This article can be neatly divided
into three parts.
The first part
is the description of Diogenes:
his behavior,
his appearance,
his doctrine and the way
he preached it.
And next part describes
Alexander the Great:
his education,
his achievement
and his fame.
And the last part
is the most interesting one.
It narrates the dramatic encounter
between Alexander the Great
and Diogenes the beggar.
Now, let's go over the first part
in detail.
The first paragraph
gives us a vivid portrait
of Diogenes.
Read and think,
how does Diogenes look like?
"Lying on the bear earth,
shoeless, bearded, half-naked,
he looked like a beggar
or a lunatic.
He was one,
but not the other."
The four short expressions
"lying on the bare earth,
shoeless, bearded, half-naked"
give us a vivid sketch of
Diogenes the beggar.
Now, can you guess the meaning
of "lunatic?"
Right. Lunatic means a mad,
insane person.
It derives from
a Latin word "lunar",
means the moon.
Like we say "in lunar calendar".
But why does lunatic
refers to someone mad?
Well, Insanity
was once believed to be controlled
by the moon
and its phases.
Lunatic literally means "moonstruck",
subject to the changes of the moon.
According to one superstition,
sleeping in moonlight
could cause people to lose
their sound mind,
and make crazy people
even crazier.
Therefore we call some one
spiritually insane a lunatic.
Then, how did Diogenes
live his daily life?
He had opened his eyes
with the sun at dawn,
scratched, done his business
like a dog
at the roadside,
washed at the public fountain,
begged a piece of breakfast bread
and a few olives,
eaten them squatting on the ground,
and washed them down
with a few handfuls
of water scooped
from the spring.
The parallel of the verbs
and verbal phrases:
"(had) opened his eyes,
scratched,
done his business,
washed, begged,
eaten and washed down"
describe a series of actions
that Diogenes usually did
in the early morning
as the usual routine
of his daily life,
emphasizing he behaved
like a dog.
Now,let's learn some important words
and phrases in this paragraph.
The first word
I want to explain is
"scratch".
It is a verb
means to scrape
or rub the skin with nails
to relieve the itch.
Well,in the sentence
"They build up their fortune
from scratch."or
"She made the
pumpkin cake from scratch."
The phrase "from scratch" here
means begin without using any work
that was done before.
And next, let's learn a phrase
"Do one's business".
It is a Euphemism,
ί����,
that is to say something
less offensive.
When you want to say
"go to the toilet",
you can use these expressions like
answer nature's call,
or do one's business,
get some fresh air
powder one's nose.
Pay attention that,
powder one's nose
could only be used
by ladies.
And in Chinese,
we can also say,
���֡����¡�����
Diogenes ate his food
squatting on the ground,
then how did Diogenes
have his meal?
Does he sit properly?
Apparently not.
Squat is also a verb
refers to animals
crouch with the body
close to the ground.
Like the sentence:
The horse threw itself
into a squat.
Diogenes ate his breakfast
squatting on the ground,
just like a dog.
Seeing a child
drinking from his hands,
Diogenes threw away his cup
and remarked:
A child has beaten me in the plainness of living.
This example shows
how Diogenes reduce
his dependence
on external things
to the minimum
And there is also
an interesting word
called "hollow":
It is an adj,
means having a cavity,
gap or space within.
Like this example:
A tennis ball is hollow,
but a baseball is solid.
It could also mean
devoid of truth or validity.
For example:
The words he spoke sounded
hollow and false.
Diogenes threw his cup away
when he saw a boy drinking
out of his hollowed hands.
In this sentence,
hollow means "sunken".
Having no work
to go to
and no family to provide for,
he was free.
In this sentence,
the key word here is "free".
Diogenes is not too poor
to have a house and
eat a proper meal.
He simplified his life
to the extreme
and make virtue out of poverty.
He deliberately lived
in such ways as to show people
what a simple life should be like.
He has nothing is terms
of material possession,
but he has the most precious thing
freedom.
He was a beggar,
but not a lunatic,
because he had the sanity
of a philosopher.
He is practicing what
he believes to be a good life.
Everybody knew him or knew of him.
Knew him means "be familiar with him"
Knew of him means
"they are told or read
or heard about the person"
That means a lot of persons
know him or at least heard of him.
But do they like him?
They would throw
sharp questions at him
and get sharper answers.
