看官：你道此书从何而起?	GENTLE READER, What, you may ask, was the origin of this book?
——说来虽近荒唐，细玩颇有趣味。	Though the answer to this question may at first seem to border on the absurd, reflection will show that there is a good deal more in it than meets the eye.
却说那女娲氏炼石补天之时，于大荒山无稽崖炼成高十二丈、见方二十四丈大的顽石三万六千五百零一块， 那娲皇只用了三万六千五百块，单单剩下一块未用，弃在青埂峰下。	Long ago, when the goddess Nǚ-wa was repairing the sky, she melted down a great quantity of rock and, on the Incredible Crags of the Great Fable Mountains, moulded the amalgam into thirty-six thousand, five hundred and one large building blocks, each measuring seventy-two feet by a hundred and forty-four feet square. She used thirty-six thousand five hundred of these blocks in the course of her building operations, leaving a single odd block unused, which lay, all on its own, at the foot of Greensickness Peak in the aforementioned mountains.
谁知此石自经锻炼之后，灵性已通，自去自来，可大可小。	Now this block of stone, having undergone the melting and moulding of a goddess, possessed magic powers. It could move about at will and could grow or shrink to any size it wanted.
因见众石俱得补天，独自己无才不得入选，遂自怨自愧，日夜悲哀。	Observing that all the other blocks had been used for celestial repairs and that it was the only one to have been rejected as unworthy, it became filled with shame and resentment and passed its days in sorrow and lamentation.
一日正当嗟悼之际，俄见一僧一道远远而来，生得骨格不凡，丰神迥异，来到这青埂峰下，席地坐谈。	One day, in the midst of its lamentings, it saw a monk and a Taoist approaching from a great distance, each of them remarkable for certain eccentricities of manner and appearance. When they arrived at the foot of Greensickness Peak, they sat down on the ground and began to talk.
见着这块鲜莹明洁的石头，且又缩成扇坠一般，甚属可爱； 那僧托于掌上，笑道：“形体倒也是个灵物了！	The monk, catching sight of a lustrous, translucent stone—it was in fact the rejected building block which had now shrunk itself to the size of a fan-pendant and looked very attractive in its new shape—took it up on the palm of his hand and addressed it with a smile: 'Ha, I see you have magical properties!
只是没有实在的好处， 须得再镌上几个字，使人人见了便知你是件奇物，然后携你到那昌明隆盛之邦、诗礼簪缨之族、花柳繁华地、温柔富贵乡那里去走一遭。”	But nothing to recommend you. I shall have to cut a few words on you so that anyone seeing you will know at once that you are something special. After that I shall take you to a certain brilliant successful poetical cultivated aristocratic elegant delectable luxurious opulent locality on a little trip.'
石头听了大喜，因问：“不知可镌何字?	The stone was delighted. 'What words will you cut?
携到何方?	Where is this place you will take me to?
望乞明示。”	I beg to be enlightened.'
那僧笑道：“你且莫问，日后自然明白。”	'Do not ask,' replied the monk with a laugh. 'You will know soon enough when the time comes.'
说毕，便袖了，同那道人飘然而去，竟不知投向何方。	And with that he slipped the stone into his sleeve and set off at a great pace with the Taoist. But where they both went to I have no idea.
又不知过了几世几劫，因有个空空道人访道求仙，从这大荒山无稽崖青埂峰下经过， 忽见一块大石，上面字迹分明，编述历历。	Countless aeons went by and a certain Taoist called Vanitas in quest of the secret of immortality chanced to be passing below that same Greensickness Peak in the Incredible Crags of the Great Fable Mountains when he caught sight of a large stone standing there, on which the characters of a long inscription were clearly discernible.
空空道人乃从头一看，原来是无才补天、幻形入世，被那茫茫大士、渺渺真人携入红尘、引登彼岸的一块顽石；上面叙着堕落之乡、投胎之处，以及家庭琐事、闺阁闲情、诗词谜语，倒还全备。	Vanitas read the inscription through from beginning to end and learned that this was a once lifeless stone block which had been found unworthy to repair the sky, but which had magically transformed its shape and been taken down by the Buddhist mahasattva Impervioso and the Taoist illuminate Mysterioso into the world of mortals, where it had lived out the life of a man before finally attaining nirvana and returning to the other shore. The inscription named the country where it had been born, and went into considerable detail about its domestic life, youthful amours, and even the verses, mottoes and riddles it had written.
