Centenarian woman recites ancient Chinese poems in Hoklo 一百多歲人瑞 台語背古詩不跳針

TODAY’S WORDS
今日單字

1. well-versed adj. 熟知的；通曉的 例: 
I’m not well-versed in legal ethics. (我並不熟知法律倫理。)

2. in the blink of an eye idiom 頃刻間；轉瞬間 

例: In the blink of an eye our daughter has grown up and is going off to college. (吾家有女初長成，轉眼間就要念大學了。)

3. humble v. 使地位降低；使威信掃地 

例: She was humbled after failing to win the competition. (競賽失利使她丟臉。)

At 103 Lee Liu Su is still bright-eyed and perky-eared, and many professors and university students concede inferiority as verses of antiquity flow from her lips. Lee garnered immense admiration from her audience when she recited, without the slightest bit of hesitation, Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s “Swallow song for Liu the elder” in Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) at the Dounan Township Office’s auditorium on Aug. 3.

Lee was born in 1911 in Gukeng Township’s present-day Yongguang Village — formerly called Kantoucuo Village. She belonged to Yong Guang Elementary School’s sixth graduating class, which at the time was also called Kantoucuo Elementary School. Although able to speak fluent Japanese after graduating, having attended elementary school during Japanese colonial rule, Lee could still only read a limited number of Chinese characters. At the age of 17, she was married off to Dounan Township, where her father-in-law Lee Yun-tsong taught her to read Chinese characters.

Lee Shao-chu, Lee’s daughter, says that her grandfather appreciated literature and was well-versed in poetry. Lee first fell in love with poetry on her third day of marriage, when her father-in-law began teaching her Chinese characters, poetry from the Tang Dynasty and ancient verses. It seems like 80-odd years have passed in the blink of an eye. Lee read books and recited poems every day until she turned 100 and her eyesight began rapidly deteriorating. After many admonishments from her family, Lee gradually decreased the time she spent reading.

Lee demurely says that since she is getting on in years, she often remembers the title of a poem but forgets the first line when trying to recite it, so she either has to take a moment or ask someone standing next to her to remind her. Because she studied with her father-in-law for five years when she was young, she managed to memorize all 300 of the classic Tang poems in Taiwanese so well that she could actually recite them backwards and forwards.

Lee was voted model senior this year. At the commendation ceremony on Sunday last week, many present were humbled when Lee signed her name so carefully and neatly. Guests at the event requested that she recite Bai’s “Swallow song for Liu the elder.” This time she did not require any cues from anyone, and reeled off all 150 words of the poem at one go without any pause or stutter. Lee was on a roll and also fluently recited all 70 words from Li Bai’s “Drinking alone under the moonlight.” Everyone applauded and sang her praises.

(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)

一○三歲人瑞李劉肅耳聰目明，古詩朗朗上口，讓許多老師、大學生自嘆弗如；她八月三日在斗南鎮公所禮堂以台語背誦唐朝詩人白居易的「燕詩示劉叟」，一氣呵成令人讚嘆。

一九一一年出生的李劉肅為古坑崁頭厝人，是永光國小前身崁頭厝公學校第六屆畢業生，因當年是日治時期唸小學，畢業後雖然日語流利，但漢字認識不多，十七歲嫁至斗南後，才跟著公公李雲從學漢字。

李劉肅的女兒李韶珠說，爺爺喜歡文學，對詩詞很有研究，媽媽結婚第三天，就跟著爺爺學識字、讀唐詩及古詩，就此愛上詩詞，八十幾年如一日，每天都會讀書、吟詩，直到一百歲後因視力退化嚴重，在家人苦勸下，才減少讀書時間。

李劉肅則謙虛的說，現在年紀大了，雖記得詩名，但要背誦詩詞，卻常想不起第一句，常需要想一下或旁人提示；年輕時因為跟著公公讀了五年書，唐詩三百首以台語背誦，還真倒背如流。

李劉肅今年當選模範老人，上週日出席表揚活動時，自己拿筆簽名，字跡工整許多人都自嘆不如。在來賓要求下，她當場背誦「燕詩示劉叟」，這回不需任何提示，一百五十字的古詩一氣呵成，都沒有「跳針」，心花一開，她又吟唱李白的「月下獨酌」，七十字一樣很流暢，大家拍手叫好。

（自由時報記者黃淑莉）