Read between the lines

You may be familiar with an essay called Peach Blossom Shangri-la from your Chinese textbook. But do you really understand the meaning between the lines?
你或许在语文课本上读到过《桃花源记》，但你真的理解这篇古文的意思吗？

When Erer Suansuan (not her real name), now a postgraduate student studying radio and broadcasting at Peking University, first read the essay in high school, she didn’t think too much about it. “At that time, I was so overwhelmed by academic pressure that I didn’t have too much time and interest in exploring more about the beauty of literature.”
二二酸酸(网名，非本名)是北京大学新闻与传播专业在读的研究生，高中第一次读到这篇文章时，她并没有想太多。“当时我被学业压得喘不过气，没有太多时间和兴趣去进一步探索文学之美。”

However, she suddenly encountered it again one day in college. After furthering her studies, she realized that there is more than what she first saw in the 320-word text.
然而，大学里的一天，酸酸忽然又读到《桃花源记》。进一步学习后，她意识到这篇320字的文本中所包含的东西，比她最初看到的要多。

For example, Suansuan found that three key images stand out. One is the peach blossom Shangri-la, which not only appears in Tao Yuanming’s essay but also in many poems, paintings and plays. Second goes to the fisherman in the text who doesn’t have a name, as he is a symbol of a special group of people, the hermits. Suansuan also compares the “cave heaven” in Taoism with the “Allegory of the Cave” by ancient Greek philosopher Plato.
例如，酸酸发现《桃花源记》中有三个突出的意象。一是“桃花”，不仅是陶渊明的文章，许多诗歌、绘画和戏剧中也提到了桃花。二是“渔人”，文中没有提到渔夫的名字，因为他是隐士这一特殊群体的象征。酸酸还将道教的“洞天”与古希腊哲学家柏拉图的“洞穴之喻”相对比。

“People become mature when growing older, with their comprehension ability also improving,” Suansuan explained. She could now read the simple essay from a new prospective. It became much more fun and attractive to her. She now wants to share her thoughts on these essays in Chinese textbooks with more people – by making videos.
酸酸解释道：“随着年龄的增长，人们会变得成熟，理解能力也会提高。”现在她可以从新的角度来阅读这篇简单的文章，而这对她来说，也变得更有趣、更有吸引力了。现在，酸酸想通过制作视频，将她对语文课本中的这些文章的看法分享给更多人。

Before that, Suansuan would extensively read materials related to the essays. She also paints in her videos to make them easily understandable. For a 10-minute video, she may draw up to 80 drafts.
制作视频之前，酸酸会广泛阅读与文章相关的资料。她还会在视频中加入插画，令其更容易理解。一段10分钟的视频，酸酸可能要绘制80张画稿。

Starting in May 2019, she has made more than 50 videos. Seven are about the hidden stories behind texts in Chinese textbooks. The rest are about learning methods and other works of literature. These have earned her more than 1.5 million fans on Bilibili, many of whom are teenagers. They have left bullet comments and messages of thanks. They said she has made their school life more interesting.
从2019年5月开始，酸酸已经制作了50多个视频，其中7则讲述了语文课本背后隐藏的故事，其余的视频则是关于学习方法和其他文学作品。因为这些视频，酸酸在哔哩哔哩上吸引了150余万粉丝，许多粉丝还是青少年，他们发送弹幕，留下感谢的信息，称酸酸让他们的学校生活更有趣了。

Suansuan said the two things that bring her the most happiness are learning and creating. Making videos combines both. So she will keep going.
酸酸说，学习和创造是最让她开心的两件事，制作视频正是将二者相结合，因此她会继续下去。

以上文章内容选自《21世纪学生英文报高中版》，详情请见《21世纪学生英文报高中版》高三781期