第一回: Chunk 32
derek
September 07, 2008, 04:02 AM posted in General Discussion这里雨村且翻弄书籍解闷. 忽听得窗外有女子嗽声,雨村遂起身往窗外一看,原来是一个丫鬟, 在那里撷花,生得仪容不俗,眉目清明,虽无十分姿色,却亦有动人之处.雨村不觉看的呆了.那甄家丫鬟撷了花,方欲走时,猛抬头见窗内有人,敝巾旧服, 虽是贫窘,然生得腰圆背厚,面阔口方,更兼剑眉星眼,直鼻权腮.这丫鬟忙转身回避, 心下乃想:"这人生的这样雄壮,却又这样褴褛,想他定是我家主人常说的什么贾雨村 了, 每有意帮助周济,只是没甚机会.我家并无这样贫窘亲友,想定是此人无疑了.怪 道又说他必非久困之人. "如此想来,不免又回头两次.雨村见他回了头,便自为这女子心中有意于他,便狂喜不尽,自为此女子必是个巨眼英雄,风尘中之知己也.一时小 童进来, 雨村打听得前面留饭,不可久待,遂从夹道中自便出门去了.士隐待客既散, 知雨村自便,也不去再邀.
Here Yu Cun for the time being, rummaged through some books to divert himself, when he suddenly heard a woman cough outside the window, Yu Cun then got up and went to look out the window, it turned out to be a servant girl, there picking flowers, her appearance uncommon, features bright and clear, even if not extremely good looking, she however also had the ability to move people. Yu Cun sat unconsciously staring [at the girl]. The Zhen family servant girl finished plucking the flowers, then just about to go, suddenly looked up seeing someone in the window, wearing shabby old clothes, although poor, he had a powerful stature/physique, face wide and mouth square, dashing eyebrows and bright eyes, straight nose and prominent cheeks.
The servant girl quickly turned away, in her mind thinking: In this life there is this type of magnificent but ragged [man], he is certainly that Jia Yu Cun that our family master frequently speaks of, [and is] often inclined to help [him], only not having any opportunity to do so. My family furthermore, does not have this type of impoverished relation, [i] think it is without doubt this person. No wonder the master often says he is a person who will certainly not be in difficult circumstances for long. Presuming this, [she] could not avoid turning her head twice [to look at Yu Cun].
Yu Cun seeing her turn her head, of course knew that this woman had an interest in him, and he felt wild with joy, since of course this woman certainly must be a great heroine, and [would be his] intimate friend in this world. After a short while a child entered, Yu Cun enquired and heard the guest at the front of the house was staying for a meal, so not be able to stay long, then went out through a passageway and left the house. Shi Yin, after entertaining his guests and seeing them out, knew that Yu Cun had already gone and did not go to look for him.
Breakdown:
这里雨村且翻弄书籍解闷. ->
Here Yu Cun (且) for the time being, (翻弄) rummaged through some (书籍) books to (解闷) divert himself.
忽听得窗外有女子嗽声,雨村遂起身往窗外一看,原来是一个丫鬟, 在那里撷花,生得仪容不俗,眉目清明,虽无十分姿色,却亦有动人之处. ->
Then he suddenly heard a woman cough outside the window, Yu Cun then got up and went to look out the window, (原来是) it turned out to be a (丫鬟) servant girl, there (撷花) picking flowers, her (仪容不俗) appearance uncommon, (眉目清明) features bright and clear, (虽无十分姿色) even if not extremely good looking, she however also (有动人之处) had the ability to move people.
雨村不觉看的呆了. ->
Yu Cun sat (不觉) unconsciously (看的呆) staring [at the girl].
那甄家丫鬟撷了花,方欲走时,猛抬头见窗内有人,敝巾旧服, 虽是贫窘,然生得腰圆背厚,面阔口方,更兼剑眉星眼,直鼻权腮. ->
The Zhen family servant girl (撷了花) finished plucking the flowers, (方欲走时) then just about to go, (猛抬头) suddenly looked up (见窗内有人) seeing someone in the window, (敝巾旧服) wearing shabby old clothes, although (贫窘) poor, he had a (腰圆背厚) powerful physique, (面阔口方) face wide and mouth square, (兼剑眉星眼) dashing eyebrows and bright eyes, (直鼻权腮) straight nose and prominent cheeks.
(腰圆背厚: literally, round waist and thick back? strong physique/powerful stature?)
这丫鬟忙转身回避, 心下乃想:"这人生的这样雄壮,却又这样褴褛,想他定是我家主人常说的什么贾雨村 了, 每有意帮助周济,只是没甚机会. ->
The (丫鬟) servant girl quickly (转身回避) turned away, in her mind thinking: In this life there is this type of (雄壮) magnificent but (褴褛) ragged [man], he is certainly that Jia Yu Cun that our family master frequently speaks of, [and is] often (有意) inclined to (帮助周济) help [him], only not having any opportunity to do so.
我家并无这样贫窘亲友,想定是此人无疑了.怪道又说他必非久困之人. " ->
My family furthermore, does not have this type of (贫窘亲友) impoverished relation, [i] think it is (无疑) without doubt this person. (怪) No wonder the master often says he is a person who will (必非久困) certainly not be in difficult circumstances for long.
