| Back Story |
 Associated Press |
| “Je refuse le prix,” Jean-Paul Sartre said on this day in 1964. |
| With these words, the French writer and philosopher, above, became the first person to freely decline the Nobel Prize. |
| But the Swedish Academy wasn’t the first to hear them. |
| A young journalist landed the scoop after tracking down Sartre at a Paris bistro. The 59-year-old “pope of existentialism” was lunching with Simone de Beauvoir, his longtime partner. |
| Interrupted before the cheese course, Sartre was stunned to hear that he had just been named the academy’s literary laureate. (A week earlier, after learning that he had been nominated for the honor, he wrote to the jury asking not be chosen. His letter didn’t arrive in time.) |
| That evening, Sartre read a statement to the Swedish press to explain why he refused the prize — and the $53,000 that came with it. |
| Official honors, he said, exposed his readers “to a pressure I do not consider desirable.” |
| The jury did not change its decision. |
| More than a decade later, Sartre, or someone related to him, allegedly asked for the money that he had turned down, according to the Swedish Academy’s former secretary. |
| This time, it was the academy that declined. |
| Lara Takenaga wrote today’s Back Story. |
延伸閱讀：
延伸聆聽：
追蹤《報導者Podcast》IG：twreporter_podcast贊助《報導者》：https://pse.is/5953dg序：春蠶到死絲方盡
為朱耀明牧師新書《敲鐘者言》（台北：左岸，2023）寫的序
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朱牧師大情大性，笑容常帶童真，但眼淚也不少。
在雨傘運動期間，他總是坐在佔領區的一角，含著淚水看那些朝氣蓬勃的年輕人在做抗爭工藝品、聽演說、聊天。我知道六四陰影在他心中徘徊不散，日夜煎熬何時可讓學生平安退場。
如果當年不是早一天要回港主持婚禮，他應該會在天安門廣場上跟學生一起倉皇逃命。又或者那是上帝的安排，要他平安在海外開展「黃雀行動」，讓百計中國民運人士逃出生天。那是多麽驚心動魄的歴程，可惜在這書中只能化作串串方格，靜待時日光復，讀者才能看到。
朱牧師投身支聯會和其後爭取普選的工作，與他和已故的司徒華先生結緣有關。司徒華看準神職人員的道德力量，希望藉朱牧師感召一群學者、社工等專業人士，在政黨以外凝聚一股爭取民主的清流。司徒華自己亦歸信基督，而在人生最後階段，朱牧師從醫院至安德烈教堂均陪他走過。
朱牧師感召力之強大，往往是一個電話便打亂了你的人生。
大學時期我算是虔誠的基督徒，卻不屑教會把福音銷在溫馨的小盒之中，對外面世界的不公不聞不問。碰巧一次機會聽到盧龍光和朱耀明兩位牧師講道，提出信仰應與社區結合，可謂醍醐灌頂。結果我在大學最後一個暑假走進兩位牧師服務的柴灣，做了一個醫療問題的研究，並且捲入了爭取興建醫院運動，與朱牧師結緣。
我從事社區組織工作幾年後便出國進修，一九九三年回到中文大學一面任教、一面撰寫博士論文。那段日子港人受前途問題困擾，我知道自己回歸香港，是要在日後爭取民主，只是想先取得正教授職位後，才全力投入公共事務。
這個如意算盤卻被朱牧師徹底擾亂。從化解居民對九龍灣愛滋病診所的抗拒、成立民主發展網絡爭普選到投入佔領中環運動，他都是撥了一通電話便把我從繁忙的教研工作中帶到社運的前線。無他，牧師吩咐的都是行公義、好憐憫之事，我當然要「存謙卑的心與神同行」。
與牧師共事了三十多年，合作無間。大家都嚴守組織紀律，不洩密、不斂財、不計個人榮辱。我佩服牧師的勇氣，不惜與同袍衝突反對基督教慶祝國慶、更以身犯險佔領中環，反駁教內「當順服掌權者」的謬誤。當然，我亦看到牧師脆弱的一面。童年以至六四的陰影，再加上年老多病，很難要求他在囹圄中抗爭。
因此，在審訊雨傘運動的最後階段，我雖極力反對向法官求情，甚至阻止呈上社會服務紀錄（因為我們應以一個普通公民的身分代表過百萬曾參與佔領的市民面對審訊），但最終我還是要求律師代我和戴耀廷向法庭求請，免朱牧師𠄘受牢獄之苦。但當牧師在法庭上帶淚朗讀他的〈敲鐘者言〉陳情書，他還是堅決表示不後悔，旁聽席上飲泣聲不絕。
結果我和另外三位被告被判入獄，朱牧師和其他四位被告被判緩刑或社會服務令。法官在判詞中讚揚牧師人格正直、服務社會多年，而且年邁體弱，不宜判處即時入獄。當我和其他被告由囚車押解至監獄時，看到牧師在法庭門外老淚縱橫哭別我們，內心難過，亦明白他既悲傷亦歉疚於無法一起背上十字架。
