Vocabulary Words

All of these words were derived from presentations in classes 061-064:

fable- a story about mythical or supernatural beings or events

metaphor- The transference of the relation between one set of objects
to another set for the purpose of brief explanation.

irregular- deviating from what is usual or common or to be expected

moral of the story- the lesson to be drawn from a story

bluegrass- a type of country music played at a rapid tempo on banjos and guitars

rockabilly- a fusion of black music and country music that was popular in the 1950s; sometimes described as blues with a country beat

alt-country- [From Wikipedia]: In the 1990s however, "alternative country" came to refer to a disparate group of musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of mainstream country music. In general these musicians eschewed the high production values and pop outlook of the Nashville-dominated industry, to produce music with a lo-fi sound, frequently informed with a strong punk and rock & roll aesthetic, bending the traditional rules of country music. Lyrics are often bleak, gothic or socially aware.

role play- To act out the actions or activities expected of a particular person or group (it can be for the purpose of education or for entertainment, as in theater).

animation- The creation of artificial moving images

minority- a group of people who differ racially or politically from a larger group of which it is a part

tide- something that may increase or decrease (like the tides of the sea)

engagement- a mutual promise to marry

matrimony- The union of man and woman as husband and wife

bridal shower- a party of friends assembled to present gifts (usually of a specified kind) to an engaged woman.

bachelor- an unmarried man

norm- A rule or authoritative standard

centrally controlled economy- An economy that is planned and controlled by a central administration, as in the former Soviet Union

market socialism- economic system representing a compromise between socialist planning and free enterprise, in which enterprises are publicly owned but production and consumption are guided by market forces rather than by government planning.

bourgeois- a member of the middle class; often connotes ownership of property or shopkeeping

proletariat- a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages

visa-an endorsement made in a passport that allows the bearer to enter the country issuing it

tuition- a fee paid for instruction

grant- any monetary aid

currency- metal or paper medium of monetary exchange (for example, the yuan)

competitor- a rival in a competition

motto- a short, suggestive expression of a guiding principle

relay race- a race between teams; each member runs or swims part of the distance

logo- a company emblem

freedom of worship- freedom to choose how (or whether) to practice religion

harvest- the season for gathering crops

pagan- a person who does not acknowledge your God

The Bund- old downtown riverbank district in Shanghai

canyon- (North America) a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall; can also be described as a deep gorge

agriculture- the practice of cultivating the land (farming) or raising stock

mechanization- the replacement of human and animal labor by mechanical devices

Silicon Valley- a region in California south of San Francisco that is noted for its concentration of high-technology industries

foot-binding- mutilating women's feet in order to make them smaller

plague- any large scale calamity (especially when thought to be sent by God); a swarm of insects that attack plants; any epidemic disease with a high death rate

anti-Semitism- the intense dislike for and prejudice against Jewish people

surgeon- a doctor who specializes in surgery

feudalism- Political and economic system in which a king or queen shared power with the nobility, who required services from the common people in return for allowing them to use the noble's land.

biotechnology- The industrial use of living organisms or biological techniques developed through basic research. Biotechnology products include antibiotics, insulin, interferon, recombinant DNA, and techniques such as waste recycling. Much older forms of biotechnology include breadmaking, cheesemaking and brewing wine and beer.

genetic manipulation- The manipulation of an organism's genetic code by introducing or eliminating specific genes through modern molecular biology techniques.

nutrition- The process by which an organism uses food for growth and maintenance.

afficionado- an ardent follower or fan

cuisine- the practice or manner of preparing food

Three Poems

Hurricane Fred
by Pete Winslow

A guy came along on a horse
Shouting into a bullhorn that
the turtles were coming
We said so what
He told us they'd eat the furniture
Drink the gas from the cars
Run up the phone bill and keep the lights on in the daytime
Well we battened down the hatches
And sure enough they came millions of them
Moving in off the freeway
Eating doorknobs and drinking fuel
Wanting only to be loved.

We gave them love took them into our homes
Let them eat and drink what they wanted
Let them sleep with our daughters
And at last they went back into the swamp
Everyone pitched in to clean up the mess
We scrubbed the turtle poop off of everything
Until the town looked the same as before
Now there's just the children with shells on their backs
To remind us of Hurricane Fred.


War Memoir:
JAZZ, DON'T LISTEN TO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK
by Bob Kaufman

In the beginning, in the wet
Warm dark place,
Straining to break out, clawing at strange cables
Hearing her screams, laughing
"Later we forgot ourselves, we didn't know"
Some secret jazz
Shouted, wait, don't go.
Impatient, we came running, innocent
Laughing blobs
of blood and faith.
To this mother, father world
Where laughter seems out of place
So we learned to cry, pleased
They pronounced human.
The secret jazz blew a sigh
Some familiar sound shouted wait
Some are evil, some will hate.
"Just Jazz, blowing its top again"
So we rushed and laughed.
As we pushed and grabbed
While Jazz blew in the night
Suddenly we were too busy to hear a sound
We were busy shoving mud in men's mouths,
Who were busy dying on living ground
Busy earning medals, for killing children on deserted
.....streetcorners
Occupying their fathers, raping their mothers, busy humans
.....were
busy burning Japanese in atomicolorcinescope
With stereophonic screams,
What one-hundred-percent red-blooded savage would waste
.....precious time
Listening to Jazz, with so many important things going on
But even the fittest murderers must rest
So we sat down on our blood-soaked garments,
And listened to Jazz
.........................lost, steeped in all our dreams
We were shocked at the sound of life, long gone from our own
We were indignant at the whistling, thinking, singing, beating,
.....swinging
Living sound, which mocked us, but let us feel sweet life again
We wept for it, hugged it, kissed it, loved it, joined it, we
.....drank it.
Smoked it, ate with it, slept with it
We made our girls wear it for lovemaking
Instead of silly lace gowns,
Now in those terrible moments, when the dark memories come
The secret moments to which we admit no one
When guiltily we crawl back in time, reaching away from
.....ourselves
We hear a familiar sound,
Jazz, scratching, digging, bluing, swinging jazz,
And we listen
And we feel
And live.


The Cat's Song
by Marge Piercy

Mine, says the cat, putting out his paw of darkness.
My lover, my friend, my slave, my toy, says
the cat making on your chest his gesture of drawing
milk from his mother's forgotten breasts.

Let us walk in the woods, says the cat.
I'll teach you to read the tabloid of scents,
to fade into shadow, wait like a trap, to hunt.
Now I lay this plump warm mouse on your mat.

You feed me, I try to feed you, we are friends,
says the cat, although I am more equal than you.
Can you leap twenty times the height of your body?
Can you run up and down trees? Jump between roofs?

Let us rub our bodies together and talk of touch.
My emotions are pure as salt crystals and as hard.
My lusts glow like my eyes. I sing to you in the mornings
walking round and round your bed and into your face.

Come I will teach you to dance as naturally
as falling asleep and waking and stretching long, long.
I speak greed with my paws and fear with my whiskers.
Envy lashes my tail. Love speaks me entire, a word

of fur. I will teach you to be still as an egg
and to slip like the ghost of wind through the grass.

Hamlet, Free, Indoors (theater review)

May 16, 2007
THEATER REVIEW | 'HAMLET'
Workshop ‘Hamlet’: Free, Indoors, Uncut (He’s Still Angry)
By ANNE MIDGETTE
New York Times

It seems to take a gimmick to stage Shakespeare these days. For the last 15 years Gorilla Rep’s has been to offer free outdoor productions around New York City: “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in Washington Square Park; “Macbeth” in Fort Tryon Park. The company’s next project is an outdoor “Hamlet,” scheduled for 2008, and it is now holding indoor workshops of it at the Times Square Arts Center.

But bringing a play indoors removes the gimmick. Instead of following the actors around from scene to scene, the audience is in normal folding chairs in a sixth-floor studio, watching an uncut version of “Hamlet” that runs more than three hours, without an intermission. And that turns out to be just fine. Indoors or outdoors, this is plain good theater.

It helps to have a strong cast, arrayed around a note-perfect portrayal of Claudius (Laurence Weeks) and Gertrude (a superb Elizabeth McGuire): he, long-haired and sleazy, but in a way that could convincingly appeal to a certain kind of woman; she as a strong, forceful woman utterly (and perhaps willingly) duped by him.

The Polonius family was also striking, all three Asian-Americans subtly playing off stereotypes about deference to the head of the family: here it is Al Twanmo, an insurance salesman type in a shiny suit, long-winded to mask forgetfulness. Calvin Ahn was an ardent Laertes; Frances You, a lovely Ophelia. But her mad scene rang slightly hollow; she and Christopher Carter Sanderson, the director, have yet to find this sequence’s life fully.

Jacob H. Knoll was able to pull off a worthy, angry young Hamlet. Coltish and blond, he was by turn awkward and aflame, enraged at his own powerlessness in the face of the world’s perfidy.

