a generic blog
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Arabic language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Arabic (العربية al-'arabiyyah, or less formally 'arabi) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic.
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| Spoken in: | Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Gaza Strip, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, West Bank, Western Sahara (SADR), Yemen by a majority, and in many other countries as a minority language. |
| Total speakers: | 206 million (Ethnologue, native speakers of all dialects); 286 million (population of Arab countries, CIA World Factbook, 2004 est.), excluding Arab minorities in other countries and bilingual speakers |
| Ranking: | 5 (by first language) |
| Genetic classification: | Afro-Asiatic |
The major groups are:
- Egyptian Arabic (Egypt) Considered the most widely understood and used "second dialect"
- Maghreb Arabic (Tunisian, Algerian, Moroccan Arabic, and western Libyan)
- Levantine Arabic (Western Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian, and western Jordanian, Cypriot Maronite Arabic)
- Iraqi Arabic or Gulf Arabic (Iraqi, Eastern Syrian, Kuwaiti, Saudi Arabian, Gulf coast from Iraq to Oman including much of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, and minorities on the other side)
| Spoken in: | Turkey, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Bulgaria, Austria, Greece, Germany, Iran, Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Netherlands (1% cutoff) |
| Region: | Turkey, Cyprus, Balkans |
| Total speakers: | 51 million native, 72 million total |
| Ranking: | 22 (native) |
| Genetic classification: | Altaic |
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
寿文颖——人生求学之路
寿文颖——人生求学之路
我常常想，当年出国留学，我凭什么在全世界83个国家286名考生只取4名的激烈竞争中胜出？尤其是两年前一位二中的学妹求我写推荐信，我收到她的履历表，为她的成绩惊叹：杭二中连续三年全年级第一，曾代表学校到英国交流；清华时又是一等奖学金获得者，而到后来竟没有得到美国任何一所大学的奖学金（最后她被香港中文大学录取）——我想那是命运的恩赐。
父母一切的一切的努力，都是为了我将来出国作准备
还是从童年说起吧。童年、少年生活对于我，像一个朦胧迷糊的梦魇，那是指我的家庭生活环境——外公被打成右派，自杀；外婆在“文革”中被逼致疯，我看惯了父母的愁容、叹息与奋争……他们把全部希望寄托在我身上。
因此，在我很小的时候父母就教我数学和写作。而当我的作文在比赛中获奖后，母亲便“放”了我，说我的写作可以了，让我在数理化上多下功夫。说学好数理化英语，走遍天下都不怕。为节约我的时间,她甚至在紧要关头如数学竞赛、高考前夕，模仿我的笔迹替我做随笔、周记这些作业来应付老师。
他们一切的一切的努力，都是为了我将来出国作准备。
我一开始不懂，为什么我不能像其他孩子那样玩，家里几乎没有玩具。他们还不允许我到邻居家看电视（除“动物世界”外）。
哪怕在西湖边，我也从来没有玩痛快过：妈妈不是要我背唐诗，就是要我描述西湖景色。
有“反叛”精神的我便想出各种各样的办法背着他们玩。记得有一次期末考试前，我实在想看妈妈的《小说选刊》，可是父母把杂志好好地锁在他们的房间里。我注意到他们的门上面三分之一是可以活动的，于是趁他们不注意翻门而入。在他们回来之前，我把杂志按原样放回。第二天的语文考试我居然考了全班第一。
我并不是不喜欢学习，但是我的兴趣绝对不只局限在学习上。我也任性：不喜欢的东西就是不做。比方，我喜欢读历史故事，但是讨厌背时间地点，因此我历史总是勉强及格。我对地理更是不喜欢，在地理课里做数学题——数学对我像块磁铁一样，因为从某种意义上来说，它是我唯一的玩具。
有时，我会花一星期做一道“趣味数学”题，做出来的那种甜蜜是很难形容的。另外，我每做出一道附加题，父母奖我一分钱。我当时有很强的愿望扩大我的金库——为什么我也不知道，但是我潜意识地认为有钱是件好事——否则，葛朗台为什么要那么千方百计地节省钱呢。
我数学题做得越多，对数学越喜欢。看到妈妈如此精打细算地维持家庭经济（有时为了一角钱浪费一小时），我便把我的金库“捐”给了家库。有一天我对妈妈说：“这钱，你留着吧。你哪怕不给我钱，我也会做数学题的。”妈妈说：“怎么我女儿突然长大了？”
但是，不管我如何痴迷数学，在省市的数学竞赛上却没有得过奖，这在当时对我的打击很大，以至于后来我高考时便没有选数学专业。到美国后，打听到有很多杰出的数学家，竞赛中都没得奖。同样，很多竞赛中得奖者，事业也只不过平平而已。这是因为研究和竞赛有本质上的区别：竞赛主要考速度，而研究则考验文献的吸收能力及融会贯通的运用能力、创造力、耐久力（很多课题是几年锲而不舍的劳动结果）、联想探索思维等等。这都是后话了。
如果考砸了，那一定是命运给你另一次机会
1988年4月，学校要保送我去西安交大、华东师大。很多人羡慕我，可我犹豫后选择了放弃。因为我要进的是北大或者复旦。那个酷夏似乎有意跟我过不去：这年省略了黄梅天，从6月上旬开始，天天烈日高照，到7月5日晚我突然高烧达39摄氏度。心急如焚的母亲连忙带我去看急诊。
天热得没一点儿风。母亲整夜陪在我身边。我望着暗夜深处，心里真后悔：我想如果去了保送的学校，就不用面临这种困境了。我问母亲考砸了怎么办？因为我知道，我是她活在这个世界上的精神支柱。妈妈掩饰住内心的焦虑，安慰我说能考好的，还说如果考砸了，那一定是命运给你另一次机会。
这里我要插一句：知道原西湖之声主持人东方月吗？她是我初中同桌，才华横溢的她当年因为数理化没考上大学，现在她不是很成功吗？前年我们在纽约见面曾谈及中国教育的一些弊端。
爸爸陪着我天天打了青霉素去高考，回来再去医院。最后我以600分的成绩进入第一志愿：复旦大学遗传工程系。一来我对细胞分裂和生物遗传有强大的兴趣，再者，父母打听此系出国的人很多。
赴沪前妈妈忙起来了：她给我做了几套新衣服。她笑着说，女儿长大了，该找男朋友了，得穿得好点了。
我说妈妈说哪里去了？我才不要呢！她说我不是说笑话，你心高气傲，进的是南方第一高等学府，碰到你认为好的男孩追不用拒绝，不然以后到单位里，未必找得到那么称心纯洁的伴侣。
她见我用手指塞耳跺脚说不听不听便幽默地说：只怕到时候由不得你了。说着她脸色一紧严肃地说，只是在没有结婚以前，不得越轨。恋爱可以是促进剂，也足可以毁掉你的事业。我牢记母亲的训诫，无论与哪一任男友，我都恪守少女的传统道德，直到披上新娘的婚纱。
复旦就是荒野，用大风大雨来考验哪棵树会活下来
复旦大学的头两年是我一生中最痛苦的两年，因为家庭经济拮据，食堂里吃得节约，半夜经常饿肚子，这且不说。那段时间，出国这件事由当初父母的希望变成了我自己的强烈愿望。生工系又集中了全国最优秀的学生，而且大部分人和我一样想出国，因此竞争相当激烈。
