专栏 : 我们怎么就移民到加拿大了呢？（之四）

- 翠竹青青 [230] (2018-04-08 08:53:11) (0) (0)

罗森教授的挚友帕特森教授在悼词中说，大卫（罗森教授的名字）是一个身体上的，职业上的，智力上的或者精神上的旅行者。

Physically, David was really a traveller. As a child of course he moved from England to California and New York, then later elsewhere in the US, to Vancouver and Montreal and to China. But also he lived in Mexico for a time and he travelled extensively in Mexico, South and Central America and in Mediterranean Europe.

Professionally, David was also a traveller. He had many accomplishments. He was mainly a poet, but was also an artist, ( I think he had a one-man show while still in his teens ) and did sketches of many of the places seen on his travels. He was writer on philosophical issues, and a teacher in various places in US, and in Canada and in China. He also played the piano well, and of course here we know of his encyclopedic knowledge of literature and philosophy.

But I think the most interesting facets of his travels was “spiritual”. David of course left his early Jewish upbringing, the revelation of which by his sister, was quite a surprise to me. He then travelled through Quakerism, the Ethical Culture movement and Humanism. Although he joined the Unitarian church in his last years, I do not think he would have liked to identify himself with any religion or community. His relation with any group would be tentative and fluctuating and also, let’s say it, difficult. I think there was a commitment, but it was an unspoken one. As Ray said a few days ago, it would be difficult to imagine any other community than the Unitarian in which he could have found a home. Probably, his sister Joy’s letter, filled with separations, explains the tentative nature of David’s relations, but they were nonetheless valuable.

（ to be continued )

生词注释：

physically: 身体上，体力上

extensively: 广泛地

Mediterranean: 地中海的

professionally: 职业地

accomplishment: 成就

philosophical issues: 哲学问题

intellectually: 知识上，智力上

encyclopedic: 百科全书的

facet: 方面, 侧面

upbringing: 出身，养育