第一回: Chunk 39
henning
October 16, 2008, 07:41 AM posted in General Discussion只可怜甄家在隔壁,早已烧成一片瓦砾场了.只有他夫妇 并几个家人的性命不曾伤了. 急得士隐惟跌足长叹而已.只得与妻子商议,且到田庄 上去安身. 偏值近年水旱不收,鼠盗蜂起,无非抢田夺地,鼠窃狗偷,民不安生,因此官 兵剿捕,难以安身.士隐只得将田庄都折变了,便携了妻子与两个丫鬟投他岳丈家去.
My try:
Only that home of pitiful 甄 next door earily burned down to a pile of rubble and just the the lives of a couple and a few servants were spared. All the troubled 士隐 could do was stamping on his feet and sighing deeply. He discussed with his wife [about] further proceeding to a place in the countryside to live there. Unfortunately just this year water logging and drought led to a poor harvest, robbers came and nothing was left after they robbed the fields – “they played petty tricks on the sly like rats that filch and dogs that snatch”. People could not live a peaceful life and therefore the police came and started hunting down this bandits. It was really difficult to live in peace and so 士隐 had to sell off all of the land and take his wife and two servant girls and went with them to get help to the home of his parents in law.
Breakdown:
只可怜甄家在隔壁
Only that home of pitiful 甄 next door
早已烧成一片瓦砾场了
early burned down to a slice/pile of (瓦砾场) rubble
只有他夫妇 并几个家人的性命不曾伤了
only the lives of a couple and a few servants (不曾伤了) was spared
急得士隐惟跌足长叹而已.
Troubled 士隐 (惟) (could) only (跌足) stamp on his feet and (长叹) sigh deeply.
只得与妻子商议,
Only discussed with his wife
且到田庄 上去安身
[about] further proceeding to a [田庄] place in the countryside to [安身] live there
偏值近年水旱不收,
(偏) unfortunately directly this year (水旱) water logging and drought (不收) led to a poor harvest
鼠盗蜂起,
rats robbed and (蜂起) insects rose
-> Considering the following text I interpret this as “robbers came”
无非抢田夺地,
(无非) nothing was left after (抢田夺地) [they] robbed the fields
鼠窃狗偷,
fixed expression: „played petty tricks on the sly like rats that filch and dogs that snatch”
民不安生,
people could not live a peaceful life
因此官兵剿捕,
therefore the (官兵) police/government troops went and (剿捕) hunted down those bandits
难以安身
it was (really) difficult to live in peace
士隐只得将田庄都折变了,
士隐 (只得) only could (折变) sell off all of the land
便携了妻子与两个丫鬟投他岳丈家去.
and take his wife and two (丫鬟) servant girls and (投) went with them to get help to the (岳丈家) home of his parents in law
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 02:37 AMSorry, a internet erro occored
changye
January 14, 2009, 11:58 AMHi lovveu,
你不需要把每一个汉字都翻译成英语
I agree with you. Actually, some Chinese characters are impossible to translate, especially ones seen in classical Chinese. That said, regarding the "早已" placed after "隔壁", I still would like to translate it as "immediately, soon" or something like that. Do you think it's 画蛇添足？
lovveu
January 14, 2009, 02:27 PMTo changye
I agree that it need a word like "immediately, soon", but it is too dificult to find it. It is too hard to traslate the sentence into English with the inexactly same meaning..
lovveu
January 15, 2009, 05:27 AMTo changye 妻子 (qi1 zi) = wife 妻子 (qi1 zi3) = wife and children (formal) In Chinese, 妻子 has two different meanings, but it only means "wife and children" in Japanese. you are right, but in modern chinese 妻子only means wife. And here it also means wift, because Mr甄have no children, his only daughter 英莲losted.
changye
January 15, 2009, 09:56 AMHi loveeu,
Thanks a lot for your advice. As you said, "妻子" (qi1zi3, wife and children) seems to be more archaic usage than I thought before. 现代汉语词典 classifies it as "书面语" (文言 + 白话), however, maybe "妻子" (qi1zi3) is used only in 文言文 and 古代白话文(?), and usually not in 现代白话文 anymore. According to a dictionary, confusingly enough, "妻子" was also sometimes used in the sense of "wife" in ancient times.....!
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:40 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:40 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 14, 2009, 08:49 AM"早已烧成一片瓦砾场了
early burned down to a slice/pile of (瓦砾场) rubble"
"早已"在这里表示过去式（past tense)，So there is no need to traslate it to "early"
只可怜甄家在隔壁,早已烧成一片瓦砾场了.-->unfortunatlly Mr 甄's house was burned down absolutly for it was next to the fired temple.
你不需要把每一个汉字都翻译成英语，这样翻译出来句子就不太通顺了
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:43 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:45 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:45 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:50 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:50 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:50 AMyes, ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
lovveu
January 16, 2009, 01:43 AMyes, the ancient chinese always confuse me too. It is hard for most chinese students to learn 文言文。
changye
October 16, 2008, 11:51 AMHi henning,
只可怜甄家在隔壁
Unfortunately, 甄家 was right next to the temple.
妻子 (qi1 zi) = wife
妻子 (qi1 zi3) = wife and children (formal)
In Chinese, 妻子 has two different meanings, but it only means "wife and children" in Japanese.
且 (= 姑且, for the time being) 到田庄 (= a kind of manor) 上去安身
偏值 (= encounter) 近年水旱(= flood and drought)不收
无非 (= nothing but, only, anyway) 抢田夺地