我在二中也算不上尖子（哪怕不计历史和地理，我总分也从来没有名列班级前三名过），但复旦和二中很不一样：二中用的是“转弱为强”的方针，而复旦却是“强者胜，弱者亡”的筛选哲学。打个不太恰当的比方，如果二中是花园，把小树培育成大树，那么复旦就是荒野，用大风大雨来考验哪棵树会活下来。记得我在实验室打破一只烧杯，老师马上说：“你不是做实验的料。”如果现在这个老师得知我的生物实验使我得到了博士学位，他会怎么想呢？
在强烈的出国愿望指使下，我去寻找学习英语机会。听说复旦教我的英语老师在开私人托福班，我便去旁听。我知道要另外缴费，可我缴不起。我便打听到上课时间，坐在教室里的第一排（因为那儿正好有个空位置）。他一眼就看到了我，但不说什么。课后，他也不问我。正巧妈妈在上海的朋友送了我一瓶奶粉，我便把奶粉带去给他。他微微一笑，说了声谢谢。他对我心照不宣的容纳使我很感激。
对英语快速阅读和听力上的投资使我在其他课上力不从心。我开始对科学失去了热爱。记得我的化学总在“优”和“良”之间徘徊，我去找老师，对她说我在这儿绝望到连羞耻感都没有了——我要靠这个分数出国的。我对物理和计算机老师也诉了同样的苦。后来，我化学，物理，计算机都得了“优”。我永远也不会知道是因为我真的考得好，还是他们为了我的前途而宽容了我。
在复旦的第二年，母亲替我联系了一个老师让我提高实验技术。在等她的时候，我认识了第一任男友。他正好在做实验，我被他漂亮的实验技术折服。从此他成了我的老师。而我的生活也随之改善。他对我很慷慨，经常给我买酸奶喝。我在他身上学到了不少东西。但我们相处只有一年时间。
我出国时，我们讨论怎么办？他是个从四明山走出来的农专毕业的农家孩子，因为一项实验引起复旦的重视，被邀请到复旦做课题，英语是他的薄弱环节。而那时他的一项成果又出来了，如果我与他结婚，他三个月后就可赴美当陪读。但仅是陪读而已。他的英语在美国是难行的，还有他的研究专项，在美国也不吃香。于是我们说好当朋友，让命运来决定归宿。
我紧锣密鼓地拿出了托福633分的成绩，接着申请美国大学。那是要申请费的：一般起码要20美元。而且得同时申请几所学校。这笔钱不是一个拮据的家庭能承担的。我抱定宗旨不付：我去信申请，讲明自己经济条件差，要求免去。我想一个学校如果对申请费看得比学生才华更重，那不会是好学校。
同时我还需要教授的推荐信。一个我熟悉的外籍教授去了上海电视台。我要信很急，打电话去却都是忙音。说明他在家。我便骑车前往。那是横贯上海的。谁知，一敲门，这花老外正与一位中国姑娘谈恋爱。他不客气地说：你知道我们的习惯，应该先来电话联系。今天我恕不接待！
应该说是天无绝人之路，一个打错的电话让我联系上了南加州大学生物医学教授，他是复旦的访问学者，真像是一个冥冥中的秘密使者从天而降。他建议我去考美国加州的POMONA大学，因为那里的老师擅长本科教育。之前我还从来没听到过那个学校的名字，会是好学校吗？他解释美国有两类大学，一类只有本科，一类有本科和博士科。POMONA是本科学校中排前5名的。
我知道本科获奖学金机会很少，但只要能离开这儿，我什么美国学校都愿意去。因此我申请了。我申请的所有学校中，POMONA是唯一录取我并给我全奖（包括学费和生活费）的学校。后来我一直在思考它录取我的原因。我认为，美国的大学既看重分数，但更看重一种不同于众的东西：也许是我的一篇有独特见解的小论文获得他们的青睐，也许我早就练就的文笔也帮了我的忙，他们出了两个考题：《描述一下你自己，让我们像看到你一样》、《你认为第二次世界大战以后，哪一种科学对人类发展起了重大作用》，还有，也许我实事求是不掩饰自己的弱点也使他们感到我值得信任。
这样，我终于如愿以偿了。
对我来说最最重要的是，POMONA拯救了我的科学精神到
POMONA后，渐渐地我意识到命运给我的唯一选择正好是最好的选择。那儿的老师都是声名卓著的科学家，他们治学严谨而又和蔼可亲。他们谦恭有礼，平易近人，头上没有那种成就的光环，身上没有不可一世的傲气。他们把教育看做是一种艺术。在他们的,陶下，我对科学的热爱复活了，并且对实验不再害怕。我记得我是如何地向往上课。早晨一起来，我就想，“今天又可以去上数学（或化学，或生物）课了！”
POMONA每年请一个诺贝尔奖获得者给我们作专题讲座。对我影响最深的是那堂课：《热爱科学，看淡名利》。这位女科学家眼睛里闪射出那种对工作的热爱，说自己从来没有想过得诺贝尔奖时的诚恳与坦然，在我心里激起巨大反响。我被她迷住了。我在那里拼命念书，一则我爱学新的东西，二则我想让POMONA感到他们没在我身上枉费那么多奖学金，三则我想补回在复旦欠的科学债。
后来又有两个中国学生被POMONA录取，其中一个似乎在国际奥林匹克数学竞赛中得过奖，但是他们成绩相当一般。在这之后， POMONA对中国学生收得就少了。我想，也许，目标仅放在“出国”的学生，一出国他们便没有动力了？最后，我在POMONA三年后获双学位（数学和分子生物学），以最佳学生的荣誉毕业。
而对我来说最最重要的是，POMONA拯救了我和我的科学精神。直到现在，我每年给他们捐款，并且不管多忙，一年为他们义务劳动两三次。
在POMONA我认识了尤西。他一米八的个子，粗眉大眼，三岁随父母从台湾迁居美国。他父母见我会背唐诗宋词，羡慕得不得了，怪自己儿子连中文都识不了几个。邀我常去他家，给他们的宝贝儿子一点中国文化的影响。而尤西对这些没有兴趣，他最大的愿望是毕业后进洛杉矶球队。暑假，他提议由他开车去北加州旅游。那是我第一次在美国旅游。晚上，我们在帐篷里并排躺下。他躺下后又坐起拿了件衣服隔在中间，说他知道中国的传统习惯，那股认真劲儿把我逗笑了。正想睡去，他却抓住我，俯到我耳边轻轻说他爱我。我挣开他：“不!你是个球坛明星，我热爱科学，我们的爱好不一样。我们只能成为好朋友。”
旅途结束我走下他的车时，他问我,你爱科学，是不？我点了点头。于是我认识了马克——我的第二任男友。
尤西事先没通知我，只是请我周末聚会。认识不认识的一共六人。时间不知不觉过去，我频频注视尤西，按惯例，是该他送我回校的。可他一反平时，倒是我沉不住气了，他似乎有点吃惊地说：“呀，这么迟了!”接着嘴角露出狡黠的笑，向马克挤了挤眼，“能劳驾你送寿小姐回校吗？”马克微笑地打开了他的车门。我刚跨进车，尤西探过头，低声说：“你不是喜欢科学吗，他是才子，加理的高才生……”
当我合上眼睛的时候，我能对自己说，我没有浪费我的生命
POMONA毕业后，哈佛、耶鲁等大学都免试录取了我。因为马克在加州理工学院，他坚持要我去加理。再者，加理是个很优秀的学校，因此我去那里的生物系做研究生。好笑的是一年后我们就吹了。
马克是个弃儿，养母常酗酒，他是在缺少爱的环境里长大的。父亲来美参加毕业典礼，住在他这里，他毫无节制地玩电子游戏到凌晨，然后睡到近午。起来问父亲早上吃什么？父亲肚子早咕咕叫，可中国的客套使他说你忙你的吧。他果真去忙自己的没了踪影。父亲承认有文化差异，但认为在缺少爱的家庭里长大的孩子不懂得关心别人，后来我进了加理，与他接触多了，感到确实是这样。于是我们吹了。
在加理，有段时间，我的课题进行得很不好。我不知道下一步该做什么。我从来没有尝到过那种压抑：每天看着钟，等着它指向5点便逃回家。研究和上课是完全不同的：研究没有期中期末考试，但每天都是一种不同的考验。我一向认为自己的意志力很坚强，根本没料到我居然也会那么脆弱。科学研究使我认识到我的弱点。
就在那时，我看到加理有跳舞课，想与其一天到晚愁眉苦脸的，还不如去学点跳舞——我一直想学，但从来没有机会。而且，我年纪也不小了，该成家了，待在实验室是碰不到好郎君的。很偶然，我在跳舞课上认识了一个物理系的研究生，他也是因为课题进行得不好用跳舞来逃避。几年后，我们这一对“难友”结成夫妻。
我当时非常喜欢跳舞，但跳舞的欢乐是极短暂的。一结束，科学研究的压抑感重又笼罩着我。后来，在老板和合作者的帮助下，我课题有了苗头，便根本没有时间或心思再去跳舞。仅一年之后，课题便出了成果，我们的文章在《细胞》杂志上发表。这个成果还使得我的论文在加理获得“最佳生物论文” 奖。科学研究，慢起来很慢，快起来倒也很快。
有时总是想，科学和我好像是父母替我定的“娃娃亲”。我遵照父母的愿望，成了科学家。后来，科学又成了我得到自由的跳板。如果父母让我像美国孩子一样自然发展，我会选择科学吗？也许，我会成为作家，或戏剧家？
我问我老板他父母小时候管不管他的，他说从来不管。对他印象最深的一件事是，他在他父亲开的机械店里工作了一个夏天，父亲让他干的工作是，把一个螺丝拧到一个孔里，就这样重复8小时。有一天，他对自己说，“我不能看钟，因为一看钟，我会意识到时间过得那么慢。”他忍着不看，最后实在忍不住了，一看才早晨9点，他便哭了。他说，这种工作做过之后，你会意识到从事科学研究是一种莫大的享受——因为每天都在变化。我问他研究科学是为什么，他承认在加理当教授满足了他一定的荣耀心，但是他绝对不是光为了荣耀或自由做科学——对于他来说，科学那么有趣，因为大自然无奇不有。
