(영어신문사설 추측하기) 워싱턴포스트지 (November 8, 2011)

진정한 독해는 최대한 여러 상황을 반복적으로 접함으로써 그런 상황들에 대한 추측의 정확성을 높이는 것입니다. 그러려면 일단 최대한 많은 상황을 접해야 합니다. 많은 상황을 접하려면 일단 많이 읽어야 합니다. 아래 내용을 100% 다 이해하려고 노력하지 마십시오. 알 수 있는 것만 이해하시고 모르는 것은 그냥 넘어가셔도 됩니다. 다음에 또 그런 상황이 나옵니다. 그렇게 여러 번 유사한 상황을 만나면 저절로 이해가 됩니다. 모르는 단어가 나와도 사전 찾지 마시고 추측하시기 바랍니다. 추측도 훈련이 필요합니다. 평소에 추측을 전혀 하지 않던 사람이 갑자기 정확한 추측을 하게 될 수는 없습니다. 그저 이 사설에서 한 두 가지만 얻어 가겠다는 결심을 해보십시오. 아주 현명한 생각입니다. 그렇게 하면 마음의 여유가 생겨 시야가 훨씬 넓어지며 유연한 추측이 가능해집니다. 독해할 때 욕심을 내면 시야가 좁아져 제대로 추측할 수가 없으며 또한 공부를 오래 할 수도 없습니다. 금방 지쳐버립니다. 그러면 많이 읽을 수가 없고, 당근 많은 상황을 접해볼 수가 없는 악순환이 시작됩니다. 마음의 여유! 넓은 시야! 유연한 추측! 고수들이 반드시 가지고 있는 것들입니다.  

In China, putting a price on democracy

By Editorial, Tuesday, November 8, 10:29 AM
CHINESE AUTHORITIES must have thought they had cornered the dissident artist Ai Weiwei, who is renowned for his avant-garde productions and for his willingness to speak up for human rights. A week ago they presented him with an enormous tax bill — 15 million yuan, or about $2.4 million — and ordered him to pay it within 15 days. Should he fail to do so, his lawyer said, he could be returned to prison — where he suffered 81 days of harsh and unjustified confinement earlier this year. This time, authorities could claim that the artist was being legally punished.

Imagine the surprise of the security apparatchiks, then, at what has since happened: Thousands upon thousands of Chinese — 18,829 by Monday afternoon, according to one report — have voluntarily and spontaneously contributed money to help pay Mr. Ai’s fine. Funds have flooded in by mail order and the Chinese version of Paypal. After the artist’s microblog account was shut down Sunday, people began traveling to his studio in Beijing, where they have been throwing contributions over the walls, sometimes attached to fruit or folded into paper airplanes.

By late Monday, Mr. Ai told the Agence France-Press news organization, he had collected 5.29 million yuan, or $830,000, more than a third of what he owes. It’s not clear that he needs the money; the artist has sold many works abroad. But Mr. Ai rightly is choosing to accept the payments as loans — and as a remarkable demonstration of solidarity. “This shows that a group of people who want to express their views are using their money to cast their votes,” he told the Associated Press. “It shows that in the Internet age, society will have its own judgment and its own values.”

That is just what Chinese authorities are worried about. Panicked by the popular uprisings for democracy in the Arab world this year, they have been trying to silence anyone who might inspire a “jasmine revolution” in China, starting with Mr. Ai. After arresting him in April, they held him incommunicado for nearly three months and subjected him to what he called “mental” tortures — such as being forced to stand for hours with guards inches away from him. When he was released in June, Mr. Ai was warned to stop speaking out in public.

The blatantly trumped-up tax case has caused the artist to return, courageously, to giving interviews and sending out tweets. “Speaking out is golden, and silence is death,” one posting said. He may yet be sanctioned for his behavior; that will be the first instinct of Beijing’s political cops. Already an editorial in a state-run newspaper has suggested he may be investigated for “illegal fundraising.”

Communist authorities would be wise, however, to take a lesson from the popular reaction to Mr. Ai’s persecution. Perhaps the time isn’t yet ripe for the pro-democracy revolution the regime fears so much. But if the party would like to tempt fate, putting Mr. Ai back in jail would be an excellent way to do it.