There are still passages to be ironed out, from Dennis Baker’s overhasty Marcellus to the slight dragging of the first traveling player’s long speech (though Jy Murphy, here and as the gravedigger, was very good). But the evening created memorable characters whose stories captured the imagination, which is, beyond all gimmicks, the point of the exercise.

Mr. Sanderson clearly understands the bottom line: Vivid theater comes not from tricking out a text but trusting it. And you know, “Hamlet” is a pretty good play.

Changes in Chinese Education

Web opens world for young Chinese, but erodes respect

By Peter Ford, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
Mon May 14, 2007

Excited and emboldened by the wealth of information they find on the Internet, Chinese teens are breaking centuries of tradition to challenge their teachers and express their own opinions in class.

Wearing jerseys emblazoned with the names of European soccer stars, downloading weekly episodes of "Prison Break," listening to 50 Cent, and reading Japanese comic books, China's current high school generation is plugging itself directly into international culture.

And it's giving the kids ideas. Ideas that could one day transform the way this country is governed.

"The Internet has given Chinese children wings," says Sun Yun Xiao, vice president of the China Youth and Children Research Center.

Many are using those wings to fly in the face of received wisdom about how and what they should learn, and about how much respect they owe to authority. "Today students ask you, 'Why?' And if you don't have a good answer, they won't necessarily accept what you say," says Zhao Hongxia, a young teacher at a private school in Beijing. "In my day, if the teacher said something he was always right."

The "post-90" generation of Chinese youngsters, named for the year the eldest of them was born, is "very different" from its predecessors, says Tony Hu, a Beijing high school student who has just turned 18. "We have far more ways to get information," he explains. "The generation before us knew nothing about anything except studying."

That judgment may be a little harsh, but Mr. Sun, whose research institute is linked to China's Communist Youth League, agrees with its essence.

"The post-90 kids are more confident and have more experience, and they are definitely braver and readier to challenge" their elders, he says. "The reason is that they have the Internet as a way to learn things, and because a lot more of them travel. They have more ways of acquiring knowledge."

137 million online in ChinaInternet use in China has exploded in recent years, and at the forefront of that revolution have been young people, hungry for a taste of life outside their country's borders. In 1999 there were just four million Internet connections in China; by the end of last year there were 137 million.

More than 70 percent of Chinese children between ages 7 and 15 had used the Internet at least once, according to a survey Sun's center carried out last year. That was nearly half as many again as the 2005 figure, and the total rose to 87 percent when only urban youngsters were polled. More than half of town-dwelling children today live in homes with an Internet connection.

That gives them opportunities to broaden their minds that teachers often cannot match. "I learned from books," says Jenny Li, who now trains teachers at a Beijing college. "These kids learn from the whole world."

That makes them more difficult to teach, says Ms. Zhao. "It's harder for me to keep their attention in class," she complains, "because they already know a lot. Teachers have to keep broadening their own horizons."

If Zhao, who has been teaching for six years, finds it hard to keep up with her students, older teachers are often baffled. "A lot of teachers over 40 feel uneasy and uncomfortable with the new knowledge their students have, and their lack of control," says Yan Ming, a young teacher at the elite No. 1 Middle School in the port city of Tianjin.

Teachers are also having to cope with an evolving curriculum. A series of reforms since 1997 have edged the Chinese education system away from rote learning and towards a more Western emphasis on independent thought.

"We are moving from a teacher-centered to a student-centered approach," says Wang Wu Xing, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Education. "If we want to produce top talent we need millions of inquisitive and critical-minded innovative talents. The new generation will develop the ability to explore things."

At the cutting edge of this drive is Tianjin's No. 1 Middle School, which teaches students up to the university entrance level. The school is experimenting this year with a history curriculum that breaks the old rules. For the first time, says Mr. Yan, students are allowed to write history essays that disagree with the textbook's conclusion about the political significance, for example, of the Boxer Rebellion against colonial powers.

"If they argue well, they get good marks," explains Yan. So far, however, this history test has only been administered at the middle school level in three school districts. "Whether they will allow this [latitude in answering the question] in the national exam [to get into university] we will have to see," he adds.

That exam is so critical for ambitious students desperate to get into China's top universities, says Wang Zhangmin, a veteran history teacher at the school, few of them dare to step out of line for fear of risking their chances of success.

That fear acts as a brake on change. Teachers at the Tianjin school, which prides itself on the high proportion of its graduates who get into the best colleges, say the pressure is so intense on elite students that they are still scared to challenge their teachers or to spend much time exploring topics outside the prescribed curriculum.

At more ordinary schools, too, teachers do not always encourage student-initiated digressions.

"We don't get many debates in my class," says Xi Haixin, a 17-year-old Beijing high school junior. "Sometimes we want to discuss something, but the teacher has too much material to get through and he drops the issue."

It is also difficult, Xi acknowledges, to hold a coherent debate when there are 50 or so students in the class, as is normally the case in China.

"Spider-Man 3": Already seen itEven if his teachers do not satisfy his Web-fueled curiosity, Xi says, the Internet has still changed him and his generation. "I'm part of international society now," he reckons, listing the Miami Heat as his favorite basketball team, rhythm and blues as his favorite music, and "Spider-Man 3" as the best film he has seen recently. "Kids my age all listen to the same stuff and watch the same films."

"As students learn from foreign cultures they will definitely feel more global and more international," says teacher Wang Zhangmin.

How far this globalized generation will change the face of China is a matter of debate among those following young peoples' attitudes.

Tony Hu is dubious. "I'm not sure that our individualism can change the environment much," he says. "The Chinese mold has been established for many years. And if we can't change the environment, the environment will change us. We have to survive."

Sun Yun Xiao, the researcher, has greater hopes. "The sense of participation among post-90 kids is very strong," he points out. "Their sense of democracy is stronger, and this is a definite trend."

At Tianjin No. 1 Middle School, Yan Ming is waiting and seeing. "If these kids really have the chance to think differently, the impact will be the same as in the West," he predicts. "They will be more creative, they'll be better at solving problems by themselves, and they won't simply do what they are told to do."

Wen Jiabao press conference

Reprinted from People's Daily


Premier Wen Jiabao answered Chinese and overseas journalists' questions on the concluding day of the National People's Congress annual session in the Great Hall of the People on Friday. Following is the full text of the questions and answers:

Premier: Ladies and gentlemen, comrades, this is my last press conference as the premier of this government during the sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. People all over China have followed the two sessions with keen interest. Over 1 million questions have been posted for me on the Internet, which have been read by over 26 million people.

Yesterday, I browsed a website and came cross this question: How close does the Premier feel to us in his heart? What is on his mind? Yesterday afternoon, I received a letter written to me by pupils of a primary school and forwarded by a deputy. Busy as I was, I wrote a letter back to them with a writing brush, wishing them all the best.

I also read a news story on the Internet that a CPPCC member has put forward a proposal for four years in a row, calling for the establishment of medical insurance for children. I took his proposal very seriously and immediately gave written instructions that we need to handle matters concerning children's health on a priority basis and that the competent government authorities should take steps to address this issue.

It has been four years since this government took office. These four years have taught us one thing: We must be guided by the fundamental principle that all the power of the government is bestowed on us by the people and that all the power belongs to the people. Everything we do should be for the people; we must rely on the people in all our endeavors, and we owe all our achievements to the people. We must uphold the honorable conduct of public servant. Government officials should be good public servants and serve the people. They do not have any other power.

We must retain the conviction that as long as we have a free mind, keep pace with the advance of the times, seek truth, continue reform and opening up, pursue scientific, harmonious and peaceful development, we will surely turn China into a prosperous, democratic, culturally-advanced, harmonious and modernized country.

Thank you.

Wall Street Journal : International investors are now very interested in China's stock market. Do you think the rise of the stock market over the past two years went too far too fast? And the average Chinese investors might be risking too much? What measures is your government considering to further cool down or regulate the stock market? And on another topic related to investment, the government has announced plans for a new agency to manage the diversification of China's foreign exchange reserves. Can you tell us what kind of assets this agency will invest in?

Premier: I follow closely the development of the stock market, and I particularly hope to see its healthy growth. Since last year, we have strengthened the development of institutional infrastructure for the capital market. In particular, we have successfully introduced the reform of listing non-tradable shares of listed companies, thus resolving an outstanding issue. Our goal is to build a mature capital market.

To meet this goal, first, we need to improve the performance of listed companies. Second, we need to develop an open, fair and transparent market system. Third, we need to enhance oversight and regulation of the capital market and especially improve the relevant legal framework. Finally, we should see to it that stock market related information is released on a timely basis and make individual stock investors more aware of investment risks.

As to the issue of how to use China's foreign exchange reserves you have mentioned, this is indeed a big issue we face. From our experience, we know how difficult it was when we lacked foreign exchange. In the 1990s, China did not have enough foreign exchange, so we borrowed foreign exchange from the IMF. The IMF only lent us $800 million. Now our foreign exchange reserves have exceeded $1 trillion, and how to make good use of them has become a new issue for us.

