CNN

Evolutionarily speaking, CHN and CNN differ by only one mutation.

相煎何太急。

香港

上周末去了一趟香港；此行著實驚艷。

這次是第二次；第一次是我高一暑假去美國的時候，路過住了兩宿。那時見的世面也少，僅是那林立的高樓就把我完全鎮住了。現代城市的壯觀華麗在那次給了我第一印象。

這次我自以為已有充分的心理準備，但香港依然給了我很大的驚喜。從空間上講，它離我居住的廣州不過百余公里，但它所表現出的城市風貌和市民心理與廣州截然不同（可以說優勝許多）。從時間上講，它的城市歷史不足兩百年，抵不上蘇州一個零頭，但人類的偉力使得在這一彈丸之地上（瞬間）樹立起一東方明珠。挖山填海，修路建樓，兩百年內，便有香港。

舊金山也曾讓我覺得驚艷，如一西方美女出現眼前；香港的驚艷則如一ABC，黃皮膚黑眼睛，但操著洋調番話。兩者都沒勾起我很大的認同感。在香港，你的國語很難派上用場；多數地方都得說我不太愛說的廣東話，少數地方你還必須得動用英語。漫步杭州，我的愉悅是放松的；因為蘇軾白居易他們就是我的祖宗，既是血統上的也是文化上的。他們漫步過西湖，游歷過靈隱，我自然也能。杭州的美麗如一鄰家女孩的親切。但在香港，我的心態是在打客場，處處小心，總恐違了規矩：她的美麗只能是驚艷，只愿遠處觀之不敢走進搭訕。

有人說，怎么會呢，香港到處都是中文，你如何懷有如此的心靈距離？在我看來，香港代表著中國文化的一極。在西安，在金陵，中國文化的代表是那斑駁的城墻，幽幽的小巷；那是我們文化的大后方，挖地三十丈釀酒儲糧，地下滿是谷物和芳香。在香港，中國文化則處在與西方文化抗衡的風口浪尖上，它的體現僅僅聚在那招牌上的一個個中國字和一個個黃皮黑發的中國人：是它們在提醒著我們還身處中國。事實上，這樣的提醒也趨漫漶了：商販們的默認吆喝語言是英語；一些公眾場所在周日就只能看到東南亞裔的傭人；有時標語的首行是英語，第二行才補用漢字翻譯；在我住的酒店里，電梯喇叭是先英語后廣東話地提醒你“大廳到了”，我忍不住用國罵回了一句“你他媽的就不能先國語后廣東話再英語地說？” 我聽說，回歸前香港的教育幾乎全是英語；回歸后政府反思教育，決定重用母語，結果每年入學招生的時候報紙上就滿是家長為了讓子女去讀英文學校而絞盡腦汁的新聞。看來我們文化的這一極在抗衡中敗下陣來了。

但想到一些事情后我又樂觀起來。在我看來香港和臺灣保存著中國文化的不少精髓；就像臥龍里的熊貓一樣：當年熊貓遍布西南，后來冰川來臨，熊貓分布一再萎縮，最后就僅存在于那些深山老林冰川無法肆虐的庇護所了。文化的冰川可以是很多東西，比方說文化大革命。也許自從文化大革命，也許還可以追溯到共產黨執政起，中國人的官方文化就只剩官腔套話了。什么“三個代表”、“八榮八恥”的屁話一個接著一個編。非官方文化呢，也難現五四時的朝氣蓬勃，大概只剩下一些創造諸如“宅男”一類詞語的網民了。但是香港則不一樣，大陸的文化冰川蓋不到他們，他們則如庇護熊貓一般保存了許多文化國寶。我這樣的感覺來源于一些流行歌曲：香港7、80年代的流行樂壇為鼎盛時期，許多歌詞寫得如宋詞般悠遠耐人尋味；盡管后來再難重現當年風光，但比之大陸的從來就是荒涼，也要好上許多。請看一詞：

