意大利那不勒斯之行：4步法帮你理清头绪
For English, please scroll to the bottom.
看英文内容，请直接滑动到底部。
老桑说
这么多年一直在中国生活和旅行
而此次的意大利之行，
对我来说确实是一个转变！
旅行快要结束时，
我来到了那不勒斯...
▾
「 朋友，你好，我是老桑。」
老桑与法尔内塞大力神
我现在正在意大利进行为期两周的访问。我参观了天普大学的罗马校区（Temple University Rome），天普大学法学院和我们在米兰和罗马的合作伙伴正在这里提供暑期课程项目。这么多年一直在中国生活和旅行，而此次的意大利之行对我来说确实是一个转变！
旅行快要结束时，我来到了那不勒斯，这是我第一次来到这个城市。那不勒斯是一个充满活力的博物馆，废墟，教堂和宫殿掩映在现代城市的嘈杂中。它最初是一座希腊城市，历史可追溯到公元前4世纪，后来成为罗马帝国的一部分，此后被外国势力入侵，最终在19世纪中叶与意大利统一。
新耶稣教堂
这里有几百年的历史，几十个旅游景点，绝妙的食物(披萨就是在这里发明的)，delectable（美味的）甜点(不像其他糕点)，以及无数古老的小巷和小径，感觉自己很轻易地就被震撼了。火车刚一到站，我就被这里的一切所吸引。该做些什么呢？
那布里斯披萨
“TMI”是”太多的信息“（too much information)的缩写。当某人对一些事情谈论得太多，让你感到有尴尬或不舒服的细节时，你可以说“TMI!”这是另一种“我不想听这个。”的说法。另一方面，当我们在生活中面对太多的新信息时，我们需要一种处理的路径。
那不勒斯之旅可以隐喻我们在生活中面临着许多复杂问题的情形，我们应当怎样处理这种“太多信息”的情况呢？这里有四条我在参观那不勒斯国家考古博物馆时得到的建议，那里是世界上最大的古代艺术博物馆之一。许多无价之宝陈列于此，有些是从庞贝古城和赫库兰尼姆excavate（发掘）出来的，无疑是一场视觉盛宴。
那布里斯国家考古博物馆
Sculptures: go from big to small
这些精美的古希腊罗马雕塑囊括了许多在维苏威火山和弗莱格里亚地区发掘出来的作品。在博物馆一楼的一个又一个房间里，人们很容易就迷失在这片雕塑的森林里，以及它们令人瞠目结舌的艺术魅力中。
维苏威火山出名于在公元79年的一次火山喷发，它摧毁了罗马城市庞贝和赫库兰尼姆。当时的中国正值东汉时期。
我没有一开始就挨个看雕塑，而是选择从“大的” 文物开始看。“我了解到有两个雕塑特别值得注意，一个是法尔内塞大力神（Farnese Hercules），它是对古希腊雕塑大师利西波斯的放大版复制品，另一个则是法尔内塞公牛（Farnese Bull），它们是从古代流传下来最大的雕塑群(公元前200年)。
法尔内塞大力神
看过这些著名的雕塑使我对这次参观有了一个清晰的认识，然后我就可以轻松地参观美术馆的其他部分了。一些雕像引起了我的注意，另一些则没那么吸引我，我只是在里面闲逛。
法尔内塞公牛
在生活中，与其深究细节，不如先试着消化“重要的事情”。我的学生们经常听我说，推理就像一个“漏斗”，你从更宏观的想法开始，然后逐步深入到更具体的问题。意大利人也说同样的话(意大利语中的“imbuto”是指“漏斗”)，这是区分轻重缓急的另一种说法。
Frescoes: focus on the main idea
藏品中的大部分壁画都是从维苏威火山爆发后被掩埋的城市建筑中移走的。其中最重要的来自大力神巴西利卡（大会堂）。其中一幅壁画来自庞贝的茱莉亚·菲利克斯(Julia Felix)的房子，是一幅用苹果和葡萄做成的静物画，展示了公元1世纪的日常生活。
湿壁画上的静物
当我穿过壁画画廊时，我刻意去注意那些是最广为人知的作品。然后，我就会把精力集中在其传达的主要思想上。这位艺术家想表达什么？它如何描述几个世纪前的生活?我也阅读了一些介绍，试图理解每个场景的故事和背景。
湿壁画
这是“着眼大局”的另一种说法。人们很容易被艺术家的名字、日期、地点和其他细节所迷惑。但由于我没有多少希腊罗马历史的背景知识，我只能选择退一步来试图抓住它们的主要思想。
意大利人说,“Guarda l 'insieme,”这表示把所有的事物整合起来看待，或者从整体来分析情况。这正是我在壁画画廊里尝试做的事。有些场景比其他场景更能打动我，我只是专注于主要的想法，以获得对作品总体的欣赏。
Mosaics: hone in on key details
博物馆展出的大部分马赛克作品来自庞贝、斯塔比埃、赫库兰尼姆和博斯科里尔。它们可以追溯到公元前2世纪到公元79年。这些图像非常具有现实感，它们的工艺和艺术性令人着迷。
