Lingkuan Gorge

Lecture # 1

 Theme
 Sublime ideas about work
 Hardships in the way of
performing one’s duties
 Courage to face
 Never to surrender before
hardships
Message

 We should perform our duty honestly

 We should never leave our post
 We should never leave the duty
assigned to us
 This story (LINGKUAN GORGE)
teaches us the sense of duty and
devotion of a nation
Summary
Narrator’s job and purpose of
journey
 Chief of the materials department tried to
reach to a place
 Where construction work was underway
for future railway
 This was a hard area
 Even in clear weather entering this gorge
was very difficult and risky
Physical conditions persuading to
rest

 High hills and the sky was not visible

 The way was dark and zigzag
 He wanted to find some place under a cliff
to rest for a while
 Stumbling around in such a dark like this,
he was liable to fall into some deep ravine
 That would end his life
Cheng-yu’s age
Why isn’t anybody home?

 He saw a path leading to a big cave

 Grasping branches along its steep path
 He hauled himself up to the mouth of the
cave and entered
 He found a little boy of seven or eight
years sitting on a small stool
 “Aren’t I anybody, Uncle?”
 Lecture # 2
Character of Cheng-yu
Attitude to parents and
responsibility
 He told his name as Cheng-Yu
 Another child was sleeping deep
 It was the duty of this little boy to look
after his baby sister in the absence of his
mother
 Sensible, strong, bold and determined
 Has a greater sense of responsibility
His parents’ jobs

 Hard working and very true to their

professions
 His mother was controlling the traffic
down on a busy road
 His father opens up mountains drill holes
for dynamite charges
 The chief looked and he saw lights on the
far off mountains
 He also saw his mother who was standing
and directing traffic
Explanation for refusing narrator’s
advice
 The boy was dozing
 The chief asked him to sleep and take rest
but he refused
 He told the chief that he had been told by
his parents
 “A man should never leave his post”
 The chief was deeply moved by the
remark of little child
Narrator’s action and realization

 He hugged the child and left the cave

 The words of the little child were echoing
in his ears
 His duty was to reach his destination
 And perform his duty because “A man
should never leave his post”.
Change in mood
Ideas about work
Moralistic
 Mood changes from pessimistic to optimistic
 One should be dutiful
 “A man should never leave his post”
 One should never be as vulnerable as to be
defeated by physical conditions
 One should be dutiful and obedient to his
parents
 Yes, the writer is skillful to present the truth
and importance of the duty