There are some who believe that Bei Dao has not demonstrated a clarity of thought in this book; I will leave that to the reviewers and critics. However, for ordinary readers like me, this kind of writing was sufficient to keep me totally enraptured.
Mandarin
你会写英文字吗?
你會寫英文字嗎?
nǐ huì xiě yīng wén zì ma ?
Can you write English words?
Mandarin
他说我们法国的文字怎么好,说是天下最美最明白最合论理的文字。
他説我們法國的文字怎麼好,説是天下最美最明白最合論理的文字。
tā shuō wǒ men fǎ guó de wén zì zěn me hǎo , shuō shì tiān xià zuì měi zuì míng bái zuì hé lùn lǐ de wén zì .
[M. Hamel] went on to talk of the French language, saying that it was the most beautiful language in the world - the clearest, the most logical.