加理毕业前，我绿卡已经拿到了。我问自己，“我有基本的自由了，现在该做什么呢？”说实话，赚大钱对我的诱惑力并不小：我多么想在旧金山置房安家，我还想周游世界，还想把钱捐给我的母校们，帮助过我的朋友们以及世界野生动物和自然保护基金会。看看周围很多同年龄的人都开始给公司做，买房子，养孩子，开始稳定的生活。但是基于对科学的热爱与对自由的向往，我选了个“清水衙门”，和一条冒险性大的路：博士后研究，而且和新婚的丈夫两海岸分居。
父母也反对我去纽约，他们建议可以在加州的名牌大学做博士后。但我认为我必须进入世界的科学文化中心历练，且乐可菲尔又是与加理完全不同的名校，开阔视野博采众长有利于我的科学研究。我决定背水一战，研究数学与生物结合。我在做前人没有做过的事。如果成功——我会成为一个独特的科学家。那么我可以当助教授——那样，我就成为实验室老板，便不用在人之下——可以说这是一种更高层次的自由吧。如果失败，那么我赔进去的将是一生中最可珍贵的年华。
我常想，如果我做科学研究完全是出于对科学的热爱，那么我会多幸福。仔细想来，我其实对钱不是看得很重，我绝对不会穷的。那么在这个之上，有多少富都是相对的，但我希望我的一生充实。当我合上眼睛的时候，我能对自己说，我没有浪费我的生命，因为我的生命已经转成发现大自然的秘密。因为大自然是永恒的，那么我也永恒了。哪怕别人不知道我的名字。
我之所以说这些，是因为我想让学弟学妹们知道求学之路上的曲折并不可怕，一时的堕落和脆弱也不可怕——它们都是成长过程的一部分，重要的是不断地学习到一点东西，从中成长起来。 ¶ 11:30 PM 0 comments
我常常想，当年出国留学，我凭什么在全世界83个国家286名考生只取4名的激烈竞争中胜出？尤其是两年前一位二中的学妹求我写推荐信，我收到她的履历表，为她的成绩惊叹：杭二中连续三年全年级第一，曾代表学校到英国交流；清华时又是一等奖学金获得者，而到后来竟没有得到美国任何一所大学的奖学金（最后她被香港中文大学录取）——我想那是命运的恩赐。
父母一切的一切的努力，都是为了我将来出国作准备
还是从童年说起吧。童年、少年生活对于我，像一个朦胧迷糊的梦魇，那是指我的家庭生活环境——外公被打成右派，自杀；外婆在“文革”中被逼致疯，我看惯了父母的愁容、叹息与奋争……他们把全部希望寄托在我身上。
因此，在我很小的时候父母就教我数学和写作。而当我的作文在比赛中获奖后，母亲便“放”了我，说我的写作可以了，让我在数理化上多下功夫。说学好数理化英语，走遍天下都不怕。为节约我的时间,她甚至在紧要关头如数学竞赛、高考前夕，模仿我的笔迹替我做随笔、周记这些作业来应付老师。
他们一切的一切的努力，都是为了我将来出国作准备。
我一开始不懂，为什么我不能像其他孩子那样玩，家里几乎没有玩具。他们还不允许我到邻居家看电视（除“动物世界”外）。
哪怕在西湖边，我也从来没有玩痛快过：妈妈不是要我背唐诗，就是要我描述西湖景色。
有“反叛”精神的我便想出各种各样的办法背着他们玩。记得有一次期末考试前，我实在想看妈妈的《小说选刊》，可是父母把杂志好好地锁在他们的房间里。我注意到他们的门上面三分之一是可以活动的，于是趁他们不注意翻门而入。在他们回来之前，我把杂志按原样放回。第二天的语文考试我居然考了全班第一。
我并不是不喜欢学习，但是我的兴趣绝对不只局限在学习上。我也任性：不喜欢的东西就是不做。比方，我喜欢读历史故事，但是讨厌背时间地点，因此我历史总是勉强及格。我对地理更是不喜欢，在地理课里做数学题——数学对我像块磁铁一样，因为从某种意义上来说，它是我唯一的玩具。
有时，我会花一星期做一道“趣味数学”题，做出来的那种甜蜜是很难形容的。另外，我每做出一道附加题，父母奖我一分钱。我当时有很强的愿望扩大我的金库——为什么我也不知道，但是我潜意识地认为有钱是件好事——否则，葛朗台为什么要那么千方百计地节省钱呢。
我数学题做得越多，对数学越喜欢。看到妈妈如此精打细算地维持家庭经济（有时为了一角钱浪费一小时），我便把我的金库“捐”给了家库。有一天我对妈妈说：“这钱，你留着吧。你哪怕不给我钱，我也会做数学题的。”妈妈说：“怎么我女儿突然长大了？”
但是，不管我如何痴迷数学，在省市的数学竞赛上却没有得过奖，这在当时对我的打击很大，以至于后来我高考时便没有选数学专业。到美国后，打听到有很多杰出的数学家，竞赛中都没得奖。同样，很多竞赛中得奖者，事业也只不过平平而已。这是因为研究和竞赛有本质上的区别：竞赛主要考速度，而研究则考验文献的吸收能力及融会贯通的运用能力、创造力、耐久力（很多课题是几年锲而不舍的劳动结果）、联想探索思维等等。这都是后话了。
如果考砸了，那一定是命运给你另一次机会
1988年4月，学校要保送我去西安交大、华东师大。很多人羡慕我，可我犹豫后选择了放弃。因为我要进的是北大或者复旦。那个酷夏似乎有意跟我过不去：这年省略了黄梅天，从6月上旬开始，天天烈日高照，到7月5日晚我突然高烧达39摄氏度。心急如焚的母亲连忙带我去看急诊。
天热得没一点儿风。母亲整夜陪在我身边。我望着暗夜深处，心里真后悔：我想如果去了保送的学校，就不用面临这种困境了。我问母亲考砸了怎么办？因为我知道，我是她活在这个世界上的精神支柱。妈妈掩饰住内心的焦虑，安慰我说能考好的，还说如果考砸了，那一定是命运给你另一次机会。
这里我要插一句：知道原西湖之声主持人东方月吗？她是我初中同桌，才华横溢的她当年因为数理化没考上大学，现在她不是很成功吗？前年我们在纽约见面曾谈及中国教育的一些弊端。
爸爸陪着我天天打了青霉素去高考，回来再去医院。最后我以600分的成绩进入第一志愿：复旦大学遗传工程系。一来我对细胞分裂和生物遗传有强大的兴趣，再者，父母打听此系出国的人很多。
赴沪前妈妈忙起来了：她给我做了几套新衣服。她笑着说，女儿长大了，该找男朋友了，得穿得好点了。
我说妈妈说哪里去了？我才不要呢！她说我不是说笑话，你心高气傲，进的是南方第一高等学府，碰到你认为好的男孩追不用拒绝，不然以后到单位里，未必找得到那么称心纯洁的伴侣。
她见我用手指塞耳跺脚说不听不听便幽默地说：只怕到时候由不得你了。说着她脸色一紧严肃地说，只是在没有结婚以前，不得越轨。恋爱可以是促进剂，也足可以毁掉你的事业。我牢记母亲的训诫，无论与哪一任男友，我都恪守少女的传统道德，直到披上新娘的婚纱。
复旦就是荒野，用大风大雨来考验哪棵树会活下来
复旦大学的头两年是我一生中最痛苦的两年，因为家庭经济拮据，食堂里吃得节约，半夜经常饿肚子，这且不说。那段时间，出国这件事由当初父母的希望变成了我自己的强烈愿望。生工系又集中了全国最优秀的学生，而且大部分人和我一样想出国，因此竞争相当激烈。
我在二中也算不上尖子（哪怕不计历史和地理，我总分也从来没有名列班级前三名过），但复旦和二中很不一样：二中用的是“转弱为强”的方针，而复旦却是“强者胜，弱者亡”的筛选哲学。打个不太恰当的比方，如果二中是花园，把小树培育成大树，那么复旦就是荒野，用大风大雨来考验哪棵树会活下来。记得我在实验室打破一只烧杯，老师马上说：“你不是做实验的料。”如果现在这个老师得知我的生物实验使我得到了博士学位，他会怎么想呢？
在强烈的出国愿望指使下，我去寻找学习英语机会。听说复旦教我的英语老师在开私人托福班，我便去旁听。我知道要另外缴费，可我缴不起。我便打听到上课时间，坐在教室里的第一排（因为那儿正好有个空位置）。他一眼就看到了我，但不说什么。课后，他也不问我。正巧妈妈在上海的朋友送了我一瓶奶粉，我便把奶粉带去给他。他微微一笑，说了声谢谢。他对我心照不宣的容纳使我很感激。
对英语快速阅读和听力上的投资使我在其他课上力不从心。我开始对科学失去了热爱。记得我的化学总在“优”和“良”之间徘徊，我去找老师，对她说我在这儿绝望到连羞耻感都没有了——我要靠这个分数出国的。我对物理和计算机老师也诉了同样的苦。后来，我化学，物理，计算机都得了“优”。我永远也不会知道是因为我真的考得好，还是他们为了我的前途而宽容了我。
在复旦的第二年，母亲替我联系了一个老师让我提高实验技术。在等她的时候，我认识了第一任男友。他正好在做实验，我被他漂亮的实验技术折服。从此他成了我的老师。而我的生活也随之改善。他对我很慷慨，经常给我买酸奶喝。我在他身上学到了不少东西。但我们相处只有一年时间。
我出国时，我们讨论怎么办？他是个从四明山走出来的农专毕业的农家孩子，因为一项实验引起复旦的重视，被邀请到复旦做课题，英语是他的薄弱环节。而那时他的一项成果又出来了，如果我与他结婚，他三个月后就可赴美当陪读。但仅是陪读而已。他的英语在美国是难行的，还有他的研究专项，在美国也不吃香。于是我们说好当朋友，让命运来决定归宿。
我紧锣密鼓地拿出了托福633分的成绩，接着申请美国大学。那是要申请费的：一般起码要20美元。而且得同时申请几所学校。这笔钱不是一个拮据的家庭能承担的。我抱定宗旨不付：我去信申请，讲明自己经济条件差，要求免去。我想一个学校如果对申请费看得比学生才华更重，那不会是好学校。
同时我还需要教授的推荐信。一个我熟悉的外籍教授去了上海电视台。我要信很急，打电话去却都是忙音。说明他在家。我便骑车前往。那是横贯上海的。谁知，一敲门，这花老外正与一位中国姑娘谈恋爱。他不客气地说：你知道我们的习惯，应该先来电话联系。今天我恕不接待！
