I. ?The central question

Q: How to evaluate Wang Anshih and his reform in chapter 9?

A: The tragedy of Wang Anshih's politic life and reform was resulted by the surroundings. It was not the good time for him to carried out the reform, his policies were inconsistent with the reality and also lost the support of other people. Just like an Chinese old saying, "right time, right place, right people". Apparently, Wang Anshih didn't have non of these three things. However, when we critic Wang Anshih, we should know that he is not evil, unlike his two followings (at last turned into his enemies). He stirred the?party strife, but he was also the victim.?

Q: Why did Lin Yutang mentioned the different character between Su Tungpo and Tseyu?

A: The different character determined their different lives. Lin Yutang described the physical features of two brothers, because Chinese people believed that appearance can reflect the soul. Su Tungpo's bold, straigtforward and great talent doomed his life was full of ups and downs. While Tseyu is a more rational type, I suppose, his biography maybe less dramatic than his borther. ??

II.? The sentence?

1. There was peace at the court now, the peace of death.

這一句的譯文顯然沒有深入理解“the peace of death”所蘊含的深層次內涵。林語堂先生在這句中表達了十分豐富的含義，王安石被罷相，許多人被貶官，看起來似乎是政黨紛爭告一段落，但朝中無人，同時也是宋朝由盛轉衰的開始。

2. There is no question that the desire to overthrow someone in power brings out some of the best instincts in human nature and the power to rule others brings out the worst.

十分有哲理的句子，當想要推翻專制時，人性中好的一面就會顯露出來，而想要控制他人時，人性中惡的一面就會浮出水面，人性的復雜恰在于兩面性。

3. What distinguished greater personalities from lesser people was often the difference in the energy, drive, dash, and vivacity of such men.

林語堂在這里提到了“氣”的概念，其實關于“氣”的問題在文學史上十分常見，比如《孟子》的“吾善養吾浩然正氣”，曹丕《典論論文》中“雖在父兄，不能移子弟”，“氣”等同與氣質，氣質可以涵養，但特征千差萬別，以此說明蘇軾與蘇轍個性不同的原因。