10 《红楼梦》诗词曲赋英译选录

1、?红楼梦?诗词曲赋英译选录注：中间一栏为David Hawkes的英译，右边一栏为杨宪益的英译。好了歌第一回）跛道人David Hawkes 译杨宪益译世人都晓神仙好, 惟有功名忘不了。 古今将相在何方？ 荒冢一堆草没了。Men all know that salvation should be won, But with ambition wont have done, have done.Where are the famous ones of days gone by? In grassy graves they lie now, every one.All men long to be

2、 immortalsYet to riches and rank each aspires;The great ones of old, where are they now?Their graves are a mass of briars.世人都晓神仙好,只有金银忘不了。终朝只恨聚无多,及到多时眼闭了。Men all know that salvation should be won, But with their riches wont have done, have done.Each day they grumble theyve not made enough.When theyv

3、e enough, its goodnightAll men long to be immortals, Yet silver and gold they prize And grub for money all their lives Till death seals up their eyes.everyone.世人都晓神仙好,只有娇妻忘不了。君生日日说恩情,君死又随人去了。Men all know that salvation should be won, But with their loving wives they wont have done.The darlings every

4、 day protest their love:But once youre dead, they9re off with another one.All men long to be immortalsYet dote on the wives theyve wed, Who swear to love their husbandevermoreBut remarry as soon as hes dead.世人都晓神仙好, 只有儿孙忘不了。 痴心父母古来多, 孝顺子孙谁见了?Men all know that salvation should be won,But with their c

5、hildren wont have done, have done.Yet though of parents fond there is no lack, Of grateful children saw I neer a one.All men long to be immortalsYet with getting sons wont have done.Although fond parents are legion, Who ever saw a really filial son?好了歌注第一回）陋室空堂， 当年笏满床。 衰草枯杨， 曾为歌舞场。Mean hovels and ab

6、andoned hallsWhere courtiers once paid daily calls:Bleak haunts where weeds and willows scarcely thriveWere once with mirth and revelry alive.Whilst cobwebs shroud the mansions蛛丝儿结满雕梁， 绿纱今又在蓬窗上。 说甚么脂正浓、粉正香,gilded beams,The cottage casement with choice muslin gleams.Would you of perfumed elegance rec

7、ite?Mean huts and empty hallsWhere emblems of nobility once hung;Dead weeds and withered trees,Where men have once danced and sung.Carved beams are swathed in cobwebsBut briar-choked casements screened again with gauze;作践的，公府千金似下流。 叹芳魂艳魄， 一载荡悠悠。虚花悟将那三春勘破， 桃红柳绿待如 何？把这韶华打灭， 觅那清淡天和。说什么天上天桃 盛，云中杏蕊多，到头来谁

8、见把秋 捱过？那么看那， 白杨村里人呜咽， 青枫林下鬼吟哦， 更兼着，连天衰草遮坟墓。这的是，昨贫今富人劳碌， 春荣秋谢花折磨。 似这般，生关死劫谁能 躲？闻说道西方宝树 唤婆娑，上结着长生果。聪明累机关算尽太聪明, 反算了卿卿性命。 生前心已碎， 死后性空灵。家富人宁， 终有个， 家亡人散各奔腾。 枉费了， 意悬悬半世心； 好一似， 荡悠悠三更梦。 忽喇喇似大厦倾,Trampling on the precious child of a ducal mansion.Alas, in less than a year her sweet soul fades away.PERCEPTION O

9、F THETRANSIENCE OF FLOWERSShe will see through the three SpringsAnd set no storeBy the red of peach-blossom, the green of willows,Stamping out the fire of youthful splendourTo savour the limpid peace of a clear sky.Though the peach runs riot against the sky,Though the clouds teem with apricot blosso

10、m,Who has seen any flower that can win safely through autumn?Even now mourners are lamenting by groves of poplars,Ghosts are wailing below green maples,And the weeds above their graves stretch to the skyline.Truly, changes in fortune are the cause of mens toil, Spring blooming and autumn withering t

11、he fate of flowers.Who can escape the gate of birth, the fate of death?Yet in the west, they say, grows the sal treeWhich bears the fruit of immortality.RUINED BY CUNNINGToo much cunning in plotting and schemingIs the cause of her own undoing;While yet living her heart is broken And after death all