应该说是天无绝人之路，一个打错的电话让我联系上了南加州大学生物医学教授，他是复旦的访问学者，真像是一个冥冥中的秘密使者从天而降。他建议我去考美国加州的POMONA大学，因为那里的老师擅长本科教育。之前我还从来没听到过那个学校的名字，会是好学校吗？他解释美国有两类大学，一类只有本科，一类有本科和博士科。POMONA是本科学校中排前5名的。
我知道本科获奖学金机会很少，但只要能离开这儿，我什么美国学校都愿意去。因此我申请了。我申请的所有学校中，POMONA是唯一录取我并给我全奖（包括学费和生活费）的学校。后来我一直在思考它录取我的原因。我认为，美国的大学既看重分数，但更看重一种不同于众的东西：也许是我的一篇有独特见解的小论文获得他们的青睐，也许我早就练就的文笔也帮了我的忙，他们出了两个考题：《描述一下你自己，让我们像看到你一样》、《你认为第二次世界大战以后，哪一种科学对人类发展起了重大作用》，还有，也许我实事求是不掩饰自己的弱点也使他们感到我值得信任。
这样，我终于如愿以偿了。
对我来说最最重要的是，POMONA拯救了我的科学精神到
POMONA后，渐渐地我意识到命运给我的唯一选择正好是最好的选择。那儿的老师都是声名卓著的科学家，他们治学严谨而又和蔼可亲。他们谦恭有礼，平易近人，头上没有那种成就的光环，身上没有不可一世的傲气。他们把教育看做是一种艺术。在他们的,陶下，我对科学的热爱复活了，并且对实验不再害怕。我记得我是如何地向往上课。早晨一起来，我就想，“今天又可以去上数学（或化学，或生物）课了！”
POMONA每年请一个诺贝尔奖获得者给我们作专题讲座。对我影响最深的是那堂课：《热爱科学，看淡名利》。这位女科学家眼睛里闪射出那种对工作的热爱，说自己从来没有想过得诺贝尔奖时的诚恳与坦然，在我心里激起巨大反响。我被她迷住了。我在那里拼命念书，一则我爱学新的东西，二则我想让POMONA感到他们没在我身上枉费那么多奖学金，三则我想补回在复旦欠的科学债。
后来又有两个中国学生被POMONA录取，其中一个似乎在国际奥林匹克数学竞赛中得过奖，但是他们成绩相当一般。在这之后， POMONA对中国学生收得就少了。我想，也许，目标仅放在“出国”的学生，一出国他们便没有动力了？最后，我在POMONA三年后获双学位（数学和分子生物学），以最佳学生的荣誉毕业。
而对我来说最最重要的是，POMONA拯救了我和我的科学精神。直到现在，我每年给他们捐款，并且不管多忙，一年为他们义务劳动两三次。
在POMONA我认识了尤西。他一米八的个子，粗眉大眼，三岁随父母从台湾迁居美国。他父母见我会背唐诗宋词，羡慕得不得了，怪自己儿子连中文都识不了几个。邀我常去他家，给他们的宝贝儿子一点中国文化的影响。而尤西对这些没有兴趣，他最大的愿望是毕业后进洛杉矶球队。暑假，他提议由他开车去北加州旅游。那是我第一次在美国旅游。晚上，我们在帐篷里并排躺下。他躺下后又坐起拿了件衣服隔在中间，说他知道中国的传统习惯，那股认真劲儿把我逗笑了。正想睡去，他却抓住我，俯到我耳边轻轻说他爱我。我挣开他：“不!你是个球坛明星，我热爱科学，我们的爱好不一样。我们只能成为好朋友。”
旅途结束我走下他的车时，他问我,你爱科学，是不？我点了点头。于是我认识了马克——我的第二任男友。
尤西事先没通知我，只是请我周末聚会。认识不认识的一共六人。时间不知不觉过去，我频频注视尤西，按惯例，是该他送我回校的。可他一反平时，倒是我沉不住气了，他似乎有点吃惊地说：“呀，这么迟了!”接着嘴角露出狡黠的笑，向马克挤了挤眼，“能劳驾你送寿小姐回校吗？”马克微笑地打开了他的车门。我刚跨进车，尤西探过头，低声说：“你不是喜欢科学吗，他是才子，加理的高才生……”
当我合上眼睛的时候，我能对自己说，我没有浪费我的生命
POMONA毕业后，哈佛、耶鲁等大学都免试录取了我。因为马克在加州理工学院，他坚持要我去加理。再者，加理是个很优秀的学校，因此我去那里的生物系做研究生。好笑的是一年后我们就吹了。
马克是个弃儿，养母常酗酒，他是在缺少爱的环境里长大的。父亲来美参加毕业典礼，住在他这里，他毫无节制地玩电子游戏到凌晨，然后睡到近午。起来问父亲早上吃什么？父亲肚子早咕咕叫，可中国的客套使他说你忙你的吧。他果真去忙自己的没了踪影。父亲承认有文化差异，但认为在缺少爱的家庭里长大的孩子不懂得关心别人，后来我进了加理，与他接触多了，感到确实是这样。于是我们吹了。
在加理，有段时间，我的课题进行得很不好。我不知道下一步该做什么。我从来没有尝到过那种压抑：每天看着钟，等着它指向5点便逃回家。研究和上课是完全不同的：研究没有期中期末考试，但每天都是一种不同的考验。我一向认为自己的意志力很坚强，根本没料到我居然也会那么脆弱。科学研究使我认识到我的弱点。
就在那时，我看到加理有跳舞课，想与其一天到晚愁眉苦脸的，还不如去学点跳舞——我一直想学，但从来没有机会。而且，我年纪也不小了，该成家了，待在实验室是碰不到好郎君的。很偶然，我在跳舞课上认识了一个物理系的研究生，他也是因为课题进行得不好用跳舞来逃避。几年后，我们这一对“难友”结成夫妻。
我当时非常喜欢跳舞，但跳舞的欢乐是极短暂的。一结束，科学研究的压抑感重又笼罩着我。后来，在老板和合作者的帮助下，我课题有了苗头，便根本没有时间或心思再去跳舞。仅一年之后，课题便出了成果，我们的文章在《细胞》杂志上发表。这个成果还使得我的论文在加理获得“最佳生物论文” 奖。科学研究，慢起来很慢，快起来倒也很快。
有时总是想，科学和我好像是父母替我定的“娃娃亲”。我遵照父母的愿望，成了科学家。后来，科学又成了我得到自由的跳板。如果父母让我像美国孩子一样自然发展，我会选择科学吗？也许，我会成为作家，或戏剧家？
我问我老板他父母小时候管不管他的，他说从来不管。对他印象最深的一件事是，他在他父亲开的机械店里工作了一个夏天，父亲让他干的工作是，把一个螺丝拧到一个孔里，就这样重复8小时。有一天，他对自己说，“我不能看钟，因为一看钟，我会意识到时间过得那么慢。”他忍着不看，最后实在忍不住了，一看才早晨9点，他便哭了。他说，这种工作做过之后，你会意识到从事科学研究是一种莫大的享受——因为每天都在变化。我问他研究科学是为什么，他承认在加理当教授满足了他一定的荣耀心，但是他绝对不是光为了荣耀或自由做科学——对于他来说，科学那么有趣，因为大自然无奇不有。
加理毕业前，我绿卡已经拿到了。我问自己，“我有基本的自由了，现在该做什么呢？”说实话，赚大钱对我的诱惑力并不小：我多么想在旧金山置房安家，我还想周游世界，还想把钱捐给我的母校们，帮助过我的朋友们以及世界野生动物和自然保护基金会。看看周围很多同年龄的人都开始给公司做，买房子，养孩子，开始稳定的生活。但是基于对科学的热爱与对自由的向往，我选了个“清水衙门”，和一条冒险性大的路：博士后研究，而且和新婚的丈夫两海岸分居。
父母也反对我去纽约，他们建议可以在加州的名牌大学做博士后。但我认为我必须进入世界的科学文化中心历练，且乐可菲尔又是与加理完全不同的名校，开阔视野博采众长有利于我的科学研究。我决定背水一战，研究数学与生物结合。我在做前人没有做过的事。如果成功——我会成为一个独特的科学家。那么我可以当助教授——那样，我就成为实验室老板，便不用在人之下——可以说这是一种更高层次的自由吧。如果失败，那么我赔进去的将是一生中最可珍贵的年华。
我常想，如果我做科学研究完全是出于对科学的热爱，那么我会多幸福。仔细想来，我其实对钱不是看得很重，我绝对不会穷的。那么在这个之上，有多少富都是相对的，但我希望我的一生充实。当我合上眼睛的时候，我能对自己说，我没有浪费我的生命，因为我的生命已经转成发现大自然的秘密。因为大自然是永恒的，那么我也永恒了。哪怕别人不知道我的名字。
我之所以说这些，是因为我想让学弟学妹们知道求学之路上的曲折并不可怕，一时的堕落和脆弱也不可怕——它们都是成长过程的一部分，重要的是不断地学习到一点东西，从中成长起来。 ¶ 11:30 PM 0 comments
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Jet Fakes Emergency for Gambia Soccer Game
Jet Fakes Emergency for Gambia Soccer Game
LIMA, Peru - Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need for an emergency landing in Peru so passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match, officials said Wednesday.
The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed Tuesday in Peru's northern coast city of Piura, where Gambia played Qatar in the FIFA Under-17 World Championships later that night.
Emergency crews were scrambled ahead of the Lockhead L1011 Tri-Star's unscheduled landing. It was to have landed in the capital, Lima.
