归去来兮辞
Ah, Homeward Bound I Go!
晋 陶渊明
林语堂 英译
归去来兮！
Ah, homeward bound I go!
田园将芜胡不归？
Why not go home, seeing that my field and garden with weeds are overgrown?
既自以心为形役，奚惆怅而独悲？
Myself have made my soul serf to my body: why have vain regrets and mourn alone?
悟已往之不谏，知来者之可追。
Fret not over bygones and the forward journey take.
实迷途其未远，觉今是而昨非。
Only a short distance have I gone astray, and I know today I am right, if yesterday was a complete mistake.
舟遥遥以轻飏，风飘飘而吹衣。
Lightly floats and drifts the boat, and gently flows and flaps my gown.
问征夫以前路，恨晨光之熹微。
I inquire the road of a wayfarer, and sulk at the dimness of the dawn.
乃瞻衡宇，载欣载奔。
Then when I catch sight of my old roofs, joy will my steps quicken.
僮仆欢迎，稚子候门。
Servants will be there to bid me welcome, and waiting at the door are the greeting children.
三径就荒，松菊犹存。
Gone to seed, perhaps, are my garden paths, but there will still be the chrysanthemums and the pine!
携幼入室，有酒盈樽。
I shall lead the youngest boy in by the hand, and on the table there stands a cup full of wine!
引壶觞以自酌，眄庭柯以怡颜。
Holding the pot and cup I give myself a drink, happy to see in the courtyard the hanging bough.
倚南窗以寄傲，审容膝之易安。
I lean upon the southern window with an immense satisfaction, and note that the little place is cosy enough to walk around.
园日涉以成趣，
The garden grows more familiar and interesting with the daily walks. 门虽设而常关。
What if no one ever knocks at the always closed door!
策扶老以流憩，时矫首而遐观。
Carrying a cane I wander at peace, and now and then look aloft to gaze at the blue above.
云无心以出岫，鸟倦飞而知还。
There the clouds idle away from their mountain recesses without any intent or purpose, and birds, when tired of their wandering flights, will think of home.
景翳翳以将入，抚孤松而盘桓。
Darkly then fall the shadows and, ready to come home, I yet fondle the lonely pines and loiter around.
归去来兮，Ah, homeward bound I go!
请息交以绝游。
Let me from now on learn to live alone!
世与我而相违，复驾言兮焉求？
The world and I are not made for one another, and why drive round like one looking for what he has not found?
悦亲戚之情话，乐琴书以消忧。
Content shall I be with conversations with my own kin, and there will be music and books to while away the hours.
农人告余以春及，将有事于西畴。
The farmers will come and tell me that spring is here and there will be work to do at the western farm.
或命巾车，或棹孤舟。
Some order covered wagons; some row in small boats.
既窈窕以寻壑，亦崎岖而经丘。
Sometimes we explore quiet, unknown ponds, and sometimes we climb over steep, rugged mounds.
木欣欣以向荣，泉涓涓而始流。
There the trees, happy of heart, grow marvelously green, and spring water gushes forth with a gurgling sound.
善万物之得时，感吾生之行休。
I admire how things grow and prosper according to their seasons, and feel that thus, too, shall my life go its round.
已矣乎！
Enough!
寓形宇内复几时？
How long yet shall I this mortal shape keep?
曷不委心任去留？胡为乎遑遑欲何之？
Why not take life as it comes, and why hustle and bustle like one on an errand bound?
富贵非吾愿，帝乡不可期。
Wealth and power are not my ambitions, and unattainable is the abode of the gods!
怀良辰以孤往，或植杖而耘耔。
I would go forth alone on a bright morning, or perhaps, planting my cane, begin to pluck the weeds and till the ground.
登东皋以舒啸，临清流而赋诗。
Or I would compose a poem beside a clear stream, or perhaps go up Tungkao and make a long-drawn call on the top of the hill.
聊乘化以归尽，乐夫天命复奚疑！
So would I be content to live and die, and without questionings of the heart, gladly accept Heaven’s will.
归去来兮辞
Ah, Homeward Bound I Go!
晋 陶渊明
林语堂 英译
归去来兮！田园将芜胡不归？既自以心为形役，奚惆怅而独悲？
Ah, homeward bound I go! Why not go home, seeing that my field and garden with weeds are overgrown? Myself have made my soul serf to my body: why have vain regrets and mourn alone?
悟已往之不谏，知来者之可追。实迷途其未远，觉今是而昨非。
Fret not over bygones and the forward journey take. Only a short distance have I gone astray, and I know today I am right, if yesterday was a complete mistake.
舟遥遥以轻飏，风飘飘而吹衣。问征夫以前路，恨晨光之熹微。
Lightly floats and drifts the boat, and gently flows and flaps my gown.
