As the sun was setting westbound, she, not glaring but kind of dim, and resembling a large reddish plate hanging in the sparsely-clouded blue sky,  made her gentle light slightly felt on my face, hands and arms, and colored the leaves of the pine trees dotting the green of the Sunshine Square of SWUFE and the leaves of the grasses trimmed uniformly high by the gardeners perfectly golden. I was first entranced by this magnificent scenery for a few seconds and then immediately drowned in the reading of the Confessions written by Rousseau, a famous French scholar, who deserves a particularly important place in the recent history of thinking. This book was concluded in the late days of Rousseau, suffering from persecutes, blames and criticisms, so that it is filled with a tone of fierce resistance and self-debate, in respect of which he frankly admitted. He himself, however, placed more emphasis on the fact that this book was the real one of self-revelation, for, in his opinion, the purpose of self-debate could only be attained by real confession and revelation which, furthermore, had contributed great significance to the honorable business of “Human Being Study”. Needless to say, resistance, realness and the provision of the model for “Human Being Study” constitute the tone, content and height of the Confessions, amongst which the realness is the key point and can barely be seen elsewhere.

The beginning of this book reads:

  I am commencing an undertaking, hitherto without precedent, and which will never find an imitator. I desire to set before my fellow the likeness of a man in all the truth of nature, and that man myself.

  Myself alone! I know the feelings of my heart, and I know men. I am not made like any of those I have seen; I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different. Whether Nature has acted rightly or wrongly in destroying the mould in which she cast me, can only be decided after I have been read. 

   …

  Let the trumpet of the Day of Judgment sound when it will, I will present myself before the Sovereign Judge with this book in my hand. I will say boldly: 

‘this is what I have done, what I have thought, what I was. I have told the good and the bad with equal frankness. I have neither omitted anything bad, nor interpolated anything good. If I have occasionally made use of some immaterial embellishments, this has only been in order to fill a gap caused by lack of memory. I may have assumed the truth of that which I knew might have been true, never of that which I knew to be false. I have shown myself as I was: mean and contemptible, good, high-minded and sublime, according as I was one or other.’

   I was really shocked in the course of the reading of this words cited above by Rousseau’s frankness, honesty and realness. However, arguments, as have been raised in everything by people in the world, have been aroused in the realness of the autobiography of Rousseau, who remains so controversial a man that it is almost impossible for every one to be unanimous when they air their views on him. Anyway, it was worthwhile reading this book in that pretty evening and I will probably be profoundly shaped by this book.