The fans were allowed to watch the soccer game in Piura, which Gambia won 3-1. The fans apparently would have been late or missed the game if the flight had first gone to its scheduled destination of Lima, 550 miles to the south.
"It truly was a scam," said Betty Maldonado, a spokeswoman for Peru's aviation authority, CORPAC. "They tricked the control tower, saying they were low on fuel."
Maldonado said the plane, owned by Air Rum, flew directly to Piura, entering Peruvian airspace "without permission," instead of approaching Lima. She said the flight was chartered by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh.
The plane, passengers and crew remained in Piura on Wednesday while authorities determined what penalty, if any, to levy against the airline.
Gambian newspaper Daily Observer reported on its Web page Wednesday that the fans had been delayed for a week in a hotel in the small West African nation, making them late for the game in Peru.
Piura city spokesman Carlos Ordonez said the Gambians' presence caused a "sensation" in the city, which rolled out the red carpet for the African guests, offering performances by local folk singers and dancers. ¶ 11:44 AM 0 comments
LIMA, Peru - Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need for an emergency landing in Peru so passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match, officials said Wednesday.
The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed Tuesday in Peru's northern coast city of Piura, where Gambia played Qatar in the FIFA Under-17 World Championships later that night.
Emergency crews were scrambled ahead of the Lockhead L1011 Tri-Star's unscheduled landing. It was to have landed in the capital, Lima.
The fans were allowed to watch the soccer game in Piura, which Gambia won 3-1. The fans apparently would have been late or missed the game if the flight had first gone to its scheduled destination of Lima, 550 miles to the south.
"It truly was a scam," said Betty Maldonado, a spokeswoman for Peru's aviation authority, CORPAC. "They tricked the control tower, saying they were low on fuel."
Maldonado said the plane, owned by Air Rum, flew directly to Piura, entering Peruvian airspace "without permission," instead of approaching Lima. She said the flight was chartered by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh.
The plane, passengers and crew remained in Piura on Wednesday while authorities determined what penalty, if any, to levy against the airline.
Gambian newspaper Daily Observer reported on its Web page Wednesday that the fans had been delayed for a week in a hotel in the small West African nation, making them late for the game in Peru.
Piura city spokesman Carlos Ordonez said the Gambians' presence caused a "sensation" in the city, which rolled out the red carpet for the African guests, offering performances by local folk singers and dancers. ¶ 11:44 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Emma Brockes interview: Gore Vidal at 80
Guardian Unlimited Books | By genre | Emma Brockes interview: Gore Vidal at 80
It has always been hard to work out how much of Vidal's aloofness is genuine. He plays up to his image as the foremost American aristocrat, slow in speech, noble in gesture, with a confidence in his own opinion that derives as much from background - his grandfather was a senator, his father a founder of the airline TWA and he had a stepfather in common with Jackie Kennedy - as from expertise. If he has ever reserved judgment on a subject, it has not been recorded, which is why, while he talks like an intellectual, he has the output of a hack: more than 35 novels, 20 non-fiction titles, scores of screenplays (most notably Suddenly, Last Summer) and opinions at the ready every time a world event requires lofty interpretation.
