单伟建先生的自传，基本是他1953年出生至1993年的故事，这是非常有意思的一段历史，也是共和国历史上最特殊的一段历史。于是一读起来就无法放下了，基本上两天就读完了，爱不释手。
没怎么做摘录，破例了。
那个时代的人生真是令人唏嘘。四十年间经历了自然灾害、大串联、上山下乡、改革开放、中美建交、经济建设这么多国家的转折点，也促成了那一代人的人生转折点。这么宏大的历史背景下面，面对一次次稍有不慎就会失去整个人生的危险，单先生无疑是极为幸运的。小学毕业就赶上了文革，大串联的机会走过了大江南北，之后文革又知青下放到内蒙生产建设兵团，六七年的时间艰辛之极，苦难之极，走了过来。最终有机会回北京上了工农兵大学，此后留校、出国访问变成了读硕士、读博士、美国执教，真不容易，人生际遇真是奇怪。相比单先生后来的工作稳扎稳打，这段经历可以说是奇遇了。2005年他返回乌梁素海的时候，还能见到当初一起在连队的一个女生和二狗，趴会儿罪犯，这个深刻的名字，这两个的际遇和他自己的差距，更是令人唏嘘。
人生就是往往会充满这么奇特的际遇。这本书我才如此难以释卷，人世间最有趣和最幸运的故事，莫过于此了。
单先生的幸运，是运气，但不止是运气那么简单。我感觉主要还是来自于其稀缺的个人特质。一方面是心态好，字里行间能看出来的天生乐观，无论多大的困难，都能苦中作乐；另一方面是和他天生的勤劳和爱学习分不开，务实的勤劳，无论是否在连队时别人都在磨洋工，他还是能坚持辛苦劳作，还能坚持阅读，这是个难得的好习惯；第三就是永远不放弃，总是能创造性解决问题，做好自己的事情，等待时机来临。下乡时一开始发现人缘不好影响举荐上大学的事情，就能下决心每天一小时找人聊天，多么难得；去美国发现访问学者读不了学位、学校发了offer又担心单位不放，多少难事的处理都极具开创性。
相比之下，这个时代的变化似乎没那么大，却也并不少。今天这个世界的疫情、悲观、对抗都其实在塑造着我们明天的未来。对比起我们自己的人生来，无论如何都不应该甘于平淡。
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写完上面的话还是久久不能平静。返回来在找些书中精彩的发人深省的片段做些摘要吧，中文版的PDF实在不好摘录，找了英文版的EPUB就方便多了，英文摘录起来更值得深思。
“As I looked around, all the memories of our life here more than 30 years ago flooded back. It was here we had buried our youth. It was here we had grown from teenagers to adults. It was here we had learned the harsh realities of life. It was here we had seen our hopes turn into despair. And it was also here so many of my friends had been denied a future, wasting their best years when they should have been in school. What for?”
一句“这一切，为了什么”，描述的却是整个时代的悲歌。
“When Yuanbo finally came back, he reported that Zhou had spent all night, until early that morning, talking with the representatives of the Rebel groups camped outside Zhongnanhai. Zhou tried hard to persuade them all to leave. Many did not agree and argued with him. But Zhou patiently worked on everyone until they all finally agreed to comply with his request. Maybe it was due to Zhou’s powers of persuasion, or maybe he just exhausted everyone with his stamina. In any case, by the morning, an agreement was reached that all the protesters would pull out. When I reflect upon this event, I still find it incredible that Zhou, in his position of power, would bother to spend so much time patiently persuading a bunch of mindless teenagers to get out of that place.”
中英文版本差异比较大，但这个故事印象深刻。1966年，69岁的周恩来和一群13岁左右的小鬼彻夜说服，令人感动。23年后的胡赵的处理方式，大体也照例于此，只是时代不同了，才造就了悲剧吧。
“I told him that in our class of 69ers, everyone had been assigned to the countryside, either in Inner Mongolia or the northeast. No one had a choice. Cui said that we were being wasted here. “Chairman Mao said that we are here to receive re-education from the poor peasants, but we never see them. Besides, what can we learn from the peasants? Some of those who live at the foot of the mountains don’t even know that Chairman Mao is the leader of the country. They still ask about the health of Fu Zouyi, the warlord of the old regime. He said I would have a better chance than he because I was not from a black family. He had seen that I liked to read and encouraged me to try to study systematically.He also suggested that I should try to leave Inner Mongolia. A few people from our company whose parents were high-ranking cadres had already left to join the military, where the living conditions were much better. He told me that as far as he could see, none of the leaders here cared about farming. That was why they did not try to haul the potatoes back. They had fixed pay and generous rations of foods from the state. Why should they care about potatoes? Cui made the bluntest and bleakest assessment of the Construction Army Corps I had heard. It depressed me to think that there was no future for us here ”
任何时刻总还是有明白人。老崔的这段思考非常深刻，也影响了作者。有些宏大的政治叙事下面其实是经不起简单推敲的，只是大多数人往往愿意听了就信，难得有人停下来仔细想想。这样的思考和本领，其实放在今天，也十分稀缺，十分难能可贵。
About a week after that, we heard that the course of the canal had been miscalculated. The section we had built was too high for water to flow through. That part would have to be abandoned and a different course built.The futility of our labor, pain, and suffering in building the Yihe Canal was but one example of many such experiences of ours. We were resigned to it. But these experiences turned us into cynics, disillusioned with the whole purpose of us being there and later with the system.
But was it the fault of our commanders, or the system we found ourselves in? At that time, I could only think about the absurdity of the system of our Construction Army Corps. It would be years later when I realized the entire economic system of China at the time made no economic sense. No wonder that we and the nation were trapped in dire poverty even though the people were no less hardworking and industrious than in any other country.”
异常的艰辛之后，迎来的不是胜利，而是荒诞。却也令人深思。这样的做法在今天虽然程度和样式迥异，但并不鲜见。
But the criticism also made me think about how others saw me. Why were so many people joining in with accusations? They did not know me, or my friends, at all, and I realized that our tight circle could be perceived as elitist and exclusive to those on the outside. We spent our free time reading books, and we passed around everything we could get our hands on, from Chinese histories to Russian novels. Most people spent their leisure time playing poker and chess. I thought myself to be above such useless pursuits or wastes of time. And maybe that was my problem: people did not like people who were too different. The criticism against my bourgeois outlook on life was a wake-up call for me and taught me a painful lesson. I began to wonder how I could win more people over as friends. With the women’s platoons, it would be difficult and risky to even try, given that contact between the sexes was frowned upon. But I could improve my relationship with the boys. If I achieved that, the company leaders would not be able to isolate me.
I thought hard about how to become more popular and decided I had to spend more time socializing. I wanted everyone to see me not just as a nerd but as one of them.Time spent socializing meant time taken away from my studies. That was a big sacrifice because I already felt I had too little time to read. Most people on the farm did not go to the fields to work, but I worked every day. Since farm labor, no matter what kind, was never light, I would be exhausted after work. After dinner I had only a few hours to myself before bed. Yes, time was precious to me. And yet I regarded the sacrifice as necessary. I decided to use one hour every day, no more and no less, to improve my social relationships; I called this my “socialization hour.” I would simply wander into a room, sit down, chat with a few of the guys, and tell a story or two. When the time seemed right, I would say goodbye and go to another room. I went from one room to another in rotation.
无论何种境遇，适应环境、找到问题、寻求解决方案始终是不变的主题。谜底往往就藏在谜题之中。