【红楼梦】部分诗词的英译版本，通过杨宪益、戴乃迭夫妇与英国汉学家大卫·霍克斯的翻译，展现了《红楼梦》中蕴含的深情与哲思。以下为精选诗词的英文译文，旨在传递原作的意境与情感。
【引子】
Prologue to The Dream of Red Mansions
At the dawn of creation, Who sowed the seeds of love? From the strong passion of breeze and moonlight they came. So in this world of sweet longing On a day of distress, in an hour of loneliness, Fain would I impart my senseless grief By singing this Dream of Red Mansions To mourn the Gold and the Jade.
【枉凝眉】
Vain Longing
One is an immortal flower of fairyland, The other fair flawless jade. And were it not predestined, Why should they meet again in this existence? Yet, if predestined, Why does their love come to nothing? One sighs to no purpose, The other yearns in vain; One is the moon reflected in the water, The other but a flower in the mirror. How many tears can well from her eyes? Can they flow on from autumn till winter, From spring till summer?
【太虚幻境楹联】
Illusory Land of Great Void
When false is taken for true, true becomes false; If non-being turns into being, being becomes non-being.
【葬花吟】
As blossoms fade and fly across the sky, Who pities the faded red, the scent that has been? Softly the gossamer floats over spring pavilions, Gently the willow fluff wafts to the embroidered screen. A girl in her chamber mourns the passing of spring, No relief from anxiety her poor heart knows; Hoe in hand she steps through her portal, Loath to tread on the blossom as she comes and goes. Willows and elms, fresh and verdant, Care not if peach and plum blossom drift away; Next year the peach and plum will bloom again, But her chamber may stand empty on that day. By the third month the scented nests are built, But the swallows on the beam are heartless all; Next year, though once again you may peck the buds, From the beam of an empty room your nest will fall. Each year for three hundred and sixty days The cutting wind and biting frost contend. How long can beauty flower fresh and fair? Fallen, the brightest blooms are hard to find; With aching heart their grave-digger comes now. Alone, her hoe in hand, her secret tears Falling like drops of blood on each bare bough. Dusk falls and the cuckoo is silent; Her hoe brought back, the lodge is locked and still; A green lamp lights the wall as steep enfolds her, Cold rain pelts the casement and her quilt is chill. What causes my two-fold anguish? Love for spring and resentment of spring; For suddenly it comes and suddenly goes, Its arrival unheralded, noiseless its departing. Last night from the courtyard floated a sad song – Was it the soul of blossom, the soul of birds? Hard to detain, the soul of blossom or birds, For blossoms have no assurance, birds no words. I long to take wing and fly With the flowers to earth's uttermost bound; And yet at earth's uttermost bound Where can a fragrant burial mound be found? Better shroud the fair petals in silk With clean earth for their outer attire; For pure you came and pure shall go, Not sinking into some foul ditch or mire. Now you are dead I come to bury you; Men laugh at my folly in burying fallen flowers, But who will bury me when dead I lie? See, when spring draws to a close and flowers fall, This is the season when beauty must ebb and fade; The day that spring takes wing and beauty fades Who will care for the fallen blossom or dead maid?
【黛玉容貌】
Her mist-wreathed brows at first seemed to frown, yet were not frowning; Her passionate eyes at first seemed to smile, yet were not merry. Habit had given a melancholy cast to her tender face; Nature had bestowed a sickly constitution on her delicate frame. Often the eyes swam with glistening tears; Often the breath came in gentle gasps. In stillness she made one think of a graceful flower reflected in the water; In motion she called to mind tender willow shoots caressed by the wind. She had more chambers in her heart than the martyred Bi Gan; And suffered a tithe more pain in it than the beautiful Xi Shi.
【宝黛初见】
Well, even if I haven’t, her face looks familiar. I feel we’re old friends meeting again after a long separation.
【王熙凤容貌】
A painted phoenix, eyebrows like willow-leaves, a slender form, seductive grace; the ever-smiling summer face of hidden thunders showed no trace; the ever-bubbling laughter started almost before the lips were parted.
【聪明累】
Too shrewd by half, with such finesse you wrought That your own life in your own toils was caught; But long before you died your heart was slain, And when you died your spirit walked in vain. Fall'n the great house once so secure in wealth, Each scattered member shifting for himself; And half a life-time’s anxious schemes Proved no more than the stuff of dreams. Like a great building’s tottering crash, Like flickering lamp wick burned to ash, Your scene of happiness concludes in grief: For worldly bliss is always insecure and brief.
【晴雯】
Seldom the moon shines in a cloudless sky, And days of brightness all too soon pass by. A noble and aspiring mind In a base-born frame confined.
【好了歌】
All men long to be immortals Yet to riches and rank each aspires; The great ones of old, where are they now? Their graves are a mass of briars. All men long to be immortals, Yet dote on the wives they’ve wed, Who swear to love their husband evermore But remarry as soon as he’s dead. All men long to be immortals Yet with getting sons won’t have done. Although fond parents are legion, Who ever saw a really filial son?
【终身误】
Well-matched, all say, the gold and the jade; I alone recall the pledge between plant and stone. Vainly facing the hermit in sparkling snow-clad hills I forget not the fairy in lone woods beyond the world. I sigh, learning that no man’s happiness is complete: Even a pair thought well-matched May find disappointment.
【红豆词】
Like drops of blood fall endless tears of longing, By painted pavilion grow willows and flowers untold; Sleepless at night when wind and rain lash gauze windows, She cannot forget her sorrows new and old; Choking on rice like jade and wine like gold, She turns from her wan reflection in the glass; Nothing can smooth away her frown, It seems that the long night will never pass; Like the shadow of peaks, her grief is never gone; Like the green stream it flows for ever on.
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