【晴雯】
霍克斯 译
霁月难逢，彩云易散。
Seldom the moon shines in a cloudless sky,
And days of brightness all too soon pass by.
心比天高，身为下贱。
A noble and aspiring mind
In a base-born frame confined.
【好了歌】
All Good Things Must End
杨宪益 戴乃迭 译
世人都晓神仙好，惟有功名忘不了。
All men long to be immortals
Yet to riches and rank each aspires;
古今将相在何方，荒冢一堆草没了。
The great ones of old, where are they now?
Their graves are a mass of briars.
世人都晓神仙好，只有金银忘不了。
All men long to be immortals,
Yet silver and gold they prize
终朝只恨聚无多，及到多时眼闭了。
And grub for money all their lives
Till death seals up their eyes.
世人都晓神仙好，只有娇妻忘不了。
All men long to be immortals
Yet dote on the wives they’ve wed,
君生日日说恩情，君死又随人去了。
Who swear to love their husband evermore
But remarry as soon as he’s dead.
世人都晓神仙好，只有儿孙忘不了。
All men long to be immortals
Yet with getting sons won’t have done.
痴心父母古来多，孝顺儿孙谁见了。
Although fond parents are legion,
Who ever saw a really filial son?
【终身误】
A Life Misspent
杨宪益 戴乃迭 译
都道是金玉良姻，俺只念木石前盟。
Well-matched, all say, the gold and the jade;
I alone recall the pledge between plant and stone.
空对着，山中高士晶莹雪；
终不忘，世外仙姝寂寞林。
Vainly facing the hermit in sparkling snow-clad hills
I forget not the fairy in lone woods beyond the world.
叹人间，美中不足今方信。
纵然是齐眉举案，到底意难平。
I sigh, learning that no man’s happiness is complete:
Even a pair thought well-matched
May find disappointment.