China practices diversification of its foreign exchange reserves to ensure their security. Yes, we do plan to set up a foreign exchange investment company, and it will not be under any government department. The company will manage the foreign exchange according to law on a paid-use basis. It will be under government oversight and regulation and should preserve and increase the value of the assets.

As it has not been long since China began to make investment overseas, we have little experience in this area. I recently looked at the statistics, which show that as of the end of year 2006, China's overseas investment in the non-financial category was only $73.3 billion. It increased by $16 billion last year. Still, it is insignificant in comparison with that of developed countries.

I know by raising this question, you may wonder whether the overseas investment to be made by this newly established agency will affect US dollar-denominated assets. China's foreign exchange reserves mainly consist of US dollar denominated assets. This is the fact. China's holding of US dollar denominated assets is mutually beneficial in nature. The setting up of a Chinese foreign exchange investment agency will not affect the US dollar-denominated assets.

People's Daily : Premier, you just told us that yesterday afternoon you wrote back to primary school pupils. This concerns people's well-being. People's well-being is the biggest concern of the NPC deputies and CPPCC members at the two sessions this year, and it is also the focus of the Report on the Work of the Government. In your report, which is down-to-earth in style, a number of policy initiatives for improving the well-being of the people and increased government input for this purpose are proposed. What systemic measures will be adopted to ensure the effective implementation of these policies and use of financial input so that people will benefit from them

Premier: The ultimate goal of our reform and development endeavor is to meet the increasing material and cultural needs of the people. So the well-being of the people needs to be improved. This issue concerns the daily life of the people. The most important thing we should do now is to promote equal opportunity in education, continue the pro-active employment policy, narrow the income gap and build a social security system that covers both urban and rural areas.

To improve people's well-being, we need institutional guarantee. We have legislation on rescinding the agricultural tax and taxes on special agricultural products. We have legislation on nine-year free compulsory education. And we will develop a legal framework for a system to grant allowances for the basic cost of living in rural and urban areas. We are drafting a plan to reform the urban and rural medical and health system, and the plan will eventually be institutionalized. Once the institutional arrangements are in place, it will not be easy to change things, and the institutional arrangements will not change simply because of the change in the government or leaders.

In addressing issues related to the well-being of the people, the focus of our efforts should be on the disadvantaged groups, because these groups are fairly large, particularly in rural areas. The speed of a flotilla is not determined by the fastest ship, but the slowest one. Unless the condition of the disadvantaged groups is improved, the well-being of the whole society will not improve.

To improve the well-being of the people, we should make people feel happy about their life. To do so, we must ensure people's democratic rights and promote social justice and fairness. You may ask: what do you mean by being happy? Let me quote a line from Ai Qing, a Chinese poet, "Go and ask the thawing land, go and ask the thawing river."

NHK: I have two questions. The first one is on Japan-China relations. Japan-China relations now have an opportunity for improvement. On the other hand, many problems remain. What needs to be done to improve these relations? My second question is on the abduction of Japanese nationals. What role can China play regarding this issue?

Premier: China and Japan are close neighbors across a narrow strip of water. As the ancient Chinese philosopher Kuan-tzu observed: "To win distant friends, one needs, first of all, to have good relations with his neighbors. To avoid adversity, one needs to ease animosity."

Thanks to the joint efforts of the Chinese and Japanese governments, agreement was reached on removing the political obstacle to the growth of China-Japan relations. This led to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to China last October. To promote cooperation between China and Japan and friendship between the two countries from generation to generation is the trend of history and meets the aspiration of our two peoples. It is true that there are still many problems between China and Japan, but there are three political documents between the two countries, and they form the foundation of China-Japan relations.

These three political documents settled the previous China-Japan relations on the political, legal and factual basis. They also set the direction for the growth of China-Japan relations from long-term and strategic perspective. We should adhere to these three documents and take history as a mirror to guide the future growth of bilateral relations.

If Prime Minister Abe's visit to China in October last year can be termed as an ice-breaking trip, then I hope my visit to Japan in April will be an ice-thawing journey. I expect to reach an agreement with Prime Minister Abe on establishing China-Japan strategic relations of mutual benefit, and I will have talks with him on setting up an economic cooperation mechanism and promoting scientific and educational exchange and mutual visits between the two peoples, especially the young people. I hope China and Japan will work together to ensure a long-term stable and sound growth in friendship and cooperation.

As to your second question, we have expressed on many occasions China's sympathy for and understanding of the issue of abduction of Japanese nationals. However, this is an issue between Japan and the DPRK. I hope it can be resolved smoothly through dialogue and negotiation between them.

ETTV (Taiwan) : The year 2007 is a crucial year for cross-Straits relations. The political relations across the Taiwan Straits are now cold, but people-to-people exchanges are very active. More and more Taiwan businesspeople are coming to the mainland. Now that chartered flights are opened for Taiwan businesspeople and fruits from Taiwan can be sold on the mainland, people in Taiwan are now showing a great interest in the possibility of mainland tourists visiting Taiwan. When will such visits take place? What other steps are you going to take to advance cross-Straits relations? With the upcoming Olympics Games in Beijing and election in Taiwan, the year 2008 is also a crucial year. What is your view on and expectation of the future of cross-Straits relations?

Premier: The years 2007 and 2008 will indeed be crucial for cross-Straits relations. Why? Because they are critical to upholding peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. In my Report on the Work of the Government, I reiterated our firm opposition to all forms of separatist activities, including "de jure Taiwan independence". We are watching closely the attempts the separatist forces in Taiwan are making for "Taiwan independence". We will never allow any change in history, reality and universally-recognized legal status of Taiwan, that is, it has been an inalienable part of China's territory since ancient times.

We will make every effort to promote peace and development across the Taiwan Straits and continue to implement policies that are conducive to the peaceful growth of cross-Straits relations. You are right in pointing out that more and more Taiwan business people are coming to the mainland. Last year, the two-way trade reached $100 billion, $80 billion of which was Taiwan's export to the mainland. We are firm in protecting the lawful rights and interests of Taiwan businesses and Taiwan compatriots in making investments, studying and traveling on the mainland. We will actively promote comprehensive, direct and two-way links between the two sides, namely "the three direct links". The first priority is to open chartered passenger flights on weekends on a regular basis and simplify procedures for chartered cargo flights between the two sides. People on the mainland have longed to make tourist visits to Taiwan, and much preparation has been made. We hope that their wish can be realized at an early time. Peace and development across the Taiwan Straits represent the trend of the times. This is a trend no one can reverse, as described in a classical Chinese poem: A thousand sails pass by the wrecked ship; ten thousand saplings shoot up beyond the withered tree.

CCTV: You have just said that government officials should work as public servants and do not have any other power. This applies not only to government functionaries, but more to leading officials. My question is about the anti-corruption issue. The investigation and disclosure of cases involving Chen Liangyu and Zheng Xiaoyu have aroused keen public response. We have received a lot of comments from our viewers. On the one hand, people feel relieved because they had hoped stern actions would be taken against corruption. On the other hand, they are disturbed by corruption that they have seen. How can the power-for-money deals in some areas of government administration be curbed effectively?

Premier: There is no denying that with the development of the market economy, corruption has increased. It is quite serious in some sectors and localities. Some of the cases even involve many high-ranking officials.

To solve the problem, we need first to address institutional deficiencies. Corruption is caused by many factors, and the most important factor is excessive concentration of power and the lack of effective checks and oversight. This makes it necessary to reform our system. We must implement the Administrative Permit Law that has been enacted and reduce the number of matters that require government approval. When government departments have excessive administrative resources and power of approval, it will give rise to corruption where public officials trade power for money, abuse power for personal gains, or act in collusion with businesspeople.

Second, we must promote reform in the political system. We should work to diffuse concentration of power and enhance public supervision of the government. All the decisions on administrative approval, particularly those concerning the interests of the general public, must be made in an open, fair and transparent way.

Third, we should adopt a two pronged approach for education and punishment. Every cadre and leading official should know that "while water can carry a boat, it can also overturn it." All corrupt officials, no matter who they are, how senior their positions and in what fields they have committed corruption, must be brought to justice.

Le Monde : Recently in an interview you gave to the People's Daily, you said that the socialist system and democratic politics are not mutually exclusive. You also said that an initial stage of socialism will persist for a hundred years. By that do you mean there will be no democracy in China in the next one hundred years?

Premier: In my article, I made the point that socialism and democracy and rule of law are not mutually exclusive. Democracy, legal system, freedom, human rights, equality and fraternity are not something peculiar to capitalism. Rather, they are the common achievements of human civilization made in the long course of history and the common values pursued by entire mankind. I also emphasized in that article that there are over 2,000 ethnic groups in more than 200 countries and regions in the world. As they differ in social condition, history, culture and the level of development, they achieve democracy in different ways and in different forms. Whether one likes it or not, this cultural diversity is a fact.

