詩意節氣 Seasonal Living with Splendid Poetry
This is more than a seasonal living guidebook. It presents time-tested ways of handling the changing seasons based on the so-called 24 solar terms, which have been recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization since 2016.
In journalistic style, this book succinctly explains what the 24 solar terms are, why they can help people live more in tune with nature, and how understanding seasonality can bring health benefits. Better yet, each chapter of the book includes a timeless poem with a seasonal theme, as well as colorful pictures of seasonal scenery.
Delightful and insightful, this is a must-read for everyone seeking a more environmentally friendly and health promoting lifestyle!
記 言
作者簡介 -
Crystal Tai (盧琪綺) was born in Taipei and moved to San Francisco with her family as a teenager. She majored in English literature in college and later earned a Master's degree in Education Policy with coursework in Journalism from Stanford University in 2007. Since then, she has worked as a local news reporter, a communications specialist in the high tech sector, a YouTuber (via Crystal Blue Sky), and a freelance interpreter/translator. She translated Beijing: A Symmetrical City, which won two book awards in the US in 2020. She also translated her own maternal grandfather's memoir book, Nine Memorable Decades, which serves as research material in the Hoover Institution.
Even more impressive as a writer than as a translator, Crystal has creatively succeeded in both fiction and non-fiction. Her historical novel, Marco Polo in Love, has been selected by the Indie Author Project to be available at public libraries all over California. As for non-fiction, Crystal has authored a few books that introduce Chinese culture to Westerners.
Among Crystal's non-fiction books, A Poetic Portal to Chinese Culture has brought her a certificate of commendation from California's Santa Clara County government. Insights into Suzhou Gardens unprecedentedly analyzes all the fascinating features Suzhou-style gardens have in common. Yangzhou portrays a scenic waterfront city with more than 2,500 years of history and superb local cuisine. Chinese Couplets is the first-ever book that presents Chinese couplets in English as an art form. Seasonal Living with Splendid Poetry is the first bilingual book that explains how the 24 micro-seasons defined by ancient Chinese astronomers can promote environmental awareness and bring health benefits today.
盧琪綺是立春時節生於台北的外省第三代，祖父祖母是江蘇淮安人，外公外婆是江蘇泰州人。她年少時随家人移民美國舊金山，大學時代主修英國文學，後來在 2007 年獲得斯坦福大學碩士學位，主修教育行政，副修新聞。畢業後曾任英文媒體地方新聞記者、高科技公司公關，也常應邀擔任社區活動英語或雙語主持人，並為 YouTube 頻道 Crystal Blue Sky 製作影片。所譯《北京：中軸線上的城市》2020年贏得美國圖書界兩項大獎。另外，她的外公自傳《九十春秋》經由她英譯，已成為胡佛研究院的藏書。
她在創作方面比在翻譯方面更有成就，無論小說或非小說類文體皆擅長。她描寫馬可波羅的英文歷史小說 Marco Polo in Love (中文譯名《倾城倾心》)獲選為加州所有公立圖書馆的電子版藏書。至於非小說類，她著有好幾本介紹中華文化的英文作品。
她的非小說類英文原創作品包括曾獲居住地縣政府頒獎勉勵的《中華詩詞文化入門》，還有更上層樓的《蘇州園林深意》、《揚州》、《歷久彌新的對聯藝術》，以及《詩意節氣》。
評 語 -
" In the west we often reductively recognize only four seasons, but this broad stroke approach misses many subtle variations. Here, the author invites us to slow down, take stock, and savor. It employs the 24 solar terms of Chinese cosmology, as well as food recommendations, observations on life, distilled wisdom, and a well-chosen poem which ends each section. In Crystal Tai's translations, these classical Chinese poems become calligraphic touchstones, as in this one by Yuan Zhao: "Dry clouds fl y with heat burning across the sky like fi re; / Daytime seems to be cooking in the steamer. / If we can't go to the ice cave on the moon, / How many cool breezes can a fan bring in the stifl ing summer? " How elegantly the translator has packaged these images and feelings !
The poor fan can't compete with the moon's ice cave, but it's what we have, so we must lean into what we have, delighting in all the variations we get to experience. That's the life-affi rming principle of this journal-like tour through the seasons. This lively, colorful, and compelling book asks us to embrace the changing seasons and to be transformed ! "
— David Allen Sullivan,
the Author of Black Butterfl ies Over Baghdad,
Former Santa Cruz County Poet Laureate
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