只是朝代年纪，失落无考。	All it lacked was the authentication of a dynasty and date.
后面又有一偈云：	On the back of the stone was inscribed the following quatrain:
无才可去补苍天，枉入红尘若许年；	Found unfit to repair the azure sky Long years a foolish mortal man was I.
此系身前身后事，倩谁记去作奇传?	My life in both worlds on this stone is writ: Pray who will copy out and publish it?
空空道人看了一回，晓得这石头有些来历，遂向石头说道：“石兄，你这一段故事，据你自己说来，有些趣味，故镌写在此，意欲闻世传奇。	From his reading of the inscription Vanitas realized that this was a stone of some consequence. Accordingly he addressed himself to it in the following manner: 'Brother Stone, according to what you yourself seem to imply in these verses, this story of yours contains matter of sufficient interest to merit publication and has been carved here with that end in view.
据我看来：第一件，无朝代年纪可考， 第二件，并无大贤大忠、理朝廷、治风俗的善政，其中只不过几个异样女子，或情或痴，或小才微善，我纵然抄去，也算不得一种奇书。”	But as far as I can see (a) it has no discoverable dynastic period, and (b) it contains no examples of moral grandeur among its characters—no statesmanship, no social message of any kind. All I can find in it, in fact, are a number of females, conspicuous, if at all, only for their passion or folly or for some trifling talent or insignificant virtue. Even if I were to copy all this out, I cannot see that it would make a very remarkable book.'
石头果然答道：“我师何必太痴!	'Come, your reverence,' said the stone (for Vanitas had been correct in assuming that it could speak) 'must you be so obtuse?
我想历来野史的朝代，无非假借汉、唐的名色；莫如我这石头所记，不借此套，只按自己的事体情理，反倒新鲜别致。	All the romances ever written have an artificial period setting—Han or Tang for the most part. In refusing to make use of that stale old convention and telling my Story of the Stone exactly as it occurred, it seems to me that, far from depriving it of anything, I have given it a freshness these other books do not have.
况且那野史中，或讪谤君相，或贬人妻女，奸淫凶恶，不可胜数；	'Your so-called "historical romances", consisting, as they do, of scandalous anecdotes about statesmen and emperors of bygone days and scabrous attacks on the reputations of long-dead gentlewomen, contain more wickedness and immorality than I care to mention.
更有一种风月笔墨，其淫秽污臭最易坏人子弟。	Still worse is the "erotic novel", by whose filthy obscenities our young folk are all too easily corrupted.
至于才子佳人等书，则又开口‘文君’，满篇‘子建’，千部一腔，千人一面，且终不能不涉淫滥。	And the "boudoir romances", those dreary stereotypes with their volume after volume all pitched on the same note and their different characters undistinguishable except by name (all those ideally beautiful young ladies and ideally eligible young bachelors)— even they seem unable to avoid descending sooner or later into indecency.
——在作者不过要写出自己的两首情诗艳赋来，故假捏出男女二人名姓， 又必旁添一小人拨乱其间，如戏中的小丑一般。	"The trouble with this last kind of romance is that it only gets written in the first place because the author requires a framework in which to show off his love-poems. He goes about constructing this framework quite mechanically, beginning with the names of his pair of young lovers and invariably adding a third character, a servant or the like, to make mischief between them, like the chou in a comedy.
更可厌者，‘之乎者也’，非理即文，大不近情，自相矛盾。	'What makes these romances even more detestable is the stilted, bombastic language— inanities dressed in pompous rhetoric, remote alike from nature and common sense and teeming with the grossest absurdities.
竟不如我这半世亲见亲闻的几个女子，虽不敢说强似前代书中所有之人，但观其事迹原委，亦可消愁破闷；至于几首歪诗，也可以喷饭供酒。	'Surely my "number of females", whom I spent half a lifetime studying with my own eyes and ears, are preferable to this kind of stuff? I do not claim that they are better people than the ones who appear in books written before my time; I am only saying that the contemplation of their actions and motives may prove a more effective antidote to boredom and melancholy. And even the inelegant verses with which my story is interlarded could serve to entertain and amuse on those convivial occasions when rhymes and riddles are in demand.