You are actually asking what socialist democracy means. Let me be very clear about it: Socialist democracy, in the final analysis, is to enable the people to govern themselves. This means we need to ensure people's rights to democratic election, democratic decision-making, democratic management and democratic oversight. It means we need to create conditions for people to oversee and criticize the government. It means we need to ensure that everyone enjoys all-round development in an equal, fair and free environment and that people's creativity and independent thinking are fully released. It also means that we need to run the country according to law, improve the legal system and strengthen the rule of law.

We still lack experience in socialist development, including the development of socialist democracy. We will continue to follow the opening-up policy, draw on all the achievements of human civilization, and build Chinese democracy in keeping with China's special conditions. You asked whether by saying in my article that the primary stage of socialism will last for a hundred years, I meant that there will be no democracy in China in the next one hundred years. You have got me wrong. What I meant was that it will take a long time for the immature and underdeveloped socialist system to become mature, full-fledged and developed. During this period, we need to achieve two major tasks and forge ahead with two important reforms.

The two major tasks are to make concerted efforts to develop social productivity, and to promote social fairness and justice. In particular, we should make justice the core value of the socialist system. The two important reforms are to promote market-oriented reform of the economic system, and to promote democracy-oriented reform in the political system.

Democracy, like any other truth, must be put to the test of practice. Only practice can tell whether the democracy practiced in a country or region is good or not.

Hong Kong Economic Times : This year marks the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification with the motherland. What is your assessment of Hong Kong's performance in the past 10 years since its return? We know that you care a lot about Hong Kong. What are your expectations of Hong Kong's future growth? In the Report on the Work of the Government adopted today, you talked about the need to accelerate the reform of the financial system. Hong Kong is an international financial center. What role do you expect Hong Kong to play in the reform of China's financial system?

Premier: In the past 10 years since its reunification, Hong Kong has made significant strides. Over the past 10 years, the central government has faithfully observed the principles of "one country, two systems" and "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong with a high degree of autonomy", and acted in strict accordance with the Basic Law. It has not intervened in the administration of the Hong Kong SAR Government. The Hong Kong SAR Government has united the Hong Kong people in overcoming a number of difficulties, including the Asian financial crisis. As a result, Hong Kong has maintained economic stability, recovered from the crisis, grown economically and improved the well-being of its people.

Hong Kong is now at a crucial stage of development. It has always been my view that backed by the mainland and facing the world, Hong Kong has a unique geographical advantage. It has the freest economy in the world, extensive links with the rest of the globe, a full-fledged legal system and a rich pool of managerial expertise. Hong Kong's position as a financial center, shipping center and trade center is irreplaceable. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunification, I would like to ask you to convey my warm greetings to our Hong Kong compatriots. I sincerely hope that Hong Kong will become more prosperous, open, inclusive and harmonious. The bauhinia flower is in full bloom. The red bauhinia is beautiful this year, and it will be even more beautiful next year.

Financial Times : My question is about Chinese government's policies on domestic and global environment protection. Why did the Chinese government fail to meet its targets for reducing energy consumption and pollution last year? What are the specific reasons? It has been estimated that by 2009, China will become the world's biggest producer of greenhouse gases. Will China at a certain point in the future accept the greenhouse gas emission target jointly set by the international community?

Premier: I gave a full explanation at the NPC session about why we fell short of meeting the targets for reducing energy consumption and pollutant discharge last year and proposed eight measures to address the problem. So I will not repeat them here.

Your second question is about our position on greenhouse gas emission. We support the Kyoto Protocol. Although China is still a developing country, we have formulated a national program in response to climate change according to the international convention on greenhouse gas emission. We have set a target for cutting energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent from 2006 to 2010. Although the Kyoto Protocol has not set obligatory targets for developing countries, the Chinese government is acting with a sense of responsibility to the world and is earnestly fulfilling its due international obligations.

China News Service : China's growth rate has exceeded 10 percent while the inflation rate has been kept below 3 percent for four years running. This is rare both in China and the world. Some scholars believe that China's economy will reach a turning point in 2007. What's your view? What do you think are the major problems in China's economy? Will China be able to maintain such a momentum of high growth and low inflation?

Premier: China's economy has maintained fast yet steady growth in recent years. However, that is no cause for complacency, neither in the past, nor now, or in the future. My mind is focused on the pressing challenges.

There are structural problems in China's economy which cause unsteady, unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. Unsteady development means overheated investment as well as excessive credit supply and liquidity and surplus in foreign trade and international payments.

Unbalanced development means uneven development between urban and rural areas, between different regions and between economic and social development. Uncoordinated development means that there is lack of proper balance between the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors and between investment and consumption. Economic growth is mainly driven by investment and export. Unsustainable development means that we have not done well in saving energy and resources and protecting the environment. All these are pressing problems facing us, which require long-term efforts to resolve.

I have said that China's economy has enjoyed fast yet steady growth for years. Can we sustain this momentum? First, the conditions are there. The most important condition is that we have a fairly long peaceful international environment that enables us to focus on economic development. Second, we have a domestic market with huge potential. However, the key to sustaining the momentum of China's economic growth lies in our ability to pursue the right policies.

We will continue to expand domestic demand, especially consumption. We will press ahead with reform and opening-up to remove institutional and structural obstacles and enhance knowledge and technology based innovation. All this will lay down a solid foundation for ensuring economic growth. We will further promote energy and resources saving and reduction of pollutant discharge to make economic growth sustainable. The task is a difficult one, but we are confident that we can accomplish it.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung : The Dalai Lama has expressed the hope to come on a pilgrimage to China. But some officials of your government still accuse him of advocating Tibetan "independence". Why does the Chinese government still see the Dalai Lama as a splittist, although he says he does not advocate independence any more? Would you welcome the Dalai Lama on a pilgrimage maybe during the Olympic Games in Beijing?

Premier: Our policy toward the Dalai Lama is clear and consistent. So long as the Dalai Lama recognizes that Tibet is an inalienable part of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and stops his separatist activities, we can have contact and discussion with him on his future. The door is always open.

Tibet is an autonomous region of China. If you still remember, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama was the chairman of the preparatory committee for establishing the Tibet Autonomous Region in 1956. But he later set up a so-called "Tibetan Government in Exile" abroad. He calls for "a high degree of autonomy" in Tibet and even demands that all Chinese troops withdraw from Tibet and that all the Han people and other non-Tibetan ethnic groups in Tibet move out. People will naturally ask: Does the Dalai Lama genuinely hope to see a unified China, or is he bent on undermining China's unity? We will not only hear what he has to say; more importantly, we will watch what he does. We hope that the Dalai Lama will do something useful for China's unity and the development of Tibet.

Associated Press : China conducted an anti-satellite test this year. Although the United States and the former Soviet Union did the same in the past, they haven't done so in the last 20 years. Is this test and the fact that China is steadily enhancing its military power consistent with China's advocacy of peaceful development?

Premier: The recent test conducted by China in outer space was not directed against any country. It did not pose a threat to anyone, nor did it violate the relevant international treaties.

China stands for the peaceful use of outer space and opposes arms race in outer space.

I wish to solemnly reiterate here that China's position on the peaceful use of outer space remains unchanged. I also wish to call on the countries concerned to negotiate and conclude a treaty on the peaceful use of outer space at an early date.

It is alleged that China's military spending lacks transparency, and China's test in outer space runs counter to the road of peaceful development.

And questions have also been raised about whether China poses a threat to the world. In fact, these questions have been raised by reporters since this year's NPC and CPPCC sessions opened.

In answering your question, I wish to make two points: First, China has a population of 1.3 billion. It has a land area of 9.6 million square kilometers, with a 22,000-kilometer-long land boundary and an 18,000-kilometer-long coastline. China's military expenditure ranks low in both absolute and relative terms compared with other countries.

Even some developing countries are ahead of China in ranking, not to mention developed countries. Second, China suffered from aggression and oppression by imperialist powers during its modern history after the Opium War in 1840. We in China know too well what it means to be subjected to subjugation and aggression. We are therefore sincere in pursuing peaceful development.

Our defense policy is defensive in nature. China's limited military capabilities are solely for upholding China's security, independence and sovereignty. We are very transparent on this issue.

(The press conference, which lasted 1 hour and 55 minutes, was attended by 1,200 Chinese and foreign reporters.)

Confucius with a modern twist

China turns to Confucius, with a modern twist
A professor's fresh look at the ancient sage is a bestseller in a nation where a booming economy has left some feeling spiritually bereft.
By Ching-Ching Ni
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 7, 2007

Beijing — CONFUCIUS famously considered a good woman to be an illiterate woman. The ancient sage might want to eat his words: More than 2 1/2 millenniums after his death, he's back in vogue, thanks in no small part to a Chinese woman with a PhD.

Confucius, meet Yu Dan.

But make it quick. The professor is so busy these days she barely has time to go home and see her baby daughter.

