标题: 中英对照红楼梦 [打印本页] 作者: ninny1 时间: 2005-10-18 21:01 标题: 中英对照红楼梦 Xiang Ling in Grass Game 香菱斗草
On baoyu's birthday the young ladies held a drinking party in which they composed poems and much fun. Their service maids started a game of their own. Xiang Ling, Xue Fan's concubine, collected some flower and grass and began a grass game with the other. "This one is bodhisattva willow," one said. And another one would say, "I have arhat pine." Suddenly, Dou Guan said she had a sisters flower. Xiang Ling said, "I have a husband and-wife flower." "Never heard of that," the previous girl protested. "why," Xiang Ling explained. "One flower on a stem is called lan, and several flower on a stem make hui. Two on one stem, one up and one down, is a brother flower, and two flowers side is certainly a spouses one." The other girl, however, did not easily give up. Laughing, she challenged, "Well, then if one flower is big and the other one small, then it's a father and son flower; and if two flowers face different ways it's probably an enemies flower. Is that rather? Xue Fan is gone for over half a year. I guess because you miss him you made up that husband and wife flower." Blushed, Xiang Ling rushed up meaning to pinch the sharp-tongued girl, who laughed and begged for the other's help. At the sight of the girls' laughing, poking and punching each other in a friendly manner, Baoyu came to join their excitement with grass in hand.
Betrothed to the son of a Imperial Academician surnamed Mei, baoqin staryed in Jia Residence waiting for her wedding date. In the depth of winter, the earth was draped with a cloak of snow. Li Wan invited cousina over to chant poems and enjoy the snowy scene. She told baoyu to fetch some plum blossoms from Miaoyu's place. Baoyu did as he was bid and soon returned with crimson flowers in fine bloom. Then Li Wan bid three of her cousins to compose poems, each taking "red," "plum" and "flower" as a subject matter. Amid the excitement, old lady Jia came in a sedan chair to join them. She praised the flowers and drank cheerfully in the company of the merry girls around her. Suddenly, lady Jia noticed that out in the snow stood an ethereal, beautiful young lady in a fur drape, accompanied by a servant girl holding a branch of plum blossoms. It was a scene just like a picture. It was Baoqin on her way back from a plum-fetching trip from the same place. Lady Jia appreciated Baoqin's beauty and talents, and thought of making a marriage proposal on behalf of baoyu. On learning that the girl had been betr4othed to young Lord Mei and that the wedding would soon happen, the old lady reluctantly quit the idea. This picture shows Baoqin in the snow with flower blossoms.
As jia baoyu, Xue Baoqin, Xing youyanand Ping'er had birthdays on the same day, the young ladies held a hilarious drinking party in the hall of the peony garden for them. When it was Xiangyun's turn to compose a verse amid a drinking game, she made fun of the service maids by saying, holding a duck head in hand, "This ya tou (referring to the duck head in hand) is not that ya tou (referring to the service maids around, as both are homophones in Chinese), for this ya tou has applied no hair oil…." Everybody roared with laughter. Some service maids protested, laughing, "You made fun of us, so you have to drink another cup. Let's pour a full cup her…." As the party went on drinkers' games continued with ceaseless laughter and people suddenly noticed that Xiangyun had disappeared. While they looked this way and that, a serice maid rushed in laughing, "Young ladies. Hurry to have a look at the Lady Xiangyun. She's sleeping on the stone bench over there." The group tiptoed over, and sure enough, saw Xiangyun sleeping soundly. Fallen flowers scattered on her body, her hair and her face. Her fan had dropped on the ground aside. Bees danced in the air around her. Under her head was a make-shift pillow of peony flowers wrapped with her handkerchief. Amid laughter service girls gently woke her up and helped her-she was still mumbling something drunkenly-get inside the room.
As Xi Ren, the leading service girl who had taken care of Baoyu was away to visit her home, the duties, and the charge of Yihongyuan Court, fell on Qing Wen. A girl anxious to excel in everything, Qing Wen did everything personally. For the special occasion of his uncle's birthday party, baoyu puton a very unique Russian-made cloak woven with threads from peacock feather, a gift from his grandmother. That evening, he returned with a sad look: the cloak had a hold burnt in it. Fortunately it was evening and the grandmother and the ladies in the house failed to notice. One servant hurriedly brought the cloak out to professionals to be mended over night, for Baoyu had to wear the cloak the next morning. But the servant returned to report that no craftsman dared to take the job, as none of them was able to identify what material the cloak was made of. While everyone was upset, Qing Wen managed to sit up from her sick bed, and after a look she claimed the material was peacock gold threads," she said, "the cloak will look as good as new." Even with the proper thread, no one dared to take the job. Therefore, Qing Wen, with a coat draped over her shoulders, began to mend. Due to sickness, she felt dizzy and saw stars. She bit her lips and continued. She had to stop for a bread every few stitches. It was in the small hours of the morning when she finally finished the job. People marveled at the mending she had done-the damage was almost invisible.