232 chapter six«Book Two History of Growing Up
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and his listening has begun and his looking has begun and his moving has begungrown-ups give him hearing grown-ups give him seeing grown-ups give him movementfor mom say “mother” for dad say “father” for granny say “grandmother”that dark that turbid that obscure that tangled lump of flesh and bloodbecomes limpid becomes clear understands fills character-square upon character-square page upon pageturns into words-that-name function words syllables past tense word groups passive voiceaffixes turns into meaning significance definition denotation derivation ambiguationturns into interrogative sentences declarative sentences compound and complex sentences linguistic rhetoric semantic markersa parasite living off words from now on unable not to hear words not to see words not to meet wordssome words make him public some words give him cover following words from simple to complex fromshallow to profound from childish to mature from halting to fluent this little personis weaned at one goes to nursery at two goes to kindergarten at four becomes literate at sixfirst grade to sixth certified by teacher zhang seventh grade eighth grade ninth grade certified byteacher wang tenth grade eleventh grade certified by teacher li eventually he graduates from universitya thesis thematically clear properly composed coherently structured metrically neatelegant parallelism say this mean that rare genius unusual flourish speak the mind bare the heartappraisal: respects teachers cares for classmates opposes individualism never comes lateobserves the rules delights in hard work never leaves early is no foulmouth bothers no womentells no lies fights the four pests is hygienic takes not a needle or thread from the masses is active and involvedis civilized has a beautiful soul has a beautiful appearance trims his fingernails greets uncle says hello to auntiegives grandpa a hand offers grandma his arm puts his hands behind his back when class starts actively seeks to make progresspays attention during lectures conscientious in note-taking lively and vigorous modest and prudent diligent and humbledeficiencies: does not like physical education sometimes whispers in class does not regularly brush his teethnote: report to teacher he picked up a penny on the street did not give it to uncle people’s policemancomment: this student’s thinking is fine but he’s no talker who knows what’s on his mindit is hoped that his parents will examine his diary report to us as necessary to coordinate the upbringinginvestigation: on 2 november 1968 did a bad thingi drew a tank on a wall on a clean white wall on a public wall on everybody’s wall on a collectivewall was drawn a great big tank by me i perpetrated the crime of liberalism must make a determined effort to mend my ways