I inquire the road of a wayfarer, and sulk at the dimness of the dawn.
乃瞻衡宇，载欣载奔。僮仆欢迎，稚子候门。
Then when I catch sight of my old roofs, joy will my steps quicken.
Servants will be there to bid me welcome, and waiting at the door are the greeting children.
三径就荒，松菊犹存。携幼入室，有酒盈樽。
Gone to seed, perhaps, are my garden paths, but there will still be the chrysanthemums and the pine! I shall lead the youngest boy in by the hand, and on the table there stands a cup full of wine!
引壶觞以自酌，眄庭柯以怡颜。倚南窗以寄傲，审容膝之易安。
Holding the pot and cup I give myself a drink, happy to see in the courtyard the hanging bough. I lean upon the southern window with an immense satisfaction, and note that the little place is cosy enough to walk around.
园日涉以成趣，门虽设而常关。策扶老以流憩，时矫首而遐观。
The garden grows more familiar and interesting with the daily walks. What if no one ever knocks at the always closed door! Carrying a cane I wander at peace, and now and then look aloft to gaze at the blue above.
云无心以出岫，鸟倦飞而知还。景翳翳以将入，抚孤松而盘桓。
There the clouds idle away from their mountain recesses without any intent or purpose, and birds, when tired of their wandering flights, will think of home. Darkly then fall the shadows and, ready to come home, I yet fondle the lonely pines and loiter around.
归去来兮，请息交以绝游。世与我而相违，复驾言兮焉求？
Ah, homeward bound I go! Let me from now on learn to live alone! The world and I are not made for one another, and why drive round like one looking for what he has not found?
悦亲戚之情话，乐琴书以消忧。农人告余以春及，将有事于西畴。
Content shall I be with conversations with my own kin, and there will be music and books to while away the hours. The farmers will come and tell me that spring is here and there will be work to do at the western farm.
或命巾车，或棹孤舟。既窈窕以寻壑，亦崎岖而经丘。
Some order covered wagons; some row in small boats. Sometimes we explore quiet, unknown ponds, and sometimes we climb over steep, rugged mounds.
木欣欣以向荣，泉涓涓而始流。善万物之得时，感吾生之行休。
There the trees, happy of heart, grow marvelously green, and spring
water gushes forth with a gurgling sound. I admire how things grow and prosper according to their seasons, and feel that thus, too,shall my life go its round.
已矣乎！寓形宇内复几时？曷不委心任去留？胡为乎遑遑欲何之？
Enough! How long yet shall I this mortal shape keep? Why not take life as it comes, and why hustle and bustle like one on an errand bound?
富贵非吾愿，帝乡不可期。怀良辰以孤往，或植杖而耘耔。
Wealth and power are not my ambitions, and unattainable is the abode of the gods! I would go forth alone on a bright morning, or perhaps, planting my cane, begin to pluck the weeds and till the ground.
登东皋以舒啸，临清流而赋诗。聊乘化以归尽，乐夫天命复奚疑！
Or I would compose a poem beside a clear stream, or perhaps go up Tungkao and make a long-drawn call on the top of the hill. So would I be content to live and die, and without questionings of the heart, gladly accept Heaven’s will.
读到林语堂先生英译的金圣叹写在《西厢记》评论中的三十三则“不亦快哉”，录其中关于夏日的描述于此，以应时令！时虽不同，人亦迥异，然避暑之心同也！
其一：夏七月，赤日停天，亦无风，亦无云；前后庭赫然如洪炉，无一鸟敢来飞。汗出遍身，纵横成渠。置饭于前，不可得吃。呼簟欲卧地上，则地湿如膏，苍蝇又来缘颈附鼻，驱之不去。正莫可如何，忽然大黑车轴，疾澎澎湃之声，如数百万金鼓。檐溜浩于瀑布。身汗顿收，地燥如扫，苍蝇尽去，饭便得吃。不亦快哉！It is a hot day in June when the sun hangs still in the sky and there is not a whiff of wind or air, nor a trace of clouds; the front and back yards are hot like an oven and not a single bird dares to fly about. Perspiration flows down my whole body in little rivulets. There is the noon-day meal before me, but I cannot take it for the sheer heat.
I ask for a mat to spread on the ground and lie down, but the mat is wet with moisture and flies swarm about to rest on my nose and refuse to be driven away. Just at this moment when I am completely helpless, suddenly there is a rumbling of thunder and big sheets of black clouds overcast the sky and come majestically on like a great army advancing to battle. Rain water begins to pour down from the eaves like a cataract. The perspiration stops.
The clamminess of the ground is gone. All flies disappear to hide themselves and I can eat my rice. Ah, is this not happiness.