12、her subtlety comes to nothing.A rich house, all its members at peace,Is ruined at last and scattered;In vain her anxious thought for half a lifetime,For like a disturbing dream at dead of night,Like the thunderous collapse of a great mansion,And bore, when you would rant and rave, Treatment fat wors

13、e than any slave;So that her delicate, sweet soulIn just a twelvemonth from its body stole.The Vanity of SpringWhen triple spring as vanity was seen,What use the blushing flowers, the willows green?From youths extravagance you sought releaseTo win chaste quietness and heavenly peace.The hymeneal pea

14、ch-blooms in the sky,The flowering almonds blossoms seen on highDismiss, since none, fbr sure, Can autumns blighting frost endure.Amidst sad aspens mourners sob and sigh, In maple woods the poor ghosts thinly cry, And under the dead grasslands lost graves lie.Now poor, now rich, mens lives in toil a

15、re passedTo be, like summers pride, cut down at last.The doors of life and death all must go through.Yet this I know is true:In Paradise there grows a precious tree Which bears the fruit of immortality.Caught By Her Own CunningToo shrewd by half, with such finesse you wroughtThat your own life in yo

16、ur own toils was caught;But long before you died your heart was slain,And when you died your spirit walked in vain.Fairn the great house once so secure in wealth,Each scattered member shifting for himself;And half a life-times anxious schemes昏惨惨似灯将尽。呀！一场欢喜忽悲辛, 叹人世，终难定！留馀庆留馀庆， 留馀庆， 忽遇恩人； 幸娘亲， 幸娘亲， 积得

17、阴功。劝人生，济困扶穷。休似俺那爱银钱、 忘骨肉的狠舅奸 兄。正是乘除加减， 上有苍穹。晚韶华镜里恩情，更那堪梦里功名！ 那美韶华去之何 迅，再休提绣帐鸳衾。 只这戴珠冠，披凤袄，也抵不了无常性 命。虽说是，人生莫受老来贫， 也须要阴鹭积儿 孙。气昂昂头戴簪缨， 光灿灿胸悬金印； 威赫赫爵禄高登， 昏惨惨黄泉路近！ 问古来将相可还 存？也只是虚名儿后人 钦敬。好事终Proved no more than the stuff of dreams. Like a great buildings tottering crash, Like flickering lampwick burned to

18、ash, Your scene of happiness concludes in grief: For worldly bliss is always insecure and brief.The SurvivorSome good remained, Some good remained: The daughter found a friend in need Through her mothers one good deed.So let all men the poor and meek sustain, And from the example of her cruel kin re

19、frain,Who kinship scorned and only thought of gain.For far above the constellationsOne watches all and makes calculations.Splendour Come LateFavour, a shadow in the glass;Fame, a dream that soon would pass:The blissful flowering-time of youth soon fled,Soon, too, the pleasures of the bridal bed. A p

20、earl-encrusted crown and robes of state Could not for death untimely compensate; And though each man desires Old age from want made free, True blessedness requiresA clutch of young heirs at the knee.Proudly uprightThe head with cap and hands of office on, And gleaming brightUpon his breast the gold

21、insignia shone.An awesome sightTo see him so exalted stand! -Yet the black nightOf deaths dark frontier lay close at hand. All those whom history calls great Left only empty names for us to venerate.The Good Things Have An EndOr the flickering of a lamp that gutters out,Mirth is suddenly changed to

22、sorrow.Ah, nothing is certain in the world of men.justA LITTLE ACT OF KINDNESSThanks to one small act of kindnessShe meets by chance a grateful friend;Fortunate that her motherHas done some unnoticed good.Men should rescue the distressed and aid the poor,Be not like her heartless uncle or treacherou

23、s cousinWho for love of money forget their own flesh and blood.Truly, rewards and punishments Are meted out by Heaven.SPLENDOUR COMES TOO LATELove is only a reflection in a mirror, Worse still, rank and fame are nothing but a dream,So quickly youth and beauty fade away.Say no more of embroidered cur

