Louis的全英语睡前阅读

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization took time at its daily press conference to address another pressing issue: the wave of protests against police violence and racial injustice. The demonstrations began in the U.S. when George Floyd died on May 25 after a police officer had pressed a knee into his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while detaining him in Minneapolis.The protests are now spreading around the world to Europe, Africa and other regions."WHO fully supports equality and the global movement against racism. We reject discrimination of all kinds," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on June 8.The demonstrations have prompted fear that the close contact of thousands of marchers could lead to a spike in case counts — which hit a new high on Sunday, with 136,000 cases reported that day.Modelers say it's difficult to assess how the protests will influence COVID-19 infections. Because COVID-19 generally has an incubation time of up to two weeks, public health officials think it will take a couple of weeks before they see the impact.But it's clear that a key ingredient for transmission is present at many of these rallies: close contact. The images of protesters standing shoulder to shoulder — some wearing face masks, others not — raise concerns, especially in cities with higher rates of infection.To that end, Tedros recommends that protesters follow the guidance of local health officials and take precautions to protect themselves from the novel coronavirus. "We encourage all those protesting around the world to do so safely," he said, "Clean your hands, cover your cough and wear a mask if you attend a protest." He also advised people to maintain a safe distance from others — and to stay home if they are sick."The riskiest situation to be in is to be in close proximity to a case, particularly a symptomatic case, of COVID-19," said Michael Ryan, director of WHO's health emergencies program at the Monday press conference, so healthy people protesting next to one another may not meet the definition of coming in contact with the disease.However, it's become clear to researchers that the new coronavirus can be spread by people who aren't showing symptoms of it. "Local public health official[s], on the basis of abundance of caution, could advise people either to quarantine or to get tested [after attending a mass gathering]," Ryan said.Local officials have expressed similar worries about the interplay of the protests and the pandemic. Last week Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was concerned about what mass gatherings in the streets "could mean for spikes in our coronavirus cases later." She urged protesters to consider their exposure and consider being tested.Denver Mayor Michael Hancock announced free tests for demonstrators. Officials in Atlanta and New York have suggested testing as well."Testing everyone that participated in demonstrations would be useful in communities where many new cases are being reported every day. These new cases indicate that transmission is occurring at a high rate in the communities," said Bill Miller, an epidemiologist and physician at Ohio State University.He said an alternative to testing everyone would be active contact tracing. "With new cases, the tracers could ask about demonstration participation, including days and times," Miller said. Then, if cases are linked to a demonstration, a call could go out to get everyone who participated in that event to be tested.Being outdoors seems to reduce the risk of exposure because the virus can't survive long in sunlight and there's better air circulation, but it's no guarantee against infection. Health experts warn that some activities linked with the protests — such as riding public transportation to attend rallies or getting arrested and jailed indoors with others — could increase a person's risk of getting exposed to the virus.Meanwhile, protests are expected to continue in the days ahead. George Floyd's burial service will take place on Tuesday at a private service in Houston.(Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/06/08/872419850/even-in-a-pandemic-who-believes-that-public-protests-are-important)

"Dangerous things have to happen sometimes.  Just be careful. Then make direct eye contact and face them."今天跟大家分享的是一篇叫“How to See the Truth Behind the Truth”的文章，这篇文章来自一本名叫This Is How的书，这是一本挺神奇的读物。虽然它更像一本机场的self-help book，而不是一本特别profound的书。但就是这样一本小书，其实还挺invoking的。至少可以回答一些生活的问题，不也挺好的吗。希望听众喜欢。Goodnight and sleep well.

有时候，看似没有那么好喝的鸡汤其实也没有那么毒，就像作者说的那样，有时候拥有太多东西，才是失去的开始。这本回忆录+自传式的书《This is How》用一种“blend of black humor and heart”的方式来“serves up tough love and reasons for hope”，之所以选这篇“Why Having it All is Not”是因为这几句话：1. Limits stop you from living a life without limits.2. When you have total freedom - no limits at all - you stop trying to make the best of things.3. This is the problem with "having it all": there is nothing left to want. 4. Losing something you need or giving it away is also good. 5. Everything around you is of equal weight.Hope you will like it too. Goodnight and sleep well. 

关于《小小小小的火》原小说与电视剧改编之间的讨论在豆瓣上也有讨论，在看电视剧的时候我也会有不太满意电视剧的改编的时候，但是看完最后一集时，也突然明白了一些改编的道理，于是写下了下面这段话：“坐在车里哭的Mia不就是每个曾经坐在车里抽泣过的我们；仓皇迷失的Elena，站在Mia最后的作品前，轻声细语地喊了一声Isabel。Bebe坐在车里，绽放了期待已久的笑容，手里捧着曾经遗失的孩子，这一刻，我并没有感觉到舒缓，反而更担心起了May Ling的未来和这个眼里只有所谓的母爱的“母亲”，她的双层身份给了这个角色复杂性，但其实她是最不存在也是最存在的母亲。她既是Elena，那个过了这么多年，终于搞丢了自己小女儿的完美母亲；她也是Mia，那个有胆有识，却始终活在阴影下的不完美母亲。这么多集看下来，经历了从喜欢，到迅速看完小说，到不太喜欢，再到厌恶和厌倦，在快要放弃的时候，因为好奇后面与小说有多大出入而坚持看完，最终又回归了喜欢。它与小说太不一样，不一样到有些情节让人感觉是在为了尽量还原小说和推进故事而存在的。这难免会丢失原小说中的部分人物性格和内在动机，但在纯电视剧层面，似乎又给了一种别样的合理性。这种合理性，我不确定是不是在没有看过原小说的观众眼里也成立。但在最后，Elena“承认”了纵火的人是自己那一刻，似乎明白了其中改编的逻辑和原因。电视剧版本与小说版本有很大出入，甚至有些改动会觉得多余，但并不妨碍它们共同以不同的视角在探讨一个看似有序的社区和富裕阶层中，人与人之间的脆弱关系与人性自身的脆弱性。它的们焦点不只是在探讨母亲与孩子之间得复杂共生体关系，更多地是在探讨“丧失”与“重得”，以及这种得失之间的动态与荒诞的平衡。因为只有在不断得到的时候，我们才在失去。”于是，因为对这本书的改编还挺有兴趣的，所以在网上找到了一篇关于原作者与电视剧编剧的采访，虽然内容不是很深刻，但是也可以凑合了解了解一些改编的思路以及作者对改编的一些想法。（原文链接：https://www.indiewire.com/2020/03/little-fires-everywhere-celeste-ng-interview-book-show-changes-1202217361/）（另一篇作者Celeste Ng的采访：https://www.npr.org/2017/09/09/549552722/a-mother-and-daughter-upset-suburban-status-quo-in-little-fires-everywhere 也可以读一读。）Okay, goodnight! Thanks for listening to Louis's Bedtime Stories. Sleep well!