Since the publication of her enormously popular book on the teachings of Confucius late last year, Yu has been racing from college lectures to book signings, TV appearances and speaking engagements. The public can't seem to get enough of this overnight sensation who has turned dusty old Confucian teachings into a Chinese version of "Chicken Soup for the Soul."

"I never expected this," the smartly dressed 42-year-old said in a hurried interview from the back of the black Audi taking her to the airport. "In the 21st century, our value system is changing; people are faced with a lot of confusion and choices. The classics are not just fossils. They are a value system that can help us find answers to modern-day problems."

For more than 2,500 years, the Confucian doctrines of filial piety, moral righteousness and hierarchical relationships were the guiding principles of life and government in China and most of East Asia. Then the Communists came to power and Chairman Mao declared Confucianism counterrevolutionary and his Red Guards ransacked temples dedicated to the philosopher.

Today, China is charging ahead with dizzying economic growth and breathtaking social change. But many believe the world's most populous nation has lost its moral and spiritual anchor. Enter the wisdom of Kong Fuzi, or Master Kong, as Confucius is known in China — interpreted by a woman.

"I'm amazed," said Hong Huang, a cultural commentator and publisher of fashion magazines in Beijing. "Her success has a lot to do with the fact that modern China has an identity crisis and spiritual crisis. The only value system we have today is money. Everybody is looking for the Chinese meaning of life."

Confucius' collected teachings, called "The Analects," are written in classical Chinese and are nearly as incomprehensible as Latin is to the average English speaker. But Yu's book, "Insights on the Analects," is conversational and full of modern-day applications.

When Confucius talks about the qualities of a good ruler, for instance, Yu connects it to the life of the average man. Confucius asks his students about their aspirations. Instead of praising the most ambitious for wanting to run a big country with a vast army, he supports one who merely wants to enjoy a fine spring day with friends.

Yu says everyone has dreams, but too many people are so busy working that they have no time to figure out what they really want out of life. "Just because you have a successful career does not necessarily mean you have made your dreams come true," she writes.

To illustrate, she tells the story of three field mice preparing for winter. One gathered food, one built shelter and the third did nothing but play. Winter came and there was plenty to eat but nothing to do inside the hideaway. That was when the third mouse made himself valuable by telling stories from his days of fun and games.

Yu's book has sold more than 3 million copies in four months, making modern Chinese publishing history and beating out the country's other top seller, the Harry Potter series. Bootleg videos of her television lectures and speeches, an unfortunate sign of popularity, are prominently displayed here next to American hits such as "Desperate Housewives" and "The Devil Wears Prada."



YU recently completed an 18-city tour during which she autographed 39,000 copies of her book, twice sitting for stretches of 10 hours. "I saw so many people waiting in line," she said. "Once it was really windy. Another time it was snowing and past midnight. I kept going out of conscience, even if I felt like passing out. They were there not for me. They were there for Confucius."

Confucius is indeed enjoying a huge revival — and is even endorsed by the Communist Party that once tried to erase his influence.

"Maybe 99% of Chinese people today never read his writings, but Confucian values are steeped in our culture," said Miao Di, a professor at Communication University of China. "The worst example might be his views on women, which is believed to be the basis for our patriarchal society, where male chauvinism prevails despite recent improvements on gender inequality."

Even before the Communists came to power in 1949, Chinese intellectuals had begun to question his teachings, blaming them for keeping China from embracing modern science and Western notions of democracy.

Confucius-bashing reached a peak during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976, when schools banned "The Analects" and mobs tortured scholars for teaching a book that for centuries had served as a philosophical primer for this nation.

Today, even President Hu Jintao is preaching a "Harmonious Society," based on the Confucian values of unity, morality and respect for authority.

The Communist Party's legitimacy is at stake as it tries to contain the dark side of the economic miracle that has led to a dangerous income divide, rampant corruption and rising social unrest. Rehabilitating Confucianism allows the government to show it cares about resolving these social conflicts in a benevolent way without ceding too much ground in terms of political freedom and institutional reforms.

Beijing also has seized on the sage's good name in foreign policy initiatives designed to soften the perception of a rising China threat. It has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 50 countries and regions to promote Chinese language and culture, much like France's Alliance Francaise of France and Germany's Goethe Institute.

But none of this official promotion compares with the grass-roots Confucian fever Yu has ignited.

Yu is a sometimes imperious woman who wears her hair short and her fitted coats buttoned to the neck. The media studies professor likes jazz and soccer and can quote passages of classical Chinese poetry and proverbs.

Her best-selling book is a compilation of the seven lectures she gave over a week last fall on CCTV, the state-run network, which reaches every corner of this vast country. The scheduling of her show couldn't have been better — lunch hours during a weeklong national holiday when most Chinese are home eating meals in front of the television.



IN the beginning, the choice of a little-known professor from Beijing Normal University who studied ancient Chinese literature as an undergraduate was considered a risky proposition.

"Not many people knew who she was. We worried she didn't have enough star power to attract a wide audience," said Song Zhijun, one of her editors at the China Publishing House.

But the media-savvy Yu knew what she was doing. She leavened her lectures with stories about interpersonal relationships, self-awareness and the pursuit of happiness.

Yu's TV performance was so refreshing that the lectures were published as a book, which has become a self-help bible.

The country's swelling prisons were among the first to hire her as a speaker. Businesses bought her books in bulk to distribute to employees. One county ordered more than 10,000 copies and made the book required reading for each official, said Zhu Anshun, another of Yu's editors.

"We live in a world with a lot of headaches, and she provides some answers," said Gong Fan, a 26-year-old graduate student who was waiting outside Yu's classroom with a couple of friends hoping to get autographs. But Yu breezed by without stopping.

Yu has become such a phenomenon that she has drawn the scorn of some scholars who say her pop psychology has little to do with real Confucianism.

One group of professors called on her to resign and apologize for reducing the classics to fast food. During a book signing in Beijing, a man wore a T-shirt reading "Confucius would be annoyed."

"Chinese people live in a high-pressure society. Her message is, 'Don't worry what others think about you. It matters how you feel in your heart,' " said Daniel Bell, a professor of political philosophy at Qinghua University. "Not only is this simplifying Confucius, it is very misleading interpretation. Confucius is about social and political commitment. She provides a feel-good, apolitical version that goes against the main message of 'The Analects.' "

In her defense, Yu has said she doesn't claim to be an expert on Confucianism. She is merely sharing some of her personal thoughts, and people are entitled to agree or disagree.

"Confucius emphasizes the cultivation of inner self not for the purpose of abandoning social responsibilities but rather so one can be of better service to society," Yu writes in her book.

Yu discovered "The Analects" as a child when the classics were considered forbidden fruit.

"I grew up during the Cultural Revolution in a cultural desert with nothing to do," Yu said. "I'm grateful to my parents, who sheltered me behind our family courtyard and taught me calligraphy, poetry and the classics."

This traditional upbringing, however, did not keep Yu from pursuing a life brimming with contradictions. She switches with ease between teaching ancient wisdoms glorifying nonmaterial wealth and coaching commercial television on how to produce hit shows. She talks with the authority and formality of a Communist Party official, yet she engages her listeners with personal anecdotes about how her daughter might learn more about the world playing with a bottle and cap than from all the expensive toys in the house.

Yu credits her early classical education with giving her the confidence to believe in herself. She acknowledges that not everything about Confucius is relevant today, but she doesn't think it's fair to dwell on the negative.

"There is a lot of prejudice against Confucius for being too conservative or backward," Yu said.

"He teaches love and tolerance, for example, and don't force others to do what you would not want to do yourself, how to develop harmonious interpersonal relationships. Are these ideas really that out of date? Are these not useful to our lives today?"

Weblogs

The Blogging Revolution
Weblogs Are To Words What Napster Was To Music.
By Andrew Sullivan
Wired.com
May 2002

In the beginning - say 1994 - the phenomenon now called blogging was little more than the sometimes nutty, sometimes inspired writing of online diaries. These days, there are tech blogs and sex blogs and drug blogs and onanistic teenage blogs. But there are also news blogs and commentary blogs, sites packed with links and quips and ideas and arguments that only months ago were the near-monopoly of established news outlets. Poised between media, blogs can be as nuanced and well-sourced as traditional journalism, but they have the immediacy of talk radio. Amid it all, this much is clear: The phenomenon is real. Blogging is changing the media world and could, I think, foment a revolution in how journalism functions in our culture.

Blogs do two things that Web magazines like Slate and Salon simply cannot. First off, blogs are personal. Almost all of them are imbued with the temper of their writer. This personal touch is much more in tune with our current sensibility than were the opinionated magazines and newspapers of old. Readers increasingly doubt the authority of The Washington Post or National Review, despite their grand-sounding titles and large staffs. They know that behind the curtain are fallible writers and editors who are no more inherently trustworthy than a lone blogger who has earned a reader's respect.