¶ 9:15 AM 0 comments
It has always been hard to work out how much of Vidal's aloofness is genuine. He plays up to his image as the foremost American aristocrat, slow in speech, noble in gesture, with a confidence in his own opinion that derives as much from background - his grandfather was a senator, his father a founder of the airline TWA and he had a stepfather in common with Jackie Kennedy - as from expertise. If he has ever reserved judgment on a subject, it has not been recorded, which is why, while he talks like an intellectual, he has the output of a hack: more than 35 novels, 20 non-fiction titles, scores of screenplays (most notably Suddenly, Last Summer) and opinions at the ready every time a world event requires lofty interpretation.
¶ 9:15 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Cooking For Engineers
Cooking For Engineers
Have an analytical mind? Like to cook? This is the site to read! ¶ 9:32 AM 0 comments
Have an analytical mind? Like to cook? This is the site to read! ¶ 9:32 AM 0 comments
Holocaust Survivor Simon Wiesenthal Dies
By IAN GREGOR, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 7 minutes ago
VIENNA, Austria - Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down Nazi war criminals following World War II, then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96.
Wiesenthal, who helped find one-time SS leader Adolf Eichmann and the policeman who arrested Anne Frank, died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
"I think he'll be remembered as the conscience of the Holocaust. In a way he became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice," Hier told The Associated Press.
A survivor of five Nazi death camps, Wiesenthal changed his life's mission after the war, dedicating himself to tracking down Nazi war criminals and to being a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught. He himself lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust.
Wiesenthal spent more than 50 years hunting Nazi war criminals, speaking out against neo-Nazism and racism, and remembering the Jewish experience as a lesson for humanity. Through his work, he said, some 1,100 Nazi war criminals were brought to justice.
"When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it," he once said.
Simon Wiesenthal Center ¶ 8:39 AM 0 comments
By IAN GREGOR, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 7 minutes ago
VIENNA, Austria - Simon Wiesenthal, the Holocaust survivor who helped track down Nazi war criminals following World War II, then spent the later decades of his life fighting anti-Semitism and prejudice against all people, died Tuesday. He was 96.
Wiesenthal, who helped find one-time SS leader Adolf Eichmann and the policeman who arrested Anne Frank, died in his sleep at his home in Vienna, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles.
"I think he'll be remembered as the conscience of the Holocaust. In a way he became the permanent representative of the victims of the Holocaust, determined to bring the perpetrators of the greatest crime to justice," Hier told The Associated Press.
A survivor of five Nazi death camps, Wiesenthal changed his life's mission after the war, dedicating himself to tracking down Nazi war criminals and to being a voice for the 6 million Jews who died during the onslaught. He himself lost 89 relatives in the Holocaust.
Wiesenthal spent more than 50 years hunting Nazi war criminals, speaking out against neo-Nazism and racism, and remembering the Jewish experience as a lesson for humanity. Through his work, he said, some 1,100 Nazi war criminals were brought to justice.
"When history looks back I want people to know the Nazis weren't able to kill millions of people and get away with it," he once said.
Simon Wiesenthal Center ¶ 8:39 AM 0 comments
Saturday, September 03, 2005
A fire burns on the east side of New Orleans early Friday morning, Sept. 2, 2005. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrine, firefighters say they will let the fire burn itself out. The explosion jolted residents awake early Friday, illuminating the pre-dawn sky with red and orange flames over the city where corpses rotted along flooded sidewalks and bands of armed thugs thwarted fitful rescue efforts. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) ¶ 5:55 PM 0 comments
Rapes, killings hit Katrina refugees in New Orleans
Rapes, killings hit Katrina refugees in New Orleans - Yahoo! News
Rapes, killings hit Katrina refugees in New Orleans
By Mark Egan 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - People left homeless by Hurricane Katrina told horrific stories of rape, murder and trigger happy guards in two New Orleans centers that were set up as shelters but became places of violence and terror.
Police and National Guard troops on Saturday closed down the two centers -- the Superdome arena and the city's convention center -- but them penned them in outside in sweltering heat to keep them from trying to walk out of the city.
Military helicopters and buses staged a massive evacuation to take away thousands of people who waited in orderly lines in stifling heat outside the flooded convention center.
The refugees, who were waiting to be taken to sports stadiums and other huge shelters across Texas and northern Louisiana, described how the convention center and the Superdome became lawless hellholes beset by rape and murder.
Several residents of the impromptu shantytown recounted two horrific incidents where those charged with keeping people safe had killed them instead.
In one, a young man was run down and then shot by a New Orleans police officer, in another a man seeking help was gunned down by a National Guard soldier, witnesses said.
Police here refused to discuss or confirm either incident. National Guard spokesman Lt. Col Pete Schneider said "I have not heard any information of a weapon being discharged."
"They killed a man here last night," Steve Banka, 28, told Reuters. "A young lady was being raped and stabbed. And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing truck of them, and he jumped up on the truck's windshield and they shot him dead."
Wade Batiste, 48, recounted another tale of horror.
"Last night at 8 p.m. they shot a kid of just 16. He was just crossing the street. They ran him over, the New Orleans police did, and then they got out of the car and shot him in the head," Batiste said.
The young man's body lay in the street by the Convention Center's entrance on Saturday morning, covered in a black blanket, a stream of congealed blood staining the street around him. Nearby his family sat in shock.
A member of that family, Africa Brumfield, 32, confirmed the incident but declined to be quoted about it, saying her family did not wish to discuss it. But she spoke of general conditions here.
"There is rapes going on here. Women cannot go to the bathroom without men. They are raping them and slitting their throats. They keep telling us the buses are coming but they never leave," she said through tears.
People here said there were now 22 bodies of adults and children stored inside the building, but troops guarding the building refused to confirm that and threatened to beat reporters seeking access to the makeshift morgue.
People trying to walk out are forced back at gunpoint - something troops said was for their own safety. "It's sad, but how far do you think they would get," one soldier said.
"They have us living here like animals," said Wvonnette Grace-Jordan, here with five children, the youngest only six weeks old. "We have only had two meals, we have no medicine and now there are thousands of people defecating in the streets. This is wrong. This is the United States of America."
One National Guard soldier who asked not to be named for fear of punishment from his commanding officer said of the lack of medical attention at the center, "They (the Bush administration) care more about Iraq and Afghanistan than here."
The Louisiana National Guard soldier said, "We are doing the best we can with the resources we have, but almost all of our guys are in Iraq."
Across town at the Superdome, where as many as 38,000 refugees camped out until Wednesday night when evacuation buses first came, the 4,000 still there were corralled outside, hoping to get on four waiting buses with seats for only 200.
The scene at the sports stadium was one of abject filth. Crammed into a small area after the building was shut to them last night, those remaining sat amid heaps of garbage, piled in places waist high. The stench of human waste pervaded the interior of the now vacant stadium.
One police officer told Reuters there were 100 people in a makeshift morgue at the Superdome, mostly people who died of heat exhaustion, and that six babies had been born there since last Saturday, when people arrived to take shelter.
At the arena, too, there was much talk of bedlam after dark.
"We found a young girl raped and killed in the bathroom," one National Guard soldier told Reuters. "Then the crowd got the man and they beat him to death." ¶ 5:39 PM 0 comments
Rapes, killings hit Katrina refugees in New Orleans
By Mark Egan 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - People left homeless by Hurricane Katrina told horrific stories of rape, murder and trigger happy guards in two New Orleans centers that were set up as shelters but became places of violence and terror.
Police and National Guard troops on Saturday closed down the two centers -- the Superdome arena and the city's convention center -- but them penned them in outside in sweltering heat to keep them from trying to walk out of the city.
Military helicopters and buses staged a massive evacuation to take away thousands of people who waited in orderly lines in stifling heat outside the flooded convention center.
The refugees, who were waiting to be taken to sports stadiums and other huge shelters across Texas and northern Louisiana, described how the convention center and the Superdome became lawless hellholes beset by rape and murder.
