I learned from Mr. Zhang that the main initiator of this Asian literature exchange meeting was not Hong Kong Chinese University at the beginning, but Lin Yutang, a professor of Chinese studies at the school.

As the only surviving master of Republic of China literature, Lin Yutang has been studying Chinese-English translation at Chinese University since he moved to Hong Kong, and it took more than five years before he presided over the compilation of the "Lin Yutang Contemporary Chinese-English Dictionary" in 1972.

The "Lin Yutang Contemporary Chinese-English Dictionary" has about 1,800 pages, involving more than 30,000 words, including some Chinese idioms translated into English, which can be said to greatly improve the vocabulary of ordinary people learning English.

Prior to the publication of this book, only two Chinese-English dictionaries were popular in the world: the Chinese-English Dictionary edited by Zhai Lisi in 1892 and the Chinese-English Dictionary edited by Mai in 1932.

These two mainstream Chinese-English dictionaries are made up by foreigners, and many words and vocabulary actually have some slight gaps, plus they are old words from decades ago, which are no longer enough to meet the needs of contemporary Chinese-English translation.

Therefore, when Lin Yutang compiled this "Contemporary Chinese-English Dictionary", once it was published by Chinese University, it quickly became popular among major universities on Hong Kong Island, and even the University of Hong Kong sent people to purchase a lot of them and put them in the library for students to borrow and study.

At that time, when Fok Yaowen was still temporarily substitute teaching for HKU, he also read this Chinese-English dictionary, and I have to say that Lin Yutang is worthy of being a famous translator, and many Chinese idioms translated into English are almost very appropriate to the original meaning.

Compiling the Chinese-English Dictionary was one of Lin Yutang's greatest wishes in his later years, so after the dictionary was published, he resigned from his position as a professor at the University of Chinese at an advanced age and began to work for another wish.

That is to hold a literary exchange meeting!

It's a pity that after the 76-year-old Lin Yutang resigned and retired, his health was not as good as before, and he spent most of the year in the hospital ward, so he survived until a few days ago and unfortunately passed away.

In order to fulfill Lin Yutang's last wish, the Chinese University of Chinese also initiated this "Asian Literature Exchange Conference", personally presided over all the arrangements of the exchange meeting, and even sent invitations to most of the well-known literary writers in Asia.

Huo Yaowen didn't know Lin Yutang, but he had also read his "Jinghua Smoke Cloud" and some life deeds, and he still admired this literary master who invented the Chinese typewriter.

It's just that some of the things he did at Nanyang University in his later years made many people lament that the old age was not guaranteed, and the reputation of future generations was mixed.

A few years ago, when Huo Yaowen quoted the "loneliness" written by Lin Yutang, he actually had some dealings, and when Lin Yutang was still retired and reading the newspaper at home, he saw that article in the newspaper.

I was happy to publish an article with the help of a friend's newspaper, but at that time, Huo Yaowen went to the United States to deal with the affairs of book publishing, and he didn't see the article.

"When will the exchange start?" Huo Yaowen asked.

"It's still in preparation, because there are more people invited, I estimate that it will take at least half a month, but if you are free tomorrow, come to the Hong Kong Hotel, tomorrow is the day of Mr. Lin's funeral." ”

The Hong Kong Hotel in Mr. Zhang's words is actually a Hong Kong funeral home, but in the early years, people were taboo to say this name, so they vaguely said that it was Hong Kong Hotel.

"Okay, then I'll pick you up early tomorrow morning. Hearing that tomorrow was the day of Lin Yutang's funeral, Huo Yaowen nodded and agreed.

When it was decided to pick up Teacher Zhang the next day, Huo Yaowen just put down the phone and said to his grandmother, who was carrying soup from the kitchen: "I just heard you say that you are going out tomorrow?

Huo Yaowen took the soup, took a sip and said, "Don't delay, I bought a ticket for the afternoon, I went to the funeral in the morning, and came back at noon, so I had time." ”

"Who died?" asked Grandma suspiciously.

"Mr. Lin Yutang. ”

"It's him!"

Hearing this, Grandma was stunned for a few seconds, and then sighed and said: "I didn't expect Mr. Lin to pass away too, I still remember when I was studying in Guangzhou Girls' Middle School, the school often let us read some articles published by Mr. Lin in the newspaper. ”

I don't know if it evokes the memory of Grandma's youth, Huo Yaowen saw that her face was not very good, and he was also relieved, just when Anna hugged Xiaobao and Xiaohu downstairs, the two little guys ran to their grandmother's side, which made a smile appear on the corner of the old man's mouth.

Seeing this situation, Huo Yaowen breathed a sigh of relief, got up and prepared to send the bowl to the kitchen, only to hear Anna, who was following behind, say, "What's the matter?

Huo Yaowen looked at his wife's tone of voice and seemed to be a little unpleasant, so he stepped forward with a smile and hugged her waist and said, "It's okay, don't delay us going to the UK." ”

Anna leaned on Huo Yaowen's shoulder and said thoughtfully: "If you really have something, I'll take the children to the UK myself." ”

"It's really fine, it's just that I'll be busy tomorrow morning for a while, and I'll be back at noon, so I can catch the afternoon flight. Huo Yaowen didn't tell Anna about participating in the funeral, after all, she may not know Lin Yutang's name.

Seeing what he said, the gloom in Anna's heart was swept away, a happy smile appeared on her face, and she said: "Then I'll go upstairs again to see if there is anything to prepare, this time it's rare to go to England, I want to bring something back." ”

"Well, it's good to be more prepared, I think I'm afraid I'll have to stay a little longer when I go to the UK this time. In addition to visiting his mother-in-law in the UK this time, Huo Yaowen also had to see some of the situation of the Egyptian Bookstore Company and the Huanyu Newspaper.

……

At six o'clock in the morning the next day, Huo Yaowen woke up early, in order to avoid disturbing Anna's sleep, he took a set of black suits, took the toiletries from the bathroom and went to the bathroom downstairs to solve the problem.

Zhang's mother and Li's mother had already woken up, they were making breakfast in the kitchen, and suddenly heard movement in the living room, and came out curiously to take a look, and said in surprise: "Mr. got up so early?"

Huo Yaowen said: "I have something to go out. ”

Zhang's mother asked, "Do you want to eat breakfast before you go out?" We're making fritters, and they'll be ready right away. ”

He looked at his watch, it was already 6.40, thought about it and shook his head and said: "Forget it, it's a little too late, I'll see if there is anything to sell early when I go out, just deal with it casually." ”

After speaking, Huo Yaowen took the car keys and went out.

After driving to Guizhou Street in Kowloon to pick up Mr. Zhang, they did not rush to the "Hong Kong Hotel", but went to a nearby funeral shop to take the two wreaths they had ordered yesterday.

By the time we arrived at the place, it was already eight o'clock, and a large number of wreaths had already been piled up at the door of the funeral home to mourn the guests.

Looking at the situation, it seemed that it was about to start, and Huo Yaowen immediately opened the car door and was about to go down, only to hear Zhang Chengyi, the co-pilot, say: "The black yarn is entangled." ”

"Oooh. Huo Yaowen was stunned for a few seconds, then remembered the black gauze he had taken in the funeral shop before, and hurriedly took it out of his pocket, wrapped it around his left wrist, and then went to the rear compartment to take out the two large wreaths.

When I arrived at the door of the funeral home, I registered with the receptionist, and someone sent the wreath in, and shouted the names of the people who came to mourn while walking in.

...