导游解释说，这些收藏品中最引人注目的是公元前333年对亚历山大战役的一幅描绘，这幅巨大的镶嵌画最初是在庞贝发现的。这幅充满细节的镶嵌画以希腊绘画技巧为基础，描绘了亚历山大大帝率领他的骑兵对抗大流士三世。
亚历山大战役马赛克
亚历山大的战争年代，中国也正经历着激烈的动荡：战国时期。
”当你看马赛克的时候，你可以先把注意力集中在整体的图像上。你的眼睛会自然地跟随场景移动。然后，作为一种额外的artistry（艺术体验），你能够从中欣赏到如何把小的碎片聚集在一起，形成一片宏大的场景。每一件作品都有自己的颜色、形状和位置，在整个场景的创作中发挥着自己的作用。
亚历山大战役马赛克细节部分
在中文里，我们说细节决定成败。意大利语中虽然没有类似的表达，但他们说，“focalizzarsi sui dettagli”，意指“专注于细节”。当您以自上而下的方法(着眼于全局)开始，然后转而采用从自下而上的方法（细节）时，您可以通过综合两种思维方式来加深对现状的理解。
Egyptian collection: enjoy the beauty of it all
博物馆收藏了从古埃及王国时期(公元前2700-2200年)到罗马时代的许多珍贵埃及艺术品。这些收藏品包括人类和动物的木乃伊，带盖的花瓶，以及代表为来世人们工作的人员雕像。
其中一件引人注目的物品是一块刻有象形文字的stele（石碑）。不像中国的石碑，有时我还能读懂一些古汉字，我对埃及象形文字我却一无所知。我试图从图案和形状中找出一些逻辑，但最终放弃了。
刻有象形文字的石碑
这是一个提醒：对于某些事情，你不需要去弄清楚它，而是去享受它的美丽。这让我更容易appreciation（欣赏）石碑。意大利人用“esteta”这个词，意为“唯美主义者”，即对美的事物敏感的人，尤其是在艺术领域。在一般的语言中，意大利人说“amanti del bello”，即爱美的人。
古代埃及石碑
由于我只在那不勒斯停留两周的时间，所以我必须想清楚在法学院和律所的官方会议之间都去哪些地方。我没有仅仅随心而走，而是详细研究了一下，导游和当地人都说国家考古博物馆是“必游之地”，所以我把这次参观安排上了日程。所以，我其实也在用这种方法来选择如何度过自己的时间。
我的朋友，我们在生活中面对着大量的信息，与其不知所措，不如组织自己的思维，用一个过程来克服它。如果你从大到小，专注于大局，逐渐过渡到细节，享受生活的美好，你将会更好地处理手头的事情，节省一些精力，并扩展你的知识维度。
本文部分图片来源网络。
往期文章
谢谢收看《老桑说》。
给你启发，激励你上进，陪伴你坚持。
敬请期待下一集。
英文版
English
﹀
﹀
﹀
Lessons from Naples:
4 ways to deal with too much information
▾
「 Hello, my friend！
I'm John Smagula. 」
Visit with Attorney Lorenzeo Mazzeo
I'm now on a two-week trip in Italy. I visited our Temple University Rome campus, where our law school offers a summer session, and also our partner law schools in Milan and Rome. After so many years of living and travel in China, this trip to Italy sure has been a switch for me!
At the end of the trip I came to Naples, my first time to the city. Naples is a vibrant mix of museums, ruins, churches, and palaces set amid the cacophony of a modern city. It was first a Greek city, dating back to the 4th century BC, then became part of the Roman Empire, was later invaded by foreign powers, and finally united with Italy in the mid-19th century.