今天我们继续阅读“Born A Crime”的第一章——Run，其实这个章节的写作和内容非常精巧，当你在阅读或者听读的时候，会被Trevor那种天生的喜剧性和戏剧性的叙事模式带入到故事里面，并同时以旁观者的冷静观察角度和故事的亲历者的那种充满未知、迷茫以及那种疲乏感的角度来看待这段发生在一个5岁孩子身上的故事。因为故事的视点是一个5岁小孩的身体，因此，很多故事的细节其实是充满了童真的。比如他对于周末礼拜的态度以及对于耶稣的那种不那么“虔诚”的态度。毕竟在孩子眼中，对耶稣的认识和身上那种强烈的“基督性”的建立还没到一定的强烈程度。但不能忽略的是，这是一本自传，或者至少是一部回顾南非在经历“apartheid”（种族隔离）时期发生的故事，孩子眼中看到的那种荒诞性是被整个时代所赋予的，时代的力量和历史的车轮在前进时，压碎了石子和人类的躯体。希望听众也和我一样喜欢这本自传，有兴趣的可以找个机会好好读一下这本书，会有不少的收获。时候不早了，各位晚安！See you next time! This is Louis's Bedtime Story.

“The first thing I learned about having money was that it gives you choices. People don’t want to be rich. They want to be able to choose. The richer you are, the more choices you have. That is the freedom of money. We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to.”

今天给大家分享一篇不是Jesse老师写的文章，这篇文章其实很通俗易懂，当然因此也没有特别的深入去探讨说为什么现在孩子的儿童读物和以前有很大的区别。(原文链接在此：https://www.npr.org/2020/04/30/847842664/will-your-kids-love-your-favorite-childhood-reads-lets-find-out）其实现在小孩的读物也是随着时代的变化，随着政治语境的变化发生着巨大的变化。这也与我们所处的时代背景有很大的关系，也反应了不同时代人们面临的社会问题和叙事母题。其实，很多时候我们觉得孩子学习的东西和阅读以及观看的电视节目好像很幼稚和天真，但殊不知，如果你仔细阅读一下小孩读和看的文本，会发现原来儿童文学的作者也只是普通人而已。他们面对的问题，不比我们面对的少多少。他们儿童的那一面毕竟只是一块面积有限的遮羞布，遮不住这个社会带来的困扰和悲伤。Anyways, goodnight everyone. Hope it can give you some inspirations about our life and world. Have a good sleep! louis

在这个吃小龙虾的季节，是能够感受到文中小龙虾的香味和吃时的那种孤独。可能对于9岁的小孩来说，一个令人confusing的父亲形象依然好过没有父亲的孩子。他透过父亲的眼睛和对话，感受到了父亲这么多年来经历的变化，和之前与母亲在一起时的不开心。他理解了为什么父亲要远走，也理解了自己为什么还希望得到他的爱。这个充满大爱的父亲与一个需要小爱的小孩之间的这种爱的不调和性，拉扯并维系着这段有趣的父子关系。毕竟，任何关系都是需要经营的，就好像那些在飓风中被摧毁的房子一样，是需要细心照顾和重建的。喜欢的那句philosophical idea：“I guess if I was a homeless person from New Orleans, I would like Dad more than Mom. But I’m just a kid from the suburbs and that’s not my fault.”晚安，感谢收听Louis的bedtime story。See you tomorrow! Goodnight.

 "And I think that the more someone says something, the less it’s probably going to be true. "Louis的睡前故事会选择不同的小说或者文学评论等跟大家分享，这次选择的是来自Jesse Eisenberg的短文集“Bream Gives Me Hiccups”中我比较喜欢的一篇，叫“The Whiskey Blue Bar At W Hotel”。喜欢它的原因是因为，在众多对母亲怪诞行为的嘲讽中，这一篇似乎更犀利和尴尬，母亲对这次date的重视程度以及其中表现出来的awkwardness其实是非常普世的。小Jesse默默地在一旁观察着母亲的怪诞行为，一边思考着这个想要建立亲密关系的母亲是如何与这个刚刚失去妻子的男性之间关系的不可建立性。小巧精悍的短故事非常适合睡前听，会会心一笑，也会帮助进行睡前的简短思考。Anyways, have a goodnight!