名句選譯
文章本天成﹐妙手偶得之。
Essays are originally there composed by heaven;
Only by chance a lucky person gets one.
誰知盤中餐，粒粒皆辛苦。
Who knows the rice on the plate
Every grain from hard labor?
空山不見人，但聞人語響。
In empty mountains, no one is seen;
But human voices still heard.
不才明主棄﹐多病故人稀。
The untalented official often deserted by the wise emperor;
The long-time sick person scarcely visited by old friends.
秋老蟬聲短，江空雁影長。
Autumn turning late, the call of cicadas becomes short;
On the empty river the shadow of wild geese look elongated.
曲徑通幽處﹐禪房花木深。
The zigzag footpath leading to the secluded place;
The monk’s room hidden in the depth of flowers and trees.
清風不識字﹐何必亂翻書。
The cool wind doesn’t know the words,
Why come to turn the pages of the book?
海枯終見底﹐人死不知心。
When the sea goes dry, the bottom’s seen;
But when a person dies, his thoughts still unknown.
醉貌如霜葉，雖紅不是春。
The drunken face looks like frosty leaves,
Though red, is not spring.
誰言寸草心，報得三春暉。
Who said the mind of a little grass
Has ability to return the favor of spring sunlight?
朱門酒肉臭，路有凍死骨。
Wine and meat stink behind red doors;
But there’re frozen bones on the roadside.
林茂鳥有歸，水深魚知聚。
As woods flourish, birds have some place to return to;
Since water’s so deep, fish know where to gather.
射人先射馬，擒賊先擒王。
If wishing to shoot the rider, shoot the horse first;
If wishing to catch thieves, catch their leader first.
閱書百紙盡，落筆四座驚。
When reading, finish one hundred pages,
Then when writing, all readers will be surprised.
渭北春天樹，江東日暮雲。（杜甫思念李白之詞）
Trees in spring in North Wei;
Clouds at sunset to east of the river.
斫卻月中桂，清光應更多。
If chop down the laurel tree in the moon,
There should be more light shining.
海闊憑魚躍，天高任鳥飛。
Let fishes jump in the sea so vast;
Let birds fly in the sky so high.
路遙知馬力，日久見人心。
The power of horses is known through the long journey;
The mind of people understood only after a long time.
蚍蜉撼大樹，可笑不自量。
If the ant wants to shake a big tree,
Ridiculously, it doesn’t know its own strength.
文章憎命達，魑魅喜人過。
Essays hate good fate;
Monsters like people’s faults.
獨鶴歸何晚，昏鴉已滿林。
How late the lonely stork returns;
But crows at dusk already crowd the forest.
兩水夾明鏡，雙橋落彩虹。
Two forked currents sandwich the “bright mirror”;
The twin bridges are like fallen colorful rainbows.
長風幾萬里，吹度玉門關。
The long wind for thousands of miles
Blows over the Jade-Gate Pass.
由來征戰地，不見有人還。
From the time-honored battlefield
Never seen people returning.
安得倚天劍，跨海斬長鯨。
How to get a sky-reaching sword
To slay the huge whale on the sea.
郎騎竹馬來，繞床弄青梅。
My boy comes riding on a bamboo stick,
And goes round my bed playing with the green plum.
雨落不上天，水覆難再收。
The rain, once falling, can’t go back to the sky;
The water, once spilling, can’t be taken back.
抱琴看鶴去，枕石待雲歸。
I go to see storks, carrying my zither;
And pillow on a stone, waiting for clouds to return.
恥將雞並食，長與鳳為群。
Ashamed to peck food with the rooster;
Wishing to mingle with phoenix for ever.
白骨成丘山，蒼生竟何罪。
White bones piled up into mounds;
What guilt do people have?
相思如明月，可望不可攀。
The lovesickness is like the bright moon
That can be seen, but can’t be reached.
採菊東籬下﹐悠然見南山。
Picking chrysanthemums at the east fence,
I casually look at the south mountain.
(or I see the south mountain in a casual mood.)
鶯識春深恨，猿知日去愁。
The oriole’s aware of the regret as spring turns late;
The ape knows the sorrow of the days gone so fast.
欲取鳴琴彈，恨無知音賞。
About to get the zither to play,
I hate there’s no one to appreciate.
日落江湖白，潮來天地青。
When the sun sets, the river and lake look white;
When the tide comes, the sky and earth is blue.
行到水窮處，坐看雲起時。
I reach where the waterway ends,
It’s when I sit to watch clouds rising.
草枯鷹眼疾，雪盡馬蹄輕。
As the grass withers, the eyesight of the eagle is sharp;
When there’s no more snow, the hooves of the horse feel light.