Church of Gesù Nuovo
With centuries of history, dozens of tourist attractions, legendary food (pizza was invented here), delectable desserts (pastries unlike any other), and a myriad of ancient alleys and pathways to explore, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. As soon as I arrived by train, I was taken in by the scale of it all. What to do?
Naples Caprese Salad
TMI is an acronym for “too much information.” When somebody talks too much about something, giving you details you find awkward or uncomfortable, you can just say “TMI!” It’s another way of saying, “I didn’t need to hear that.” On the other hand, when we’re presented with too much new information in a life situation, we need a way to process it.
As navigating Naples is a metaphor for many complex issues in life, how can we process situations with a lot of information? Here are four tips from my visit to the Naples National Archaeological Museum, one of the world’s top museums of ancient art. Its many priceless objects, some excavated from Pompeii and Herculaneum, are a feast for the eyes.
Sculptures: go from big to small
The fine collection of Greco-Roman sculpture contains many works found in excavations around Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields. In room after room on the museum’s ground floor, it is easy to get lost in this forest of sculptures and their jaw-dropping artistry.
Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD 79 which destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In China at the time, the Eastern Han dynasty was in power.
Rather than start at the beginning and view the sculptures one by one, I started with the “big” items. I read that there are two sculptures that are particularly noteworthy, the Farnese Hercules, an enlarged Roman copy of a sculpture by the Greek master Lysippus, and the Farnese Bull, the largest sculptural group to have survived from antiquity (around 200 BC).
Farnese Hercules
Seeing these famous sculptures put my visit in perspective, and then I was able to view the rest of the gallery with ease. Some statues caught my attention, others not so much, and I just wandered through.
Farnese Bull
In life situations, rather than dive into the details, first try to digest the “big” things first. My students often hear me say that reasoning is like a “funnel,” where you start with the larger ideas, and then work your way down to the more specific. The Italians say the same thing (an “imbuto” is a funnel in Italian), which is another way of saying to prioritize.
Frescoes: focus on the main idea
Most of the frescoes in the collection were removed from buildings in cities buried by the eruptions of Vesuvius. The most important of these came from the Basilica in Herculaneum. One frieze, from the house of Julia Felix in Pompeii, is a still life of apples and grapes, giving a glimpse of everyday life in the 1st-century AD.
As I worked my way through the fresco gallery, I was mindful of which ones were the most well- recognized. Then, I focused on the main idea. What was the artist trying to convey? How does it depict life from many centuries ago? I also read some of the descriptions, trying to understand the story and context of each scene.
Frescoes
This is another way of saying, “look at the big picture.” It was easy to get bogged down in the names of the artists, dates, locations, and other details. But since I don’t have much background in Greco-Roman history, I just took a step back and tried to absorb the main ideas.
The Italians say, “Guarda l’insieme,” which means to look at everything together, or to look at the totality of the scenario. This is what I tried to do in the fresco galleries. Some scenes spoke to me more than others, and I just focused on the main ideas to gain a general appreciation for the works.
Mosaics: hone in on key details
The majority of the mosaics on display in the museum come from Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum, and Boscoreale. They date from the 2nd century BC to AD 79. The images are quite realistic, and they can be fascinating in their craftsmanship and artistry.
The guide explained that the highlight of the collection is a depiction of the 333 BC Battle of Alexander, a large mosaic that was originally found in Pompeii. This detailed mosaic was based on a Hellenistic painting and depicts Alexander the Great leading his cavalry against Darius III.
Battle of Alexander Mosaic
As the Battle of Alexander was occurring, China was amid its own turbulent times: the Warring States period.
”When viewing a mosaic, you can start by focusing on the big picture. Your eyes will naturally follow the flow of the scene. Then, as an additional layer of artistry, you can appreciate how the tiny pieces come together to form a large scene. Each piece had its own color, shape, and placement, playing its own role in the creation of the entire scene.
In Chinese, we say that details determine success or failure. There is no similar expression in Italian, but they do say, “focalizzarsi sui dettagli,” or focus on the details. When you start with a top-down approach (looking at the big picture) and then shift to a bottom-up approach (the details), you can deepen your knowledge of the situation by using two thought processes.
