“Pitch-black!”
It is said that when I first said this sentence, it gave my mother quite a shock, and at the same time filled her with joy.
I can’t remember anything about the situation at the time… hmm, it was probably when I was three years old.
It must have been when my mother was carrying me down the stairs, with no lights on and everything very dark, and for some reason I suddenly blurted out that line. When I said it, my mother thought: Good heavens, this kid can hardly even talk yet, and he already knows how to use idioms! Hmm, he’s got a future; I must nurture him properly!
From then on, my mother began teaching me idioms, Tang poetry, and so on with great enthusiasm…
“Pitch-black” may not seem like some especially remarkable idiom, but it really was the first four-character phrase I ever spoke!
A chance utterance stirred my mother’s preschool education of me. Although my literary level did not, as she had hoped, get cultivated into something impressive, the impact of that preschool education on my growth was undoubtedly important. Between many things, there does seem to be quite a bit of affinity. I wonder whether my fondness for “pitch-black” has anything to do with the fact that I’m rather dark myself now? But what can be said for sure is that “pitch-black” is now a core part of my worldview.
My “philosophy of the starry sky,” in a certain sense, is not just about how one views “darkness”?
To my eyes, “darkness” is simply part of this world—part of beauty and brilliance. I love this whole world, and I love that “pitch-black.”
March 17, 2006
Latest Comments
- Mingzi
2006-03-17 22:55:32
Could it be that the first four-character phrase in Yali’s mouth was “pitch-black as can be”? ^_^
- Li
2006-03-17 23:22:43
Thanks. Theoretically, it should be the ma sound. I guess it’s the “ma” character in this word
Translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The original text is authoritative.
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