SEAFOOD= Sea + Food

Sunday, 6 July 2008   Rafa keeps eye on ball So now we know. For 65 matches spanning six years we have wondered who could possibly be the man to stop Roger Federer on grass, and at Wimbledon. Did such a player exist, or was Federer's elegant supremacy such that the mere idea was the stuff of ridiculous imagination? On Centre Court on Sunday, imagination took flight. The sporting world trembled on its axis, and mother nature sent out thunderclaps and lightning around the All England Club to herald the extraordinary moment. So remember the date, July 6 2008, the time, 9.15pm, and then shout the name out loud: Rafael Nadal.

Little wonder the Spanish national motto is Plus Ultra – literally, further beyond. If the translation is clumsily ungrammatical, then the legend itself spells out in neon what Nadal achieved. Four weeks to the day since he permitted the Swiss a confidence-mincing total of four games in his clay court kingdom of Roland Garros, Nadal robbed Federer of his most treasured possession, the title that defined him: his Wimbledon crown.

The 22-year-old Majorcan already has four successive French Open victories, but this is his most glittering prize. Three weeks ago at Queen’s he became the first Spaniard to take a grass court title in 36 years. But it is 42 years since a player from his nation conquered the lawns of SW19.

Little wonder he felt such need for release. All through the match he had contained his confidence, with none of the lavish celebration so habitual to his game. Dozens of times in any given match he can be seen extravagantly rejoicing in some extraordinary shot by swerving away with his left fist clenched, arm pumping, shouting: “Vamos!” But today there was no investment of energy in such wastefulness until late in the final set. Face set in concentration, he permitted himself just an occasional fist-clench of affirmation, until almost the moment he smote the legend.

Who could blame him? Every second of this match was cloaked in spine-tingling tension, and that was just for those who watched. What must it have been like inside Nadal’s skin, to wake on Sunday morning in the knowledge that this was the most important day of his professional life?

Twelve months ago here, he became the only person to have taken Federer to five sets since his grass court streak began in the ancient days of 2003. This year so many voices publicly proclaimed him champion before a ball was struck. But he was facing a man who was bidding to make history, by becoming the first player in 122 years to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon six times in succession. Federer was decreed to be at his most vulnerable, yet no one else here had been able unburden Federer of so much as a set in the whole fortnight. The only outcome no one could envisage was an anti-climax.

The moment when at last he touched victory hit him like a bullet in the chest. It left him flattened on the turf, eyes squeezed shut, face crumpled. Tears came, and he rolled over into a near-foetal position, before staggering to his feet to acknowledge Federer at the net. But the need to be with those he loves the most was paramount for Nadal, and he clambered the stands to find their embrace, before taking a startling walk over an adjoining roof to receive a handshake from the Spanish crown prince in the royal box.

On a cool and blustery afternoon, the Centre Court crowd were all but gibbering with anticipation. Arriving on court Nadal looked tense and purposeful; Federer strolled in behind him with a graceful wave to acknowledge the ovation. When umpire Pascal Maria called time, Federer strode at once to the baseline, but Nadal lingered for 10 seconds in his chair, pondering his destiny.

He grasped the first point of the match with a powerful forehand, and it prompted not only long applause but a great murmuring ripple through the crowd, as if some sensational piece of news was being passed among them. Even the sun peered out from the dark skies above, unable to resist the lure of the action.

Moments later the ripple was a roar of astonishment. The match was three games old, but already the Spaniard had a break, and Federer never got it back. It felt as if the mental burden of that Roland Garros evisceration was casting a shadow.

The shadow grew longer when Nadal came back from 1-4 down to take the second 6-4. Federer, the grass court king, was two sets down. If that seemed unreal, it was positively eerie when at 3-3 in the third, Nadal galloped to 0-40.

They felt very much like match points – but all went by. On such chances great matches might hinge. An 80-minute break for rain saw Federer renewed, as if he had remembered that all he had to fear was fear itself. From being dangerously near defeat, he took the set on the tie-break.

The fourth set tie-break was a thing of heart-stopping beauty – heart-stopping in its tension, beautiful in its quality. Twice Nadal held Championship point, and twice heaven passed him by on the other side. Federer took it to a fifth, and here at last Nadal’s destiny lay waiting.

There is no sound like the roar of the Centre Court crowd as it tumbles on to the turf. The great wave of it crashed over Nadal. Was there ever such a final as this? The king is dead; long live the king.

