经典译文：荷塘月色中英对照

aunting songs as they padded.
They turned out in force, we may be sure,
and there were spectators too,
for that was a cheerful festival and a romantic one.
We have a good account of it in a poem
by Emperor Yuan of the Liang dynasty called Lotus Gatherers:

Deft boys and pretty girls
Reach an understanding while boating;
Their prows veer slowly,
But the winecups pass quickly;
Their oars are entangled,
As they cut through the duckweed,
And girls with slender waists
Turn to gaze behind them.
Now spring and summer meet,
Leaves are tender, flowers fresh;
With smiles they protect their silks,
Drawing in their skirts, afraid lest the boat upset.

There we have a picture of these merry excursions.
This must have been a delightful event,
and it is a great pity we cannot enjoy it today.

I also remember some lines from the poem West Islet:

When they gather lotus at Nantang in autumn
The lotus blooms are higher than their heads;
They stoop to pick lotus seeds,
Seeds as translucent as water.

If any girls were here now to pick the lotus,
the flowers would reach above their heads too -- ah,
rippling shadows alone are not enough!
I was feeling quite homesick for the south,
when I suddenly looked up to discover
I had reached my own door.
Pushing it softly open and tiptoeing in,
I found all quiet inside,
and my wife fast asleep.

As far as eye could see,
the pool with its winding margin was covered with trim leaves,
which rose high out of the water like the flared skirts of dancing girls.
And starring these tiers of leaves were white lotus flowers,
alluringly open or bashfully in bud, like glimmering pearls,
stars in an azure sky, or beauties fresh from the bath.
The breeze carried past gusts of fragrance,
like the strains of a song faintly heard from a far-off tower.
And leaves and blossoms trembled slightly,
while in a flash the scent was carried away.
As the closely serried leaves bent,
a tide of opaque emerald could be glimpsed.
That was the softly running water beneath,
hidden from sight, its colour invisible,
though the leaves looked more graceful than ever.

责任编辑:joyyy