其實牧師大可釋懐。他除了牧養一間教會以外，還從零開始建立起學前教育和社會服務及醫療中心。在成功爭取東區醫院以後，一直參與醫療服務包括東區醫院管理委員會、醫管局病人投訴委員會和關懷愛滋病的紅絲帶中心。他亦推動成立或管理互愛戒毒中心、協助更生人士的豐盛社會企業和完美句號殯儀服務。他協助創立的民主組織包括基督徒愛國民主運動、香港民主發展網絡、香港公民教育基金會、守護公義基金、讓愛與和平佔領中環，還有他耗盡心力的黃雀行動。朱牧師投身公共服務的拼勁，就像他老師周聯華牧師所言，為了完成基督徒的使命，蠟燭兩頭燒亦在所不惜。我卻想到：春蠶吐絲，至死方休。
朱牧師在佔中以後，一直過著平淡的退休生活。他說早上坐在教會宿舍的窗邊吃一碗小米粥，是他最幸福的時光。但香港實施《國安法》後，為了他和其他人的安全，我力勸他及早離開。結果他在台灣國立政治大學出任訪問學人，期間完成此書。通過此書，大家可讀到一個人如何忠於自己的信仰，從失去父母的街童掙扎成為力行公義的牧師。通過他，亦同時看到香港社會的滄桑變化。
因為流散在外，因為思念被囚寃獄的老友，我常見牧師眼泛淚光、嗌聲嘆氣。難道真是「蠟炬成灰淚始乾」？只望公義快臨，牧師可以回到故居吃他喜歡的小米粥。
CRITIC’S NOTEBOOK
A look back at a time when the super-wealthy felt they had nothing to lose by letting readers inside their gilded corridors.
“Class consciousness takes a vacation while we’re in the thrall of this book,” Barbara Grizzuti Harrison wrote in the Book Review in 1985, in her evaluation of the heiress Gloria Vanderbilt’s memoir “Once Upon a Time.” To be clear, Harrison was referring to the class consciousness of the reader, not the author. Vanderbilt demonstrates perfect awareness throughout her book that most young children don’t play with emerald tiaras and alligator jewel boxes lined in chestnut satin, or rely on the services of multiple butlers, or lose count of their own houses. Harrison’s point was that Vanderbilt’s talent with a pen — and perspective on her own economic altitude — allowed consumers of her tale to suspend their envy and engage with the reality of growing up in opulent neglect.
Memoirs by the rich have always been major publishing events. Readers love to prowl wide-eyed through gilded corridors, and I am no exception. A cherished portion of my shelf is devoted to the self-accounts of Rothschilds, Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Pells, Guggenheims and other names familiar from banks, art museums and city centers.
Tang Xiao’ou | |
|---|---|
 Xiao'ou in 2019 | |
| Born | 1968 |
| Died | 15 December 2023 (aged 54–55) |
| Alma mater | University of Science and Technology of China (BS) University of Rochester (MS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD) |
| Awards | Best Paper Award IEEE Conference on CVPR 2009 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | artificial intelligence |
| Institutions | Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| Website | CUHK: Tang Xiao’ou SenseTime |
Tang Xiao’ou (Chinese: 湯曉鷗; 1968 – 15 December 2023) was a Chinese billionaire computer scientist and founder of SenseTime, an artificial intelligence (AI) company. He was also a Professor of Information Engineering at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.[1]
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楊致遠已辭去在雅虎董事會的職務﹐正式結束與這家曾經雄心勃勃、他17年前參與創立的互聯網公司的聯繫。雅虎董事長等四名董事會成員也將離職 
