wanted
very much to study the Western canon, because s I w othing about it. Yes, Mcdonalds' ads and Madonna
pasters were plastered on Shanghai streets, but few Western
ideas filtered through. We had been informed of Karl Marxs
habit of sitting at the same spot in the British Library, for instance,
but had read none of his original words. Western civilization was
ifferent, mysterious and thus alluring. Besides. because I longed
to be accepted here, I yearned to understand American society
What better way to comprehend it than to study the very ideas
on which it is based
I But at 2 a m,, I was tired of them all: Homer, Virg
Herodotus'and Plato. Their words were dull and the
presentations difficult to follow. The professors here do not teach
in the same way that teachers in China do. Studying humanities
in China means memorizing all the"correct, standard
interpretations given during lectures. Here, professors ask
provocative questions and let the students argue, research and
wnte papers on their own. At Yale, I often waited for the end-of
correct answers, which never came
Learning humanities was secure repetition in China. but it
was shaky originality here. And it could be even shakier for me
The name Agamemnon was impossibly long to pronounce, and
as a result I didn't recognize it when we were discussing him in
the seminars. I had written my hirst English essay ever just a year
earlier, when applying to colleges, and now came the papers
analying the canons. And I simply didn't write in English fast
nough to take notes in classes
b \hoped my diligence would make up for lack of preparation
On weekend nights, when my American roommates were out
on dates, would tell them I had planned a date with Dante or
Aristotle".(They didn't think it was funny.)
I On one of those weekend nights, I wrote a paper on Aeneas
the protagonist of The Aeneid, who was destined to found Rome
8( mok donald/麦当劳(美国快餐连镜店)
MUm当(美国行手