其间离合悲欢，兴衰际遇，俱是按迹循踪，不敢稍加穿凿，至失其真。	'All that my story narrates, the meetings and partings, the joys and sorrows, the ups and downs of fortune, are recorded exactly as they happened. I have not dared to add the tiniest bit of touching-up, for fear of losing the true picture.
只愿世人当那醉余睡醒之时，或避事消愁之际，把此一玩，不但是洗旧翻新，却也省了些寿命筋力，不更去谋虚逐妄了。	'My only wish is that men in the world below may sometimes pick up this tale when they are recovering from sleep or drunkenness, or when they wish to escape from business worries or a fit of the dumps, and in doing so find not only mental refreshment but even perhaps, if they will heed its lesson and abandon their vain and frivolous pursuits, some small arrest in the deterioration of their vital forces.
我师意为如何？”	What does your reverence say to that?'
空空道人听如此说，思忖半晌，将这《石头记》再检阅一遍。	For a long time Vanitas stood lost in thought, pondering this speech. He then subjected the Story of the stone to a careful second reading.
因见上面大旨不过谈情，亦只是实录其事，绝无伤时诲淫之病，方从头至尾抄写回来，闻世传奇。	He could see that its main theme was love; that it consisted quite simply of a true record of real events; and that it was entirely free from any tendency to deprave and corrupt. He therefore copied it all out from beginning to end and took it back with him to look for a publisher.
从此空空道人因空见色，由色生情，传情入色，自色悟空，遂改名情僧，改《石头记》为《情僧录》。	As a consequence of all this, Vanitas, starting off in the Void (which is Truth) came to the contemplation of Form (which is Illusion); and from Form engendered Passion; and by communicating Passion, entered again into Form; and from Form awoke to the Void (which is Truth). He therefore changed his name from Vanitas to Brother Amor, or the Passionate Monk, (because he had approached Truth by way of Passion), and changed the title of the book from The Story of the S tone to The Tale of Brother Amor.
东鲁孔梅溪题曰《风月宝鉴》。	Old Kong Mei-xi from the homeland of Confucius called the book A Mirror for the Romantic.
至吴玉峰题曰《红楼梦》。	Wu Yu-feng called it A Dream of Golden Days.
后因曹雪芹于悼红轩中，披阅十载，增删五次，纂成目录，分出章回，又题曰《金陵十二钗》，并题一绝。	Cao Xueqin in his Nostalgia Studio worked on it for ten years, in the course of which he rewrote it no less than five times, dividing it into chapters, composing chapter headings, renaming it The Twelve Beauties of Jinling, and adding an introductory quatrain.
至脂砚斋抄阅再评，仍用《石头记》。	Red Inkstone restored the original title when he recopied the book and added his second set of annotations to it.
即此便是《石头记》的缘起。	This, then, is a true account of how The Story of the Stone came to be written.
诗云：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.
《石头记》缘起既明，正不知那石头上面记着何人何事， 看官请听——	The origin of The Story of the Stone has now been made clear. The same cannot, however, be said of the characters and events which it recorded. Gentle reader, have patience!
按那石上书云：当日地陷东南，这东南有个姑苏城，城中阊门，最是红尘中一二等富贵风流之地。	This is how the inscription began: Long, long ago the world was tilted downwards towards the south-east; and in that lower-lying south-easterly part of the earth there is a city called Soochow; and in Soochow the district around the Chang-men Gate is reckoned one of the two or three wealthiest and most fashionable quarters in the world of men.
这阊门外有个十里街，街内有个仁清巷，巷内有个古庙，因地方狭窄，人皆呼作“葫芦庙”。	Outside the Chang-men Gate is a wide thorough-fare called Worldly Way; and somewhere off Worldly Way is an area called Carnal Lane. There is an old temple in the Carnal Lane area which, because of the way it is bottled up inside a narrow cul-de-sac, is referred to locally as Bottle-gourd Temple.
庙旁住着一家乡宦，姓甄名费，字士隐；嫡妻封氏，性情贤淑，深明礼义。	Next door to Bottle-gourd Temple lived a gentleman of private means called Zhen Shi-yin and his wife Feng-shi, a kind, good woman with a profound sense of decency and decorum.
家中虽不甚富贵，然本地也推他为望族了。	The household was not a particularly wealthy one, but they were nevertheless looked up to by all and sundry as the leading family in the neighbourhood.
