1.Central Question
Q: Why does Su Tungpo want to resign from the court?
A: Because he is an independent, courageous person, unwilling to participate in the party contest. There are certain rules of the game, played chiefly behind the scenes. The first rules is, a good politician is one who has mastered the art of saying nothing with a great number of words. The second rule is that he should oblige his friends. The third rule is that he should take care not to offend. Unfortunately, Su Tingpo was not this type, and he broke all these rules of success in politics. As a subject, he believed, to be loyaled to the monarch, it is necessary to truthfully feedback everything, which would irritated the sycophantic. This showed that he was loyal to the people, loyal to the monarch. At the same time, he was very indifferent to fame and wealth, just thinking about the idyllic life he had thought of.
2.Sentences
（1）But if Su Tungpo was running away from politics, politics was running after him.
可是，事情偏有凑巧，苏东坡若是躲避政治，政治偏要找他。
这句话生动形象地表明苏东坡政治生涯的无奈，政治就像个影子一样，和他如影随形，即使他想归隐。
（2）But free speech was useless unless the scholars themselves had acquired the spirit of independent thinking and courageous criticism.
但是文人若不能独立思考，无批评的勇气，言论自由也终会无用。
（3）What troubled the government at this time, as at all times in China's history, might be called overpopulation of mandarins.
当时最使朝廷感到困惑的，其实在中国历史上历代皆然，就是冗吏充斥。