24、tains and love-bird quilts,Nor can a pearl tiara and phoenix jacketStave off for long Deaths summons.Though it is said that old age should be free from want,This depends on the unknown merits laid by for ones children.Jubilant in official headdressAnd glittering with a gold seal of high office,A man

25、 may be awe-inspiring and exalted,But the gloomy way to the Yellow Spring is near.What remains of the generals and statesmen of old?Nothing but an empty name admired by posterity.GOOD THINGS COME TO AN ENDFragrant dust falls from painted画梁春尽落香尘。擅风情， 秉月貌，便是败家的根本。 箕裘颓堕皆从敬, 家事消亡首罪宁。 宿孽总因情！beams at the

26、close of spring;By nature passionate and fair as the moon,The true root is she of the familys destruction.The decline of the old tradition starts with Jing,The chief blame for the Houses ruin rests with Ning.All their sins come about throughLove.Perfumed was the dust that fellFrom painted beams wher

27、e springtime ended.Her sportive heartAnd amorous looksThe ruin of a mighty house portended.The weakness in the line began with Jing;The blame for the decline lay first in Ning;But retribution all was of Loves fashioning.飞鸟各投林为官的， 家业凋零； 富贵的， 金银散尽； 有恩的， 死里逃生； 无情的清楚报应； 欠命的， 命已还； 欠泪的，泪已尽：冤冤相报自非轻， 别离聚合皆前

28、定。 欲知命短问前生， 老来富贵也真侥 幸。看破的， 遁入空门； 痴迷的， 枉送了性命。好一似食尽鸟投 林，落了片白茫茫大1瞋 干净！The Birds Into The Wood Have FlownThe office jacks career is blighted,The rich mans fortune now all vanished, The kind with life have been requited, The cruel exemplarily punished;The one who owed a life is dead, The tears one owed h

29、ave all been shed.Wrongs suffered have the wrongs done expiated;The couplings and the sunderings were fated.Untimely death sin in some past life shows, But only luck a blest old age bestows.The disillusioned to their convents fly, The still deluded miserably die.Like birds who, having fed, to the wo

30、ods repair,They leave the landscape desolate and bare.十二花容色最新十二花容色最新， 不知谁是惜花人。 相逢假设问谁何 氏，家住江南本性秦。THE BIRDS SCATTER TO THE WOODAn official household declines, Rich nobles wealth is spent. She who did good escapes the jaws of death,The heartless meet with certain retribution.Those who took a life have

31、 paid with their own lives,The tears one owed have all been requited in kind.Not light the retribution for sins against others;All are predestined, partings and reunions.Seek the cause of untimely death in a part existence,Lucky she who enjoys rank and riches in old age;Those who see through the wor

32、ld escape from the world,While foolish lovers forfeit their lives for nothing.When the food is gone the birds return to the wood;All thafs left is emptiness and a great void.十二花容色最新（第七回）Twelve maids pretty as flowers, 无译文But who is it that loves them?Do you ask the name of the one he meets?It is Qin

33、 whose home is south of the Yangtze River.沁芳宝玉绕堤柳借三篙翠,隔岸花分一脉香。有凤来仪宝玉宝鼎茶闲烟尚绿,幽窗棋罢指犹凉。衡芷清芬宝玉吟成豆蔻诗犹艳,睡足荼廉梦亦香。题大观园诸景对额第十七回）Three pole-thrust lengths of bankside willows green,One fragrant breath of bankside flowerssweet.Willows on the dyke lend their verdancy to three punts;Flowers on the further shore

34、spare a breath of fragranceFrom the empty cauldron the steam still rises after the brewing of tea.By the darkening window the fingers are still cold after the game of Go.Composing amidst cardamoms, youmake verses like flowers.shallSlumbering amidst the roses,dream fragrant dreams.youshallStill green

35、 the smoke from tea brewed in a rare tripod;Yet cold the fingers from chess played by quiet window.Singing on cardamons makes lovelypoetry;Sleeping beneath roses induces sweet dreams.上贾妃启（第十八回贾政臣草芥寒门，鸠群鸦属之中， 岂意得征凤鸾之瑞。今贵人上锡天恩，下昭祖德，此皆山川口月之精华、 祖宗之远德钟于一人， 幸及政夫妇。且今上启天地物之大德, 垂古今未有之旷恩， 虽肝脑涂地，臣子岂能得报于万一！ 惟朝乾