Egyptian collection: enjoy the beauty of it all
The museum is home to many valuable works of Egyptian art from the Ancient Kingdom (2700-2200 BC) to the Roman age. The collection includes human and animal mummies, Canopic vases, and statuettes representing workers for the deceased in the afterlife.
One object that caught my eye was a stele with hieroglyphics. Unlike steles in China, where I can sometimes understand some of the characters from ancient Chinese, I could understand nothing of the Egyptian hieroglyphics. I tried to figure out some of the logic from the patterns and shapes, but ultimately gave up.
Cast of Egyptian Stele
And this was a reminder: with some things, you need not figure it out, but just enjoy the beauty of it all. That sure made my appreciation of the stele much easier. Italians use the word “esteta,” or aesthete, which is someone who is sensitive to the beautiful—especially in art. In more common language, Italians say there are “amanti del bello,” or lovers of the beautiful.
As I only had a few days in Naples, I had to figure out what to see in between my official meetings at law schools and law firms. Rather than make a guess, I researched how tour guides and locals alike say that the National Archeology Museum is a “must see,” so I made this visit a priority. So, I even used these methods in choosing how to spend my time.
My friend, we are presented with a lot of information in life, and rather than get overwhelmed, it is better to organize your thinking and use a process to get through it. If you go from big to small, focus on the big picture, transition to details, and enjoy the beauty of life, you’ll better manage the situation at hand, save some energy, and deepen your knowledge.
{ 今日英文速记卡 }
1.Delectable
\ di-ˈlek-tə-bəl \
a)含义：adj. 美味的
b)例句：
i.With centuries of history, dozens of tourist attractions, legendary food (pizza was invented here), delectable desserts (pastries unlike any other), and a myriad of ancient alleys and pathways to explore, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
这里有几百年的历史，几十个旅游景点，绝妙的食物(披萨就是在这里发明的)，美味的甜点(不像其他糕点)，以及无数古老的小巷和小径，感觉自己很轻易地就被震撼了。
ii.Whether it is in delectable desserts or crunchy candy, people the world over are still in love with chocolate.
无论是在美味的甜点里，还是在酥脆的糖果中，世界各地的人们依旧对巧克力迷恋不已。
c)近义词：delicious, mouthwatering, scrumptious
2.Excavate
\ ˈek-skə-ˌvāt \
a)含义：
b)例句：v. 挖掘
i.Its many priceless objects, some excavated from Pompeii and Herculaneum, are a feast for the eyes.
许多无价之宝陈列于此，有些是从庞贝古城和赫库兰尼姆发掘出来的，无疑是一场视觉盛宴。
ii.To dream is a beautiful, we need to use action to excavate its wealth.
梦想是一座美丽的矿藏，需要我们用行动去挖掘它的财富。
c)近义词：dig, dredge, shovel
3.Artistry
\ ˈär-tə-strē \
a)含义：n. 艺术性；工艺
b)例句：
i.Then, as an additional layer of artistry, you can appreciate how the tiny pieces come together to form a large scene.
然后，作为一种额外的艺术体验，你能够从中欣赏到如何把小的碎片聚集在一起，形成一片宏大的场景。
ii.Architecture reflects the special art of buildings, as it is a combination of practicality and artistry.
建筑艺术是体现在建筑物上的特殊艺术，它是实用性和艺术性的结合。
c)近义词： inventiveness, masterfulness, skill
4.Stele \ ˈstēl \
a)含义：n. 石碑
b)例句：
i.One object that caught my eye was a stele with hieroglyphics.
其中一件引人注目的物品是一块刻有象形文字的石碑。
ii.This stele records how Christianity was treated in China in the Tang Dynasty.
这块石碑上面记载的是唐代时教传进中国的一些情况。
c)近义词：marker, memorial, monument
5.Appreciation
\ ə-ˌprē-shē-ˈā-shən \
a)含义：v. 欣赏；了解
b)例句：
i.That sure made my appreciation of the stele much easier.
这让我更容易欣赏石碑。
ii.They have a stronger appreciation of the importance of economic incentives.他们对经济激励的重要性有了更深的理解。
c)近义词： comprehension, grasp, understanding
Thank you for watching me to inspire, encourage, and accompany you.
See you next time.
想了解更多信息，请持续关注新浪微博（@桑国亚）或公众号《老桑说》（laosangshuo）
老桑说
John Smagula
点击阅读原文，了解更多老桑微博内容，欢迎关注进行互动。