"Stone Beasts in the River" is a classical Chinese novel written by Ji Yun, a writer in the Qing Dynasty. This article tells a very educational fable. It expresses the author's ridicule of scholars and other people who are ignorant and self-righteous. It also tells the characters that understanding things requires comprehensive and in-depth investigation and exploration. This article has compiled sentence-by-sentence translations and annotations. Everyone is welcome to read them.
Sentence-by-sentence translation of "Stone Beasts in the River"
Original text: Nanyi Temple in Cangzhou faces the stem of the river. The mountain gate collapsed in the river, and the two stone beasts sank together.
Translation: There is a temple near the river bank in the south of Cangzhou. The gate of the temple collapsed into the river, and the two stone beasts in front of the gate also sank into the river.
Original text: When I was more than ten years old, the monk raised money to rebuild the temple. He asked for two stone beasts in the water, but he couldn't find them. He thought they would just go down the river.
Translation: More than ten years later, the monks raised money to rebuild the temple and searched for the two stone beasts in the river. However, they still could not find them. The monks thought that the stone beasts had flowed downstream along the current.
Original text: I searched for several small boats, dragging iron palladium, and found no trace for more than ten miles.
Translation: So I rowed a few small boats, dragged the iron palladium, and searched downstream for more than ten miles, but found no trace of the stone beast.
Original text: A lecturer set up a tent in the temple. When he heard about it, he laughed and said: "You people can't study physics. It's not a wooden pile, how can it be carried away by the sudden surge? The stone is hard and heavy, the sand is loose and floating, and it's obliterated. Lying on the sand, he gradually became deeper and deeper.
Translation: A lecturer who was teaching in the temple heard about this and said with a smile: "You people can't reason about things. This is not a piece of wood. How could it be carried away by the surging flood? The characteristics of stone are hard and heavy, while the characteristics of sand are soft and floating. Stone beasts are buried in the sand, sinking deeper and deeper. Isn’t it ridiculous to follow the river in search of stone beasts? ”
Original text: Everyone is convinced, and it is a correct statement.
Translation: Everyone is convinced and thinks it is correct.
Original text: An old river soldier heard it, He also laughed and said: "Whenever a stone is lost in the river, it should be found upstream. The stone cover is hard and heavy, and the sand is loose and floating. Water cannot wash away the stone. The force of its backlash will gnaw the sand into the hole under the stone where it faces the water. The sand will gradually become deeper and deeper until it is halfway through the stone, and the stone will be thrown upside down into the hole. . If it bites again, the stone will turn again. It kept going around and around, so I went back up the current and went upstream. If you seek the bottom of your life, you will be in a state of ruin; if you seek the land, you will become more upside down? "
Translation: An old river soldier heard the lecturer's point of view and said with a smile: "Any stone that falls into the river should be looked for in the upper reaches of the river. Because the stone is hard and heavy, and the sand is soft and frivolous, the water flow cannot wash away the stone. The force of the backwash of the water flow will inevitably erode the sand to form a pit under the stone where it faces the water. The more intense it becomes, the deeper it becomes. When the pit extends to The stone must have tipped into the hole when it was halfway to the bottom. Wash again like this and the stone will turn again. It keeps turning like this, so it goes upstream in the opposite direction against the current. It would already be absurd to look for stone beasts in the lower reaches of the river; wouldn’t it be even more absurd to look for them where they sank? ".
Original text: As he said, the result was found several miles away.
Translation: I followed his words and found the stone beast several miles upstream. < /p>
Original text: If you only know one of the things in the world, but don’t know the other two, how can you make assumptions based on reason?
Translation: If this is the case, then you only know the things of the world. There are many superficial phenomena without knowing the underlying truth. Can we make subjective judgments based on a certain truth? Comments on "Stone Beasts in the River"
1. Cangzhou South: Cangzhou, place name, present-day Cangxian County, Hebei Province . South, south.
2. Lin: close, also means "to face"
3. River bank (gān).
4. 宮 (pǐ): collapsed.
5. Shen Yan (yān): sunk in this river. Yan, also means here and there.
6. Read: experience.
7. More than ten years old.
8. Seeking:
< p> 9. Jing: end, finally.10. 棹 (zhào): noun as verb, row (boat)
11. Drag (yè): " About the author of "Stone Beasts in the River"
Ji Yun, also known as Xiaolan, also known as Chunfan, also known as Shiyun, Taoist name Guanyi Taoist, and Old Man Gushi, was born in Xianxian County, Zhili Province (today's Xianxian County, Hebei Province) in the Qing Dynasty. He was a statesman and writer.
In the 19th year of Qianlong's reign (1754), he passed the Jinshi examination and became a minister of the Ministry of Rites and a co-educational scholar. Prince Shaobao studied Han Confucianism and was well-read. Qun Shu, specializes in poetry and parallel prose, and is good at textual research and exegesis. He once served as the chief editor of Sikuquanshu. In his later years, his inner world became increasingly closed, and "Yuewei Cottage Notes" was the product of his state of mind at that time.
He died of illness in the 10th year of Jiaqing (1805) at the age of 81. Because he was "agile and eager to learn, he could write essays, and taught him how to do everything in politics" (an inscription given by the Emperor Jiaqing), so he was given the posthumous title "Wenda" and was well known in his hometown. He is called Wenda Gong and is the author of "Ji Wenda Gong's Collection".