华章英韵 | 春日 ║总第1期
书法：蔡铁勇；篆刻：黄金珠
中国古谚有云：“一年之计在于春”，在这万物生发的季节，我们满怀欣喜地向各位亲爱的读者推出古诗英译栏目“华章英韵”第一期，隆重邀请河北师范大学李正栓教授带领我们一起欣赏《春日》中“万紫千红”的春光，并体味作者在字里行间隐含的“求贤慕圣”之情。
As the old Chinese saying goes, "The work for the year is best begun in spring." In this season of new beginnings, we are thrilled to introduce to you, dear readers, a new poetry translation column — Chinese Verse in English Rhyme. We feel greatly honored that Professor Li Zhengshuan accepted our invitation to translate "Spring Day" by Zhu Xi for the first issue. He will guide us to relish the myriad colors of a spring day and perceive between the lines the poet’s thirst for sages.
春日
[宋] 朱熹
胜日寻芳泗水滨，
无边光景一时新。
等闲识得东风面，
万紫千红总是春。
Spring Day
Zhu Xi (The Song Dynasty)
Translated by Li Zhengshuan
Go and seek the sweet ①by Si River on a fine day;
Boundless scenes are in sight, so new and so gay;
Even the commons know the vernal east breeze,
All are dyed into myriad colors on each spring day.
Note: both fragrant grasses, flowers and the sage like Confucius.
The Translator's Remarks
朱熹（1130-1200）乃宋朝著名理学家、思想家、哲学家、教育家和诗人，闽学派代表人物，儒学集大成者，颇受世人尊重。一生著述甚多，如《四书章句集注》《太极图说解》《通书解说》《周易读本》《楚辞集注》等。其中《四书章句集注》成为钦定的教科书和科举考试的标准。其理学思想对元、明、清三朝影响很大，成为三朝的官方哲学，是中国教育史上继孔子后的又一大家。
《春日》借想象之景，抒求贤之情。表面写春日郊游所见，实际写求圣若渴之心情，表达乱世之中求贤慕圣之愿望。此诗巧借双关，哲理深刻，值得世代称颂。
《春日》大意是：春日风光无限，郊游踏青寻欢，泗水之滨晴空万里，芳草连天，花海迎风，春意盎然。谁人不识春天面？谁人不沐和煦风？春光中，百花盛开，姹紫嫣红。春天啊，到处是春天。字里行间之意：若得圣贤今在世，无时无处不春天。
其实，当时宋都南迁至临安，山东泗水已被金人控制。朱熹并未到泗水，泗水为什么会成为核心意象？原来泗水曾是孔子讲学之地。此诗难在对双关进行翻译。“芳”暗指圣人之道。诗人首行便指示人们该如何行为。译文中用了祈使句，没有任何人称代词，不是我你他，而是大家。译诗押韵aaba,试与原文和韵。
Zhu Xi (1130-1200) was a celebrated and much-respected Neo-Confucianist, thinker, philosopher, educator and poet, representative figure of the Fujian school of thought and synthesizer of Confucianism. He wrote a lot of works such as Commentary on Sentences and Phrases in the Four Books, Illustrations on the Diagram of the Universe, Explanation of Almanacs, Readings in the Book of Changes, Commentary on Songs of Chu, etc. Commentary on Sentences and Phrases in the Four Books had been the authorized textbook and the criterion of imperial examination. His Neo-Confucianist ideas exerted a great influence on the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. It was the official philosophy of the three dynasties and he became another great master after Confucius.
“Spring Day” expresses the wishes to seek the sage by describing imaginary scenes. On the surface, it describes what is seen on a spring excursion, but actually it expresses the poet’s thirst for the sage like Confucius and his fervent wishes to seek sages and worthies in the midst of the troubled world. This profoundly philosophical poem uses a not-easily-noticed pun and is worth extolling generation after generation.
The gist of the poem is as follows. On a spring day, the scenery is spectacular and people go outing merrily. By the Si River, it is a cloudless day full of spring air, the grass stretching far and flowers fluttering in the soft wind. Who can fail to recognize spring? Who can elude the bathing in genial breeze? In this springtide, all flowers bloom, presenting a myriad of colors. Spring, oh, the spring is everywhere. Between the lines one can perceive this idea: If the past sage were alive, it would be spring everywhere in every second.
Actually, at that time, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty had been settled in Lin'an in the south. The Si River in Shandong was occupied by soldiers of the Jin Dynasty. Zhu Xi had not been to the Si River. Then why does the Si River become the core image? It proves that Confucius once taught his disciples there. The difficulty of translating this poem is the pun. The word "芳" means the way that sages guide people. The first line of the poem teaches people how to behave. So in the translation the translator uses an imperative sentence, referring not to him, you or me, but to all people. The rhyme scheme is aaba, with a hope to correspond to the rhyme scheme in the source text.
李正栓，河北师范大学教授、北京大学文学博士、英国斯特灵大学荣誉博士、英国文学教授、博士生导师。校学术带头人、省中青年骨干教师、省高校教学名师、省社会科学优秀青年专家、省中青年社科专家五十人工程人员、省有突出贡献的中青年专家。曾十一次获省优秀科研成果奖、六次获省优秀教学成果奖。
讲授英美诗歌欣赏、英国文艺复兴时期诗歌、英诗格律、典籍英译、欧洲文化、英文歌曲欣赏等课程，主持国家精品课程、国家精品资源共享课程、国家在线开放课程《英美诗歌欣赏》；中国英语诗歌研究会副会长、中国英汉语比较研究会典籍英译专业委员会常务副会长兼秘书长、河北省翻译学会会长。
Li Zhengshuan, professor of Hebei Normal University, PhD of Peking University, Honorary Doctor of University of Stirling in the UK, is Professor of English literature, PhD supervisor, one of the academic leading scholars in his university, one of the core teachers in his province, one of the top teachers of his province, one of the outstanding young and middle-aged experts in social science in his province, one of the members of the “50 Young and Middle-aged Experts Project” of his province, a young and middle-aged expert with outstanding contribution to his province. He got provincial-level awards for excellent social-science research 11 times and provincial-level awards for excellent teaching 6 times.
He teaches such courses as "Appreciation of English and American Poetry", "British Renaissance Poetry", "English Prosody", "Translation of Chinese Classics into English", "European Culture", and "Appreciation of English Songs". He presides over "Appreciation of English and American Poetry", a national superior course, national quality resource-sharing course and massive online open course. He is vice chair of China English Poetry Research Association, standing Vice Chair and Secretary General of specialized committee in China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese (CACSEC), Chair of Hebei Translation Society.
总策划：周占林 宛城卧龙