【英语时差8，16】日本俳句风靡德国

 The ladies who meet regularly in a museum cafe in Cologne skip the gossip and get straight down to haiku, an ultra-brief poetry style that has spread from Japan around the globe.

Cologne's haiku workshop, held at the Museum of East Asian Art, often has up to ten amateurs eager to read their latest poetry in German, a language of long words where it can often be a squeeze to distill¹ an idea into such a brief poem.

Traditional Japanese haikus are supposed to be composed of just 17 syllables³, arranged in three lines and including a "kigo": some word suggesting a season of the year.

A haiku does not rhyme, and it often draws attention to fleeting⁴ moments in nature like a plum petal⁵ falling on snow.

A typical haiku by classic author Issa is rendered in English as: my dear old village / every memory of home / pierces like a thorn.

Every child in Japan knows the centuries-old syllable² pattern of 5-7-5. In other languages, the rules are often looser but the spirit of haiku remains⁶.

"In German, you can't get as much content into 17 syllables as you might in English," explains Martin Berner, chairman of the Frankfurt-based German Haiku Society.

There are now haiku circles in several German cities, and according to Berner, there are haiku societies in more than 50 nations around the world.

1 distill   

vt.蒸馏，用蒸馏法提取，吸取，提炼

参考例句：

• This standard set determine the method of petroleum products distill.本标准规定了测定石油产品蒸馏的方法。
• Distill the crucial points of the book.从书中提炼出关键的几点。

2 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

3 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

4 fleeting   

adj.短暂的，飞逝的

参考例句：

• The girls caught only a fleeting glimpse of the driver.女孩们只匆匆瞥了一眼司机。
• Knowing the life fleeting,she set herself to enjoy if as best as she could.她知道这种日子转瞬即逝，于是让自已尽情地享受。

5 petal   

n.花瓣

参考例句：

• Each white petal had a stripe of red.每一片白色的花瓣上都有一条红色的条纹。
• A petal fluttered to the ground.一片花瓣飘落到地上。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。