宋玉·《高堂赋》英译
孙大雨 译
昔者楚襄王与宋玉游于云梦之台，望高唐之观。其上独有云气，崪兮直上，忽兮改容，须臾之间，变化无穷。王问玉曰：―此何气也？‖玉对曰：―所谓朝云者也。‖王曰：―何谓朝云？‖玉曰：―昔者，先王尝游高唐，怠而昼寝，梦见一妇人，曰：?妾巫山之女也。为高唐之客，闻君游高唐，愿荐枕席。‘王因幸之。去而辞曰：?妾在巫山之阳，高邱之岨，旦为朝云，暮为行雨，朝朝暮暮，阳台之下。‘旦朝视之，如言，故为立庙，号曰朝云。‖王曰：―朝云始出，然若何也？‖玉对曰：―其始出也，榯兮若松榯。其少进也，晰兮若姣姬。扬袂鄣日，而望所思；忽兮改容，偈兮若驾驷马，建羽旗；湫兮如风；凄兮如雨；风止雨霁，云无处所。‖王曰：―寡人方今可以游乎？‖玉曰：―可。‖王日：―其何如矣？‖玉曰：―高矣显矣，临望远矣；广矣普矣，万物祖矣。上属于天，下见于渊，珍怪奇伟，不可称论。‖王曰：―试为寡人赋之。‖玉曰：―唯唯。‖
惟高唐之大体兮，殊无物类之可仪。比巫山赫其无畴兮，道互折而曾累。登巉岩而下望兮，临大阺之稸水。遇天雨之新霁兮，观百谷之俱集。濞洶洶其无声兮，溃淡淡而并入。滂洋洋而四施兮，蓊湛湛而不止。长风至而波起兮，若丽山之孤亩。执薄岸而相击兮，隘交引而却会。崪中怒而特高兮，若浮海而望碣石。砾磥磥而相摩兮，巆震天之礚礚。巨石溺溺之瀺灂兮，沫潼潼而高厉。水澹澹而盘纡兮，洪波淫淫之溶裔。奔扬踊而相击兮，云兴声之霈霈。猛兽惊而跳骇兮，妄奔走而驰迈。虎豹豺兕失气恐喙，雕鹗鹰鹞，飞扬伏窜；股战胁息，安敢妄挚？于是水虫尽暴，乘渚之阳，黿鼉鳣鲔，交织纵横，振鳞奋翼，蜲蜲蜿蜿。中阪遥望，玄木冬荣。煌煌荧荧，夺人目精，烂兮若列星，曾不可殚形。榛林郁盛，葩华覆盖；双椅垂房，纠枝还会；徙靡澹淡，随波闇蔼，东西施翼，猗狔丰沛。绿叶紫裹，朱茎白蒂；纤条悲鸣，声似竽籁。清浊相和，五变四会；感心动耳，回肠伤气。孤子寡妇，寒心酸鼻。长吏隳官，贤士失态，愁思无已，叹息垂泪。登高远望，使人心瘁！盘中岸巑岏，振中陈皑皑。盘石险峻，倾崎崖聩；岩岖参差，纵横相追。陬互横牾，背穴偃跖。交加累积，重叠增益，状若砥柱，在巫山之下。仰视山颠，肃何芊芊，炫耀虹霓，俯视峥嵘，洼寥窈冥，不见其底：虚闻松声。倾岸洋洋。立而熊经。久而不去，足尽汗出，悠悠忽忽。怊怅自失，使人心动，无故自恐；贲育之断，不能为勇。卒愕异物，不知所生：縰縰莘莘，若生于鬼，若出于神；状似走兽，或像飞禽；谲诡奇伟，不可究陈。上至观侧，地盖底平，箕踵漫衍，芳草罗生。秋兰芷蕙，江离载菁，青荃射干，揭车苞并。薄草靡靡，联延夭夭；越香掩掩，众雀嗷嗷；雌雄相失，哀鸣相号。王睢鹂黄，正冥楚鸠；姊归思妇，垂鸡高巢。其鸣喈喈，当年遨游，更唱迭和，赴曲随流。有方之士羡门高，谿上成，郁林公，乐聚谷，进纯牺，祷璇室，醮诸神，礼太一。传祝已具，言辞已毕，王乃乘玉舆，驷仓螭，垂旒旌，旆合谐，绸大弦，而雅声流冽，风过而坛悲哀。于是调讴令人惏悷憯悽，胁息增欷。于是乃纵猎者，基址如星。传
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言羽猎，衔枚无声。弓弩不发，罘罕不倾。涉漭漭，驰苹苹。飞鸟未及起，走兽未及发。何节奄忽，蹏足洒血。举功先得，获车已实。王将欲往见之，必先斋戒，差时择日，简舆玄服，建云旆，霓为旌，翠为盖，风起雨止，千里而逝。盖发蒙往，自会思，万方忧，国害开，贤圣辅不逮，九窍通郁，精神察滞，延年益寿千万岁！ A Fu on Gaotang Song Yu
Years ago king Xiang of Chu took a trip with [his favorite courtiers] Song Yu to the Elevation of Yunmeng. They looked [in the distance] at the Temple of Gaotang, over which just hung a canopy of vapour.
Up and up it did rise;
Suddenly it changed its guise; Moments but few had flitted by; Multiplex was its wise.
