From the Author

親愛的朋友:

我很樂意跟你們分享一則小故事。不久前我送諺語書給我的一位美國學生濟慈。他非常崇尚中國的東西，在波士頓開了一家氣功復健武術館。濟慈說這件事他只對我透露而已。有一天他打坐的時候，一位老禪師要他寫下幾個字。濟慈識漢字不多，頂多懂幾句您好謝謝的會話，所以要求老禪師說慢一點。打坐完畢，他趕緊寫下『化戰孝彥遂』這幾個字，並翻開字典試圖找出它的真正涵意來。

Dear friends,

I'd like to share a story with you. A few weeks ago, I sent my proverb book to my student Keith, who admires Chinese stuff tremendously and owns a Chi healing martial art studio near Boston. Keith told me he hasn't told a soul but me about this incident. One day during his meditation, an old Buddhist monk came to him and wanted him to write down a few characters. Keith can speak some dialogues like "Hi" and "Thank you" but has limited knowledge of Chinese characters. He asked the old monk to slow down so he could memorize them. Keith wrote down『化戰孝彥遂』immediately after his meditation and tried to find out what they really meant in a Chinese-English dictionary.

當我看到這幾個字時，非常的驚訝。我並沒有教過濟慈這些字啊！我告訴濟慈，每個人的註解可能不同。我的直覺告訴我，孝道是儒家最推崇的。『彥』和諺語的「諺」乃不謀而合。 一位老禪師要一個老美寫正體字的『戰』而非簡體字的「战」。 嗯─真是耐人尋味！ 暫且不論它的玄妙，請容我在此大膽揣測老禪師的讖語吧。『要化解世界上的戰爭戾氣，應當從儒家的孝道思想和中國諺語入手才能遂人心願。』

I was quite shocked when I saw these five characters. I have never taught Keith these characters. I told him that each person might have a different annotation. My instincts told me that the character 孝 [shiau] ‘filial piety' is the utmost nucleus concept that Confucians advocate. The character 彥 [yan] ‘refined and distinguished' and 諺語 [yanyu] 'refined and distinguished sayings─proverbs' coincidently share the same phonetic character 彥 [yan]. An old Buddhist monk wanted an American to write a traditional character 戰 [jan] ‘war' instead of a simplified one 战. Hmm, this is all too intriguing! Regardless of its mysteriousness, please allow me to decipher the old monk's prophecy here, "To succeed in bringing reconciliation to the violence and wars of the world, filial piety and Chinese proverbs are the way to begin."

很遺憾的是美國東部學校學中文的情形，仍然是『只聞樓梯響，不見人下來。』 身為中國人，都有責任推廣中文，不論是對老外或小老中們。我的書深入淺出，易懂易學。推出不久，就深受好評。請告訴您的親朋好友，大家共襄盛舉。學好中文，把中國文化發揚出去。順祝

佳節平安

李鳳英 敬上

Unfortunately, most foreign language departments, especially in the Eastern part of America, do not offer Chinese to their students. The problem with Chinese language education today is that it is all talk and no action. Being Chinese, we have a responsibility to promote the Chinese language to non-native speakers and overseas Chinese children. My three books are written in plain English with great insight and details. With their companion CDs, they are easy to understand and to learn. They have received rave reviews since their débuts. Please tell your friends and relatives about my books. Let's all work together for a good cause─to learn Chinese and glorify Chinese culture to the world.

Have a peaceful holiday!

Emma Lee