Several residents of the impromptu shantytown recounted two horrific incidents where those charged with keeping people safe had killed them instead.
In one, a young man was run down and then shot by a New Orleans police officer, in another a man seeking help was gunned down by a National Guard soldier, witnesses said.
Police here refused to discuss or confirm either incident. National Guard spokesman Lt. Col Pete Schneider said "I have not heard any information of a weapon being discharged."
"They killed a man here last night," Steve Banka, 28, told Reuters. "A young lady was being raped and stabbed. And the sounds of her screaming got to this man and so he ran out into the street to get help from troops, to try to flag down a passing truck of them, and he jumped up on the truck's windshield and they shot him dead."
Wade Batiste, 48, recounted another tale of horror.
"Last night at 8 p.m. they shot a kid of just 16. He was just crossing the street. They ran him over, the New Orleans police did, and then they got out of the car and shot him in the head," Batiste said.
The young man's body lay in the street by the Convention Center's entrance on Saturday morning, covered in a black blanket, a stream of congealed blood staining the street around him. Nearby his family sat in shock.
A member of that family, Africa Brumfield, 32, confirmed the incident but declined to be quoted about it, saying her family did not wish to discuss it. But she spoke of general conditions here.
"There is rapes going on here. Women cannot go to the bathroom without men. They are raping them and slitting their throats. They keep telling us the buses are coming but they never leave," she said through tears.
People here said there were now 22 bodies of adults and children stored inside the building, but troops guarding the building refused to confirm that and threatened to beat reporters seeking access to the makeshift morgue.
People trying to walk out are forced back at gunpoint - something troops said was for their own safety. "It's sad, but how far do you think they would get," one soldier said.
"They have us living here like animals," said Wvonnette Grace-Jordan, here with five children, the youngest only six weeks old. "We have only had two meals, we have no medicine and now there are thousands of people defecating in the streets. This is wrong. This is the United States of America."
One National Guard soldier who asked not to be named for fear of punishment from his commanding officer said of the lack of medical attention at the center, "They (the Bush administration) care more about Iraq and Afghanistan than here."
The Louisiana National Guard soldier said, "We are doing the best we can with the resources we have, but almost all of our guys are in Iraq."
Across town at the Superdome, where as many as 38,000 refugees camped out until Wednesday night when evacuation buses first came, the 4,000 still there were corralled outside, hoping to get on four waiting buses with seats for only 200.
The scene at the sports stadium was one of abject filth. Crammed into a small area after the building was shut to them last night, those remaining sat amid heaps of garbage, piled in places waist high. The stench of human waste pervaded the interior of the now vacant stadium.
One police officer told Reuters there were 100 people in a makeshift morgue at the Superdome, mostly people who died of heat exhaustion, and that six babies had been born there since last Saturday, when people arrived to take shelter.
At the arena, too, there was much talk of bedlam after dark.
"We found a young girl raped and killed in the bathroom," one National Guard soldier told Reuters. "Then the crowd got the man and they beat him to death." ¶ 5:39 PM 0 comments
Models predicted New Orleans disaster, experts say - Yahoo! News
Models predicted New Orleans disaster, experts say - Yahoo! News
By Alan Elsner Fri Sep 2,11:54 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virtually everything that has happened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck was predicted by experts and in computer models, so emergency management specialists wonder why authorities were so unprepared.
"The scenario of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans was well anticipated, predicted and drilled around," said Clare Rubin, an emergency management consultant who also teaches at the Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management at George Washington University.
Computer models developed at Louisiana State University and other institutions made detailed projections of what would happen if water flowed over the levees protecting the city or if they failed.
In July 2004, more than 40 federal, state, local and volunteer organizations practiced this very scenario in a five-day simulation code-named "Hurricane Pam," where they had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed over half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents.
At the end of the exercise Ron Castleman, regional director for the
Federal Emergency Management Agency declared: "We made great progress this week in our preparedness efforts.
"Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management. These plans are essential for quick response to a hurricane but will also help in other emergencies," he said.
In light of that, said disaster expert Bill Waugh of Georgia State University, "It's inexplicable how unprepared for the flooding they were." He said a slow decline over several years in funding for emergency management was partly to blame.
In comments on Thursday, President George W. Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."
But Louisiana State University engineer Joseph Suhayda and others have warned for years that defenses could fail. In 2002, the New Orleans Times Picayune published a five-part series on "The Big One" examining what might happen if they did.
SCENARIO LAID OUT
It predicted that 200,000 people or more would be unwilling or unable to heed evacuation orders and thousands would die, that people would be housed in the Superdome, that aid workers would find it difficult to gain access to the city as roads became impassable, as well as many other of the consequences that actually unfolded after Katrina hit this week.
Craig Marks who runs Blue Horizons Consulting, an emergency management training company in North Carolina, said the authorities had mishandled the evacuation, neglecting to help those without transportation to leave the city.
"They could have packed people on trains or buses and gotten them out before the hurricane struck. They had enough time and access to federal funds. And now, we find we do not have a proper emergency communications infrastructure so aid workers get out into the field and they can't talk to one another," he said.
Most of those trapped by the floods in the city of some 500,000 people are the poor who had little chance to leave.
Ernest Sternberg, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo, said law enforcement agencies were often more eager to invest in high tech "toys" than basic communications.
"It's well known that communications go down in disasters but people on the frontlines still don't invest in them. A lot of the investments that have been made in homeland security have been misspent," he said.
Several experts also believe the decision to make FEMA a part of the Department of
Homeland Security, created after the September 11, 2001 attacks, was a major mistake. Rubin said FEMA functioned well in the 1990s as a small, independent agency.
"Under DHS, it was downgraded, buried in a couple of layers of bureaucracy, and terrorism prevention got all the attention and most of the funds," she said.
Former FEMA director James Lee Witt testified to Congress in March 2004: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded.
"I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared. In fact one state emergency manager told me, 'It is like a stake has been driven into the heart of emergency management,"' he said.
Underlying the situation has been the general reluctance of government at any level to invest in infrastructure or emergency management, said David McEntire, who teaches emergency management at the University of North Texas.
"No-one cares about disasters until they happen. That is a political fact of life," he said.
"Emergency management is woefully underfunded in this nation. That covers not only first responders but also warning, evacuation, damage assessment, volunteer management, donation management and recovery and mitigation issues," he said. ¶ 1:58 AM 0 comments
By Alan Elsner Fri Sep 2,11:54 AM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Virtually everything that has happened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina struck was predicted by experts and in computer models, so emergency management specialists wonder why authorities were so unprepared.
"The scenario of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans was well anticipated, predicted and drilled around," said Clare Rubin, an emergency management consultant who also teaches at the Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management at George Washington University.
Computer models developed at Louisiana State University and other institutions made detailed projections of what would happen if water flowed over the levees protecting the city or if they failed.
In July 2004, more than 40 federal, state, local and volunteer organizations practiced this very scenario in a five-day simulation code-named "Hurricane Pam," where they had to deal with an imaginary storm that destroyed over half a million buildings in New Orleans and forced the evacuation of a million residents.
At the end of the exercise Ron Castleman, regional director for the
Federal Emergency Management Agency declared: "We made great progress this week in our preparedness efforts.
"Disaster response teams developed action plans in critical areas such as search and rescue, medical care, sheltering, temporary housing, school restoration and debris management. These plans are essential for quick response to a hurricane but will also help in other emergencies," he said.
In light of that, said disaster expert Bill Waugh of Georgia State University, "It's inexplicable how unprepared for the flooding they were." He said a slow decline over several years in funding for emergency management was partly to blame.
In comments on Thursday, President George W. Bush said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees."
But Louisiana State University engineer Joseph Suhayda and others have warned for years that defenses could fail. In 2002, the New Orleans Times Picayune published a five-part series on "The Big One" examining what might happen if they did.
SCENARIO LAID OUT
It predicted that 200,000 people or more would be unwilling or unable to heed evacuation orders and thousands would die, that people would be housed in the Superdome, that aid workers would find it difficult to gain access to the city as roads became impassable, as well as many other of the consequences that actually unfolded after Katrina hit this week.
