<<梦路>>第九十期

第九十期 2010年1月2日
网址：http://groups.wenxuecity.com/groupview.php?gid=799
电邮: [e-mail]

本期内容


〖乡居小记〗“牛尾虎头” *****吴琼
〖影视评论〗影评二则 *****木愉

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
编后絮语

2010年这个曾经离我们很遥远的年代终于无可辩驳地到了我们面前，不得不再一次感叹：日月如梭。

# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～
“牛尾虎头”

吴 琼

在牛年刚开始的时候, 我万万没有想到我会有个忙碌得像中国的老黄牛一样的2009年(我说中国的老黄牛是因为美国的牛多半是奶牛或是食用牛, 它们往往很悠闲, 自得其乐. 不用耕田拉车推磨). 直到学期结束, 我才发现,整整一年我几乎没有什么气定神闲的时候. 有时候看报纸也常看了一半就放下了. 脑子里总是在想些该做什么,该计划什么之类的事情. 也许是自己多年来的生活习惯, 从来没有觉得自己也可以活得潇洒轻松一点.

快到圣诞节的时候, 我觉得该喘口气了. 让自己有几天爱干吗就干吗的放松, 比如说, 看看DVD啦, 读些轻松的书啦, 睡睡懒觉啦, 结结绒线, 打打乒乓球等等. 只是觉得还有点东西也许应该写一写. 不然有点对不起牵挂我的亲友们. 没有想到仅仅放松了一两天, 文章刚起了个头, 又被一些杂七杂八的事情缠住了. 到了离虎年钟声还有一个钟头了, 我总算坐下来准备给牛年画个句号.

其实, 对任何事情, 每个人都会有些自己的看法, 只是有时侯那些看法也许很浅薄, 不值得写下来与别人探讨. 好在在美国耽久了, 脸皮会厚一点, 发表个人见解的时候只图痛快, 不大会顾虑别人怎么看你. 那么就信手写来好了.

第一个想法是关于医保 (Health-Care) , 圣诞节前夕, 听到了政府必须通过关于医保的议案, 不管这个方案如何, 总比没有或拿不出方案强. 于是老百姓就有了一种幻觉, 好象全民将会有医疗保险保护. 不用怕保险公司刁难拒付. 也不知道这笔开销从哪里来. 我对医保一向并不太看好. 原因是美国的医疗界虽然技术先进, 药品高效. 却缺乏对病人的深切同情和关怀, 很多时候处理病案时不是从病人真正的需要出发, 而是从医院和药物公司赢利的角度来考虑. 比如说你有保险的话, 让你去做许多昂贵但不必要的检查. 所以我对Health-Care的理解是与别人不一样的, 我不把它翻译成”医保”, 即医疗保险, 而是把它理解为”健保”, 即健康保养. 不管政府单位管不管你, 自己最要紧的是要爱护自己的身体, 如洪韶光教授所提倡的”合理膳食, 适量运动, 戒烟限酒, 心理平衡.” 在我看来与其增加税收为全民作医疗保险, 让他们病了去打针吃药. 还不如普及卫生保健常识, 鼓励群众性体育运动, 表扬和奖励那些有良好生活习惯, 出勤率高的员工. 引导大家重视自身的保养, 减少医疗费用, 利国利家利己.

看看国民中, 有肥胖超重的, 有厌食暴瘦的, 有酗酒吸毒的, (写到这里, 外面砰砰枪声起, 元月零点到了, 这篇短文注定了要从牛年写到虎月了, 干脆起来倒点茶, 活动一下脖子再接着写吧, 名字就叫牛尾虎头算了.) 有玩命挣钱的, 有精神压抑的, 有依赖药物的,……当然我也许说的有点夸张, 但至少health care是否应该把养身保健放在第一位?

第二个想法是关于移民和海归的趋势, 以前是出国潮, 现在是海归热, 不管是哪一种流动, 每个个人还是有自己的选择, 不必去随大流, 所谓萝卜青菜, 各有所爱. 东方西方,各有利弊. 不管在哪里, 均有挑战. 当初留美学生有罗刚事件, 现在有浙大海归跳搂. 可见人生最重要的不是人在什么地方, 而是要有一个强健的身体和神经系统. 不但要能吃苦受累, 还要能受得起委屈, 误会,曲解甚至侮辱中伤. 我父亲曾经给我写过两个大字”云龙”, 旁边的小字是: “古人谓龙能高能低, 能幽能明, 能细能巨, 能短能长, 吾不信龙之所谓神, 但愿学龙有此德, 故书云龙二字以自勉. ”

我认为做人的成功与事业的成功是两回事, 一个人在事业上的成功给他/她带来的是荣誉, 金钱和地位, 但不见得带给他/她面对各种挑战的勇气和高压下的承受力. 有时侯反而会削弱他/她的这种能力, 如果他/她把这种成功当作包袱, 对自己没有一个客观的估计, 不再把自己当成也能扫大街洗厕所的普通人, 凡人. 于是就会出现人生悲剧. 最终是一个失败的人生, 哪怕他/她的事业成功有过再光辉的顶峰. 相反, 一个人能勇于面对生活中的各种挑战, 不论他/她是一个多么卑微的小人物, 我都会从心里尊敬他/她, 因为他/她将有一个我认可的成功的人生.

