Chapter 28 Part Three: There's a Kind of Love for Halloween Talking Ghosts

In November, the stalls of Cambridge Market are full of big and small yellow pumpkins. Seeing this kind of flat, round and chubby golden melons full of joy and fairy tale meaning, I suddenly realized that Halloween is coming. up.I thought Halloween was a traditional American holiday, but I didn't expect the British to be very interested in it.I remember when I first arrived in Cambridge, I often saw rubber masks with blue-faced fangs for sale in some gift shops. I wondered who would buy such boring and ugly things. Later I realized that they were specially prepared for this festival.Although this is considered a western ghost festival, the ghostly aura is not as solemn and solemn as in the east, and it is full of childlike innocence. It is just a fun day for children to pretend to be ghosts and frighten people.

Write a small paper at home in the afternoon.In the dark and desperation, someone knocked on the door suddenly.When the door opened, it turned out to be a young British lady with a pair of twin boys.They looked alike, with beautiful curly blond hair and clear, dark blue eyes.The boys painted grimaces with crayons on their faces and yelled at me: "Trick or treat?" The Halloween tradition I heard about in English class when I was a child was actually right in front of my eyes. "Treat, of course." Naturally, I couldn't bear to let the children return empty-handed. I turned back to the house and found a bag of sandwich biscuits. The door is closed.

In the evening, a middle school friend happened to visit me from London, so I took her to the college to eat Formal Hall Dinner.She was a guest, so it was fine to dress appropriately, but I had to wear a baggy black robe as usual.My friend couldn't help looking at me and laughing, saying that it was really ghostly to dress like this on this Ghost Festival.I glared at her: Be serious!Even so, I am a dignified and learned ghost.The dish is really not flattering: two sausages are placed in a V shape, plus some mashed potatoes, that's all! But the name of the dish is very interesting-the witch's fingers (witch's fingers), which fits this ghost festival very well, Thanks to the chef, he figured it out.Dessert is chocolate praline ice cream, topped with strawberry jam, delicious and smooth.

After dinner, I took my friends for a walk in the streets of Cambridge town.Today's streets are extremely lively. It turns out that the students are holding a Halloween parade: Superman, clown, wizard, vampire, scarecrow, ET aliens, you can see groups of male ghosts, female ghosts, old ghosts and little ghosts competing for strangeness Dou Sheng seemed to have stepped into a bizarre ghost world.As we walked, a coquettish, charming and graceful female fairy twisted her waist and greeted us. She winked at us and shone with lightning.But when he took a closer look, he realized that it was a man dressed in makeup and wearing a skirt and high heels.I told my friends that I really appreciate the earnest character of these foreigners. They do whatever they want, even if they are pretending to be ghosts, they have to wear a full outfit.My friend said that you are also such a serious and dedicated person. When you were in middle school, you participated in a drama festival performance. You acted as a witch in "The Mermaid", and the performance was very ugly and 12 points vicious. I am afraid that it is the worst drama in the history of NFLS. People hate witches.I said there was no way, they would never give me beautiful roles like Snow White, Mermaid and Cinderella, so I could only work hard on this buffoon.

"Are you afraid of ghosts?" My friend asked me while walking. I smiled and shook my head. "Do you not believe it?" "That's not true. Anyway, I haven't really seen it, so I can't say I don't believe it." In fact, secretly, I hope that ghosts exist, probably because I read too many stories in "Liao Zhai" when I was young.I think the ghost there is really cute, like a fox fairy, a rabbit spirit, a plum blossom banshee, a plantain ghost, etc. You never know how she appears or disappears. She is very mysterious; if she is beautiful, I won’t tell you. And all of them are deeply affectionate. They treat their friends with the boldness of "rewarding a confidant with enthusiasm", and they are braver and firmer than many hypocritical and cowardly human beings in the pursuit of love.I like Ying Ning, who is cute and sweet, and smiles like a silver bell, like the third lady of the lotus who "works hard for a lifetime, and makes you happy every day", like Pianpian who doesn't love wealth and honor, and doesn't get lost in the world of mortals, and I like Na Lan. Xin Shishiniang is a kind-hearted, subtle-knowledgeable woman.Not only did those ghosts never scare me when I was young, on the contrary, I was heartbroken by their frankness, agility, wisdom, infatuation, humor, and bravery.It is interesting to say that it was the lifelike ghosts in this ancient Chinese book that had a great influence on my temperament when I was a child.

Now, it is even more impossible for me to be afraid of ghosts.Cambridge is a place with history and famous people.If you can meet a ghost here, it is also a great blessing in life - because it must be a great and extraordinary ghost that will last forever.I told my friend that there is a very quiet path called "All Souls Lane" on the way from Gordon College to the center of Cambridge, and there is a cemetery called "Ascension Cemetery" in it. Many great and noble ghosts are buried in the cemetery. "It's really a lot? It's just a cemetery." She asked curiously.

