流贯呼应 When I first started to look into the origins of the symbol, I asked a Turk about the history of their flag. My idea was that young students in Turkey undoubtedly learn some story, as children in Britain are told that the crosses of St Andrew, St Patrick and St George combine to make the Union Jack, or young Americans hear the tale of how Betsy Ross sewed together the wreath of 13 stars with a block of stripes for the first American flag. // I was told that the Turkish flag commemorates the great national victory at the battle of Sakarya in 1922 when an army led by Kemal Ataturk expelled the Greek Army from Anatolia. This was an event of great importance to the founding of the modern Turkish Republic, roughly comparable to the American victory at Yorktown in Virginia. The symbolism arouse because the soldiers were impressed by a close conjunction between the crescent Moon and Venus as reflected in a river of Greek blood. This accounts for the red background color of the flag. ——The Star and Crescent 言外之意 “Oh look! There’s the river!” said Judy. “So, it is!” I said. It was all the more surprising because we had both forgotten that this was a riverside town. To us it was just another place on the map. That day we had not stayed long. We found the place attractive and we wanted to explore, but we did not have the time. ——Goodbye 重新分合 By the time the snowman’s nose was in place, the neighborhood was fully awake. A car whined in protest, but skidded staunchly out of its driveway. Buses ground forward like Marines, determined to take the hill. And all the while, the baby sat secure and warm in his arms. He knew, of course, that she wouldn’t remember any of this. For her there would be other snowfalls to recall. But for him, it was her first. Their first. And the memory would stay, cold and hard, fresh in his thoughts, long after the snowman melted. ——First Snow