好了, 这就是辞旧迎新时的感想了.写得仓促, 词句粗糙, 也算是有比没有好.

2010年2:15am


*下面是从网上查来的有关Health-Care的一篇文章

Obama’s Health-Care Gamble
And why he may come to regret it.
By Howard Fineman | NEWSWEEK
Published Dec 31, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jan 11, 2010


President Barack Obama begins and ends each workday at the White House by going over a to-do list with his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. The two were reviewing things recently when Emanuel reminded him of the sheer size of the administration's workload, which includes fending off the Great Recession and dealing with terrorists in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now, evidently, Yemen. "You know, Mr. President," Emanuel said, "Franklin Roosevelt had eight years to deal with the economy before he had to lead a war. You have to do it all at once."
Nothing unusual about a little fawning in the Oval, but it prompts questions. Given the urgency of those challenges, underscored by the Nigerian bomber, was it wise for the president to spend most of his first year and political capital on a monumentally complicated overhaul of the nation's health-care system? And will the results of that gamble—not fundamental reform, but rather an expensive set of patches, bypasses, and trusses bolted onto the existing system—improve the lives of Americans enough to help him or his fellow Democrats politically?
Perhaps not since the New Deal has a new president made such a massive bet on a single domestic initiative. I think I understand Obama's reasoning. It did not take him long (probably after the first round of CIA briefings) to realize that he was not going to be able to satisfy his liberal base on intractable, unwinnable foreign and security policy. It's easier to make history on the home front. And Obama was genuinely moved by the heart-wrenching health-care stories he heard on the campaign trail. So he sought—and may well get—things to brag about. The legislation will extend coverage to at least 30 million of the uninsured, and it will end, or at least limit, some of the insurance industry's most predatory practices.
But the crusade that is dragging itself toward the finish line doesn't quite feel like a triumph, let alone the launch of a new New Deal. The reasons offered for the undertaking have been ever-shifting. In the campaign, it was about rationalizing the system and saving federal cash; then it was about protecting coverage of the middle class; then about the moral duty to cover the uninsured. By the time Bill Clinton met privately with Senate Democrats on Obama's behalf, it was (in his telling) primarily about the political optics: the need to pass something, anything, to avoid defeat.
The effort to jam the bill through Congress made the public dubious. Most Democrats voted for a version of the bill on the first round without having read, let alone digested, its thousands of pages. As the Christmas Eve vote approached, desperate last-minute stocking stuffers appeared in the small print, such as a $1.2 billion payoff to the state of Nebraska that secured Sen. Ben Nelson's reluctant vote. Obama had promised us a transparent "Google Government," but now we know what Obama government actually looks like: ambitious and generous, perhaps, but also secretive, Chicago-style, and way too complicated. Fewer than half of voters now support the legislation, murky as it still is to them. Crucially, support has cratered among independents.
The result is a 10-year, trillion-dollar contraption full of political risk and unintended consequences for a health-care system that constitutes one sixth of the economy. Many of the people who will benefit directly from the reforms, the uninsured, don't vote. Insurance premiums will continue to shoot up for most of us; Democrats fret that they will be blamed for those increases in the 2010 elections. Some regulations on the industry kick in immediately, but most don't begin until at least 2013. And yet, to allow the bill to "save" money in the first decade, most new taxes and fees go into effect immediately. "We're collecting money before we're giving all the benefits!" lamented a Democratic senator facing reelection. "That is a political disaster."
Maybe for that guy and his congressional colleagues, but what about Obama? For now, he is safely behind a blast wall, since many of the law's features wouldn't come into play until his second term, if he has one. But if he's lucky enough to get that far, he will discover that even simple things in government never go as planned; a project as large and complex as his health-care "fix" is certain to be more costly and disruptive than anticipated, and in ways no one can predict. "Never allow a crisis to go to waste," Emanuel declared a year ago. "They are opportunities to do big things." Yes they are, but Obama has to hope he's not creating another crisis in the process.

*************************************
影评二则

木愉



1 《蜗居》的性•房•权


最近网上热议《蜗居》，所以我都不愿再跟风提起它，虽然我在上周刚刚看完了它。

看《蜗居》看得很窝心，虽然有一个似乎还有教益的结尾，还是让人轻快不起来。

蜗居有三个元素，一个是性，一个是权，一个是房。这三者的地位各不相同，权在三角形的顶端，性和房分处三角形的两个角落。色和房不过是权役使的奴仆罢了。

秘书说起来官阶不大，但因为在首长的身边，就有了首长代言人的身份。中国的官场上，秘书是个不可小视的角色。首长的许多不方便，在秘书这里都化为了方便。首长的权力是通过秘书来施展的，所以秘书才使得权力具体化。

