古人詩詞名句選譯

海外逸士

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.

花落黃鸝不復來，妾老君心亦應變。
When flowers fall, orioles will not come again;
As your wife grows old, your love’ll surely change.

莫愁前路無知己，天下誰人不識君。
Don’t worry you won’t have cronies as you go ahead;
Whoever lives under heaven doesn’t know you?

天子呼來不上船，自稱臣是酒中仙。
The emperor sends for you, but you won’t go aboard,
And say Your Majesty’s courtier is the god of wine.

海外逸士

安得壯士挽天河，淨洗甲兵長不用。
How can a hero be found to draw water from Celestial River
To wash clean armors and weapons for long-time disuse.

焉得並州快剪刀，翦取吳松半江水。
How can we get sharp scissors of Bingzhou
To cut half of the water from Wusong River.

藍水遠從千澗落，玉山高並兩峰寒。
The blue water drops far from a thousand cascades;
The jade hill towers so high with two cold peaks side by side.

為人性僻耽佳句，語不驚人死不休。
I’m so eccentric as always fond of good wording;
I won’t stop, even dying, if my wording can’t stun readers.



爾曹身與名俱滅﹐不廢江河萬古流。
Even if your body and fame both perish,
It won’t stop rivers from flowing for ages.

海外逸士

江山代有才人出﹐各領風騷數百年。
Every generation in the nation produces geniuses;
Each will be a leader in literary fields for hundreds of years.

近水樓台先得月﹐向陽花木易為春。
Pavilions near water get the moonlight first;
Flowers toward the sun are easily favored by spring.

君子之交淡若水﹐小人之交甘若醴。
Friendship between gentlemen seems tasteless like fresh water;
Friendship between low cads is sweet like sugary wine.

書到用時方恨少﹐事非經過不知難。
I regret not having read more books when needed;
I don’t know difficulties in doing things till experienced.

得成比目何辭死，願作鴛鴦不羨仙。
Won’t refuse to die if able to become flatfish together;
Wish to be mandarin ducks, even being immortals not desired.

海外逸士

斜景適隨詩興盡，好風才送佩聲回。
The sunset just ends with poetic interest;
The good wind brings tinkling of pendants.

兩情若是久長時，又豈在朝朝暮暮。
If the love of each other is long endurable,
Why care about meeting of a morning and evening?

江花何處最腸斷，半落江流半在空。
What is the most heart-broken about blossoms at the river?
When they half fall on the river current and half in the air.

紙上得來終覺淺，絕知此事要躬行。
If learned only from books, the knowledge is shallow;
Be aware such a thing must be learned from experience.

不經一番寒徹骨﹐焉得梅花撲鼻香。
If not going through the freezing cold to the bone,
How can plum blossoms be thus fragrant to the nose?

海外逸士

畢竟英雄誰得似，臍脂自照不須燈。
After all, who can be the hero like him,
Burning navel fat for light, no need for a lamp.

昨夜故人泉下宿，今朝白髮鏡中垂。
Last night my old friend began to sleep in underworld;
Today my white hair hangs reflected in the mirror.

借問還家何處好，玉人含笑下機迎。
If asking me what’s so good of returning home,
My lady’ll come down from the loom to meet me, smiling.

春城無處不飛花，寒食東風御柳斜。
Nowhere there’re no blooms flying down in spring in the city;
The imperial willow twigs hang aslant in east winds on Cold Meal Day.

寂寞空庭春欲晚，梨花滿地不開門。
Spring in the quiet empty courtyard will turn late;
Pear blossoms all over the ground with the door shut.

海外逸士

寂寞空庭春欲晚，梨花滿地不開門。
Spring in the quiet empty courtyard will turn late;
Pear blossoms all over the ground with the door shut.

過客不須頻問姓，讀書聲里是吾家。
Passers-by don’t need to often ask for my name;
Hearing the sound of my reading, that’s my home.

雲橫秦嶺家何在？雪擁藍關馬不前。
Clouds hanging across Qin Peak, where is my home?
As snow blocks the Blue Pass, my horse can’t go forth.

人世幾回傷往事，山形依舊枕江流。
How many times in life do people regret over things past?
The contour of mountains still lies at the flowing river.

芳林新葉催陳葉，流水前波讓後波。
In fragrant forest, new leaves urge old leaves to leave;
In flowing water, waves in front make way for waves behind.

海外逸士

晴空一鶴排雲上，便引詩情到碧霄。
A stork soaring up to split clouds in the sunny sky
Seems to draw poetic inspiration to the blue vault.

舊時王謝堂前燕，飛入尋常百姓家。
Swallows in old time nesting before halls of Wang and Xie homes
Now fly into the houses of ordinary people.



雲想衣裳花想容，春風拂檻露華濃。
Clouds think of dress while flowers the visage;
Spring winds brush railings, the crystal dews dense.

春風又綠江南岸，明月何時照我還。
The vernal breeze greens banks of the South of the River again;
When will the bright moon shine on me to my homeland?

