【红楼梦 引子】
Prologue to The Dream of Red Mansions
杨宪益 戴乃迭 译
开辟鸿蒙，谁为情种？
都只为风月情浓。
At the dawn of creation
Who sowed the seeds of love?
From the strong passion of breeze and moonlight they came.
趁着这奈何天、伤怀日、寂寥时，试遣愚衷。
因此上演出这怀金悼玉的《红楼梦》。
So in this world of sweet longing
On a day of distress, in an hour of loneliness,
Fain would I impart my senseless grief
By singing this Dream of Red Mansions
To mourn the Gold and the Jade.
【枉凝眉】
Vain Longing
杨宪益 戴乃迭 译
一个是阆苑仙葩，一个是美玉无暇。
One is an immortal flower of fairyland,
The other fair flawless jade,
若说没奇缘，今生偏又遇着他；
And were it not predestined
Why should they meet again in this existence?
若说有奇缘，如何心事终虚化？
Yet, if predestined,
Why does their love come to nothing?
一个枉自嗟呀，一个空劳牵挂。
One sighs to no purpose,
The other yearns in vain;
一个是水中月，一个是镜中花。
One is the moon reflected in the water,
The other but a flower in the mirror.
想眼中能有多少泪珠儿，
How many tears can well from her eyes?
怎经得秋流到冬尽，春流到夏！
Can they flow on from autumn till winter,
From spring till summer?
【作者题绝】
霍克斯 译
满纸荒唐言，一把辛酸泪！
Pages full of idle words
Penned with hot and bitter tears:
都云作者痴，谁解其中味？
All men call the author fool;
None his secret message hears.
【太虚幻境楹联】
Illusory Land of Great Void
杨宪益 戴乃迭 译
假作真时真亦假，无为有处有还无。
When false is taken for true, true becomes false;
If non-being turns into being, being becomes non-being.
