Today’s topic is about Mr. Putin. Should he be president of Russian again?

I think the situation in Russian now is not so black and white. The political picture there is more complicated than we think. But my opinion is quite simply, yes, Mr. Putin please stay in power for your people and your country! First of all during last several years Mr. Putin has done quite well in his position. He has managed economics very well and solved many issues to lead the country to be more democracy. Secondly, he restored the standing position for Russian in the world. Nowadays Russian is still a superpower. Maybe Mr. Bush won’t like this. But it is good for the peace of the whole word and also good to China.

To the people, I don’t think the majority people care about the political situation very much. The most important thing to them is their daily life, is the price of living. As a big country within 23 nations, Russian needs a strong leader. We can see Putin’s achievements compared his former. People don’t want to starve again. It is Putin who started the reform process successfully and there still a lot of issues left to be resolved. Maybe some authority would ask as Russian has been socialism, do the people really need democracy? There are still some TV channels and radio station be banned but there are also some others encouraging people to have their own say. Honestly it’s a difficult question but I always think it is important for people to care about their own human rights.

Personally I like Putin. He is kind of handsome and still young as a politician. Well, wish you good luck Mr. Putin and happy birthday!

早上重看〈阿甘正传〉，感触颇深。昨晚因看〈白蛇传〉而带来的兴奋一下子就被忧郁所取代了。今天我不想学法语了，只是很想读萨特。

看到萨特在1939年12月9日给波伏瓦的信中所谈到的“存在”，其中亦谈到基督。可见宗教对于西方文化的影响。而在中国，就像阿甘说的那样“人们几乎没有财产，也从来不去教堂”，现在的中国人越来越有财产了，但是依然没有真正意义上的宗教。是否是因为信仰的缺失而使我们的文化在它最鼎盛的时期和当下之间出现如此之大的短路呢？

我突然又很想回到学校去。

我想读〈寄语海狸〉对我而言最大的收获不仅在于对萨特的理解更重要的是对一种写作和阅读习惯的培养。这也是我之所以喜欢读名人书信的原因。我曾为自己的阅读习惯而骄傲过，是〈寄语海狸〉让我感到了惭愧。写作所需要的描述能力应该在每日的记录中培养，阅读的敏感亦如此。

晚上得知Franck一家仍在北京，享受寒冷的初秋，而上海则在经历着台风和暴雨。和他聊了关于刚果飞机失事的事，令我惊讶的是这样的事在他的国家竟然是司空见惯的。真是不敢想像。他说他想去看奥运村，对于奥运我依旧漠然。 和爸爸谈了普京再次竞选的事，我们都支持。后又听 BBC上对此事的讨论，亦有做英语记录和分析，只有明天再整理了。

早上还是忍不住要看电视剧《封神榜》，90年版的，这才叫人和神生活在一起，《无极》真是多此一举。看到下午近三点的时候才去教堂，今天讲十诫的第四诫，之前是明天收录礼的排练，Mark便在其内。说起生活中的一些事情他觉得颇为无奈，就像人生的规划突然间倾塌一样，不知从何拾起。我也不便多作劝说，因我的人生本就是没有仔细规划的。

晚上去天蟾剧院看京昆合演的《白蛇传》，名角不少，有蔡正仁、杨春霞、张军也可算一个，有个叫谷好好的听着耳熟，但又不能记得确凿了。我是第一次亲见武戏，之前并不能感受到它的好，反倒嫌其聒噪而排斥起京剧来了。早就听说因为昆曲的〈白蛇传〉在〈盗仙草〉一出里加重了武戏的成分而使其增色不少，这回算是见证了。这一出便是谷好好演的，功夫确实不错，得了不少掌声。只可惜坐在我前排的两个老外还是睡着了。由于武戏的加入加快了昆曲原本稍显拖沓的节奏，在促进情节发展的同时也成为夹杂在优柔唱词中的一种调剂。不过我本来就在担心像〈白蛇传〉这样的本子如何能在一个晚场演完？结尾处小青用三昧真火烧毁雷峰塔救出白素贞以使一家团圆的情节交代得并不完整，底下的观众也有因时间太长而提前离场的，谢幕亦不曾有人献花，不曾见得所有演员。

不过每次看白娘子的故事总是有不同的感动，我是这样珍爱这些传奇中的女子，于天理人情中的执着和坚毅。白素贞因爱许仙而将身世隐瞒，继而一错再错以至水漫金山触犯天条，然她心里只有一个“恩”字，许仙当年借伞之恩，反更衬出许仙的薄情寡义，不过对此白素贞亦是纵容。传奇中的女子大抵如此，就像水漫金山只因为白蛇分娩在即而控制不住水势终于酿成大祸，多数的传奇便是由这一念间的无可挽回而兴起。我就是恋恋于这样的故事。