《雙星情歌》 填詞（兼作曲、歌手）：許冠杰

曳搖共對輕舟飄，
互傳誓約慶春曉，
兩心相邀，影相照，
愿化海鷗輕唱悅情調。

艷陽下與妹相親，
望偕白首永不分，
美景醉人，心相允，
綠柳花間相對訂緣分。

心兩牽，
萬里阻隔相思愛莫變，
離別凄酸今朝似未見，
明日對花憶卿面。

淚殘夢了燭影深，
月明獨照冷鴛枕，
醉擁孤噙，悲不禁，
夜半飲泣空帳獨懷憾。

在我看來，這首詞對意象的把握和感情的描寫幾近絕唱。事實上，如此的歌詞在港曲中并不罕見，黃霑、許冠杰堪稱大師。

西化蠶食中國文化的同時，也注入了先進的理念。從廣州到香港，短短一程，卻讓我感受到兩地市民心理的偌大不同。在一些基本的人文原則（如言論自由）上，香港市民有著和西方一樣的信仰。我游港大就驚奇地發現那里有（也許是全國唯一的）六四紀念雕塑（當地稱“國殤之柱”）；當天在雕塑旁還正在舉辦一記者招待會。這招待會的起由說來有趣：“國殤之柱”的作者，一丹麥雕塑家（他們叫“高志活”）意欲在五月二號香港奧運圣火傳遞的當天舉行一些示威活動，但被拒入境。我贊同這是香港政府討好北京的做法。于是一些香港人憤怒了，于是就有了記者招待會的抗議。當晚看電視我還看到，還是在港大，一哲學系的女生（看樣子還在念本科）面對記者拉起一藏獨旗幟說火炬傳遞當天要支持藏獨。且不論觀點對錯，光是這些做法在已經習慣被閹割思想的大陸人看來就頗為傻逼：就為了表達一己言論這么大費周折，累不累？事實上，我覺得由此看出他們有著很高的社會責任感。在我們終日想著工作、生活的時候，與我們僅百里之隔的一個城市里學生、市民正在為言論自由、政治立場而忙碌。

回來兩天了，想起香港，始終覺得很驚艷。

The Power of Algorithm

In the project I am working on, I need to do a shuffling of an array of size over 2 millions. At first I thought it was rather easy, and quickly wrote a code myself based on the simplest logic: extract a random element of the array each time and store it in a new array, and repeat this process as many times as the size of the array. However, when running the code, I find that it is extremely time-consuming for a large array. Simulations indicate that the time required goes up quickly as the size of the array.

I have to find another solution. After reading related materials, I tried the so-called Fisher-Yates algorithm. To my wonderful surprise, the algorithm saves soooooo much time and the running time increases basically linearly with the array size, as shown in the following comparison (in unit of second):

Array size######My naive algorithm######Fisher-Yates algorithm
1,000############## 1 ################## 0
5,000############# 22 ################## 0
10,000 ############ 90 ################## 0.1
20,000 ########### 396 ################## 0.2
2,500,000 ######### Inf ################## 34

This is the first time that algorithm demonstrates its supreme power to me, and I am overwhelmed.

Wiki gets free

I like Wikipedia a lot, but in China I have to view it using proxies -- a sneaky way in the government's eyes. Today I find that it gets free from the long blocking, and I feel happy to consider it as a sign of the retreat of political needs for the needs of exchanging knowledge and information.

Some People I Feel Thankful To

In my application, I have received much help in various ways from a number of people. I feel deeply grateful to them for their helping me go through this important step of life.

1. Professor Wu. I wouldn't get so many offers were it not for his strong recommendation. Actually I suspect that UChicago has never admitted a student of ZSU before. I think I owe him so much that "grateful" is too weak a term to express my feeling. His selfless guidance and help along these years convince me that the scientific community is among the purest communities and fill me with the desire of reciprocating what I have received to the community by having students and treating them in the same way.
2. Professor Shi. She is my advisor in ZSU and a person of much maternity. I always get comfort and peace from her.
3. Professor Zhao-Bang Zeng. Also we have interactions no more than my having a course given by him, he happily wrote reference for me. It must make him disppointed when I finally declined NCSU where he is.
4. Professor Xionglei He. He is my good friend actually and I feel no pressure talking with him. He wrote two references for me.
5. Miao. Her reference book accompanied me through the toughest time.
6. Da. We are actually not mutualists, a term I once used. I get much more than I give. In fact he has been giving me valuable guidance throughout my undergraduate studies.
7. Feifei. He answered numerous questions of mine patiently when I first started application and was rather innocent. He is one of a couple of friends I made in college that I would value for lifetime.
8. Tab. His refinement improved my PS significantly. Also, he offered generous help when I needed someone to practice oral English with. In a word, he is most supportive. I deeply appreciate it.
9. Shen, Yang. He offered important help in my appliation to UChicago. He is also very supportive. Actually I worked with him for undergraduate thesis and he taught me a lot. I think he is more a valuable friend than a labmate.
10. Yijian, James Martinez, Huijie, Penghan, and some others whose names are missed here unintentionally. You have my most sincere thanks.