权力在中国从来很诱人，据说，比尔8226;盖茨说过，世界上最幸福的事情莫过于在中国当官。这点我有很切近的观察，我感受得到权力带来的那种魅力。我的好多同学现在都官至厅局级，言行举止无不透出十足的底气。即使来参加同学会，也是坐专车来的，喝酒的时候，会有司机上前挺身代酒。如果有什么麻烦，找到他们，即使地面不是他的地面，只要他愿意，他也能通过曲折的关系来摆平。以前是布衣的时候，他们可没有这样风光。海藻很惊叹宋思明的无所不能，说：“这世界上还有什么你不能解决的问题呢？”宋的权力不过是官员们无所不能的一种折射罢了。

权力如何产生的？是在组织经济的职能中产生的。中国的层层政府不仅有政治职能、行政职能，而且有强大的经济职能。权力就是在政府无所不包的职能中产生的，尤其是在组织经济的职能中体现出来。因此，要削弱官员的权力，就必须淡化政府的经济职能，尤其是地方政府的经济职能。政策一旦制定下来，个人和企业都依照政策行事，跟政府的交道只在于照章纳税，而政府则对纳税进行再分配。只要政府不能对经济行为再有无微不至的控制，衙门里的官员们的权力就自然弱化了。

说起来容易，要施行起来却很难。不论如何，中国都是一个奇迹，弊端再怎么多，却现在当下无可争辩地养活了十三亿人口。

～～～～～～～～～～～～

2 导演是白痴，观众差点也被搞成傻子

最近几天有点无所事事，就决计挑一个电视连续剧来看，挑了半天，挑了《猎鹰1949》来看。一开始，就觉得编剧导演太不把敌人当盘菜了，敌人要真这样傻，玩弄他们倒是一件很轻松很娱乐的事，跟玩电子游戏差不多。那个特务营营长好像刀枪不入，子弹像雨点一样飞向他，都真的跟毛毛雨一样温柔了。事情的演变都一丝不苟按照他的思路来展开，没有另外一种偶然。未来按照他编制好的程序一条路走到黑。要是生活是这样进行的，那就不是他太聪明，而是他的意志强大得跟上帝一样，要天，就有天；要地，就有地。

这个电视连续剧由《神探狄人杰》的原班人马组成，被一些人追捧成“眼下泛滥成宰的谍战片中不多的精品。”从头到尾，我却无法感到它的精致。

剧中狠狠洒了几滴花露水，几个女人争风吃醋、妄图独占大英雄燕双鹰的宠爱成了一条副线条。之中最搞笑的是林玉仙。她是国军上校，拥有很大的营盘，兵士众多，性格冷酷，腥风血雨当经过不少。然而在燕双鹰的面前，她芳心萌动了，变成了一个少不更事的大姑娘。在燕双鹰就要被击毙的一刹那，她挺身而出，把枪口指向老板，救下英雄。她成了弃暗投明的英雄。事情到了这里，已经很可笑，可是最可笑的还是末尾。猎鹰行动眼看就要彻底失败，老板及其同伙就要被全歼，她却又成了老板派出的卧底。

故事发生在山城重庆，却没有一处表现了哪怕一点点重庆的地貌特点。山城被解放了，老板的人马却还是来去无阻，在夜间开着显眼的车四处招摇去作案，城区里没有解放军，也没有闲人的眼睛。

燕双鹰穿上那件长得及地的黑皮大衣，不说行动起来不方便，就说这身行头，外加大墨镜，一看就像特务，小朋友们早就该把他举报给政府了。

猎鹰行动是剧中的焦点，是国民党潜伏特务在保密局领导下企图施行的细菌战。这也太具有想象力了。国民党真要搞细菌战的话，何必发射到空中爆炸传播，可以从台湾派飞机高空播撒的啊。解放初大陆还没有制空权，台湾跟美国合作组建的34中队就经常于夜间到大陆投放心战宣传品和特务。他们开的侦察机是庞大的轰炸机改制的，低空飞行，夜出昼伏，如入无人之境。

这种对历史缺乏起码了解的硬伤到处都是。比如敌方某师司令部所在的建筑物钱挂的牌子上写的是“国民党陆军XXX”就是一例。叫国军叫多了，国军的全称是什么也糊涂了。国军的全称应该是“国民革命军”，而不是“国民党军”。俗称里可以说国民党军，但郑重挂了一块牌子，就应该严谨准确才是。同样的错误还出现在眼下很多热门的电视连续剧里，比如《亮剑》、《我的兄弟叫顺溜》等等。这帮拍电视连续剧的人肚子里有多少文化，由此可见一斑。

共产党这边的两个高官都成了国民党特务，也不可信；到了国民党在大陆覆灭的时刻，自我暴露，更不可信。尤其是那个二野情报处的李处长，在我方阵营中是指挥首长，在营救老板的行动中，伪装牺牲，我方不验尸，后来尸体消失，也不追查。整个过程简直就是无法自圆其说的儿戏。

当喜剧和闹剧看完这部连续剧，发誓在相当长的一段历史时期内，不再看电视连续剧了。