一年一度香港書展又來了，記得往年受談論的新聞主要和o靚模有關，不然就是書商趁機大清倉臨尾大劈價，今年有一則不同：來自中國售簡體字的書商抱怨香港簡體字教育不足以致他們的書滯銷，不過寧蝕運費運回國也不打算賤賣。今時今日中港矛盾之深，這樣的說話實在很令人反感，其實問題本身值得思考和討論。我們這一代未必通曉簡體字，但能讀簡體字書的也很多，新一代受新移民家庭影響，相信更加沒問題。從小到大我買過讀過不少簡體字書，包括數學象棋歷史書，都沒有繁體版；也有小說，因為便宜。我認為書籍如果滯銷，相信和內容及售價不夠吸引有關，書商應該自我檢討，何必諉過於人？
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Monday, July 24, 2017
Sports highlights: three impressive (or improbable) victories
I am talking about golf's British Open, soccer's Gold Cup (semi-final) and NASCAR's Brickyard 400.
Heading into Sunday's final round, Jordan Spieth had been leading the tournament since Round 1 on Thursday. However, blowing his lead in the final round of a major championship was something he has done before (last year's Masters) And he almost did it again with consecutive bogeys in the beginning of the round. Then he finally lost his lead to Matt Kuchar on the 13th: his tee shot went way way wide. It took a long time to find his ball and then another lengthy delay to find a place to drop the ball (ended up somewhere near the driving range) Nevertheless, he did a good job with damage control: he was only 1 stroke behind after this hole. Then he sank a long put to eagle the 15th and never looked back. I didn't have the guts to watch all these live (glad that I switched channel before the "disastrous" 13th) but I am so happy to see a fellow Texas alum winning a big one. (To be honest, I would not have followed it if not for him. Who won the 2017 US Open anyway? I have no clue) He is now the youngest golfer to have won the first 3 legs of the 4 majors since Jack Nicklaus.
The rematch between 2 former Gold Cup finalists, Mexico and Jamaica, happened one round earlier this time, at the semi-final. Mexico has not trailed at any moment in this tournament so far. And they had many chances during the first half, only to be denied by the excellent Jamaican goalkeeper. Jamaica's play improved in the 2nd half. And the game was 0-0 until the very last minutes. Just when I thought it would end with PKs. Jamaica scored an impressive free kick. The Mexican goalie had no chance. Looking forward to the final between Jamaica and USA! (Even though my buddy looked down on this tournament!)
NASCAR drivers and owners consider the annual Brickyard 400 as one of the more prestigious races (other than Daytona) on the calendar, because it races at the iconic Indy Motorspeedway. Kyle Busch won it last year (as well as the year before, but nothing since then) has been strong and leading the whole race, until he was wrecked by the also very competitive (in fact, red hot all season) Martin Truex Jr (who admitted his fault after the race) The crash left the door open to drivers like Matt Kenseth (who lead after the restart) and Trevor Bayne (who was on a different pitting strategy) Then we have 3 drivers stayed out of the pits: Brad K, JJ and Kasey Kahne (who has been in a long slump with a 100+ race losing streak) Kahne was the first among these 3 that pitted and he got lucky: Kurt Busch crashed right after Kahne left the pit so he became the leader after the subsequent restart. He survived the last restart at the OT and ended his drought! This 18th victory could be the one that revived his once-promising career.
Heading into Sunday's final round, Jordan Spieth had been leading the tournament since Round 1 on Thursday. However, blowing his lead in the final round of a major championship was something he has done before (last year's Masters) And he almost did it again with consecutive bogeys in the beginning of the round. Then he finally lost his lead to Matt Kuchar on the 13th: his tee shot went way way wide. It took a long time to find his ball and then another lengthy delay to find a place to drop the ball (ended up somewhere near the driving range) Nevertheless, he did a good job with damage control: he was only 1 stroke behind after this hole. Then he sank a long put to eagle the 15th and never looked back. I didn't have the guts to watch all these live (glad that I switched channel before the "disastrous" 13th) but I am so happy to see a fellow Texas alum winning a big one. (To be honest, I would not have followed it if not for him. Who won the 2017 US Open anyway? I have no clue) He is now the youngest golfer to have won the first 3 legs of the 4 majors since Jack Nicklaus.
The rematch between 2 former Gold Cup finalists, Mexico and Jamaica, happened one round earlier this time, at the semi-final. Mexico has not trailed at any moment in this tournament so far. And they had many chances during the first half, only to be denied by the excellent Jamaican goalkeeper. Jamaica's play improved in the 2nd half. And the game was 0-0 until the very last minutes. Just when I thought it would end with PKs. Jamaica scored an impressive free kick. The Mexican goalie had no chance. Looking forward to the final between Jamaica and USA! (Even though my buddy looked down on this tournament!)
NASCAR drivers and owners consider the annual Brickyard 400 as one of the more prestigious races (other than Daytona) on the calendar, because it races at the iconic Indy Motorspeedway. Kyle Busch won it last year (as well as the year before, but nothing since then) has been strong and leading the whole race, until he was wrecked by the also very competitive (in fact, red hot all season) Martin Truex Jr (who admitted his fault after the race) The crash left the door open to drivers like Matt Kenseth (who lead after the restart) and Trevor Bayne (who was on a different pitting strategy) Then we have 3 drivers stayed out of the pits: Brad K, JJ and Kasey Kahne (who has been in a long slump with a 100+ race losing streak) Kahne was the first among these 3 that pitted and he got lucky: Kurt Busch crashed right after Kahne left the pit so he became the leader after the subsequent restart. He survived the last restart at the OT and ended his drought! This 18th victory could be the one that revived his once-promising career.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)