兰亭集序

蘭亭集序 永和九年，歲在癸（guǐ）丑，暮春之初，會于會稽（kuài jī）山陰之蘭亭，修禊（xì）事也。群賢畢至，少長咸集。此地有崇山峻領，茂林修竹， 又有清流激湍（tuān），映帶左右。引以為流觴（shāng）曲（ qū）水，列坐其次，雖無絲竹管弦之盛，一觴（shang)一詠，亦足以暢敘幽情。 　　是日也，天朗氣清，惠風和暢。仰觀宇宙之大，俯察品類之盛，所以遊目騁（chěng）懷，足以極視聽之娛，信可樂也。 　　夫人之相與，俯仰一世。或取諸懷抱，晤言一室之內；或因寄所托，放浪形骸（hái）之外。雖趣（qǔ）舍萬殊，靜躁不同，當其欣於所遇，暫得於己，怏然自足，不知老之將至。及其所之既倦，情隨事遷，感慨系（xì）之矣。向之所欣，俯仰之間，以為陳跡，猶不能不以之興懷。況修短隨化，終期於盡。古人云：“死生亦大矣。”豈不痛哉！ 每攬昔人興感之由，若合一契，未嘗不臨文嗟（jiē）悼，不能喻之於懷。固知一死生為虛誕，齊彭殤(shāng)為妄作。後之視今，亦猶今之視昔，悲夫！故列敘時人，錄其所述。雖世殊事異，所以興懷，其致一也。後之攬者，亦將有感於斯文。 The Orchid Pavilion 　　In the ninth year of the reign Yunghe[A.D. 353] in the beginning of late spring we met at the Orchid Pavilion in Shanyin of Kweich'i for the Water Festival, to wash away the evil spirits. Here are gathered all the illustrious persons and assembled both the old and the young. Here are tall mountains and majestic peaks, trees with thick foliage and tall bamboos. Here are also clear streams and gurgling rapids, catching one's eye from the right and left. We group ourselves in order, sitting by the waterside, and drinking in succession from a cup floating down the curving stream; and although there is no music from string and wood-wind instruments, yet with alternate singing and drinking, we are well disposed to thoroughly enjoy a quiet intimate conversation. Today the sky is clear, the air is fresh and the kind breeze is mild. Truly enjoyable it is sit to watch the immense universe above and the myriad things below, traveling over the entire landscape with our eyes and allowing our sentiments to roam about at will, thus exhausting the pleasures of the eye and the ear. Now when people gather together to surmise life itself, some sit and talk and unburden their thoughts in the intimacy of a room, and some, overcome by a sentiment, soar forth into a world beyond bodily realities. Although we select our pleasures according to our inclinations—some noisy and rowdy, and others quiet and sedate—yet when we have found that which pleases us, we are all happy and contented, to the extent of forgetting that we are growing old. And then, when satiety follows satisfaction, and with the change of circumstances, change also our whims and desires, there then arises a feeling of poignant regret. In the twinkling of an eye, the objects of our former pleasures have become things of the past, still compelling in us moods of regretful memory. Furthermore, although our lives may be long or short, eventually we all end in nothingness. "Great indeed are life and death", said the ancients. Ah! What sadness!