其一：夏月科头赤足，自持凉伞遮日，看壮夫唱吴歌，踏桔橰。水一时奔涌而上，譬如翻银滚雪。不亦快哉！
It is a summer day. I go bareheaded and barefooted, holding a parasol to watch young people singing Soochow folk songs while treading the water wheel. The water comes up over the wheel in a gushing torrent like molten silver or melting snow. Ah, is this not happiness?
其一：夏月早起，看人于松棚下，锯大竹作筒用。不亦快哉！
I get up early on a summer morning and see people sawing a large bamboo pole under a mat-shed, to be used as a water pipe.
Ah, is this not happiness?
其一：夏日于朱红盘中，自拔快刀，切绿沉西瓜。不亦快哉！
To cut with a sharp knife a bright green watermelon on a big scarlet plate of a summer afternoon. Ah, is this not happiness?
其一：夏月以热汤快刀，净割头发。不亦快哉！
With a basin of hot water and a sharp razor, I shave my head clean in a summer month! Ah, is this not happiness?
兰亭集序
Preface to The Orchid Pavilion Collection
晋 王羲之
林语堂 英译
永和九年，岁在癸丑，暮春之初，会于会稽山阴之兰亭，修禊事也。群贤毕至，少长咸集。此地有崇山峻岭，茂林修竹，又有清流激湍，映带左右。引以为流觞曲水，列坐其次，虽无丝竹管弦之盛，一觞一咏，亦足以畅叙幽情。是日也，天朗气清，惠风和畅。仰观宇宙之大，俯察品类之盛，所以游目骋怀，足以极视听之娱，信可乐也。
In the ninth year of the reign Yungho [A.D. 353] in the beginning of late spring we met at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin of Kweich’i for the Water Festival, to wash away the evil spirits. Here are gathered all the illustrious persons and assembled both the old and the young. Here are tall mountains and majestic peaks, trees with thick foliage and tall bamboos. Here are also clear streams and gurgling rapids, catching one’s eye from the right and left. We group ourselves in order, sitting by the waterside, and drink in
succession from a cup floating down the curving stream; and although there is no music from string and wood-wind instruments, yet with alternate singing and drinking, we are
well disposed to thoroughly enjoy a quiet intimate conversation. Today the sky is clear, the air is fresh and the kind breeze is mild. Truly enjoyable it is to watch the immense universe above and the myriad things below, traveling over the entire landscape with our eyes and allowing out sentiments to roam about at will, thus exhausting the pleasures of the eye and the ear.
夫人之相与，俯仰一世。或取诸怀抱，悟言一室之内；或因寄所托，放浪形骸之外。虽趣舍万殊，静躁不同，当其欣于所遇，暂得于己，快然自足，不知老之将至；及其所之既倦，情随事迁，感慨系之矣。向之所欣，俯仰之间，已为陈迹，犹不能不以之兴怀，况修短随化，终期于尽！古人云，“死生亦大矣。”岂不痛哉！
Now when people gather together to surmise life itself, some sit and talk and unburden their thoughts in the intimacy of a room, and some, overcome by a sentiment, soar forth into a world beyond bodily realities. Although we select our pleasures according to our inclinations-some noisy and rowdy, and others quiet and sedate-yet when we have found that which pleases us, we are all happy and contented, to the extent of forgetting that we are growing old.
And then, when satiety follows satisfaction, and with the change of circumstances, change also our whims and desires, there then arises a feeling of poignant regret. In the twinkling of an eye, the objects of our former pleasures have become things of the past,still compelling in us moods of regretful memory. Furthermore,although our lives may be long or short, eventually we all end in nothingness. “Great indeed are life and death” said the ancients. Ah! What sadness!
每览昔人兴感之由，若合一契，未尝不临文嗟悼，不能喻之于怀。固知一死生为虚诞，齐彭殇为妄作。后之视今，亦犹今之视昔。悲夫！故列叙时人，录其所述。虽世殊事异，所以兴怀，其致一也。后之览者，亦将有感于斯文。
I often study the joys and regrets of the ancient people, and as I lean over their writings and see that they were moved exactly as ourselves, I am often overcome by a feeling of sadness and compassion, and would like to make those things clear to myself. Well I know it is a lie to say that life and death are the same thing, and that longevity and early death make no difference! Alas! As we of the present look upon those of the past, so will posterity look upon our present selves. Therefore, have I put down a sketch of these contemporaries and their sayings at this feast, and although time and circumstances may change, the way they will evoke our moods of happiness and regret will remain the same. What will future readers feel when they cast their eyes upon this writing!