Sometimes they threw bits of food,
and got scant thanks,
sometimes a mischievous pebble,
and got a shower of stones and abuse.
Obviously
they didn't like him very much.
He is too smart for them.
Sometimes they would ask him some sharp,
difficult questions,
probably meant to amuse,
ridicule, attack or embarrass him.
But they often got sharper answers.
Sometimes they would throw a stone
at him in a teasing manner,
but only got more stones in return.
Pay attention to
the repetition for emphasis.
Now let me explain the word "scant".
Scant is an adj,
means hardly any
or not as much as there should be
For example:
I paid scant attention
to what she was saying.
The firefighters
went back into the house
with scant regard
for their own safety.
They were not sure
whether he was mad
or not.
He knew they were mad,
each in a different way:
they amused him.
That is to say,
he knew that
other people were all insane
in this way or another.
For example,
some are mad about money;
some are mad about power;
and some are mad about sex.
Their folly was funny to him.
Diogenes is too wise
to spend his life
on pursuing material goods,
and he use his own way
to remind people
the burden of possessions.
Henry David Thoreau
is a philosopher
who echoes Diogenes
in modern times.
He graduated
from Harvard University,
but quit
his well-paid job
to live in a cabin
near the Walden
for two years.
He said:
Most of the luxuries,
and many of the so-called
comforts of life,
are not only not indispensable,
but positive hindrances
to the elevation of mankind.
With respect to luxuries
and comforts,
the wisest have even lived
a more simple
and meager life than the poor.
Do you agree?
Now, let's have a brief
summary of the first paragraph.
The topic sentence is
"Diogenes is a beggar,
not a lunatic."
The vivid description
of his appearance
of a beggar,
daily life typical of a beggar,
attitude and behavior of a beggar,
sanity of a philosopher
are supporting details.
It shapes a potent image
of a beggar philosopher,
and this image might stir
readers' curiosity.
They may wonder
why did a philosopher
choose to live like a beggar,
and what doctrine
does he have for life?
Now, let's read more.
Para 2. tells us
Diogenes' s doctrine
on house
and the reason why
he chose to live in a cask
When you read,
please think about
these questions:
First, what was his home like?
Second, who was Diogenes?
Third, why did he live in Corinth?
Now the first question:
what was his home like?
It is not a house,
not even a squatter's hut.
In the first paragraph,
we mention that
squat refers to animals
crouching with the body
close to the ground.
And here,
a squatter
is a person
who lives in an empty building
or on a piece of land
without permission
and without paying any rent.
A squatter's hut
naturally is in a
poor condition.
For example.
Homeless people
squat in a deserted building.
And second question:
Why did Diogenes
live in such a broken cask?
Is he too poor to have a hut?
No, he thought
everyone lived
far too elaborately,
expensively, anxiously.
He chose to live
out of his principle.
Now let me explain the word
"elaborate".
Elaborate means
very complicated and detailed;
often carefully prepared
and organized
For example.
She had prepared
a very elaborate meal.
Another example.
An elaborately decorated room.
In Diogenes' mind,
house and furniture
are burden and luxury.
We should go back to nature
just like animals.
No one needs privacy,
because natural acts
are not shameful.
All we require
is one garment
and some shelter.
Now let me explain the word
"shelter"
Shelter could be
an uncountable noun.
It means
protection from rain,
danger or attack
For example:
They take shelter from the rain.
People were desperately
seeking shelter from the gunfire.
It could also be used
as countable noun,
means structure built to
give protection from rain,
wind, or attack.
For example:
A bus shelter
air-raid shelter
Diogenes believes that
a shelter from rain
and cold is the only thing
we need for clothes
He chose to live
among the wealthy,
lazy and dishonest
citizens of Corinth
for many of his years,
ridiculing and criticizing them.
And he occasionally persuaded
one of them into
adopting his belief.
Here the word "convert"
means to change someone's
religious or political belief
to something else.
It's interesting
to note that
he was only able to
convert "one of them" occasionally.
Then what's his belief?
Why did he only have a few followers?
His belief is called Cynicism,
which means doggishness.
Now, please watch
a short video about Cynicism.
While watching,
try to summarize the
basic principle of Cynicism
Ok, now, do you get
the general idea
of this philosophical thinking?
What would Diogenes say to us
if he lived in modern society?
What wisdom and inspiration
can we get from ancient Cynicism?
OK, we will discuss it next time,
see you.