因这甄士隐禀性恬淡，不以功名为念，每日只以观花种竹、酌酒吟诗为乐，倒是神仙一流人物。	Zhen Shi-yin himself was by nature a quiet and totality unambitious person. He devoted his time to his garden and to the pleasures of wine and poetry. Except for a single flaw, his existence could, indeed, have been described as an idyllic one.
只是一件不足：年过半百，膝下无儿，只有一女乳名英莲，年方三岁。	The flaw was that, although already past fifty, he had no son, only a little girl, just two years old, whose name was Ying-lian.
一日炎夏永昼，士隐于书房闲坐，手倦抛书，伏几盹睡，不觉朦胧中走至一处，不辨是何地方。 忽见那厢来了一僧一道，且行且谈。	Once, during the tedium of a burning summer's day, Shi-yin was sitting idly in his study. The book had slipped from his nerveless grasp and his head had nodded down onto the desk in a doze. While in this drowsy state he seemed to drift off to some place he could not identify, where he became aware of a monk and a Taoist walking along and talking as they went.
只听道人问道：“你携了此物，意欲何往？”	'Where do you intend to take that thing you are carrying?' the Taoist was asking.
那僧笑道：“你放心！	'Don't you worry about him!' replied the monk with a laugh.
如今现有一段风流公案，正该了结，这一干风流冤家尚未投胎入世， 趁此机会，就将此物夹带于中，使他去经历经历。”	'There is a batch of lovesick souls awaiting incarnation in the world below whose fate is due to be decided this very day. I intend to take advantage of this opportunity to slip our little friend in amongst them and let him have a taste of human life along with the rest.'
那道人道：“原来近日风流冤家又将造劫历世，但不知起于何处？	'Well, well, so another lot of these amorous wretches is about to enter the vale of tears,' said the Taoist. 'How did all this begin?
落于何方？”	And where are the souls to be reborn?'
那僧道：“此事说来好笑。	'You will laugh when I tell you,' said the monk.
只因当年这个石头，娲皇未用，自己却也落得逍遥自在，各处去游玩， 一日来到警幻仙子处，那仙子知他有些来历，因留他在赤霞宫中，名他为赤霞宫神瑛侍者。	'When this stone was left unused by the goddess, he found himself at a loose end and took to wandering about all over the place for want of better to do, until one day his wanderings took him to the place where the fairy Disenchantment lives. 'Now Disenchantment could tell that there was something unusual about this stone, so she kept him there in her Sunset Glow Palace and gave him the honorary title of Divine Luminescent Stone-in-Waiting in the Court of Sunset Glow.
他却常在西方灵河岸上行走，看见那灵河岸上三生石畔有棵‘绛珠仙草’，十分娇娜可爱，遂日以甘露灌溉，这‘绛珠草’始得久延岁月。	'But most of his time he spent west of Sunset Glow exploring the banks of the Magic River. There, by the Rock of Rebirth, he found the beautiful Crimson Pearl Flower, for which he conceived such a fancy that he took to watering her every day with sweet dew, thereby conferring on her the gift of life.
后来既受天地精华，复得甘露滋养，遂脱了草木之胎，幻化人形，仅仅修成女体，终日游于‘离恨天’外，饥餐‘秘情果’，渴饮‘灌愁水’。	'Crimson Pearl's substance was composed of the purest cosmic essences, so she was already half-divine; and now, thanks to the vitalizing effect of the sweet dew, she was able to shed her vegetable shape and assume the form of a girl. 'This fairy girl wandered about outside the Realm of Separation, eating the Secret Passion Fruit when she was hungry and drinking from the Pool of Sadness when she was thirsty.
只因尚未酬报灌溉之德，故甚至五内郁结着一段缠绵不尽之意， 常说：‘自己受了他雨露之惠，我并无此水可还。	The consciousness that she owed the stone something for his kindness in watering her began to prey on her mind and ended by becoming an obsession. '"I have no sweet dew here that I can repay him with," she would say to herself.
他若下世为人，我也同去走一遭，但把我一生所有的眼泪还他，也还得过了。’	"The only way in which I could perhaps repay him would be with the tears shed during the whole of a mortal lifetime if he and I were ever to be reborn as humans in the world below."
