第一回: Chunk 6

henning
July 15, 2008, 07:44 AM posted in General Discussion

虽我 未学, 下笔无文,又何妨用假语村言,敷演出一段故事来,亦可使闺阁昭传,复可悦世 之目,破人愁闷,不亦宜乎?"故曰"贾雨村"云云.

 

My try:

But as I have no proper education, and my writing shows my lack thereof, then why not as well speak in the name of an invented/fake village dweller (?) and use a story about the tale about the woman ’s chamber (-> about the woman). And isn’t pleasing the eyes of the world, breaking the people’s gloomyness not also something good? Therefore I will speak in the name of (with the words of) 贾雨村.



Breakdown:
Although I have not studied, modest for: no proper education (虽我 未学)
And my writing shows I lack education (下笔无文)

又何妨用假语村言
Then (又) why not as well (何妨)
Speak in the name of an invented/fake village dweller (假语村言)

Apply (敷) the performance (演出) 一段故事来 „of a section of a story“ --> using a story

亦可使闺阁昭传
On the one hand / also (亦) use the woman’s chamber (闺阁)
昭传 (Manifest-spread)  tale (?)

复可悦世 之目
Again / on the other hand please (可悦) the eyes of the world (世 之目)

[Actually 亦…复 is a construction with the meaning "on the one hand, on the other hand", but that doesn't really fit here, so I more or less dropped that]

破人愁闷
Break the people’s gloomyness

不亦宜乎
Is that not also (不亦) something good (宜)? [乎 --> exclamation]

Therefore (故) speak (曰)  with the words (云云) of 贾雨村

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verazxl
July 16, 2008, 04:02 AM

Henning你真厉害!我是“红迷”,一定要常常来你这里看。

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henning
July 16, 2008, 05:39 AM

vera,

thanks!

Although I guess for a real 红迷 this group will probably be rather scary - an overconfident foreigner butchering this classic without any real language or cultural background (无文), in a vain sentence-by-sentence muddling-through attempt...

 

(thank goodness, the other participants here are far more advanced than me and sometimes correct the most salient blunders)

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changye
July 20, 2008, 03:56 AM

Hi henning,

村言 = valgar words

敷演出 = 敷演 (tell)+出

昭传 = clearly transmit, convey, or bring down

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changye
July 20, 2008, 05:26 AM

Typo!  村言 = vulgar words

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marcelbdt
July 20, 2008, 09:08 AM

There is also another pun here - 假语村 sounds like 贾雨村.