Chapter 33 anecdote

When Zhao Yuanren was young, he was fond of science and had a wide range of interests. He made simple telephones when he was a child; when he was in school, he made telescopes and microscopes; mixed salt and popsicles to reach a temperature of minus 20 degrees; and observed comets in the middle of the night. Zhao Yuanren once competed with others at the elder brother-in-law's house to eat dumplings, and ate forty of them in one go, but the price was that he was sick for five days. Before Zhao Yuanren went to study in the United States, he needed to cut off the braids. When cutting the braids, the barber asked him twice to confirm whether Zhao wanted to do that.Before the foreign students went to the United States, the American Consul General held a garden party to entertain them.After seeing Zhao Yuanren and others change their clothes, he said: "You all changed into suits; I hope you are still Chinese."

When Zhao Yuanren was studying in Nanjing, he was obsessed with revolution.At that time, Guangxu and Cixi passed away one after another, and when the whole country was "mourning", Zhao Yuanren and his classmates who were kneeling in front of the altar laughed loudly, but no one could hear the difference.When the news of the victory of the 1911 Revolution reached the United States, Zhao Yuanren was very happy. He called the 1911 Revolution "the most exciting event in China at that time." Zhao Yuanren also developed a heart of admiration for male friends. For example, he was quite close to Li Zongtang at Xishan School in Changzhou and Hu Zhengxiu at Harvard.

When Zhao Yuanren was studying in the United States, he was obsessed with learning and often absent-minded.He didn't cut his hair for a long time, so that his hair was very long. Once in Oxford Street, a boy walking behind him shouted: "Hey, that guy needs a haircut!" In his second year at Neil University, he earned the nickname "Professor". When Zhao Yuanren was teaching at Cornell University, he was still absent-minded.One day, he walked out of the physics building at eleven o'clock, and some students were walking in. They asked, "Dr. Zhao, aren't you coming to class?" Zhao said, "Of course you will!" I planned to go to the gymnasium for an hour of exercise, but when I returned to the physics building to prepare for class after the exercise, the classroom was empty.It turned out that he had already missed the class time.

When Zhao Yuanren was teaching at Yale University, he was always fined when he drove out. The policeman who gave them the ticket said, "I'm so embarrassed to send you the ticket." Later, when he left Yale University, Yang Buwei joked to the policeman: " We're getting out of here because you're getting too many tickets for your cars." When he was young, Zhao Yuanren often went hiking in the United States.He packed his personal clothes into a small bag, carried a wooden stick on his shoulders, and traveled westward as far as Pittsfield, staying in a small cheap hotel on the way.

When Braque gave a speech at the Normal University, he mentioned unmarried men and unmarried women.Zhao Yuanyi made a slip of the tongue and translated it into "men don't marry, women don't marry".The audience roared with laughter, and Black was puzzled, so Zhao Yuanren had to whisper to her: "I don't have time to explain now, I'll tell you later." Zhao Yuanren, Wang Guowei, Liang Qichao, and Chen Yinke are collectively known as the "Four Professors" or "Four Mentors" of Tsinghua Academy of Chinese Studies. This title comes from the senior management of Tsinghua University.According to Zhao Yuanren’s wife Yang Buwei’s recollection: “We did not make up the title of ‘Four Great Professors’. It was actually what Zhang Zhongshu said in his letter when he approached Yuanren, and it was also what he said when we met for the first time. The same is true when the principal Cao Yunxiang held a meeting. It's called...in fact, the official name is 'Four Mentors'."

Once, Zhao Yuanren took a bus home. When the bus arrived at the stop, he forgot to get off the bus. When the bus started, he got off instead and fell down on the street, breaking his right hand and shoulder (he is a famous absentminded [absent-minded] professor), had to put on a plaster bandage, because of the injury and fever for more than two months. Zhao Yuan's name is Xuanzhong.After he went to study in the United States, he thought it was boring and never used it again.When he returned from studying abroad to teach in Tsinghua University, someone treated him and sent an invitation card with "Mr. Zhao Xuanzhong" written on it. Zhao Bian wrote the word "deceased" under his name in front of the sender.Since then, no one has called him "Xuan Zhong".

Zhao Yuanren's grandfather named him Chongyuan.This number Zhao has been useless, and few people know about it.Once Zhao lived in the Central Hotel in Nanjing, in order to avoid being harassed, he registered as "Zhao Chongyuan".As a result, Wu Zhihui came to the door one day.Zhao was very surprised. Wu Zhihui explained that when he saw the names on the blackboard, he knew that Zhao Chongyuan was Zhao Yuanren, because the Analects of Confucius said "there is a long way to go". When Russell came to China to give a speech, one day, Zhao Yuanren took many photos of him. He pointed to one of them and said to Russell: You are very much like an "angry man living alone".Russell laughed, don't use such a whimsical metaphor!

