陋室铭英译

陋室铭

山不在高，有仙则名。水不在深，有龙则灵。斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。苔痕上阶绿，草色入帘青。谈笑有鸿儒，往来无白丁。可以调素琴，阅金经。无丝竹之乱耳，无案牍之劳形。南阳诸葛庐，西蜀子云亭。孔子云：“何陋之有？”

（1）陋室：简陋的房子。

（2）铭：古代刻在器物上用来警戒自己或者称颂功德的文字，后来就成为一种文体。这种文体一般都是用韵。

（3）有仙则名：有了仙人就成了名山。古代传说先人都住在山上。

（4）有龙则灵：有了龙就成为灵异的水了。

（5）斯是陋室，惟吾德馨：这是简陋的房子，只是我（住屋的人）的品德好（就不感到简陋了）。斯，这。惟，只。吾，我，这里指住屋的人自己。馨，香气，这里指品德高尚。

（6）苔痕上阶绿，草色入帘青：苔痕碧绿，长到阶上；草色青葱，映入帘里。（7）鸿儒：博学的人。鸿，大。儒，旧指读书人。

（8）白丁：平民。这里指没有什么学问的人。

（9）调（tiáo）素琴：调，调弄，这里指弹（琴）。素琴，不加装饰的琴。（10）金经：指佛经。

（11）丝竹：琴瑟、萧管等乐器。这里指奏乐的声音。

（12）案牍：官府的公文。

（13）劳形：使身体劳累。形，形体、身体。

（14）南阳诸葛庐，西蜀子云亭：南阳有诸葛亮的草庐，西蜀有扬子云的亭子。这句话是说，诸葛庐和子云亭都很简陋，但因为主人很有名，所以受到人们的景仰。南阳，郡名。诸葛亮的躬耕隐居之地在邓县隆中，属于南阳郡。诸葛，指诸葛亮，三国时蜀国的丞相，著名的政治家。西蜀，现在的四川。子云，指杨雄，西汉文学家。

（15）何陋之有：有什么简陋的呢？孔子说的这句话见于《论语?子罕》篇。之，表示强烈的反问，宾语前置的标志。

Ode to the Humble Hut

---Liu Yuxi from Tang Dynasty

---Translated by 许景城（翻译达人Peter Cooper Xu）

Renowned will be a hill if angles live,

Regardless of its being high or low.

Ensouled will be a rill if dragons live,

In spite of its being deep or shallow.

Humble is the hut where I dwell,

Yet all shames my virtues dispel.

Green are the stonesteps with lichens creeping,

Blue is my room through screens from grass shining.

Conversing to me are all erudites,

Never dropped in by the illiterates.

Reading the sutra and playing the lyre,

Never are we troubled by noisy string and flute sound;

Nor are we fatigued by heavy official files around.

There in Nanyang sees Zhuge's thatched hut;

There in West Shu stands Yang Xiong's arbor,

Just as Confucius said, “Humble’s the hut?”

散文版译文：

An Inscription to the Humble Hut

---Liu Yuxi from Tang Dynasty

---Translated by 许景城（翻译达人Peter Cooper Xu）

Renowned a mountain is not for its height but for the immortal who lives in it. Ensouled is a sea not for its depth but for the dragon who entrenches in it. It's true of my humble hut where I see my morality, virtues, and happiness but shames. Lichens are creeping up to the stone steps which are coated in green while grasses are shinning through the bamboo portiere of my room where is echoed blue. Coming to my house and conversing to me are

the persons who have great knowledge not illiterates. From time to time, we can play the lyre, or read Buddhist scriptures, never troubled by noisy string and flute sounds or the heavy official documents. Thus, my humble hut is like the thatched shed where Zhuge Liang from Nanyang lived and the thatched pavilion where Yang Ziyun from West Shu Shire dwelled. Just as a saying from Confucius goes like this, "Is it humble?"

Notes：

1. Liu Yuxi (772-842) was a famous poet and philosopher in Tang Dynasty. He used to be

a investigating censor and an active revolutionary. After the failure of Yong Zhen Innovation, he lost his official hat and degraded to serve as an unimportant official in Langzhou (now Changde in Hunan).

2. The Ode or Inscription was written by him to express the poet’s attitude towards life and wealth and ranks. He in pursuit of his high moral integrity would rather stay as a hermit in the humble hut than work with toadies in the imperial court.