很偶然的机会读到了清人李密庵所作的《半半歌》，印象深刻，这首诗作实是“中庸”思想的典型体现。今读到林语堂先生对该诗的英译，可以将汉英版集录于此，赏析品读，不亦快哉！
半半歌
（清）李密庵
看破浮生过半， 半之受用无边。
半中岁月尽幽闲，半里乾坤宽展。
半廓半乡村舍， 半山半水田园。
半耕半读半经廛，半士半民姻眷。
半雅半粗器具， 半华半实庭轩。
衾裳半素半轻鲜，肴馔半丰半俭。
童仆半能半拙， 妻儿半朴半贤。
心情半佛半神仙，姓字半藏半显。
一半还之天地， 让将一半人间。
半思后代与沧田，半想阎罗怎见。
酒饮半酣正好， 花开半时偏妍。
帆张半扇免翻颠，马放半缰稳便。
半少却饶滋味， 半多反厌纠缠。
百年苦乐半相参，会占便宜只半。
Li Mi-an’s “The Half-Half Song”
林语堂 英译
By far the greater half have I seen through
This floating life-Ah, there’s a magic word-
This “half”-so rich in implications.
It bids us taste the joy of more than we
Can ever own. Halfway in life is man’s
Best state, when slackened pace allows him ease;
A wide world lies halfway, twixt heaven and earth;
To live halfway between the town and land,
Have farms halfway between the streams and hills;
Be half-scholar, and half-a-squire, and half
In business; half as gentry live,
And half related to the common folk;
And have a house that’s half genteel, half plain,
Half elegantly furnished and half bere;
Dresses and gowns that are half old, half new,
And food half epicure’s, half simple fare;
Have servants not too clever, not too dull;
A wife who’s not too simple, nor too smart-
So then, at heart, I feel I’m half a Buddha,
And almost half a Taoist fairy blest.
One half myself to Father Heaven I
Return; the other half to children leave-
Half thinking how for my posterity
To plan and provide, and yet half minding how
To answer God when the body’s laid at rest.
He is most wisely drunk who is half drunk;
And flowers in half-bloom look their prettiest;
As boats at half-sail sail the steadiest,
And horses held at half-slack reins trot best.
Who half too much has, adds anxiety,
But half too little, adds possession’s zest.
Since life’s of sweet and bitter compounded,
Who tastes but half is wise and cleverest.
论书与读书
On Books and Reading
张潮
林语堂 英译
少年读书，如隙中窥月；中年读书，如庭中望月；老年读书，如台上玩月。Reading books in one’s youth is like looking at the moon through a crevice; reading books in middle age is like looking at the moon in one’s courtyard; and reading books in the old age is like looking at the moon on an open terrace.
皆以阅历之浅深，为所得之浅深耳。
This is because the depth of benefits of reading varies in proportion to the depth of one’s own experience.
能读无字之书，方可惊人妙句；能会难通之解，方可参最上禅机。
Only one who can read books without words [i.e., the book of life itself] can say strikingly beautiful things; and only one who
understands truth difficult to explain by words can grasp the highest Buddhist wisdom.
古今至文，皆血泪所成。
All immortal literature of the ancients and the moderns was written
with blood and tears.
《水浒传》是一部怒书，《西厢记》是一部悟书，《金瓶梅》是一部哀书。
All Men Are Brothers is a book of anger, The Monkey Epic is a book of spiritual awakening, and Gold-Vase Plum [a pornographic novel] is a book of sorrow.
文章是案头之山水，山水是地上之文章。
Literature is landscape on the desk, and a landscape is literature on the earth.
读书最乐，若读史书，则喜少怒多，究之怒处亦乐处也。
Reading is the greatest of all joys, but there is more anger than joy in reading history. But after all there is pleasure in such anger.
读经宜冬，其神专也；读史宜夏，其时久也；读诸子宜秋，其致别也；读诸集宜春，其机畅也。
One should read the classics in winter, because then one’s mind is more concentrated; read history in summer, because one has more time; and read the ancient philosophers in autumn, because they have such charming ideas; and read the collected works of later authors in spring, because then Nature is coming back to life.
文人读武事，大都纸上谈兵；武将论文章，半属道听途说。
When literary men talk about military affairs, it is mostly military science in the studio [literally, “discussing soldiers on paper”];
and when military generals discuss literature, it is mostly rumors picked up on hearsay.
善读书者，无之而非书：山水亦书也，棋酒亦书也，花月亦书也。
A man who knows how to read finds everything becomes a book wherever he goes: hills and waters are also books, and so are chess and wine, and so are the moon and flowers.
善游山水者，无之而非山水：书史亦山水也，诗酒亦山水也，花月亦山水也。
A good traveler finds that everything becomes a landscape wherever he goes: books and history are landscapes, and so are wine and poetry, and so are the moon and flowers.