小荷才露尖尖角，早有蜻蜓立上頭。
The little lotus flower just shows its tiny bud tip,
And a dragonfly already stands on it.

海外逸士

唯有落花無俗態，不嫌憔悴滿頭來。
Only the falling blossoms show no vulgar attitude,
And don’t mind my languor, dropping all over my head.

來如春夢幾多時， 去似朝雲無覓處。
How long does it come like spring dream?
Nowhere to seek it when gone like dawn clouds.

與君相遇知何處，兩葉浮萍大海中。
I don’t know where to meet you,
Just like two duckweeds in the sea.

事事無成身老也，醉鄉不去欲何歸。
Nothing is accomplished, but I grow old;
Where will I go if not the land of drunkenness?

惟餘思婦愁眉結，無限春風吹不開。
What’s left is the thinking lady with knitted eyebrows of sorrow;
Even the endless spring breeze can’t blow them unknitted.

海外逸士

妝罷低聲問夫婿，畫眉深淺入時無。
After toilette, I ask my husband in a low voice;
“Is it the fashion to draw my eyebrows like this?”

公道世間唯白髮，貴人頭上不曾饒。
The only thing fair in the world is the white hair
That never forgets to grow on the head of nobles.

青女素娥俱耐冷，月中霜裏鬥嬋娟。
Goddess of Frost and Goddess of Moon can both stand cold;
They vie for beauty, one in frost and one on the moon.



秋陰不散霜飛晚，留得枯荷聽雨聲。
The autumn coolness is not gone, and frost flies at dusk;
Leave the withered lotus there so as to listen to rain sound.

常娥應悔偷靈藥，碧海青天夜夜心。
Chang O must have remorse for the theft of the elixir;
That haunts her mind every night in the sea-blue sky.

海外逸士

自從別後減容光，半是思郎半恨郎。
Since parting, my face looks languished,
As I half think of my boy and half hate him.

可憐無定河邊骨﹐猶是春閨夢裡人。
The pitiable bones by the Wuding River
Are of the ones in the dreams of their wives.

世路不妨平處少﹐才人唯是屈聲多。
It doesn’t matter the road in life has less smooth places;
But there’s more unjust complaint among men of talent.

各人自掃門前雪﹐莫管他家瓦上霜。
Everyone should only sweep the snow in front of his door,
And no need to care for the frost on tiles of houses of others.

才喜相逢又相送，有情爭得似無情。
As just happy for the meeting, but soon there’s parting;
How can the one with feeling be like those without feeling?

海外逸士

我未成名君未嫁，可能俱是不如人。
I have not earned fame and you not married;
We are both inferior thereby to others.

年年歲歲花相似，歲歲年年人不同。
Year after year flowers seem similar;
Year after year people are different.

故人故情懷故宴，相望相思不相見。
Old friends with old feelings cherish old feasts;
Mutual hope, mutual thinking, but can’t meet mutually.

落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色。
The fading afterglow and the lone wild goose fly together;
The autumn water and the vast sky are of the same color.

衣帶漸寬終不悔，為伊消得人憔悴。
Never remorse even when my girdle becomes loose
Because I have turned lank and languished for her.

海外逸士

有緣千里來相會﹐無緣對面不相逢。
If karma allows, the couple will come to meet from thousand miles apart;
If karma doesn’t, they won’t get to know each other even face to face.

月色更添春色好，蘆風似勝竹風幽。
The color of moon adds fine hue to the color of spring;
The wind from reeds is cooler than the wind from bamboo.

世間富貴應無分，身後文章合有名。
I must have no such luck to share wealth in the world,
But will surely have the fame for my essays after death.

花气襲人知驟暖，鵲聲穿樹喜新晴。
When flower scent invades the nose, one knows it suddenly turns warm;
As the sound of magpies penetrates woods, they are glad at being newly fine.

人生自古誰無死，留取丹心照汗青。
No one will not die since ancient time;
So leave a loyal heart in the history book.

海外逸士

正是江南好風景﹐落花時節又逢君。
The sight right now is so pretty in the south of the river
When I meet you just at the time of flowers falling.

漠漠水田飛白鷺﹐陰陰夏木囀黃鸝。
Over the wide water rice fields flying egrets;
In the shady summer trees warbling orioles.

歸心海外見明月，別思天邊夢落花。
I have a mind to return when seeing the bright moon overseas,
And think of parting when dreaming fallen blooms at the edge of the world.

三山半落青天外﹐兩水中分白鷺洲。
The three ranges of hills look like half sinking beyond the blue sky;
The two currents of water split in the middle by the Egret Shoal.

劉郎已恨蓬山遠﹐更隔蓬山一萬重。
The young Liu already hates the great distance to Peng Mountain,
Let alone a myriad times farther beyond the Peng Mountain.

海外逸士

苦恨年年壓金線﹐為他人作嫁衣裳。
Bitter hatred pressed into golden threads year after year
As I always make the bridal dress only for others.

千呼萬喚始出來﹐猶抱琵琶半遮面。
She comes out at last after thousands and thousands of calls,
Yet holds the lute in her arms to hide half of her face.