Craig Marks who runs Blue Horizons Consulting, an emergency management training company in North Carolina, said the authorities had mishandled the evacuation, neglecting to help those without transportation to leave the city.
"They could have packed people on trains or buses and gotten them out before the hurricane struck. They had enough time and access to federal funds. And now, we find we do not have a proper emergency communications infrastructure so aid workers get out into the field and they can't talk to one another," he said.
Most of those trapped by the floods in the city of some 500,000 people are the poor who had little chance to leave.
Ernest Sternberg, a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo, said law enforcement agencies were often more eager to invest in high tech "toys" than basic communications.
"It's well known that communications go down in disasters but people on the frontlines still don't invest in them. A lot of the investments that have been made in homeland security have been misspent," he said.
Several experts also believe the decision to make FEMA a part of the Department of
Homeland Security, created after the September 11, 2001 attacks, was a major mistake. Rubin said FEMA functioned well in the 1990s as a small, independent agency.
"Under DHS, it was downgraded, buried in a couple of layers of bureaucracy, and terrorism prevention got all the attention and most of the funds," she said.
Former FEMA director James Lee Witt testified to Congress in March 2004: "I am extremely concerned that the ability of our nation to prepare for and respond to disasters has been sharply eroded.
"I hear from emergency managers, local and state leaders, and first responders nearly every day that the FEMA they knew and worked well with has now disappeared. In fact one state emergency manager told me, 'It is like a stake has been driven into the heart of emergency management,"' he said.
Underlying the situation has been the general reluctance of government at any level to invest in infrastructure or emergency management, said David McEntire, who teaches emergency management at the University of North Texas.
"No-one cares about disasters until they happen. That is a political fact of life," he said.
"Emergency management is woefully underfunded in this nation. That covers not only first responders but also warning, evacuation, damage assessment, volunteer management, donation management and recovery and mitigation issues," he said. ¶ 1:58 AM 0 comments
Murder and mayhem in New Orleans' miserable shelter - Yahoo! News
Murder and mayhem in New Orleans' miserable shelter - Yahoo! News
By Mark Egan 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - With the rotors of
President George W. Bush's helicopter sounding overhead, New Orleans' poor and downtrodden recounted tales of murder, rape, death threats and near starvation since Hurricane Katrina wrecked this city.
Ending days of abandonment since the hurricane struck on Monday, the U.S. National Guard handed out military rations and a bottle of water to thousands of evacuees -- the first proper meal most had eaten in days.
But as the masses lined up outside, herded by Army troops toting machine guns, inside the convention center where these people slept since Monday was the stench of death and decay.
Leroy Fouchea, 42, waited in the sweltering heat for an hour to get his ration -- his first proper food since Monday -- and immediately handed it over to a sickly friend.
He then offered to show reporters the dead bodies of a man in a wheelchair, a young man who he said he dragged inside just hours earlier, and the limp forms of two infants, one just four months old, the other six months old.
"They died right here, in America, waiting for food," Fouchea said as he walked toward Hall D, where the bodies were put to get them out of the searing heat.
He said people were let die and left without food simply because they were poor and that the evacuation effort earlier concentrated on the French Quarter of the city. "Because that's where the money is," he spat.
A National Guardsman refused entry.
"It doesn't need to be seen, it's a make-shift morgue in there," he told a Reuters photographer. "We're not letting anyone in there anymore. If you want to take pictures of dead bodies, go to
Iraq."
As rations were finally doled out here on the day
President Bush visited the devastated city, an elderly white woman and her husband collapsed from the heat.
"I had to walk two blocks to get here and I have arthritis and three ruptured discs in my back," said Selma Valenti, 80, as her husband lay beside her, being revived by a policeman in riot gear. The two had eaten nothing since Wednesday.
Valenti and her husband, two of very few white people in the almost exclusively black refugee camp, said she and other whites were threatened with murder on Thursday.
"They hated us. Four young black men told us the buses were going to come last night and pick up the elderly so they were going to kill us," she said, sobbing. "They were plotting to murder us and then they sent the buses away because we would all be killed if the buses came -- that's what the people in charge told us this morning."
Other survivors recounted horrific cases of sexual assault and murder.
Sitting with her daughter and other relatives, Trolkyn Joseph, 37, said men had wandered the cavernous convention center in recent nights raping and murdering children.
She said she found a dead 14-year old girl at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, four hours after the young girl went missing from her parents inside the convention center.
"She was raped for four hours until she was dead," Joseph said through tears. "Another child, a seven-year old boy was found raped and murdered in the kitchen freezer last night."
Several others interviewed by Reuters told similar stories of the abuse and murder of children, but they could not be independently verified.
Many complained bitterly about why they received so little for so many days, and they had harsh words for Bush.
"I really don't know what to say about President Bush," said Richard Dunbar, 60, a Vietnam veteran. "He showed no lack of haste when he wanted to go to Iraq, but for his own people right here in Louisiana, we get only lip service."
One young man said he was not looking forward to another night in the convention center and wondered when conditions would improve. "It's been like a jail in there," he said. "We've got murderers, rapists, killers, thieves. We've got it all." ¶ 1:57 AM 0 comments
By Mark Egan 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - With the rotors of
President George W. Bush's helicopter sounding overhead, New Orleans' poor and downtrodden recounted tales of murder, rape, death threats and near starvation since Hurricane Katrina wrecked this city.
Ending days of abandonment since the hurricane struck on Monday, the U.S. National Guard handed out military rations and a bottle of water to thousands of evacuees -- the first proper meal most had eaten in days.
But as the masses lined up outside, herded by Army troops toting machine guns, inside the convention center where these people slept since Monday was the stench of death and decay.
Leroy Fouchea, 42, waited in the sweltering heat for an hour to get his ration -- his first proper food since Monday -- and immediately handed it over to a sickly friend.
He then offered to show reporters the dead bodies of a man in a wheelchair, a young man who he said he dragged inside just hours earlier, and the limp forms of two infants, one just four months old, the other six months old.
"They died right here, in America, waiting for food," Fouchea said as he walked toward Hall D, where the bodies were put to get them out of the searing heat.
He said people were let die and left without food simply because they were poor and that the evacuation effort earlier concentrated on the French Quarter of the city. "Because that's where the money is," he spat.
A National Guardsman refused entry.
"It doesn't need to be seen, it's a make-shift morgue in there," he told a Reuters photographer. "We're not letting anyone in there anymore. If you want to take pictures of dead bodies, go to
Iraq."
As rations were finally doled out here on the day
President Bush visited the devastated city, an elderly white woman and her husband collapsed from the heat.
"I had to walk two blocks to get here and I have arthritis and three ruptured discs in my back," said Selma Valenti, 80, as her husband lay beside her, being revived by a policeman in riot gear. The two had eaten nothing since Wednesday.
Valenti and her husband, two of very few white people in the almost exclusively black refugee camp, said she and other whites were threatened with murder on Thursday.
"They hated us. Four young black men told us the buses were going to come last night and pick up the elderly so they were going to kill us," she said, sobbing. "They were plotting to murder us and then they sent the buses away because we would all be killed if the buses came -- that's what the people in charge told us this morning."
Other survivors recounted horrific cases of sexual assault and murder.
Sitting with her daughter and other relatives, Trolkyn Joseph, 37, said men had wandered the cavernous convention center in recent nights raping and murdering children.
She said she found a dead 14-year old girl at 5 a.m. on Friday morning, four hours after the young girl went missing from her parents inside the convention center.
"She was raped for four hours until she was dead," Joseph said through tears. "Another child, a seven-year old boy was found raped and murdered in the kitchen freezer last night."
Several others interviewed by Reuters told similar stories of the abuse and murder of children, but they could not be independently verified.
Many complained bitterly about why they received so little for so many days, and they had harsh words for Bush.
"I really don't know what to say about President Bush," said Richard Dunbar, 60, a Vietnam veteran. "He showed no lack of haste when he wanted to go to Iraq, but for his own people right here in Louisiana, we get only lip service."
One young man said he was not looking forward to another night in the convention center and wondered when conditions would improve. "It's been like a jail in there," he said. "We've got murderers, rapists, killers, thieves. We've got it all." ¶ 1:57 AM 0 comments