水聲冰下咽，沙路雪中平。
The sound of water turns mute under ice;
The sandy road becomes flat in the snow.
鳥聲隨管變，花影逐風移。
The sound of birds change with the flute;
The shadow of flowers moves following the wind.
長繩系日住，貫索挽河流。
A long cord ties the sun to make it stay
A rope binds the flowing river to detain it.
寒塘渡鶴影﹐冷月葬詩魂。
The shadow of a stork passing over the cold pond;
The soul of poetry buried under the chilly moon.
鳥驚疑欲曙，花笑不關春。
As birds startle, it’s thought to be dawn;
If flowers laugh, it’s nothing to do with spring.
花隨紅意發，葉就綠情新。
Flowers bloom following red tendency;
Leaves are new after green appearance.
綠苔行跡少，紅粉淚痕多。
There’s scant footprint on the green moss
While much tear trace on the red rouge.
曲終人不見，江上數峰青。
When the tune ends, no one is seen;
Only some green peaks at the river.
鵲飛山月曙，蟬噪野風秋。
The magpie flying under the moon over hills at dawn;
The cicada chirping in the wild wind of autumn.
不息惡木枝，不飲盜泉水。
Don’t perch on the boughs of bad trees;
Don’t drink the water of Theft Spring.
古來忠烈士，多出貧賤門。
The loyal martyrs from old time till now
Are mostly from poor families.
本以勢利交，勢盡交情已。
If friendship is based on power and wealth from the beginning,
So when out of power and wealth, the friendship ends.
草礙人行緩，花繁鳥度遲。
With grass so hampering, people have to walk slow;
With flowers so abundant, birds flying through delayed.
古木鳴寒鳥，空山啼夜猿。
In the ancient woods tweeting birds in cold;
Among empty mountains crying apes at night.
白雲飛夏雨，碧嶺橫春虹。
From white clouds fly down the summer rains;
Over the blue peak spans the spring rainbow.
魚游水底涼﹐鳥語林中靜。
Fish swim at the bottom of water, so cool;
Birds twitter in the forest, so quiet.
棹穿波底月﹐船壓水中天。
Oars pierce the moon at the bottom of the waves;
Boats press on the sky in the water.
火樹銀花合，星橋鐵鎖開。
“Fiery trees” and “silvery blossoms” mixing;
The iron lock on the starry drawbridge unlocked.
星橋﹕因護城河橋下水中映著星星﹐故曰“星橋”。
白毛浮綠水﹐紅掌撥清波。
White feathers floating on the green water;
Red webbed feet stroking the blue waves.
讀書破萬卷，下筆如有神。
If read over ten thousand volumes,
You’ll write beautifully like in magic.
獸雲吞落日﹐弓月彈流星。（選自“浮生六記”）
Beast-like clouds devour the setting sun;
Bow-shaped moon shoots out the comet.
葉似鏡中眉，花如關外雪。
The leaf resembles eyebrows in the mirror;
The flower looks like the snow beyond the Pass.
山遠疑無樹，潮平似不流。
The mountain is so remote as suspected having no trees;
The tide is so smooth as if it looks not flowing.
思君如滿月，夜夜減清輝。
The thinking of you is just like the full moon,
Its brightness diminishes every night.
無人本無我，非後亦非前。
If there’s no one, there’s certainly no myself;
If it’s not “behind”, it’s not “before”.
两句三年得，一吟双泪流
Get a couplet finished in two years;
When reading it, tears trickling down.
鸟宿池边树，僧敲月下门
Birds perch on trees by the pond, asleep;
The monk knocks at the door under moonlight.
親朋無一字，老病有孤舟。
There’s no word from kinsfolk and friends
But at least I’ve a single boat when old and sick.
大漠孤煙直， 長河落日圓。
The lone smoke rising straight up in the desert;
The setting sun is round above the long river.
看花詩思發，對酒客愁輕。
Looking at flowers, poetic inspiration occurs;
Facing wine, the sorrow of a traveler becomes less.
二十四橋明月夜﹐玉人何處教吹簫。
The Twenty-Four Bridge at a moonlit night;
Is it where to let the beauties play the fife?
十年一覺揚州夢﹐贏得青樓薄倖名。
When waking up from a dream in Yangzhou for ten years,
Only win the fame of a loveless man in the whorehouse.
東風不與周郎便﹐銅雀春深鎖二喬。
If the east wind didn’t do young Zhou a favor,
Both Qiao girls’d be locked in Brass-Sparrow Terrace in deep spring.
卻嫌脂粉污顏色﹐淡掃蛾眉朝至尊。
Hating rouge and powder smearing her face of natural color,
She brushes her eyebrows slightly and goes to see the emperor.