The king asked Yu, ―What vapour is that?‖ Yu replied, ―That is the so-called Morning Clouds.‖ The king asked, ―What is meant by ?the Morning Clouds‘?‖ Yu said, ―Years ago the late king had once taken a trip to Gaotang. Being tired, he took a nap. In his dream he saw a lady, telling him, ?I am the daughter of the Wu Mountains and now a visitor to Gaotang; having heard that thou hast taken a trip hither, I wish to serve thee upon the pillow and the mat. ? The king thereupon favoured her. While leaving, she said, ?I am in the south of the Wu Mountains and on the pinnacle rock of the highland; at dawn I am the morning clouds and towards sunset I become the showering rain; be it after daybreak or be it before dusk, I am always there below the Southern Elevation‘. Latter, when observed early in the morning, she was indeed there as she had said. So a temple was erected for her, named ?Morning Clouds‘. ―The king then asked, ―When she, the Morning Clouds, appears at first, how does she look like?‖ Yu answered,‖When she first appears, she looks like a cluster of luxuriant pines upright sheer;
After a short while, she becomes lustrous like a fair damsel,
Raising her long sleeve to shade the glowing sun and show her cheer To the one in her mind [far beyond that blue fell]
All of a sudden she changes her shape and [gentle] manners,
Turning swiftly into scores of quadrigae and a host of plume-woven banners; Soon it becomes like cool gusts of wind blowing and cold rain drizzling all around;
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And then these would stop and cease and the clouds are nowhere to be found.‖ The king asked, ―Could I go there now?‖ Yu said, ―Aye, my lord.‖ The king then asked, ―How would she be like now?‖ Yu said, ―Oh, high! ah, resplendent! she is; [hail, yet hail!]
The more ye look at her, the farther she recedes [towering tall]; The wider she expands and arches out in the blue, The more she dominates and lords it over all.
She changes into anything which belongs to the heaven and [earth] Or is found in the depths of rivers, lakes and the sea, Into anything rare and strange, wonderful and magnificent, You canst not speak of, praise or discuss them amply.‖
The king said, ―Try to compose a fu on her for me.‖ Yu said, ―Aye, my liege. Take Gaotang all in all, there is nothing whatsoever with it to compare.
For the Wu Mountains have no match, the ways to them intertwine and accumulate. Rising on the precipices and looking down, one sees the water collected in the huge hollow there
When it turns fair after raining, one overlooks streams converging from a hundred vales late.
The body of water heaves noiselessly as the overflow from all sides feeds it higher and higher still;
The flood swells and grabbles, extending its expanse and volume to wax and fill. When a gale blows and waves rise, it is like the wondrous rock beds of the Beauteous Islet;
Holding the narrow banks between them yet dashing against one another, they join the ridges high;
Gathering their force and upheaving, they look like Jie-shi seen on the billows. Gigantic rocks uprooted by water crash each against each and fall, rocking the sky; Colossal masses clashing the water and sinking, splash aloft with them froths and foams;
The mountain lakelet shaking and whirling, its flowing waves flux far off tossing about; Their rushing at one another gives out cloudy spray that sends rain-drops big pattering.
Wild beasts, panic-stricken, jump and run wildly, in trampling, tumultuous rout:
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Tigers, leopards, chai-wolves and unicorns, Cowering, lose their voice to roar or yelp; Buzzards, king pandions, eagles and vultures Fly up, crouch hidden or escape sans help: Shivering with fear and holding their breaths, How dare they still be as fierce as of old? Then the denizens of water all appear, South of a small islet in numbers untole: Chelones, tuo-dragons, sturgeons and tunnies, Gather and shoal, skip and romp all at once, Stirring their scales and shaking their fins. Swimming along like serpents and dragons. Seen distantly from the middle of a slope, Deep woods grow in their winter luxuriance; They send out luster and glory in the sun, Dazzling the eyesight with their brilliance;
Their sheen shoots like darting sparks of the stars, Of which it is vain to describe the radiance. The forests spread out their tall erect lengths, Covered with dense foliage and flowers; The polycarpous trees hang their ovaries, Bending the boughs downward to form bowers; Their branches wave and the water ripples below, The pictures become blurred and dim anon; On all sides around the greenery prospers,— It is so benign to be in this verdant throng. Their leaves are full green and ovaries purple, Vermilion trunks they have and peduncles white; Their slender twigs sing sadly in the wind, Like the pipings of the big yu-reeds quite, The clear tones in unison with the heavy, The five variables and the accords four,— These touch the heart and move the ears sorely, Turn the soft bowels and wound the soul to its core.
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The orphan son and the widowed woman,
Hearing this, have their hearts chilled and hopes shorn; The state official out of his used post, The virtuous scholar alone and lorn,
Heaving heavy groans and shedding salty drops, Are daily by melancholy thoughts outworn. Climbing higher up and looking far off, One is made sick at heart indeed betimes! Winding round, precipitous, rise the sharp cliffs, Spreading in unprecedented lofty climes. The immense rocks rise up and run like wild, Slant, stoop, protrude, veer, uplift and let fall; They stand towering and extend zigzag, Chase one another, then crouch and sprawl; They come together athwart and criss-cross, Or go apart, back to back, as if with gall. Overlapping and aggregated become they, Multiplicate to an astounding state,
Till they come to the foot of the Wu Mountains, Where there is a multitude of Giant Pillars Casting looks upward at the tops of these, They are covered with rich herbage one sees, With a couple of rainbows arching on high; Looking back and down, it is so sheer and steep, Empty and profound, infinitely deep, Nothing like the bottom is anywhere nigh: Only the distant roarings of the pines
Are heard from the hundreds of heights around. One stands still calmly to inhale and exhale, Fixedly at one spot, unbent and unbound, So that the perspires at his two feet and Feels in body as in mind at ease and sound. Then one becomes suddenly perplexed and lost, The heart is fluttered unwittingly with main,
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