7. Lifetime of struggle

登高 (唐 杜甫)風急天高猿嘯哀，渚清沙白鳥飛回。無邊落木蕭蕭下，不盡長江滾滾來。萬里悲秋常作客，百年多病獨登臺。艱難苦恨繁霜鬢，潦倒新停濁酒杯。On the HeightThe wind so swift, the sky so wide, apes wail and cry;Water so clear and beach so white, birds wheel and fly.The boundless forest sheds its leaves shower by shower;The endless river rolls its waves hour after hour,A thousand miles from home, I’m grieved at autumn’s plight;Ill now and then for years, alone I’m on this height,Living in times so hard, at frosted hair I pine;Cast down by poverty, I have to give up wine.

Du Fu (712-770) is one of the greatest Chinese poets in history. But he went through many difficulties during his life. Poor and ill, he wrote this poem at 56 years old. The cold autumn made him feel sad about his situation. From the first line, we can tell that Du was not in a good mood (心情). The key phrase (短語) is “apes wail and cry” (猿嘯哀) – only sad ears can hear sad sounds. Then the poet sees the falling leaves and the running river. He uses natural scenery to show his sadness. Despite (雖然) being a talented scholar (學者), Du’s career (仕途) was a failure. With little money, he and his family always lived in hardship (艱難). So when he looked outside, he saw showers and waves of sadness. Traveling should be fun when you have money and health. Sadly, Du had neither. Du traveled because he needed to stay alive. He went to different places to stay with relatives (親戚) and friends, or to find temporary (臨時的) work. Worries and sadness turned his hair grey. What’s worse, he couldn’t even buy the wine that he needed to numb (麻痺) his sad feelings. That makes the poem even sadder. 在此詩的翻譯中，許淵衝先生很好地傳達了原詩的“意美”。比如首聯中，“風急”“天高”“渚清”“沙白”這四處景，許先生連用四個so：so swift, so wide, so clear, so white，不僅準確傳達了原詩的意象，且句式工整，節奏鮮明。頜聯中，“落木蕭蕭下”著眼於空間的廣闊，“長江滾滾來”著眼於時間的悠長。英譯本中的shower by shower和hour after hour對應了原詩中的疊字，可謂巧妙至極，同時讓讀者感受到黃葉飄落以及河水奔流不止的美，將時間和空間的立體感表現得淋漓盡致。