The last few days have found me very restless. This evening as I sat in the yard to enjoy the cool, it struck me how different the lotus pool I pass every day must look under a full moon. The moon was sailing higher and higher up the heavens, the sound of childish laughter had died away from the lane beyond our wall, and my wife was in the house patting Juner and humming a lullaby to him. I quietly slipped on a long gown, and walked out leaving the door on the latch.
這幾天心里頗不寧靜。今晚在院子里坐著乘涼,忽然想起日日走過的荷塘,在這滿月的光里,總該另有一番樣子吧。月亮漸漸地升高了,墻外馬路上孩子們的歡笑,已經聽不見了;妻在屋里拍著閏兒,迷迷糊糊地哼著眠歌。我悄悄地披了大衫,帶上門出去。
A cinder-path winds along by the side of the pool. It is off the beaten track and few pass this way even by day, so at night it is still more quiet. Trees grow thick and bosky all around the pool, with willows and other trees I cannot name by the path. On nights when there is no moon the track is almost terrifyingly dark, but tonight it was quite clear, though the moonlight was pale.
沿著荷塘,是一條曲折的小煤屑路。這是一條幽僻的路;白天也少人走,夜晚更加寂寞。荷塘四面,長著許多樹,蓊蓊郁郁的。路的一旁,是些楊柳,和一些不知道名字的樹。沒有月光的晚上,這路上陰森森的,有些怕人。今晚卻很好,雖然月光也還是淡淡的。
Strolling alone down the path, hands behind my back, I felt as if the whole earth and sky were mine and I had stepped outside my usual self into another world. I like both excitement and stillness, under the full moon, I could think of whatever I pleased or of nothing at all, and that gave me a sense of freedom. All daytime duties could be disregarded. That was the advantage of solitude: I could savour to the full that expanse of fragrant lotus and the moonlight.
路上只我一個人,背著手踱著。這一片天地好像是我的;我也像超出了平常的自己,到了另一世界里。我愛熱鬧,也愛冷靜;愛群居,也愛獨處。像今晚上,一個人 在這蒼茫的月下,什么都可以想,什么都可以不想,便覺是個自由的人。白天里一定要做的事,一定要說的話,現在都可不理。這是獨處的妙處,我且受用這無邊的 荷香月色好了。
As far as eye could see, the pool with its winding margin was covered with trim leaves, which rose high out of the water like the flared skirts of dancing girls.
曲曲折折的荷塘上面,彌望的是田田的葉子。葉子出水很高,像亭亭的舞女的裙。