The second thing blogs do is - to invoke Marx - seize the means of production. It's hard to underestimate what a huge deal this is. For as long as journalism has existed, writers of whatever kind have had one route to readers: They needed an editor and a publisher. Even in the most benign scenario, this process subtly distorts journalism. You find yourself almost unconsciously writing to please a handful of people - the editors looking for a certain kind of story, the publishers seeking to push a particular venture, or the advertisers who influence the editors and owners. Blogging simply bypasses this ancient ritual.

Twenty-one months ago, I rashly decided to set up a Web page myself and used Blogger.com to publish some daily musings to a readership of a few hundred. Sure, I'm lucky to be an established writer in the first place. And I worked hard at the blog for months for free. But the upshot is that I'm now reaching almost a quarter million readers a month and making a profit. That kind of exposure rivals the audiences of traditional news and opinion magazines.

And I have plenty of company. The most obvious example is Glenn Reynolds, a hyperactive law professor who churns out dozens of posts a day and has quickly become a huge presence in opinion journalism. This is democratic journalism at its purest. Eventually, you can envision a world in which most successful writers will use this medium as a form of self-declared independence.

Think about it for a minute. Why not build an online presence with your daily musings and then sell your first book through print-on-demand technology direct from your Web site? Why should established writers go to newspapers and magazines to get an essay published, when they can simply write it themselves, convert it into a .pdf file, and charge a few bucks per download? Just as magazine and newspaper editors are slinking off into the sunset, so too might all the agents and editors and publishers in the book market.

This, at least, is the idea: a publishing revolution more profound than anything since the printing press. Blogger could be to words what Napster was to music - except this time, it'll really work. Check back in a couple of years to see whether this is yet another concept that online reality has had the temerity to destroy.

On blogging

Bloggers' revolution is largely overrated
by Raymond Zhou
China Daily, Dec. 23, 2006

Now that Time magazine has named "You" its Person of the Year, those addicted to the Internet have one more reason to tell their parents to beat it and leave them alone with their "revolution."

You see, "you control the Information Age." It's "your world."

I really pity those who are computer illiterate but still want to exert some influence over their kids kids who spend days and nights at Internet cafes, subsisting on instant noodles and dozing off in makeshift beds provided by the proprietor. Even though they have the gaze of zombies, their parents and teachers are on the receiving end of a mass campaign that marks them irrelevant you might say a kinder and gentler version of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).

Don't get me wrong. I'm not denying the significance of Web 2.0 in particular or the Internet in general. There are many facets to the technology that are truly revolutionary. But the prediction that Web 2.0 will wipe out old media is overblown, and even sounds like the pomposity of the Red Guards.

Take YouTube for example. Much of the interesting stuff posted there is snippets from television shows, arguably part of the decaying old media. If you mention this content is copyrighted, you will be treated as if you are so old-fashioned you do not belong in this world. Revolutionaries do not need to worry about such trivialities as intellectual property rights, do they? IPR is for people with no imagination.

The technology essentially makes everyone a publisher, a broadcaster, a disseminator of news, views and entertainment. It will create new business models and reshape industries. But the old empires will simply crumble as the Red Guards said of the "capitalist roaders"? Give me a break!

In the US, the top 10 podcasts are all from media outlets like NPR and the New York Times. Why? Because they have been in the content business so long that they can consistently produce programmes of the highest quality.

Likewise, most of the decent blogs in this country are kept by professionals, especially those with experience in journalism. True, Wang Xiaofeng, cited by Time in its "You" cover story, cannot possibly publish his blogs in the magazine where he is a senior writer, but the quality of his writing is not something every blogger could attain just by getting a piece of online real estate and filling it with words.

To continue the metaphor, everyone can get a virtual plot, but very few have the expertise to grow something of value on it. If you cared to wade through the millions of non-celebrity blogs, you would find that most read like a high-school student's diary and would not get more than a few dozen hits.

Imagine a newspaper where newsprint, printing costs and delivery are all free and every contribution from every reader is printed. It would probably come to 50,000 pages a day. Do you think this tome would be more valuable than Time magazine or the New York Times? Not to me. I would rather pay for a thinner version written and edited with the ethics, style and experience of a pro.

Of course, when an editor comes into play, some raw gems may slip through. That is the price we pay for subjective selection, in the same way that people in a democracy have representation in government rather than participate in every decision. It also leaves room for people whose talent may not fit traditional mass media but could flourish on the Web with its free-moving communities.

In a revolution, millions act out of zealotry and do not ask for anything in return, while one person or small group reaps huge benefit from it, all in the name of serving the public. The same applies to Web 2.0. Some websites used to pay a paltry fee for professional writers, now Sina "invites" you to be a blogger, meaning you can contribute to their advertising revenue by doing pro bono work. That does not bode well for people who write for a living.

It could be fun to roll around in the carnival of this revolution for a while. But ultimately one cannot survive on the ego boost of a few million non-paying clicks. The line might blur, but there will still be professionals and amateurs. Wikipedia may work because it functions as a non-profit organization. But if the whole sector is like this, it will largely fail as a "massive social experiment" because it disregards the law of economics and creates much more unfairness in the name of egalitarianism.

Online Encyclopedia Responds to Virginia Tech shootings

The Latest on Virginia Tech, From Wikipedia
By NOAM COHEN
The New York Times

IMAGINE a newspaper with more than 2,000 writers, researchers and copy editors, yet no supervisors or managers to speak of. No deadlines; no meetings to plan coverage; no decisions handed down through a chain of command; no getting up on a desk to lead a toast after a job well done.

It doesn’t sound like any news operation that any journalist would recognize. Yet that seemingly chaotic nonstructure best describes the scene at Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, which, for a few days last week, served as an essential news source for hundreds of thousands of people on the Internet trying to understand the shootings at Virginia Tech University.

From the contributions of 2,074 editors, at last count, the site created a polished, detailed article on the massacre, with more than 140 separate footnotes, as well as sidebars that profiled the shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, and gave a timeline of the attacks.

According to the foundation that runs the various Wikipedias around the world, there were more than 750,000 visits to the main article on the shootings in its first two days, an average of four visits a second. Even The Roanoke Times, which is published near Blacksburg, Va., where the university is located, noted on Thursday that Wikipedia “has emerged as the clearinghouse for detailed information on the event.”

Recently, Wikipedia had been the object of much controversy over the reliability of the its articles, and the frequent anonymity of its contributors. But during some recent critical events, like the Virginia Tech killings, the Southeast Asian tsunami in 2004, and the London bombings in 2005, the site has been transformed from an ever-growing reference book into a ever-updating news source — albeit one with scant original reporting. (Wikipedia’s policy precludes original research.)

“Professional news is the place to get the facts on the ground — after all, that’s where Wikipedia contributors are getting their information, too,” said Michael Snow, a Wikipedia administrator. “Wikipedia distinguishes itself by the ability to bring all the facts, and useful background information, together in one place.”

In interviews, some of the most prolific contributors about the Virginia Tech shootings said they were at a loss to explain how everything manages to come out as well as it does.

Miikka Ryokas, whose user name is Kizor and in an e-mail message said that he was a 22-year-old computer science student from Turku, Finland, wrote: “As the popular joke goes, ‘The problem with Wikipedia is that it only works in practice. In theory, it can never work.’ ”

Mr. Ryokas wrote that he had spent 15 hours on the article, mostly to “tag dubious information with ‘citation needed’ or remove it entirely” and to “restore valid information that is accidentally lost.”

“I get involved when a major tragedy strikes,” he wrote. “I may not be able to help the victims, but I can, and therefore must, do a small part in helping accurate information get through to the world.”

As unfamiliar as it may seem, the contributors insist there isn’t even a shadowy figure who becomes the mastermind of the process.

“People seem to self-assign,” said Natalie Erin Martin, 23, a history major at Antioch College in Ohio, who describes herself as “an obsessive copy editor and spellchecker.”

“There is no one person at the top saying this is what you need to do,” she said. “A lot of people went, ‘Oh, my God! This happened. It’s going to be historic. I better make sure this isn’t a problem.’ It has all been out of a sense of personal responsibility.”

Dan Rosenthal, 24, a recent graduate of Florida State University who is one of 1,000 Wikipedia administrators, said in an interview that he was at Reagan National Airport in Washington when he heard the news from Virginia Tech, and immediately booted up his computer. “When I came to the page; there were so many edits, I had a hard time getting mine through,” he said.

Eventually, he created a separate section, “responses,” where he was able to add information unfettered for a little while. “Once that section grew to a certain point, I no longer had the inclination to add more,” he said. “Now I have a maintenance role.”

In that role, Mr. Rosenthal and other administrators have temporarily locked down the page so that “unregistered or newly registered users” cannot make changes. Ms. Martin, who is also an administrator, said that she had made 20 warnings to various vandals, particularly for racist language, the first step toward banning them from the site. “It has been important to me to fix that immediately,” she said.