36、夕惕， 忠于厥职外。Madam,That a poor and undistinguished household such as ours should have produced, as it were, a phoenix from amidst a flock of crows and pies to bask in the sunshine of Imperial favour and shed its reflected beams on the departed representatives of our ancestral line must be attributable

37、to the concentration in your single person of the quintessences of all that is most admirable in celestial and terrestrial nature and the accumulated merit of many generations of our forebears, and is an honour and a blessing in which my wife and I are proud to be participators.Our beloved Emperor,

38、who embodies in his own Sacred Person those life-giving forces which are alwaysYour subject, poor and obscure, little dreamed that our flock of common pigeons and crows would ever be blessed with a phoenix.Thanks to the Imperial favour and the virtue of our ancestors, your Noble Highness embodies th

39、e finest essences of nature and the accumulated merit of our forebears - such fortune has attended my wife and myself.His Majesty, who manifests the great virtue of all creation, has shown us such extraordinary and hitherto unknown favour that even if we dashed out our brains愿我君万寿千秋，乃天下苍生之同庆也。贵妃切勿以政

40、夫妇残年为 念。懑愤金怀，更祈自加珍爱。惟业业兢兢，勤慎恭肃以待上，庶不负上体贴眷爱如此之隆 恩也。invisibly at work in the natural cosmos, has showered down upon his grateful subjects a gracious kindness unprecedented in the annals of recorded historya kindness which even the expenditure of our lifes blood to the veriest ultimate drop would be wh

41、olly inadequate to repay and which only the most unremitting pains and unswerving loyalty in the discharge of those duties to which it has pleased him to call us could adequately express.It is our earnest prayer that His Sacred Majesty may continue long to reign over us, a blessing to all his people

42、s; and that Your Grace should feel no anxiety concerning the welfare of my wife and myself during our now declining years, but should rather cherish and sustain your own precious person, in order to be the better able to serve His Sacred Majesty with care and diligence, seeking by that service to be

43、 worthy of the tender regard and loving favour which he has been graciously pleased to bestow upon you.we could not repay one-thousandth part of our debt of gratitude.All I can do is to exert myself day and night, loyally carry out my official duties, and pray that our sovereign may live ten thousan

44、d years as desired by all under heaven.Your Noble Highness must not grieve your precious heart in concern for your ageing parents.We beg you to take better care of your own health.Be cautious, circumspect, diligent and respectful.Honour the Emperor and serve him well, so as to prove yourself not ung

45、rateful for His Majestys bountiful goodness and great kindness.大观园正殿额对（第十八回）贝兀甘顾恩思义元春天地启宏慈，赤子苍生同感戴;古今垂旷典，九州万国被恩荣。For all earth to share,his great compassion has been extended, that children and humble folk may gratefully rejoice.For all ages to admire,his noble institutions have been promoted, that

46、people of every land and clime may joyfully exult.Compassion vast as the universe extends to old and young,Grace unknown before honours every state and land.大观园题咏第十八回题大观园元春衔山抱水建来精,多少工夫筑始成!Embracing hills and streams, with skill they wrought:Their work at last is to perfectionEnfolding hills and stre

47、ams laid out with skill What labour went to build this天上人间诸景备,芳园应锡大观名。旷性怡情迎春园成景备特精奇, 奉命羞题额旷怡。 谁信世间有此境, 游来宁不畅神思？万象争辉探春名园筑就势巍巍, 奉命多惭学浅微。 精妙一时言不出, 果然万物生光芒。文章造化惜春山水横拖千里外, 楼台高起五云中。 园修日月光芒里, 景夺文章造化功。文采风流李纨秀水明山抱复回, 风流文采胜蓬莱。 绿裁歌扇迷芳草, 红衬湘裙舞落梅。 珠玉自应传盛世, 神仙何幸下瑶台! 名园一自邀游赏, 未许凡人到此来。pleasure ground!For these, the

48、 finest sights of earth and heaven,Not fitter name than Grand View“ can be found.REFRESHING THE HEARTLandscapes strange and rare here we find:Bashfully, at the word of command, I take up my pen;Who dreamed of such loveliness in the world of men?A stroll through these grounds refreshes heart and mind