西班牙王子王妃亲临赛场为Rafa助威

费天王这次郁闷的很撤底

男单决赛结果

	Roger Federer SUI (1)					4		4		77		710		7
	Rafael Nadal ESP (2)					6		6		65		68		9

每回都很受歡迎的HELLO KITTY展覽會，即將於7月13日起再次於香港舉行了。
這一次的BLACK WONDER將會是一次INTERACTIVE的遊戲大會，拯救HELLO KITTY和DEAR DANIEL的GAME EVENT。
 

由明天出版的最新號MILK開始，將陸續介紹這次的BLACK WONDER EVENT。

牛津大学教授约翰•凯里评选的五十本“20世纪最令人愉悦的书”目录

1、柯南•道尔（A．Conan Doyle）：《巴斯克维尔的猎犬》(The Hound of the Baskervilles)， 1902

2、安德烈•纪德（André Gide）：《背德者》（The Immoralist）,1902 　　

3、吉卜林（Rudyard Kipling）：《交通与发明》（Traffics and Discoveries）,1904 　　

4、约瑟夫•康拉德（Joseph Conrad）：《间谍》（The Secret Agent）,1907 　　

5、福斯特（E．M．Forster）：《看得见风景的房间》（A Room with a View），1908 　　

6、切斯特顿（G．K．Chesterton）：《名叫星期四的人》（The Man Who Was Thursday）,1908 　　

7、贝内特(Arnold Bennett)：《老妇的故事》(The Old Wives'Tale),1908 　　

8、威尔斯(H．G．Wells)：《波利先生的故事》(The History of Mr Polly)，1910 　　

9、高尔基（Maxim Gorky）：《童年》（My Childhood），1913 　　

10、哈代（Thomas Hardy）：《境遇的嘲讽》(Satires of Circumstance），1914 　　

11、乔伊斯（James Joyce）：《一个青年艺术家的画像》(A Portrait of the Artistas a Young Man),1916 　　

12、劳伦斯(D．H．Lawrence)：《意大利的晨曦》(Twilight in Italy),1916 　　

13、T．S． 艾略特(T．S．Eliot)：《普鲁弗洛克和其他诗作》（Prufrock and Other Observations），1917 　　

14、爱德华•托马斯（Edward Thomas）：《诗集》（Collected Poems），1936 　　

15、曼斯菲尔德（Katherine Mansfield）：《园会》(The Garden Party),1922 　　

16、哈谢克（Jaroslav Ha﹖ek）：《好兵帅克》(The Good Soldier Svejk), 1930 　　

17、阿岛士•赫胥黎（Aldous Huxley）：《那些贫瘠的叶子》(Those Barren Leaves), 1925 　　

18、菲茨杰拉德（F．Scott Fitzgerald）：《了不起的盖茨比》（The Great Gatsby）, 1925

19、布尔加科夫（Mikhail Bulgakov）：《一个乡村医生的日记》（A Country Doctor＇s Notebook）,1925－27 　　

20、沃纳 (Sylvia Townsend Warner)：《幸运先生的空想》（Mr Fortune＇s Maggot）,1927

21、伊夫琳•沃(Evelyn Waugh)：《衰落与瓦解》（Decline and Fall），1928

22、　格雷夫斯（Robert Graves）：《向一切告别》（Goodbye to All That），1929
23、威廉·燕卜荪（William Empson）：《朦胧的七种类型》(Seven Types of Ambiguity),1930

24、叶芝(W．B．Yeats)　：《诗集》(Collected Poems),1933

25、克里斯多佛·伊舍伍德（Christopher Isherwood）：《诺里斯先生换火车》（Mr Norris Changes Trains）,1935

26、伊丽莎白·鲍恩（Elizabeth Bowen）：《巴黎之屋》（The House in Paris）, 1935

27、斯坦贝克（John Steinbeck）：《老鼠和人》（Of Mice and Men），1937

28、格雷厄姆·格林（Graham Greene）：《布莱顿硬糖》（Brighton Rock），1938

29、豪斯曼（A．E．Housman）：《诗集》(Collected Poems)， 1939

30、乔治·奥威尔(George Orwell)：《上来透口气》（Coming Up for Air）　　

31、基思·道格拉斯（Keith Douglas）：《从阿拉曼到遮姆遮姆神井》（Alamein to Zem Zem）,1946

32、托马斯·曼（Thomas Mann）：《大骗子克鲁尔的自白》（Confessions Of Felix Krull? Confidence Man）,1954　　

33、金斯利·艾米斯（Kingsley Amis）：《幸运的吉姆》（Lucky Jim）, 1954