In 1927, Wang Li wrote his graduation thesis "Ancient Chinese Grammar", under the guidance of Liang Qichao and Zhao Yuanren.Due to lack of time, Wang Li only wrote two chapters.After reading it, Liang commented: "Through thinking and enlightenment, it has opened up a new way for Si Xue. The third, fourth, and fifth chapters will be even more impressive. Please see it soon." Flaws, there is a comment in it: "If you are not familiar with the text, you must not say that it does not have a certain grammar. It is easy to say 'yes', but it is difficult to say 'no'." After reading it, Wang Li was greatly moved, and since then the six characters have become his motto.

Wang Li later wrote the article "Two Cantonese Dialects", in which he said that there is no "嘬kouhu" in the two Cantonese accents. In 1928, after Zhao Yuanren went to Guangzhou to investigate dialects, he wrote to Wang Li, who was studying in France at that time, saying: There is an accent in Guangzhou dialect, and the word "xue" is one of them. After her daughter Rulan was born, Zhao Yuan was in charge of looking after the child.When he plays the piano, he always puts his daughter's crib next to the piano. When he plays the child, he hums and shakes on the crib while listening to the music.Once Rulan stopped shaking suddenly, and stood there blushing, it turned out that she was going to have a bowel movement, but Zhao Yuanren said not to move, and wait until he finished playing this section before doing it!Wait until Zhao Yuanren finishes playing, Ru Lanla's bed is covered all over.Yang Buwei was annoyed and funny when he saw it, and asked Zhao Yuanren why he didn't call her earlier. Zhao Yuanren said that a child's music education should lay a solid foundation early, so the whole piece of music should not be interrupted casually.

Zhao Yuanren said in a letter to his friend: "If you don't receive this letter, please inform me as soon as possible, so that I can tell you when to pay for the post." After Zhao Yuanren went to the Language Institute of Academia Sinica, he once organized a small theater troupe.Once, the drama "Registered Letter" was performed in the Concord Auditorium. The script was written by Zhao Yuanren for the performance of the student union when he was in the United States.On the first day of the rehearsal, Zhao Yuanren wore two pairs of glasses. Xiong didn't know about this before. During the performance, he suddenly saw Zhao's strange appearance and laughed so hard that he couldn't continue the performance.Another time, Zhao Yuanren's eldest daughter and second daughter sang a song from Xiong Fuxi's "The God of Love and the Poet". At that time, they were young and didn't know the meaning of the words. It became "Three Inseparable Monks".Everyone in the audience asked Xiong, why did you write three inseparable monks in your song.The next day, when everyone was drinking tea in Beihai Park, Yang Ruoxian, Yang Buwei's niece, suddenly said, "Look, there are three inseparable monks."Everyone saw that there were three monks walking together.So it turned into a joke.

