Newsletter No. 521

09 # 5 2 1 | 1 9 . 0 8 . 2 0 1 8 善工寶器 Tech Tool 文心玲瓏 The Literary Mind 醫生與詩人看似毫不相干,中大生命倫理學中心總監 區結成 醫生卻身兼兩個身分,讀他的 《有詩的時候》,恍如隨他走了一趟新詩大觀園,一路上細聽中國新詩和詩人的小故事。 《有詩的時候》既非詩集,亦非詩評,而是一扇讓人穿梭百年新詩世界的時空門。全書分為 三部分,首部分講解民國年間的詩作,集中介紹冰心、戴望舒、馮至、穆旦、卞之琳等詩人; 第二部分以四十年代興起的九葉詩派和七月詩派為主;第三部分則介紹香港和台灣詩人,包 括余光中、也斯和 蔡炎培 。 作者自幼愛讀詩、寫作,在學時曾投稿青年文學獎徵文比賽,獲新詩優異獎,平日以筆名 「區聞海」為《信報》及《明報》撰寫專欄。他在公營醫療系統行醫三十多年,退休前任醫 管局質素及安全總監,其間舉辦過三場「午間詩語」講座,暢談新詩及背後的小故事,當時 他已着手籌劃此書。 馮至是作者喜歡的詩人,他糅合中西詩藝,既承傳了中國詩歌的憂懷,也從歌德、西方現 代派表現技巧和存在主義哲學豐富了詩的表現方式,曾被魯迅讚譽為「中國最傑出的抒情 詩人」。作者認為其《十四行集》更超越了「抒情」,第二首詩〈什麼能從我們身上脫落〉以 「蛻化的蟬蛾」表達死亡與新生、有限與超越。 「詩」字蘊藏「寸」,作者認為有「寸心」之意,寫詩能表達心中幽微之處。人生五味紛陳, 不妨放慢步伐,呷一口茶,讀一首新詩,讓生活多一點人文的細膩。 Doctors and poets could be as different as chalk and cheese, but the director of CUHK’s Centre for Bioethics Dr. Derrick Au has proved himself an exception. Reading the doctor- cum-poet’s In Time with Poetry , the reader seems to have entered a literary garden and listened to him telling the stories of Chinese modern poetry and poets. In Time with Poetry is neither an anthology nor a review of poetry, but a trapdoor through which you time travel in the century-long history of modern poetry. The first part of the book covers the poems in China’s Republican era by poets like Bing Xin, Dai Wangshu, Feng Zhi, Mu Dan and Bian Zhilin. The second part introduces the Nine Leaves School and the July School that flourished in the 1940s, followed by the part on Hong Kong and Taiwanese poets which include Yu Kwang-chung, Yesi (aka Leung Ping-kwan) and Tsai Yim-pui . The author has been addicted to reading poems and writing since childhood. During his undergraduate studies, he won a merit award in modern poetry in the Youth Literary Awards competition. In parallel to his medical career, he writes for the Hong Kong Economic Journal and Ming Pao as a columnist under the pseudonym Au Man-hoi. He has served in the public heathcare system for over three decades. He worked as the director of Quality and Safety before his retirement from the Hospital Authority, during which time he had organized three literary talks on modern poetry and the stories behind. It was during this time that he started to plan for this book. Feng Zhi, his favourite poet, was equally comfortable in Chinese and western poesy. Feng inherited the sentiment of Chinese poetry, and benefitted from Goethe, the modernist expressionist techniques and existentialism. Lu Xun hailed him as China’s most outstanding lyrical poet. Dr. Au found his Collection of Sonnets more than ‘lyrical’. The second poem in the collection, ‘What Might Fall from Our Bodies’, uses the metamorphosis of cicadas and moths to meditate on death and rebirth, as well as finitude and transcendence. Dr. Au thinks that the writing of poetry helps one to reach into the innermost of one’s heart and experience life to the full. Reading a poem is like sipping tea. It’s an invitation to slow down and savour life. J. Lau 中大系統工程與工程管理學系教授,創新科技中心主任 黃錦輝 認為科技是善工的寶器。 人類在進化史上的生活水平、生產效率不斷提升,當中遇到的難題,多是靠科技解決。 除了認識世界,科學也應改造甚至改善這個世界。後者往往由科技推動,科學家編制算法, 詳細列出解決一系列問題的方向步驟。其中最著名的是「旅行推銷員問題」,即在一定數量 的城市和任何兩個城市之間的距離已知的情況下,如何找出一條以最短時間走遍所有城市 的路徑。 黃教授認為當代最重要的科技突破要算是互聯網,因為它令資訊的傳播無遠弗屆,大大壓 縮了時空,為現代生活定奏。互聯網的迅速發展,其實有賴我們熟悉的 高錕 教授在光纖方 面的劃時代貢獻。 但科學怪人、原子彈之類也不時提醒我們科技會反過來帶給人類浩劫。黃教授卻視科技為 中性,既可載舟,也可覆舟。他不認同末日論者的看法,要以法例或其他方法來管制科技的 發展。科技是福是禍,端視乎在人類手裏怎樣應用,就好像互聯網本身只是一個資訊的高 速公路,但總有人不守交通規則,橫衝直撞,至會出現網絡欺凌、兩極化言行,或2016年美 國總統大選涉嫌受到不當影響等。 最後,黃教授認為學工程的,也須學習科技研究的智慧和操守,俾能發揮科技這寶器來造 福社會。 Tech is tool, says Wong Kam-fai , professor of the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management and director of the Centre for Innovation and Technology at CUHK. Tech is scientific knowhow that brings solutions to problems in the pursuit of greater comfort, convenience and fulfilment in life and work by human beings. In addition to knowing the world, science should change the world and make it a better place. This is technology’s province, achieved often by means of algorithms which are detailed specifications of the steps to be taken to solve given problems. The most famous example is the ‘travelling salesman problem’. Given a number of cities and the distance between any two, the challenge is to figure out the shortest possible route that covers all the cities. To Professor Wong, the advent of the worldwide web is the most far-reaching technological breakthrough in the modern times. It has enabled information to travel far and wide, thereby shrinking space and compressing time which has completely recast the face of modern living. For that we have someone close by to thank. Seminal developments in internet technology were made possible by the groundbreaking work on optical fibre of Prof. Charles K. Kao . Many cite Frankenstein’s monster or the atomic bomb as caveat that technology would overstep its bounds with calamitous results. Professor Wong thinks technology is neuter. Unlike the doomsayers, he does not think technological innovations should be subject to censorship or fettered by legislative control. It is how technology is put to use that may invite undesirable consequences. The internet platform is itself value-neutral but inadvertence or malice might give rise to things like online bullying, polarized partisanism or the consequences of the 2016 US presidential election. Lastly, Professor Wong sees the role of education in general and engineering education in particular to be providing that much needed wisdom and integrity in putting technology to the service of humankind. Responsible educators should show the tech novices how to harness technology to serve the changing needs of society and improve the lives of ordinary people. T.C. 字 裏 科 技 / T ech T alks 藝 士 匹 靈 / ARTS pirin

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDE2NjYz