如此想来,不免又回头两次.雨村见他回了头,便自为这女子心中有意于他,便狂喜不尽,自为此女子必是个巨眼英雄,风尘中之知己也. ->
(如此想来) Presuming this, [she] could (不免) not avoid turning her head twice [to look at Yu Cun]. Yu Cun seeing her turn her head, (自) of course knew that this (心中有意于他) woman had an interest in him, and he felt (狂喜不尽) wild with joy, since of course this woman certainly must be a (巨眼英雄) great (?) heroine, and [would be his] (知己) intimate friend (风尘中) in this world.
(巨眼英雄: 是个成语吗?)
一时小童进来, 雨村打听得前面留饭,不可久待,遂从夹道中自便出门去了. ->
After a short while a child entered, Yu Cun (打听) enquired and heard the guest at the (前面) front of the house was (留饭) staying for a meal, so (不可久待) not be able to stay long, then went out through a (夹道) passageway and (出门去) left the house.
士隐待客既散, 知雨村自便,也不去再邀. ->
Shi Yin, (待客既散) after entertaining his guests and seeing them out, knew that Yu Cun had already gone and (不去再邀) did not go to look for him.
light487
September 08, 2008, 08:32 AMSorry to jump in the middle here but I am looking through this and I am wondering if what is trying to be taught here is the ability to pick out the most important groupings/characters to get the general idea of the sentence.. like it is highlighting the characters/groupings that matter within the sentence, so that rather than trying to read all the characters one after the other you are training your eyes to look for these important characters that define the sentence.
Or are you just translating the whole thing in a more western-logic way?
changye
September 08, 2008, 08:47 AMHi light487,
Welcome to the group! With regard to your comment above, ....umm.... in a sense, your English is more difficult to me, a non-native English speaker, than classical Chinese used in 红楼梦. I would appreciate it if you could reiterate it in a simple manner. Thanks!
light487
September 08, 2008, 08:54 AMI think I confused even myself, changye so I don't think it is anything to do with that. Ok I think I was trying to ask if the point of this discussion group was to either:
1. Teach how to read characters faster; or
2. Translate the novel in a way that shows each section of a sentence as it relates to the character or group of characters.
henning
September 08, 2008, 09:09 AMLight,
here is the point of this group:
This group aims at a line-by-line approach to the Chinese classic 红楼梦. The novel is hereby understood to be a vehicle that leads to a deeper understanding of a more formal, (semi-) classic Chinese.
In the beginning the unit of discussion will be atomic in nature (sentence-level). An expected by-product are insights into Chinese literature and culture.
Meandering discussions that digress into grammar, ethymology, and history are more than welcome.
BTW: I am still on it, but lagging seriously behind you guys. Please let me know when you finished the first chapter so we can have a round-up (vocab, grammar, content).
changye
September 08, 2008, 09:22 AMHi, light487,
Thanks for your reply. Neither, actually. What we have been doing here is that someone just translate 红楼梦 little by little (recently it's "paragraph by paragraph"), and other guys "nitpick" them. That's all.
To tell you the truth, I've been trying to make my comments more "useful and helpful" for visiters who are not familiar with classical Chinese yet, but it hasn't been successful so far due to my laziness.
changye
September 08, 2008, 09:23 AMHi henning,
About the point of this group, wow, I didn't know that! I now got it. Tks.
light487
September 08, 2008, 09:26 AMYou've been spending too much time with patricia, hopefully your won't get lazy and chubby too! :) haha..
I'll go back to the chunk 1 and start from there, I just found this first look at this chunk to be very clear and understandable.. so I thought may be there was some magic being used to make it easier to read for me. :)
changye
September 08, 2008, 09:31 AMHi henning,
If derek posts his translations at this pace, probably chunk 38 or 39 would be the last one for the first chapter. So, "40" might become a thread for our review and "congratulations".
derek
September 09, 2008, 01:47 AMhi light487,
My translations are basically a transcript of the english that "appears" in my mind when I read the chinese text. I write this down as I read each sentence. When I have finished a paragraph I then go through the chinese text and try to pick out the main "semantic" parts of each sentence, then use these for the breakdown.
So basically I am trying to highlight the important or difficult parts of the text so that people who are just starting can, as you said, train their eyes to recognise these parts of the text and quickly improve their reading speed and comprehension.
Of course, I am not a linguist or literary scholar, so I have no idea if this is a good approach or not. :)
changye
September 08, 2008, 08:11 AMHi derek,
一个丫鬟
There is a frequently used word “丫头 (ya1 tou2)”, which means “a girl, a female servant”. To tell you the truth, I though the character “丫” was a alphabet “Y”, just like alphabets used in “卡拉OK”, when I saw it for the first time!
The original meaning of “丫” was “fork”, and “丫” later obtained another meaning, “a kind of hair style (fork-shaped hair?)”, which implies a girl with the hairstyle. Of course, I don’t recommend you use “丫头” in front of young Chinese ladies.
腰圆背厚 I think your interpretation is very right.
便自为 (= 就自己认为?) 这女子心中有意于他
巨眼 (person who has an eye for something) 英雄 = 巨眼识英雄