同是天涯淪落人﹐相逢何必曾相識。
As we’re both those having fallen to dust in this wide world,
Why should we know each other before since we meet now?

休對故人思故國，且將新火試新茶，
Don’t think of old land facing old friends,
Just try new tea on the newly kindled fire.

山重水複疑無路﹐柳暗花明又一村。
Among hills aft hills, water beyond water, there’s doubtfully no way out;
But with willows dark, flowers bright, another village turns up.

海外逸士

沉舟側畔千帆過﹐病樹前頭萬木春。
Thousands of sails pass by a wrecked ship;
Myriads of trees flourish before a blighted one.

水清石出魚可數﹐林深無人鳥相呼。
Water’s so clear, stones stick out, and fish can be counted;
Woods so deep, no one’s there, only birds call each other.

人老簪花不自羞，花應羞上老人頭。
Some old people with flowers stuck in hair have no feeling of shame;
But flowers feel ashamed to be stuck in the hair of old people.

螯封嫩玉雙雙滿，殼凸紅脂塊塊香。
The pair of crab pincers filled with tender “jade”;
Its red insides under the lid, every piece scented.

空籬舊圃秋無跡，瘦月清霜夢有知。
Empty fences, old orchard, no trace of autumn;
The lean moon, clear frost, only the dream knows.

海外逸士

青山有幸埋忠骨，白鐵無辜鑄佞臣。
The green mountain is so lucky with loyal bones buried under;
The white iron is so innocent, being cast into statues of traitors.



風才敲竹便疑客，雁不入山難寄書。
A doubt of guests coming just as the wind knocks on bamboos;
Hard to send letters since the wild geese don’t fly to mountains.

殘花時墮一兩片，好鳥忽啼三五聲。
Now and then one or two petals fall from withered flowers;
All of a sudden three or five calls sound from lovely birds.

十年客路多隨雁，一樹秋聲總是蟬。
The traveling road for ten years often follows wild geese;
The autumn sound in a tree is just that of cicadas.

人人盡說江南好，遊人只合江南老。
Everyone says the South of the River is good;
Travelers must grow old in the South to the River.

海外逸士

風蕭蕭兮易水寒，壯士一去兮不复還。
The wind roaring, ho, water in Yi River is cold;
The hero going, ho, he will never return.

動人春色不須多﹐萬綠叢中一點紅。
There’s no need to have much of the touching splendor of spring;
A speck of red among a stretch of myriad green is just enough.

春風得意花千里﹐秋月揚輝桂一枝。
Spring wind is complacent with flowers all over thousand miles,
Autumn moon shines bright with a tree of cinnamon.

春風得意馬蹄疾﹐一日看盡長安花。
With spring breeze so complacent the horse hoofs run so quick;
So I finish viewing all the flowers in Chang An during the day.

拂石坐來衣帶冷﹐踏花歸去馬蹄香。
Whisking the stone and sitting there, the girdle of clothes becomes cold;
Returning from treading on fallen flowers, even horse hoofs are scented.

海外逸士

人生何處不相逢。
Everywhere in life, people will meet unexpectedly.

天涯何處無芳草。
Nowhere in the world without sweet grass.

不關心事不經心。
Things not concerned, no need to take them to heart.

海外逸士

詩經名句選譯 (3)
昔我往矣﹐楊柳依依。今我來思﹐雨雪霏霏。
As I went away years ago,
Willows swayed with parting woe.
As now I’m coming,
Rain and snow keep falling.

關關雎鳩﹐在河之洲。窈窕淑女﹐君子好逑。
Warbling, warbling, responds the Jujiu*
On an islet in the river.
The demure and chaste girl
Is the suitable life mate for a gentleman.
*a kind of water bird, a male only mates one female in the whole life. In mating season they will call to each other.

碩鼠碩鼠，無食我黍！三歲貫女，莫我肯顧。
Giant rat, giant rat,
Don’t eat my grains.
I wait on you for three years,
But you don’t care for me.

綠兮衣兮，綠衣黃裡。心之憂矣，曷維其已！
Green, ho, the clothes, ho,
Green clothes with yellow linings.
There’s sorrow in the heart;
When will it cease?

海外逸士

桃之夭夭，灼灼其華，之子于歸，宜其室家。
The flourishing peach trees,
The blossoms brightly ruddy.
The bride coming to the boy’s home
Will bring harmony to his family.

南有喬木，不可休息。漢有游女，不可求思。
There is a tall tree in the south,
But to rest there is impossible;
There is a roaming girl at Han river,
But to her one is not accessible.

相鼠有皮，人而無儀！人而無儀，不死何為？
Look, a mouse has its skin,
How can't a man stand on ceremony!
If a man can't stand on ceremony,
Why shouldn't he better cease to be?

藋藋竹竿﹐以釣于淇。豈不爾思﹖遠莫致之。
With a long long fishing rod,
I'm angling at the Qi river.
How can I not think of you?
Only it's too far to get to you.