 有一天如厕，完工起身时，双脚乏力，站不起来。朋友骂我笨蛋，劝我多吃鱼肉. 果然有效.

小时家穷,吃得简单.我们住在乡下,自己种菜,养鸡,网鱼. 饭桌上常见的食物是白米饭,蔬菜,鱼肉及鸡蛋.鸡肉猪肉则农历初一十五才有.这简单的食物,营养也还可以.菜是自己种的,没有化学肥料，蛋是自己养的母鸡下的, 母鸡吃玉米，鱼多是同邻居买来的，顶新鲜，绝对没加防腐剂。.遇上农忙时,三餐外还有早茶与下午茶,喝的是咖啡或红茶,吃的是苏打饼,以维持全天劳动所需能量.

离家来亚庇念庇中时,寄宿在学校,天天喝骨头汤.这可能是我第一次尝到牛的滋味.不是牛肉,是牛骨汤,富于钙质,也许补骨.三年后,寄宿在沙白学院,开始吃到牛肉了.那是上世纪的六十年代,各族学生同住沙白学院的宿舍,每星期学生可以吃到一次牛肉与鸡肉，非回教徒也可享 一次猪肉。接着去了澳洲,住了四年.吃的是以牛肉,羊肉,鸡肉,猪肉和蔬菜为主.开始不会煮牛肉,总煮不软,越煮越硬.朋友教我用小苏打(碳酸氢钠),也不太见效,而又多了一层怪味.后来才知道牛肉是越煮越硬的,要急火快炒,才能炒出软滑可口的牛肉来.那时,午餐在大学食堂用,我较喜欢的一个菜式是匈牙利红烩牛肉(Hungarian Goulash),内有番茄，大辣椒，马铃薯及香料，香甜可口.

回到沙巴后,又少吃牛肉了.以前吃牛杂,后以其不健康,也渐渐少吃.倒是凯悦酒店（Hyatt Hotel）的牛尾汤(Ekor Asam Pedas),叫我喜爱.对食物,如果要走极端,在”为生而食”或”为食而生”必选其一,我宁可选”为生而食”.所以,我说不上有特别喜爱的食物.勉强要选一样,我会选牛尾汤.可在上世纪九十年代疯牛症在英国盛行时,我听了西方先生(Mr. West)的劝告,毅然放弃吃牛肉和羊肉.那时的说法是:吃牛肉会传染疯牛症.我不吃牛羊肉始于此，是出于健康卫生理由.

以后十多年,我没吃牛肉羊肉.官方餐宴如果由凯悦来承办, 差不多都少不了牛尾汤这一味菜.熟朋友见我不吃,有点奇怪.开始时自己也意志动摇,要刻意强忍. 可能因为我静坐,很快就意志坚强了,可以把牛尾布给太太而自己毫不受引诱.这时,疯牛症被控制,卫生已不是理由,而是在考验意志力了.当科学家初发现一个素食十几年，没吃牛肉十几年的人被传疯牛症时,大家都认为疯牛症的细菌能在人体潜伏十几年. 再过十几年,科学家发现疯牛症是人传牛,不是牛传人.既不是牛传人，就与吃牛肉无关了，疯牛症细菌能潜伏人体十几年的说法也不重要了.科学家的哲学训练未必严谨，也会时不时犯上思维错误的。