3. Zhuge Liang is the famous statesman and strategist of Shu Kingdom and before he became the prime minister to Liu Bei, the duke of Shu Kingdom, he lived as a recluse in Wolonggang, Nanyang in Henan province.

4. Yang Ziyun, whose real name is Yangxiong, is a famous litterateur in West Han Dynasty, and he had a thatched pavilion in Shu Shire now in Sichuan.

其他译文：

译文1：

An Epigraph in Praise of My Humble Home

---Liu Yuxi

---罗经国译

A mountain needn't be high; It is famous so long as there is a deity on it. A lake needn't be deep; It has supernatural power so long as there is a dragon in it. My home is humble, But it enjoys the fame of virtue so long as I am living in it. The moss creeping onto the doorsteps turns them green. The color of the grass reflected through the bamboo curtains turns the room blue. Erudite scholars come in good spirits to talk with me, And among my guests there is no unlearned common man. In this humble room, I can enjoy playing my plainly decorated qin, or read the Buddhist Scriptures quietly, Without the disturbance of the noisy that jar on the ears, or the solemn burden of reading official documents. My humble home is like the thatched hut of Zhuge Liang of Nanyang, or the Pavilion Ziyun of Xishu. Confucius once said: "How could we call a room humble as long as there is a virtuous man in it?"

译文2：

An Epigraph for My Humble Room

Wr. by Liu Yuxi (Tang Dynasty)

Tr. by 颜林海

A mountain has a fame not for its height, but for a deity being in it. A lake has a spirit not for its depth, but for a dragon being in it. My room, although simple and humble, is famous for my virtues. Here, moss kisses the steps, and green grass catches the eyes. Confabbing here are all erudite men but shallow people. Here I can play my undecorated qin (a Chinese zither), and read diamond sutra, neither interrupted by such noises as from those silk-string and woodwind instruments, nor exhausted by official documents. My room, famous for my virtues, like Zhuge Liang's Thatched Cottage in Nanyang and Ziyun's Pavilion in western Shu, is just described as Confucius said:"How can such a room be simple and humble?"

译文3：

An Eulogium on a Humble Cell

--- Stephen 译

A mount needs not be high; it becomes noted when on it fairies dwell. A body of water needs not be deep; it would be ensouled, if a dragon makes it its resting whereabouts. This hut of mine is a humble one, but I make it virtuously fragrant in repute. The green moss creeping on the stepping stones and the verdure in the courtyard peeing through the screen do tell the presence of spring. Here could be heard the table-talks and laughters of renowned scholars, but the rough and gross come not hither their wares to sell. Here plain table-heptachord could be plucked and golden classics read the worldly cares to quell. But there are without riotous strings and pipes to confuse the ears, and tedious official documents to ring quietude's knell. Zhuge's recluse cottage at Nanyang and Yang Xiong's hermit arbour in West Shu, — according to Confucius, wherefore could either one of them be branded as a humble cell?

译文4：

Inscription For My Shabby Hut

---孙大雨译

Mountains need not always be high, They're famed if therein fairies abide. Waters need not always be deep, They're hallowed where dragons are spied. This is a simple, mean abode, Only my virtue lends it fragrance. Moss smears a fringe of green upon The stone steps forming the terrace; And peering through the screen, there throbs the emerald of the lush grass. Great scholars drop in casually, And talk and laugh in abandoned ways; While in this cordial company Nonentities have ne'er a place. The ancient zither we might play, Or golden-lettered scriptures peruse. No concert bands our ears confuse, And no official files await Our tackling—to excruciate. To Zhuge's cottage at Nanyang, Or Ziyun's pavilion in Sichuan, mine may well be compared. So, as Confucius once had said, "How

could it be considered mean?"

译文5﹕

Eulogy on My Humble Abode

---海外逸士英译

Known will hills be if fairies dwell, no matter high or low; and charmed will waters be if dragons lurk, no matter deep or shallow. A humble abode though this is, my virtues make it smell sweet. Verdant are the stonesteps overgrown with moss, and green seems the screen as the grass seen through it. I chat and laugh only with great scholars and have no intercourse with the ignorant. I can play simple zither and read Buddhist sutras; no string and bamboo instruments to grate on my ears and no government documents to weary my mortal form. That's what like Zhuge's cottage in Nanyang and Ziyun's pavilion in Xishu as Confucius quoth, "How canth it be humble?"