Zhao Yuanren liked physics since he was a child. When he was studying at Cornell University, he also took physics as an elective.He likes small inventions, so there are many large and small "organs" at home.In the study and bedroom, a rope is pulled east and a pulley is pulled west, and even the furnace door is equipped with a "trap".In the morning, Zhao Yuanren didn't have to get up, just stretched out his hand, and the furnace door opened "automatically".When he got up, the fire came up and the house was heated.There is an old-fashioned refrigerator (not a refrigerator) at home. Zhao Yuanren’s daughters often forgot to close the door of the refrigerator when they were young. They will not forget to close the door. In 1917, Liu Bannong's "she" refers to a third-person woman. Three years later, Liu wrote "Teach Me How Not to Miss Her", which was composed by Zhao Yuanren and was widely sung, and the word "she" was also widely used in the song. for acceptance. Zhao Yuanren told an anecdote about the song "Teach Me How Not to Miss Her".He said that the song was very popular in society at that time, and a young friend wanted to see the author of the lyrics, so he asked Liu Bannong what he looked like.One day, Liu happened to come to Zhao's house to drink tea, and this young man was also present.Zhao Yuanren and his wife introduced to the young people: "This is the lyricist of "Teach Me How Not to Miss Her." The young man was surprised and blurted out: "So he is an old man!" , once wrote a doggerel: "Teach me how to miss her, please come in and have a cup of tea, it turns out that such an old man, teach me how to miss him again!" When he was in the United States, Zhao Yuanren was stopped by the police not long after he got his driver’s license. He thought he was going the wrong way and violated the traffic regulations. The police said no, you have received a ticket for three months and have not paid, and we will cancel your driver’s license. up.Zhao Yuanren said strangely, I have only been in Washington for less than two weeks, and I just got my driver's license yesterday. Why was there a ticket three months ago?The police said that it was the car with the same number, if it was resold to you, then the brand should be changed.Zhao Yuanren told him that this was the car of the Chinese Student Supervision Office, and that the former supervisor (Mr. Mei Yuehan) had been away for more than two months before I came to take over the work of the Supervision Office.The police suddenly realized and said, is that your brother?You two really look alike, aren't you twin brothers?Yang Buwei said that he is far from the same in appearance, he only has a slow temper, but my husband agrees with his face upright, and that Mr. Mei always hums with his head down.The policeman laughed and said, I didn't pay attention to this.Then let them go. In 1932, at the annual meeting of the American Branch of the Chinese Science Society, everyone proposed to watch a total solar eclipse.Zhao Yuanren has always been interested in astronomy, so he readily agreed.Everyone decided to drive there quickly, fearing that they might not see it if it was too late.In order to hurry, the car drove so fast that a suitcase (with important documents in it) dropped out of the back of the car without them knowing.The car behind tried to warn them by honking their horns, but they thought they were speeding and the police were chasing them, so they drove faster.They waited for the car behind to catch up and tell them that something had been dropped, so they drove back to pick up the box.By the time they parked in a wooded area it was getting late and the eclipse was almost over.Han Quanhua, who was in the same car, said, "Why is it over?" Zhao Yuanren's daughters Ru Lan and Xin Na said, "Just look at this?" The third daughter, Lai Si, said, "The sun is so ugly, and the black face has grown a bit. White beard!" But Zhao Yuanren still shouted happily: "Look at Corona, corona! (corona)" After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Zhao Yuanren went south to Changsha with Tsinghua University. Since there was nothing to do all day long, he took a camera to take pictures everywhere.At that time, He Jian, the chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, ordered that anyone who was suspicious would be treated as a spy and would be shot to death.Zhao Yuanren used a double-headed French camera at the time. In order to save film, he covered half of the lens with one hand and only used half of the lens to take pictures, so that each negative could be taken twice.At that time, after seeing his strange behavior, the police thought he was a spy, so they questioned Zhao Yuanren, but Zhao ignored him, so they thought Zhao Yuanren was Japanese and could not understand Chinese.However, because the police often saw Zhao Yuanren going in and out of the home of Zhu Jingnong, the director of the Hunan Provincial Department of Education, and living upstairs of the director of the police, they did not dare to act rashly, so they reported to the province. Fortunately, the provincial meeting was held at that time. Yin Renxian was an old friend of Zhao Yuanren, so he said to He Jian, don't move, he is a certain scholar, and we will talk about it after we find out.Zhu Jingnong also hurried to Zhao Yuanren's residence to inquire. After Zhao Yuanren told the reason, the misunderstanding was resolved. With the deepening of the Anti-Japanese War, the Institute of History and Philology moved south again.When passing through Guilin, Guangxi, it was difficult for them to find a hotel for a while, so they could only stay in a hotel where the coachmen lived.The next day, Zhang Yuanshan asked Zhao Yuanren to go with him to visit Huang Xuchu, Chairman of Guangxi Province. Zhao Yuanren was quite disgusted and said, "I don't want to see these big men." The provincial government has to send a car to take you to this area, otherwise you can’t go, and your brother is known by most people, so going there will be very effective.” Zhao Yuanren had to go with Zhang.After seeing Huang Xuchu, Huang opened his mouth and said: "Mr. Zhao, I always talk to you before going to work every day before I go to the office." Zhao and Zhang were puzzled.Huang then asked the two to go to his lounge, and the two felt even more confused, thinking that Huang had some secrets to discuss with them, so they followed him in.After entering, the two burst out laughing unconsciously.It turned out that there was a set of Mandarin phonographs recorded by Zhao Yuanren in front of Huang's bed, and one of them was still spinning on the record player.Huang said: "Every day I have to listen for at least a quarter or half an hour before I go to work." As for Zhao and others' request, Huang readily agreed to do so. Zhao Yuanren agrees with the simplification of Chinese characters, but he thinks that the simplification should not be too much. For example, the word "guan" is simplified to "guan", and the result is "no door to close", which is really inappropriate.