Ms. Martin said that Wikipedia faced the same issues of tone and taste that are familiar to any newspaper.

Should the shootings be called a “massacre,” for example. She said she personally considered the term sensationalist, but was convinced that this was the term most favored by news reports, and noting Wikipedia’s policy of using “whatever the most common English name is.” Also, she says, Wikipedia has been reluctant to add articles for each victim so as to remain an encyclopedia, not a tribute page. She said all but one of the faculty members now have separate articles, but that the consensus is that the victims should be listed by name and age, without biographical vignettes, as some had proposed.

And just because the pages were completed while the events were still fresh did not mean that the contributors were unmindful of history. Ms. Martin has been reviewing the articles about previous mass shootings to see what people still would want to know about them years later.

“It is hard to remember that it was just days ago,” she said.

Hamlet: key passages

1.1

HORATIO

A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye.
In the most high and palmy state of Rome,
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell,
The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets:
As stars with trains of fire and dews of blood,
Disasters in the sun; and the moist star
Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands
Was sick almost to doomsday with eclipse:
And even the like precurse of fierce events,
As harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.--
But soft, behold! lo, where it comes again!


1.2

KING CLAUDIUS

Take thy fair hour, Laertes; time be thine,
And thy best graces spend it at thy will!
But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son,--

HAMLET

[Aside] A little more than kin, and less than kind.

KING CLAUDIUS

How is it that the clouds still hang on you?

HAMLET

Not so, my lord; I am too much i' the sun.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted colour off,
And let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark.
Do not for ever with thy vailed lids
Seek for thy noble father in the dust:
Thou know'st 'tis common; all that lives must die,
Passing through nature to eternity.

HAMLET

Ay, madam, it is common.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

If it be,
Why seems it so particular with thee?

HAMLET Seems, madam! nay it is; I know not 'seems.'
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'havior of the visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly: these indeed seem,
For they are actions that a man might play:
But I have that within which passeth show;
These but the trappings and the suits of woe.

KING CLAUDIUS

'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet,
To give these mourning duties to your father:
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In filial obligation for some term
To do obsequious sorrow: but to persever
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief;
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven,
A heart unfortified, a mind impatient,
An understanding simple and unschool'd:
For what we know must be and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we in our peevish opposition
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd: whose common theme
Is death of fathers, and who still hath cried,
From the first corse till he that died to-day,
'This must be so.' We pray you, throw to earth
This unprevailing woe, and think of us
As of a father: for let the world take note,
You are the most immediate to our throne;
And with no less nobility of love
Than that which dearest father bears his son,
Do I impart toward you.


1.3

LAERTES

Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth besmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own;
For he himself is subject to his birth:
He may not, as unvalued persons do,
Carve for himself; for on his choice depends
The safety and health of this whole state;
And therefore must his choice be circumscribed
Unto the voice and yielding of that body
Whereof he is the head.

...

LORD POLONIUS Yet here, Laertes! aboard, aboard, for shame!
The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail,
And you are stay'd for. There; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory
See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!

...

OPHELIA

He hath, my lord, of late made many tenders
Of his affection to me.

LORD POLONIUS

Affection! pooh! you speak like a green girl,
Unsifted in such perilous circumstance.
Do you believe his tenders, as you call them?

OPHELIA

I do not know, my lord, what I should think.

LORD POLONIUS

Marry, I'll teach you: think yourself a baby;
That you have ta'en these tenders for true pay,
Which are not sterling. Tender yourself more dearly;
Or--not to crack the wind of the poor phrase,
Running it thus--you'll tender me a fool.

OPHELIA

My lord, he hath importuned me with love
In honourable fashion.

LORD POLONIUS

Ay, fashion you may call it; go to, go to.

OPHELIA

And hath given countenance to his speech, my lord,
With almost all the holy vows of heaven.

LORD POLONIUS

Ay, springes to catch woodcocks. I do know,
When the blood burns, how prodigal the soul
Lends the tongue vows: these blazes, daughter,
Giving more light than heat, extinct in both,
Even in their promise, as it is a-making,
You must not take for fire. From this time
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence;
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to parley. For Lord Hamlet,
Believe so much in him, that he is young
And with a larger tether may he walk
Than may be given you: in few, Ophelia,
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to beguile. This is for all:
I would not, in plain terms, from this time forth,
Have you so slander any moment leisure,
As to give words or talk with the Lord Hamlet.
Look to't, I charge you: come your ways.

OPHELIA I shall obey, my lord.

1.5

Ghost I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood.

...

Thus was I, sleeping, by a brother's hand
Of life, of crown, of queen, at once dispatch'd:
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd,
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head:
O, horrible! O, horrible! most horrible!
If thou hast nature in thee, bear it not;

...

HAMLET

Remember thee!
Yea, from the table of my memory
I'll wipe away all trivial fond records,
All saws of books, all forms, all pressures past,
That youth and observation copied there;
And thy commandment all alone shall live
Within the book and volume of my brain,
Unmix'd with baser matter: yes, by heaven!


2.2

HAMLET

I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation
prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king
and queen moult no feather. I have of late--but
wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.

...

HAMLET

Ay, so, God be wi' ye;
Exeunt ROSENCRANTZ and GUILDENSTERN
Now I am alone.
O, what a rogue and peasant slave am I!
Is it not monstrous that this player here,
But in a fiction, in a dream of passion,
Could force his soul so to his own conceit
That from her working all his visage wann'd,
Tears in his eyes, distraction in's aspect,
A broken voice, and his whole function suiting
With forms to his conceit? and all for nothing!
For Hecuba!
What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba,
That he should weep for her? What would he do,
Had he the motive and the cue for passion
That I have? He would drown the stage with tears
And cleave the general ear with horrid speech,
Make mad the guilty and appal the free,
Confound the ignorant, and amaze indeed
The very faculties of eyes and ears. Yet I,
A dull and muddy-mettled rascal, peak,
Like John-a-dreams, unpregnant of my cause,
And can say nothing; no, not for a king,
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard, and blows it in my face?
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? who does me this?
Ha!
'Swounds, I should take it: for it cannot be
But I am pigeon-liver'd and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal: bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain!
O, vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave,
That I, the son of a dear father murder'd,
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion!
Fie upon't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
Play something like the murder of my father
Before mine uncle: I'll observe his looks;
I'll tent him to the quick: if he but blench,
I know my course. The spirit that I have seen
May be the devil: and the devil hath power
To assume a pleasing shape; yea, and perhaps
Out of my weakness and my melancholy,
As he is very potent with such spirits,
Abuses me to damn me: I'll have grounds
More relative than this: the play 's the thing
Wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king.


3.1

HAMLET

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover'd country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.--Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember'd.

...

OPHELIA

My lord, I have remembrances of yours,
That I have longed long to re-deliver;
I pray you, now receive them.

HAMLET

No, not I;
I never gave you aught.

OPHELIA

My honour'd lord, you know right well you did;
And, with them, words of so sweet breath composed
As made the things more rich: their perfume lost,
Take these again; for to the noble mind
Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind.
There, my lord.

HAMLET

Ha, ha! are you honest?

OPHELIA

My lord?

HAMLET

Are you fair?

OPHELIA

What means your lordship?

HAMLET

That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should
admit no discourse to your beauty.

OPHELIA

Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than
with honesty?

HAMLET

Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner
transform honesty from what it is to a bawd than the
force of honesty can translate beauty into his
likeness: this was sometime a paradox, but now the
time gives it proof. I did love you once.

OPHELIA

Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.

HAMLET

You should not have believed me; for virtue cannot
so inoculate our old stock but we shall relish of
it: I loved you not.

OPHELIA

I was the more deceived.

HAMLET

Get thee to a nunnery: why wouldst thou be a
breeder of sinners? I am myself indifferent honest;
but yet I could accuse me of such things that it
were better my mother had not borne me: I am very
proud, revengeful, ambitious, with more offences at
my beck than I have thoughts to put them in,
imagination to give them shape, or time to act them
in. What should such fellows as I do crawling
between earth and heaven? We are arrant knaves,
all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery.
Where's your father?

OPHELIA

At home, my lord.

HAMLET

Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the
fool no where but in's own house. Farewell.

OPHELIA

O, help him, you sweet heavens!

HAMLET

If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for
thy dowry: be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as
snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a
nunnery, go: farewell. Or, if thou wilt needs
marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough
what monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go,
and quickly too. Farewell.

OPHELIA

O heavenly powers, restore him!

HAMLET I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God
has given you one face, and you make yourselves
another: you jig, you amble, and you lisp, and
nick-name God's creatures, and make your wantonness
your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't; it hath
made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages:
those that are married already, all but one, shall
live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a
nunnery, go.


3.2


HAMLET

Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to
you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it,
as many of your players do, I had as lief the
town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air
too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently;
for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say,
the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget
a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it
offends me to the soul to hear a robustious
periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to
very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who
for the most part are capable of nothing but
inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such
a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it
out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it.

