放大圖片
■漫長暑假將至,家長們開始積極安排子女參加各項暑期活動。 資料圖片
暑假即將來臨,上學的朋友是否很興奮?是否覺得未來個多月好像有用不完的時間?英國兒童文學家Enid Blyton在Five Go Off in a Caravan有這樣的對話:‘I do love the beginning of the summer hols,' said Julian. ‘They always seem to stretch out ahead for ages and ages.' ‘They go so nice and slowly at first,' said Anne, his little sister. ‘Then they start to gallop.'(朱利安說:「我實在喜愛暑假的開端,它們總是好像不斷向前伸展很長很長的時間。」他妹妹安妮說:「它們起初既美麗又緩慢,然後它們便開始疾馳。」)最初以為來日方長,很快便覺時日無多,這種無奈大家是否很熟悉呢?
度假不能令人放鬆
很多人放假都喜歡出外度假(go on holiday(s))。英國作家Mark Haddon10年前出版的著名小說《深夜小狗神秘習題》(The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time)的自閉童有這樣一段自省:And Siobhan says people go on holidays to see new things and relax, but it wouldn’t make me relaxed and you can see new things by looking at earth under a microscope or drawing the shape of the solid made when 3 circular rods of equal thickness intersect at right angles. And I think that there are so many things just in one house that it would take years to think about all of them properly. And also, a thing is interesting because of thinking about it and not because of it being new(施奧班說度假的人想觀看新鮮事物和放鬆一下,但這不會令我放鬆;而你若要觀看新鮮事物,可以用顯微鏡觀看泥土或畫出由3條厚度相同的圓棒直角相交而成的立體圖形。而且我覺得單單一間屋裡面便已經有很多事物,要花費很多年才能把它們全部認真思考。而且還有,一件事物有趣是因為我們思考它而不是因為它新鮮)。動輒喜歡參加旅行團的香港人,對這段話有何觀感?
假期被大公司榨取
任何假期都已商品化,旅行團啦,補習班啦,過時過節的食品啦,包羅萬有。美國傳媒人Dan Savage便說:I wouldn't say that holidays are manufactured by corporations, but they're certainly exploited and mined by them(我不是說假期是由大公司製造,但它們肯定給他們利用和榨取了)。
我們有時會忽發奇想,希望不用工作不用上學,每一天都是假期,但這真的是好事嗎?愛爾蘭劇作家蕭伯納(George Bernard Shaw)便一語中的:A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell(持續不斷的假期,是「地獄」一個不錯的初步定義)。喜愛放假,大多只是因為厭惡工作或上學吧。不知是誰說的名言:When you like your work every day is a holiday(若你喜歡你的工作,每一天都是假期)。這,大概是工作、假期以至上學的真諦吧。祝大家暑假快樂! ■余 功
逢星期五見報
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