有財有勢即相識，無財無勢同路人。
Be acquainted when having power and wealth,
But a stranger when without power and wealth.
書有未曾經我讀﹐事無不可對人言。
There are books that I haven’t read;
And nothing that I can’t tell others.
從道人生都是夢，夢中歡笑亦胜愁。
And all say that life is but a dream;
It’s better to be happy in dream than sad in life.
山川路長誰記得，何處天涯是鄉國。
Who can remember the way so long among hills and rills?
Where in this wide world is the homeland?
松排山面千重翠，月点波心一颗珠。
Pine trees line up on the hill surface with thousand layers of emerald
While the moon like a pearl dots in the center of waves.
一騎紅塵妃子笑﹐無人知是荔枝來。
As a horse gallops through dusts the imperial concubine smiles;
And no one knows it’s the litchi that is coming.
飛流直下三千尺﹐疑是銀河落九天。
The torrent flying downward from three thousand feet high,
As if the Milky Way falling from the ninth clouds.
日長似歲閑方覺，事大如天醉亦休。
I feel the day as long as a year only at leisure;
Any problem even as big as the sky seems nothing when drunk.
縱醉還須上山去，白雲那肯下山來。
I have to go uphill even though drunk
Since white clouds won’t come downhill.
身無彩鳳雙飛翼，心有靈犀一點通。
Though I don’t have wings on the body like a colorful phoenix,
I do have intuition in my heart like a rhino with the charmed horn.
春蠶到死絲方盡，蠟炬成灰淚始乾。
There’s no more silk in the spring’s silkworms when dead;
The “tears” of the candle will dry only when it burns to ashes.
等閑識得東風面，萬紫千紅總是春。
I easily get to know the face of the east wind;
All in all, spring is just a myriad purple and a thousand red.
朱弦已為佳人絕﹐青眼聊因美酒橫。
The red strings no longer played because of the beauty;
The apples of my eyes turn only toward good wine.
清風掠地秋先到﹐赤日行天午不知。（古人詠竹林之句）
Cool winds sweep the ground as autumn comes ahead;
Though the sun clambers into zenith, the hot noon is not felt.
雲籠遠岫愁千片，雨打歸舟淚萬行。
Clouds envelope the distant valley like thousand pieces of sorrow;
Rains beat the returning boat like myriad threads of teardrops.
鬢從今日添新白，菊是去年依舊黃。
The temples from today on are added with new white;
The chrysanthemum from last year is still yellow.
莫道穹天無路到，此山便是碧雲梯。
Don’t say there’s no way to the sky;
This mountain is the ladder to the blue clouds.
不知細葉誰裁出，二月春風似剪刀。
No one knows who cuts out thin leaves;
It’s spring wind in February that’s like scissors.
鳴雞已報關山曉，來雁遙傳沙塞寒。
The crowing cock already reports the advent of dawn in mountains;
The coming wild geese convey the message of cold from sandy frontier.
獨在異鄉為異客，每逢佳節倍思親。
When one is a stranger alone in a strange land,
He’ll think of his folks every time at a festival.
白日登山望烽火，黃昏飲馬傍交河。
In the daytime, I climb the mountain to watch beacons;
In the evening, I let my horse drink at the Jiao River.
一花一竹如有意，不語不笑能留人
If a flower and a bamboo have the intention,
They can make people stay without speaking or smile.
且樂生前一杯酒，何須身後千載名。
Be happy with a cup of wine when living;
Why need a posthumous fame lasting a millennium?
主人有酒且莫斟，聽我一曲悲來吟。
Don’t pour wine yet if you host have some;
Just listen to my song of “Sing As Woe Comes”.
今人不見古時月，今月曾經照古人。
The present people can’t see the ancient moon;
But the present moon once shone over the ancient people.
我醉欲眠卿且去，明朝有意抱琴來。
I am drunk and will go to sleep; so you can go.
You can come tomorrow carrying your zither if you want.
I don't know where is the best place to post my article. So I just post it here.
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Air Crash vs Car Accident
I was told that there are much more car accidents on land than air crashes in the sky. This is true, but people often survive in car accidents, and seldom survive in air crash. One air crash for a person is enough. He is forever gone. If he is involved in several car accidents, he may still be alive and enjoy his life. So there is no comparability between the two.
I always think how we can reduce death rate in air crash. I suddenly think of the parachute. We can't provide every passenger with a parachute and train them how to use it before boarding. However, why can't we install three huge parachutes in the airplane, one in the front part, one in the middle and another in the tail part? The parachutes can automatically open in air crash just like the airbag in the car, which will hinder the pull of the gravity. Can anyone who reads this article spread my idea to the experts that they can make the invention? Thanks for saving life.