人们持健康理由而不吃牛肉主要是因为牛肉是红肉,高脂肪,高胆固醇,而不是怕被传疯牛症.我的胆固醇偏低，没此忧虑。 除健康理由外,不吃牛肉的主要理由是宗教.兴都教徒不吃牛肉,一些佛教徒,道教徒也因素食或吃斋而不吃牛肉.圣牛的观念可能起於牛在印度是耕田的主要动力或如母亲是奶的供应者，因而在圣典上被崇敬；兴都教徒不吃牛肉也有可能牛是宠物，牛代表一切动物，牛是地球的象征。北传佛教徒吃素，听说是受道教的影响；是佛教传入中国时受到本土文化的儒家和道家的同化所致。南传佛教徒是不讲究吃素的，他们沿门托钵，得到甚么就吃什么，以食维生，不分别计较是素是荤。据说，释迦牟尼佛是不主张吃素的，并和他的堂弟兼徒弟底瓦达塔作了辩论，记录在经里，不知是否有这事？另一个常听到的问题，是“你不吃牛肉是不是你拜观音？”。据说，拜观音的人不吃牛肉是因为观音的爸爸是牛。这就非我智慧所及了。观音是菩萨，菩萨是人，人的爸爸怎么会是牛呢？若说有前生而他的前生是牛，也难园其说。你怎知爸爸的前生不是猪，不是鸡，不是羊。。。呢？那我们岂不是不可以吃猪肉，鸡肉，羊肉了吗？很难说得通。其实民间许多传说，都是以讹传讹的，当故事听蛮有趣，许多是认真不得的。在佛教，以我所知，观音是一门修耳根的方法。修观音法门，要专注耳根，说吃素可以，说不吃素但只不吃牛肉似乎说不过去。还有一个说法，是吃素可以培养慈悲心，减少杀生。吃肉的人会不会比吃素的人慈悲我不知道，但吃素可以减少杀生，倒是很合逻辑。这是简单的求供问题。不过从自然规律来看，影响也许不大，某物种太多了，会破坏生态平衡，给地球带来灾害；在要求恢复平衡的过程中，也难免要面对伤害。在印度宗教上所说的不杀生，如瑜伽学派的第一戒，其实是ahimsa, a 是否定-非；himsa是暴力,ahimsa是非暴力，是身口意上的非暴力。译作不杀生，是不尽合原意的。有人说，印度宗教讲的不杀生，可能主要是指不杀人，这较合情理。把杀蚊子也包括在内的善人呼吸时请小心，不要杀死空气中的微菌，以免犯戒。善哉。

清真教徒不吃猪肉，据说是猪肉在物质和精神上都不卫生，或吃了会对个人或集体的道德有不良影响。另一说法则是在莫哈莫德的时代，人们不吃肉食动物的肉，而猪，不是纯肉食动物，既吃肉也吃素，所以要在Shari`ah上特别写明，以提醒信徒，猪也是肉食者。

在一个多元宗教的社会里，各教禁忌多少会带来一些麻烦，增加了容忍的需求也降低了密切关系的程度。如果你家吃猪肉，你带忌食猪肉的朋友回家吃饭就要多一番心思；如果你吃荤，你的朋友吃素，连葱蒜都不吃，甚至连用爆过葱蒜的锅炒的素菜也不能吃，你要请他回家吃饭，该怎样办？你会不会选择不请他回家吃饭？这是不是会减低你们的密切关系？

2002年我离开亚庇市政厅时，有位同事请我吃他吃通全亚庇最好吃的东西，带我到新来兴。这店在亚庇挺出名，但独沽一味：牛肉。这是我们同事两年，他第一次也是最后一次请我，而且是请我吃他认为最好吃的东西，我岂可扫他的兴？可是我那时还没有心理准备，勉强吃了，心理还有点别扭。

我并不严格吃素，因为吃素有其麻烦－营养不全，尤其缺乏B12，钙和铁。这里的素菜馆的素菜，多不是青菜萝卜豆芽这些新鲜简单的蔬菜，而是斋鹅斋鸭斋鱼等油腻的煎炸淀粉菜式，有点虚假的意味。我多吃蔬果，少吃红肉，不坚持吃素，更没有充分理由坚持不吃牛肉。若坚持，就执着了，不合佛家或瑜伽教理。其实人的消化系统，对荤素之分，恐怕也是模糊的。

改天你请客，问我：“牛肉吃不吃？”。 “吃！”，我会肯定这样回答你。

31/12/2007 邱写