西方人眼中的孔子

爱思英语编者按：北京奥运会上使用了孔子的名言使得更多西方人知道了孔子，然而大多数人对于孔子的了解仅限于名字。而对于Brock女士来说孔子不仅仅是一种象征，更是一种追求和平、公正、平等的 化身。

"Confucius says, a boy, a girl and moonlight make wedding bells ring out in month of May," said 91-year-old Eunice Brock. In fact, the sentence was not from Confucius, but another way of saying that moonlight can inspire romantic feelings. "There was a period when it was very popular to invent brief statements as sayings of Confucius in the United States," Brock said.

To many foreigners, the understanding to Confucius was just limited to his name or maybe the adage chanted at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, though, the Chinese ancient wise man was definitely one of the greatest philosopher in the world.

On Oct. 28, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to honor the 2,650th anniversary of Confucius" birth. "Although the bill was symbolic, it reflected the American politicians" respect to Chinese culture," said Guy Alitto, associate professor in the University of Chicago. According to the professor, some representatives including those who had always been against symbolic bills, voted for commemoration.

The most impressive part to Brock was Confucius" desire to abolish war, which she believed, set China on a very different historical past from the Western world. "The Great Wall is a symbol of peace as it was an attempt to prevent warring tribes from entering China necessitating war in defense of China," she said. "I wish every visitor to the Great Wall was given a pamphlet explaining how Confucius wanted China to be a peaceful country."

The old lady had traveled in China among various ethnic groups. "It seems to me there is far less prejudice in China than in America where there is still much prejudice against blacks, Mexicans and others," she added. "Confucius taught that ethnic people should be respected and their differences valued." "We are now in the information age and great changes will occur. War must be abolished if mankind is to survive and other changes made to preserve our planet," Brock concluded. 更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

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