Although the turtle has a long life
Han Dynasty: Cao Cao
Although the turtle has a long life, it still has its time.
The soaring snake rides on the mist and turns into ashes in the end.
The old man is brave and ambitious.
The martyrs are full of ambition in their old age.
The period of profit and contraction is not only in heaven;
Nurturing the blessings of happiness can lead to eternal life.
Fortunately, I sing to express my ambition.
Translation
Even though the life span of a turtle is very long, there is still a time when its life will end.
Although the tan snake can fly in the mist, it will eventually die and turn into ashes. ?
The old Chollima is lying in the stable, its ambition is still to be able to gallop a thousand miles.
When people with lofty ideals reach their old age, their ambition to make progress will not stop.
The length of human life is not just determined by God.
As long as you take good care of your body and mind, you can also live longer.
I am very lucky to use this poem to express my inner ambition.
Notes
It was in the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), when Cao Cao was fifty-three years old. Selected from "Poems of Pre-Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties" (Zhonghua Book Company 1983 edition). This poem is the fourth chapter of the Yuefu poem "Stepping out of Xiamen" written by Cao Cao. The poem combines philosophical thinking, generosity and artistic images, expressing a strong and positive attitude towards life. This poem is the last of the four chapters of Cao Cao's Yuefu poem "Stepping out of Xiamen".
Two sentences about "Godly Turtle": Although the Godly Turtle can live a long life, it sometimes dies. The Divine Turtle, the legendary psychic turtle, can live thousands of years. Longevity, longevity. Jing: end, here refers to death.
Two sentences of "螞(téng) snake": Even if the téng snake can ride on the mist*, it will eventually die and turn into dust. Soaring snake, a mythical creature similar to dragon in legend, can ride on clouds and mists*.
Ji (jì): a good horse, a thousand-mile horse.
Fu: lie down.
枥 (lì): manger.
Martyr: A person with great ambitions. Old age: old age.
Stopped.
Profit and shrinkage: refers to the length of human life. Ying, full, extended to long. Shrink, loss, extended to short.
But: only, only.
Yangyi: refers to recuperating the body and mind and maintaining physical and mental health. Yi, happy, harmonious.
Yong: long-lasting. Yongnian: longevity, live long.
Fortunately, the song expresses the ambition: the two sentences are attachments and have nothing to do with the main text. They only express the author's feelings and are a formal ending of the Yuefu poem.
Creation background
The author is Cao Cao, a statesman and military strategist in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. This poem was written around the beginning of 208 AD. After he quelled the Wuhuan rebellion and eliminated the remaining forces of Yuan Shao, he went south to conquer Before Jing and Wu. At this time, Cao Cao was fifty-three years old, and he couldn't help but think of the journey of life, so the poem started with infinite emotion.
Appreciation
This is a philosophical poem full of the poet's real experience of life, so it is written with great excitement and has a sincere and strong emotional power; philosophy and poetry Emotions are expressed through visual techniques, so reasoning, clear aspirations, and lyricism are perfectly combined in specific artistic images.
In the poem, "Although the tortoise has a long life, it still has its time. The soaring snake rides on the mist, and eventually becomes ashes." The author, starting from the simple materialism and dialectics point of view, denies the tortoise and the soaring snake. The immortality of a kind of divine object shows that life and death are natural laws that cannot be violated. The two phrases "still have" and "eventually" are spoken calmly. In the following four sentences of "Lao Ji", the tone becomes passionate, and the pen is full of wind and thunder, making the image of this unparalleled hero "always showing domineering" come to life on the page.
"The old man is in trouble, and his ambition is thousands of miles. The martyr is still ambitious in his old age." The writing is powerful and the rhythm is majestic. It contains a heroic spirit of self-improvement and profoundly expresses Cao Cao's spirit of being strong and enterprising. "Endless ambition" expresses the need to have an unending pursuit of ideals and a positive and enterprising spirit, to be always optimistic and energetic, to strive for self-improvement, and to maintain ideological youth. Cao Cao revealed the importance of human spiritual factors to health through personal experience.
"The period of growth and contraction is not only in heaven; the blessing of nourishing happiness can lead to eternal life." It shows a deep and euphemistic style, giving people a kind and warm feeling. The whole poem is full of ups and downs and has a meticulous mechanism. It shines with the light of philosophical wisdom and emits a feeling of forge ahead, resounding with an optimistic tone. The artistic style is unpretentious, lofty and impassioned, showing the poet's enterprising spirit of self-improvement and his optimistic spirit of loving life.
The length of human life is not entirely determined by heaven. As long as you maintain physical and mental health, you can prolong your life. What Cao Cao said about "the blessing of nourishing happiness" does not mean doing nothing and sitting quietly, but it means that a person's mental state is the most important and should not be depressed due to old age.
It can be seen here that the poet has a negative attitude towards destiny and has an optimistic spirit of confidence that things will depend on man-made things. It expresses the poet's ambition and pride that he is unwilling to age, does not believe in destiny, strives endlessly, and never stops pursuing great ideals.