First Player

I warrant your honour.

HAMLET Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion
be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the
word to the action; with this special o'erstep not
the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is
from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the
first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the
mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature,
scorn her own image, and the very age and body of
the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone,
or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful
laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the
censure of the which one must in your allowance
o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be
players that I have seen play, and heard others
praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely,
that, neither having the accent of Christians nor
the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so
strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of
nature's journeymen had made men and not made them
well, they imitated humanity so abominably.

3.3

KING CLAUDIUS Thanks, dear my lord.
Exit POLONIUS
O, my offence is rank it smells to heaven;
It hath the primal eldest curse upon't,
A brother's murder. Pray can I not,
Though inclination be as sharp as will:
My stronger guilt defeats my strong intent;
And, like a man to double business bound,
I stand in pause where I shall first begin,
And both neglect. What if this cursed hand
Were thicker than itself with brother's blood,
Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? Whereto serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?
And what's in prayer but this two-fold force,
To be forestalled ere we come to fall,
Or pardon'd being down? Then I'll look up;
My fault is past. But, O, what form of prayer
Can serve my turn? 'Forgive me my foul murder'?
That cannot be; since I am still possess'd
Of those effects for which I did the murder,
My crown, mine own ambition and my queen.
May one be pardon'd and retain the offence?
In the corrupted currents of this world
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice,
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above;
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence. What then? what rests?
Try what repentance can: what can it not?
Yet what can it when one can not repent?
O wretched state! O bosom black as death!
O limed soul, that, struggling to be free,
Art more engaged! Help, angels! Make assay!
Bow, stubborn knees; and, heart with strings of steel,
Be soft as sinews of the newborn babe!
All may be well.


3.4

QUEEN GERTRUDE

To whom do you speak this?

HAMLET

Do you see nothing there?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Nothing at all; yet all that is I see.

HAMLET

Nor did you nothing hear?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

No, nothing but ourselves.

HAMLET

Why, look you there! look, how it steals away!
My father, in his habit as he lived!
Look, where he goes, even now, out at the portal!
Exit Ghost

QUEEN GERTRUDE

This the very coinage of your brain:
This bodiless creation ecstasy
Is very cunning in.

HAMLET

Ecstasy!
My pulse, as yours, doth temperately keep time,
And makes as healthful music: it is not madness
That I have utter'd: bring me to the test,
And I the matter will re-word; which madness
Would gambol from. Mother, for love of grace,
Lay not that mattering unction to your soul,
That not your trespass, but my madness speaks:
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,
Whilst rank corruption, mining all within,
Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;
Repent what's past; avoid what is to come;
And do not spread the compost on the weeds,
To make them ranker. Forgive me this my virtue;
For in the fatness of these pursy times
Virtue itself of vice must pardon beg,
Yea, curb and woo for leave to do him good.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

O Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in twain.

HAMLET

O, throw away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to mine uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.
That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat,
Of habits devil, is angel yet in this,
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock or livery,
That aptly is put on. Refrain to-night,
And that shall lend a kind of easiness
To the next abstinence: the next more easy;
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either [ ] the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency. Once more, good night:
And when you are desirous to be bless'd,
I'll blessing beg of you. For this same lord,
Pointing to POLONIUS
I do repent: but heaven hath pleased it so,
To punish me with this and this with me,
That I must be their scourge and minister.
I will bestow him, and will answer well
The death I gave him. So, again, good night.
I must be cruel, only to be kind:
Thus bad begins and worse remains behind.
One word more, good lady.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

What shall I do?

HAMLET

Not this, by no means, that I bid you do:
Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed;
Pinch wanton on your cheek; call you his mouse;
And let him, for a pair of reechy kisses,
Or paddling in your neck with his damn'd fingers,
Make you to ravel all this matter out,
That I essentially am not in madness,
But mad in craft. 'Twere good you let him know;
For who, that's but a queen, fair, sober, wise,
Would from a paddock, from a bat, a gib,
Such dear concernings hide? who would do so?
No, in despite of sense and secrecy,
Unpeg the basket on the house's top.
Let the birds fly, and, like the famous ape,
To try conclusions, in the basket creep,
And break your own neck down.

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Be thou assured, if words be made of breath,
And breath of life, I have no life to breathe
What thou hast said to me.

HAMLET

I must to England; you know that?

QUEEN GERTRUDE

Alack,
I had forgot: 'tis so concluded on.

HAMLET There's letters seal'd: and my two schoolfellows,
Whom I will trust as I will adders fang'd,
They bear the mandate; they must sweep my way,
And marshal me to knavery. Let it work;
For 'tis the sport to have the engineer
Hoist with his own petard: and 't shall go hard
But I will delve one yard below their mines,
And blow them at the moon: O, 'tis most sweet,
When in one line two crafts directly meet.
This man shall set me packing:
I'll lug the guts into the neighbour room.
Mother, good night. Indeed this counsellor
Is now most still, most secret and most grave,
Who was in life a foolish prating knave.
Come, sir, to draw toward an end with you.
Good night, mother.


4.4

HAMLET I'll be with you straight go a little before.
Exeunt all except HAMLET
How all occasions do inform against me,
And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.
Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and god-like reason
To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be
Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple
Of thinking too precisely on the event,
A thought which, quarter'd, hath but one part wisdom
And ever three parts coward, I do not know
Why yet I live to say 'This thing's to do;'
Sith I have cause and will and strength and means
To do't. Examples gross as earth exhort me:
Witness this army of such mass and charge
Led by a delicate and tender prince,
Whose spirit with divine ambition puff'd
Makes mouths at the invisible event,
Exposing what is mortal and unsure
To all that fortune, death and danger dare,
Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great
Is not to stir without great argument,
But greatly to find quarrel in a straw
When honour's at the stake. How stand I then,
That have a father kill'd, a mother stain'd,
Excitements of my reason and my blood,
And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see
The imminent death of twenty thousand men,
That, for a fantasy and trick of fame,
Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot
Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,
Which is not tomb enough and continent
To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,
My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!


5.1

First Clown

[Sings]
A pick-axe, and a spade, a spade,
For and a shrouding sheet:
O, a pit of clay for to be made
For such a guest is meet.
Throws up another skull

HAMLET

There's another: why may not that be the skull of a
lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets,
his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he
suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the
sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of
his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be
in's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes,
his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers,
his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and
the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine
pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him
no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than
the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The
very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in
this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?

HORATIO Not a jot more, my lord.

...

First Clown

A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! a' poured a
flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull,
sir, was Yorick's skull, the king's jester.

HAMLET

This?

First Clown

E'en that.

HAMLET

Let me see.
Takes the skull
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how
abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know
not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,
that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one
now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?
Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let
her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must
come; make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell
me one thing.

HORATIO

What's that, my lord?

HAMLET

Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion i'
the earth?

HORATIO

E'en so.

HAMLET

And smelt so? pah!
Puts down the skull

HORATIO

E'en so, my lord.

HAMLET

To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may
not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander,
till he find it stopping a bung-hole?

HORATIO

'Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.

HAMLET No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with
modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: as
thus: Alexander died, Alexander was buried,
Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of
earth we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he
was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?
Imperious Caesar, dead and turn'd to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:
O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!
But soft! but soft! aside: here comes the king.


5.2

HAMLET

Give me your pardon, sir: I've done you wrong;
But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.
This presence knows,
And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd
With sore distraction. What I have done,
That might your nature, honour and exception
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet:
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,
And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness: if't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,
Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

LAERTES

I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge: but in my terms of honour
I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters, of known honour,
I have a voice and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungored. But till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.

HAMLET I embrace it freely;
And will this brother's wager frankly play.
Give us the foils. Come on.

...

PRINCE FORTINBRAS

This quarry cries on havoc. O proud death,
What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,
That thou so many princes at a shot
So bloodily hast struck?

First Ambassador

The sight is dismal;
And our affairs from England come too late:
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,
To tell him his commandment is fulfill'd,
That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:
Where should we have our thanks?

HORATIO

Not from his mouth,
Had it the ability of life to thank you:
He never gave commandment for their death.
But since, so jump upon this bloody question,
You from the Polack wars, and you from England,
Are here arrived give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view;
And let me speak to the yet unknowing world
How these things came about: so shall you hear
Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
Fall'n on the inventors' reads: all this can I
Truly deliver.

PRINCE FORTINBRAS

Let us haste to hear it,
And call the noblest to the audience.
For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune:
I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,
Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.

HORATIO

Of that I shall have also cause to speak,
And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more;
But let this same be presently perform'd,
Even while men's minds are wild; lest more mischance
On plots and errors, happen.

PRINCE FORTINBRAS Let four captains
Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;
For he was likely, had he been put on,
To have proved most royally: and, for his passage,
The soldiers' music and the rites of war
Speak loudly for him.
Take up the bodies: such a sight as this
Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.
Go, bid the soldiers shoot.