"There are 2 Nobel Prize winners, 7 winners of The Order of Merit, 8 deans of well-known colleges of Cambridge University, 15 British jazz and 39 in the "Dictionary of National Biography" The number of celebrities included is not too small, right?" "Wow!" Her eyes widened, "Who is there?" In fact, I can't remember the names of many great ghosts, so I had to slap my head and report a few impressive ones: "For example, the philosopher Wittgenstein is the distant cousin of the liberal economist Hayek and Darwin Two sons: the eldest son botanist F. Darwin and the youngest son H. Darwin engaged in the manufacture of scientific instruments. The famous political economist Marshall is also buried there. Marshall once studied mathematics at St. John's College, and later in utilitarianism Under the influence of the philosopher Sidgwick, he changed the research direction. His "Equilibrium Price Theory" laid the foundation for "Neoclassical Economics". His book published in 1890 was read and read by a generation of economists. A classic of research. The library of the Economics Department at Cambridge University is named after him today. Oh, and the anthropologist, author of Fraser, discoverer of vitamins, biochemist Hopkins, and the splitting of the atom Cockcroft, the physicist, is also laid to rest in this small cemetery."

"I dare say that these great ghosts are all men." My friend listened carefully. This is actually not surprising at all. Cambridge has been an all-male university for more than 80% of its nearly 800-year history since its establishment in 1284.On this point, you only need to glance at the cafeteria full of portraits of the founders of the college: famous teachers and students in history, all of them are men.Cambridge, it used to be a strictly male world like the Vatican.Virginia Woolf describes this: "Every one of our male relatives was thrown into this machine, and then, at the age of 60, re-drilled out the other end, became a schoolmaster, a naval admiral general, cabinet minister or jurist." It was not until 1869 that Cambridge had its first women's college, Girton College.Its founder, Lady Emily Davies, moved her female companions to a village on the outskirts of the city to keep a safe distance from the boys' college.Although women can finally receive education at Cambridge, the restrictions on girls still exist: in 1887 and 1897, the Cambridge Examination Committee decided twice that no matter how excellent the results of women were, they were not allowed to obtain a Cambridge degree.No wonder it is said that one world war would enable women at Oxford to gain full membership in the university, but it would take two world wars for women at Cambridge to win this precious right (Oxford granted full membership to women in 1921, Cambridge in 1948).Cambridge's resistance to women's rights has even been admired by some so-called "gentlemen".Canadian writer John Leacock wrote in his book "My Discovery of England" that he felt uncomfortable seeing "those women walking around the streets of Oxford in academic gowns and academic hats."He was also genuinely pleased that Cambridge had succeeded in keeping women out of the school.It's really infuriating!

Power will be temporarily denied because of historical injustice, but ability and wisdom will not.In this cemetery, a woman with a special identity is buried, her name is Scott.Scott was a female student at Newnham College in Cambridge. She showed amazing mathematical aptitude in a mathematics examination in 1890 and stunned all the Cambridge men with the first result.Despite this, her name never appeared on the official student list, and she was not eligible to apply for a degree on the basis of her excellent grades and outstanding intelligence.Until 1948, when Cambridge University was finally able to officially award degrees to female students, Miss Scott was already a 95-year-old gray-haired old man.She was buried in this Cambridge cemetery after her death, like many of Cambridge's great men.

My friend was very excited when he heard me tell the stories of the celebrities in this cemetery.So I teased her that going to "All Souls Lane" on Halloween night is the most interesting.Because everything is quiet there, except for the occasional sound of the wind blowing through the treetops, there is almost no light at all.If we're lucky, maybe we'll meet a great ghost wandering around the cemetery in a panic, and they'll have a good chat about science, literature, or economics. The friend's face changed slightly, and he shook his head and said forget it: Let's go next time during the day, anyway, I absolutely don't believe in such a thing as ghosts, no matter how great or mediocre it is.

Looking at her expression, I knew she was afraid, but it was just out of face that she kept her mouth shut.I didn't speak, and then led her wandering in the street, but a little "conspiracy" was brewing in my mind... When we walked to the gate of Sidney Sussex College, the students participating in the Halloween parade had dispersed, and we were the only ones left in the side street.I asked her, do you know Cromwell, the revolutionary who sent Charles I to the guillotine.She said, of course she knows, the first lesson of the modern world history textbook in middle school is about this matter, does it have anything to do with this? "This Cromwell is also an alumnus of Cambridge. He graduated from this college. He devoted himself to the great cause of overthrowing the royal family during his lifetime. After his death, the royalists dug his body out of the tomb of Westminster Abbey , chopped off the head, and burned the body. His head began to be hung on a pillar above Westminster Abbey, and disappeared inexplicably at some point. It is said that his relatives secretly put his head I found it back, put it in a zinc biscuit box, and handed it to the dean of the college for safekeeping. It is said that every dean knows where the head is hidden, but no one else knows." Speaking of this, I suddenly Lowering his voice, he said slowly one word at a time, "You-want-don't-want-know-know?" At this time, a burst of cold wind blew past us very cooperatively. It was cold and weird, which was really creepy.The friend's face changed drastically, he yelled "ah", and ran away in a hurry.Leaving me standing alone on the cold street, laughing like a child who has succeeded in a trick, a bad guy. When I got home at night, I found a cute jack-o-lantern on the table in the living room.The pumpkin was bought by Roman, and Simon processed it, carved a nose and eyes on the pumpkin, and lit candles inside.We put it in front of the door, and it grinned and smiled innocently, attracting the attention of passers-by. The next day, I moved the pumpkin lantern back to the house, cut it up with great effort, added various condiments, and boiled a big pot of delicious creamy pumpkin soup. I poured the soup into my stomach, and bid farewell to Halloween.