49、.ALL THINGS VIE IN SPLENDOURThis garden laid out with consummate artI blush, with my poor skill, its fame to render.Past telling are the marvels in this placeFor here, indeed, all things compete in splendour.REFINEMENT IN CREATIONThis landscape stretches to infinity,Its high pavilions soaring to the

50、 sky;Laid out in radiance of the moon and sun,Nature itself is by these scenes outdone.FAIR AND FINEBright hills and crystal water intertwine,No fairy isle is half as fair or fine.Green fans of singers mid sweet herbs are lost,Plum-petals by red skirts of dancers tossed.Rare verses should record thi

51、s golden hour 一Our joy at the nymphs descent from jasper tower.Once she has visited these lovely groundsbrought.Earths fairest prospects all are here installed,So Prospect Garden let its name be called!Hearts EaseThe garden finished, all its prospects please.Bidden to write, I name this spot Hearts

52、EaseWho would have thought on earth such scenes to findAs here refresh the heart and ease the mind?All Things Bright and BeautifulThe finished garden is a wondrous sight. Unlettered and unskilled, I blush to write. Its marvels are not in one phrase expressed,Yet Bright and Beautifur I judge the best

53、.Art the CreatorThe gardens landscape far and wide outspreads;High in the clouds its buildings raise their heads;Serene in moonlight, radiant in the sun一 Great Natures handiwork has been outdone!Brightness and GraceWater on hills and hills on waters smile, More bright and graceful than the Immortal

54、Isle.Midst odorous herbs the singer9s green fan hides;Her crimson skirt through falling petals glides.A radiant jewel to the world is shown,A fairy princess from her tower come down:And since her steps the garden9s walks have trod,No mortal foot must desecrate its sod.凝晖钟瑞宝钗芳园筑向帝城西, 华日祥云笼罩奇。 高柳喜迁莺出谷

55、, 修篁时待凤来仪。 文风已著宸游夕, 孝化应隆归省时。 睿藻仙才瞻仰处, 自惭何敢再为辞？Auspicious SkiesWest of imperial walls the garden lies;The sun beams on it from auspicious skies.Its willows orioles from the vale invite; Tall bamboos tempt the phoenix to alight. Poetic arts this night must celebrate Filial affection dressed in robes o

56、f state. Dare I, who have those jewelled phrases read,Add more to what She has already said?世外仙源林黛玉名园筑何处？ 仙境别红尘。借得山川秀， 添来景物新。 香融金谷酒， 花媚玉堂人。何幸邀恩宠， 宫车过往频。The Fairy StreamTo fairy haunts far from the worlds annoyA royal visit brings a double joy.A thousand borrowed beauties here combinedIn this new set

57、ting new enchantment find.Its odours sweet a poets wine enrich;Its flowers a queenly visitor bewitch.May she and we this favour hope to gain:That oft-times she may pass this way again!有凤来仪宝玉秀玉初成实， 堪宜待凤凰。竿竿青欲滴， 个个绿生凉。迸砌防阶水， 穿帘碍鼎香。莫摇分碎影， 好梦正初长。The Phoenix DancePerfected now at last, this place is fit

58、For Bird of Paradise to enter it.Bach graceful wand lets fall a dewy tear;Each glossy leaf breathes coolness on the air.Through narrow-parted blocks the pent stream leaps;Through chinks of blind the incense thinly seeps.Let none the checkered shade with violence rudeDisrupting, on the slumberer drea

59、ms intrude!No mortal foot may overstep their bounds.CONCENTRATED SPLENDOUR,BESTOWED FELICITYWest of the Palace in this pleasure groundSunlight, auspicious clouds, rare sights abound;High willows orioles from the vale invite,Tall bamboos tempt the phoenix to alight.This nights royal tour gives rise t

60、o poetry,Her visit fosters filial piety.Such wisdom flows from her immortal brush,Too awed to pen more lines I can but blush.A FAIRYLAND FAR FROMTHE WORLD OF MENWho knows where this illustrious garden lies?Far from the dusty world this paradise.Here streams and mountains lend their fair delightEnhan