介绍:
Presented to Wei Jiansu, Minister of the Left: Twenty Couplets
Phoenix calendar, Xuanyuan’s time calculations,
the dragon has taken flight for forty years.
To the encircling wilds was opened a realm of long life,
the Single Force turned the Great Potter’s Wheel.
Heavy rains, he longed for a virtuous helper,
in the “red and green” he thought of this old official.
In response to the picture he sought a fine steed,
amazing the age, he found a unicorn.
You scoured[1] Yangzi and Yellow River of their mud,
then seasoned the cauldrons anew.
A Wei Xian, at first a minister of Han,
or a Fan Shu having already gone to Qin to serve.
Such is now your glorious achievement,
in transmitting the Classics you are indeed without peer.
The camphor tree comes forth from a remote place,
a gray sea vast, without a ford.
The Northern Dipper is in charge of throat and tongue,
now in the east you oversee those who stick badges in their sashes.
Holding the scales, you remained to classify and gauge[2],
your shoes were heard when you ascended to the stars.
Unique, your talent surpasses antiquity,
the lingering waves of your virtue illuminate[3] all around.
In perceptiveness you surpass Guan Lu,
the letters you compose overwhelm Chen Zun.
How could you be that creature in the pool?—
you have always been a treasure on the mat.
In the ancestral hall you understand perfect governance,
customs entirely return to the pure and simple.
All outstanding talents have been advanced and employed,
but I, benighted[4] fellow, merely sink in obscurity[5].
Sima Xiangru has long been very sick,
Zixia often lives in isolation.
I look back on how I dashed through the ordinary world,
all my life I have resembled most men.
I may not ask Shaman[6] Xian of my fate,
there was no place for me in either Zou or Lu.
I am stirred because my time is getting late,
in the grand vastness there is divinity in my inspiration.
For you, sir, I sing this song,
and my tears are on my gown and kerchief.
单词释义
[1] scour [ˈskaʊə(r)] v. 搜寻，搜查，翻找; 冲刷成;
[2] gauge [ɡeɪdʒ] n. 测量仪器(或仪表); 宽度; 厚度;
[3] illuminate [ɪˈluːmɪneɪt] v. 照明; 照亮; 照射;
[4] benighted [bɪˈnaɪtɪd] adj. 愚昧无知的; 落后的;
[5] obscurity [əbˈskjʊərəti] n. 默默无闻; 无名;
[6] shaman [ˈʃeɪmən] n. 萨满(据信能和善恶神灵沟通，能治病的人);
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