因此一事，就勾出多少风流冤家都要下凡，造历幻缘，那绛珠仙草也在其中。	'Because of this strange affair, Disenchantment has got together a group of amorous young souls, of which Crimson Pearl is one, and intends to send them down into the world to take part in the great illusion of human life.
今日这石正该下世，我来特地将他仍带到警幻仙子案前，给他挂了号，同这些情鬼下凡，一了此案。”	And as today happens to be the day on which this stone is fated to go into the world too, I am taking him with me to Disenchantment's tribunal for the purpose of getting him registered and sent down to earth with the rest of these romantic creatures.'
那道人道：“果是好笑，从来不闻有‘还泪’之说！	'How very amusing!' said the Taoist. 'I have certainly never heard of a debt of tears before.
趁此你我何不也下世度脱几个，岂不是一场功德？”	Why shouldn't the two of us take advantage of this opportunity to go down into the world ourselves and save a few souls? It would be a work of merit.'
那僧道：“正合吾意。	'That is exactly what I was thinking,' said the monk.
你且同我到警幻仙子宫中将这‘蠢物’交割清楚，待这一干风流孽鬼下世，你我再去。	'Come with me to Disenchantment's palace to get this absurd creature cleared. Then, when this last batch of romantic idiots goes down, you and I can go down with them.
——如今有一半落尘，然犹未全集。”	At present about half have already been born. They await this last batch to make up the number.'
道人道：“既如此，便随你去来。”	'Very good, I will go with you then,' said the Taoist.
却说甄士隐俱听得明白，遂不禁上前施礼，笑问道：“二位仙师请了。”	Shi-yin heard all this conversation quite clearly, and curiosity impelled him to go forward and greet the two reverend gentlemen.
那僧道也忙答礼相问。	They returned his greeting and asked him what he wanted.
士隐因说道：“适闻仙师所谈因果，实人世罕闻者；但弟子愚拙，不能洞悉明白。	'It is not often that one has the opportunity of listening to a discussion of the operations of karma such as the one I have just been privileged to overhear,'said Shi-yin. 'Unfortunately I am a man of very limited understanding and have not been able to derive the full benefit from your conversation.
若蒙大开痴顽，备细一闻，弟子洗耳谛听，稍能警省，亦可免沉沦之苦了。”	If you would have the very great kindness to enlighten my benighted understanding with a somewhat fuller account of what you were discussing, I can promise you the most devout attention. I feel sure that your teaching would have a salutary effect on me and—who knows—might save me from the pains of hell.'
二仙笑道：“此乃玄机，不可预泄。	The reverend gentlemen laughed. 'These are heavenly mysteries and may not be divulged.
到那时只不要忘了我二人，便可跳出火坑矣。”	But if you wish to escape from the fiery pit, you have only to remember us when the time comes, and all will be well.'
士隐听了，不便再问，因笑道：“玄机固不可泄露，但适云‘蠢物’，不知为何？	Shi-yin saw that it would be useless to press them. 'Heavenly mysteries must not, of course, be revealed. But might one perhaps inquire what the "absurd creature" is that you were talking about?
或可得见否？”	Is it possible that I might be allowed to see it?'
那僧说：“若问此物，倒有一面之缘。” 说着取出递与士隐。	'Oh, as for that,' said the monk: 'I think it is on the cards for you to have a look at him,' and he took the object from his sleeve and handed it to Shi-yin.
士隐接了看时，原来是块鲜明美玉，上面字迹分明，镌着“通灵宝玉”四字。	Shi-yin took the object from him and saw that it was a clear, beautiful jade on one side of which were carved the words 'Magic Jade'.
后面还有几行小字， 正欲细看时，那僧便说“已到幻境”，就强从手中夺了去，和那道人竟过了一座大石牌坊，——上面大书四字，乃是“太虚幻境”。	There were several columns of smaller characters on the back, which Shi-yin was just going to examine more closely when the monk, with a cry of 'Here we are, at the frontier of Illusion', snatched the stone from him and disappeared, with the Taoist, through a big stone archway above which THE LAND OF ILLUSION was written in large characters.
两边又有一副对联道：	A couplet in smaller characters was inscribed vertically on either side of the arch:
假作真时真亦假，无为有处有还无。	Truth becomes fiction when the fiction's true; Real becomes not-teal where the unreal's real.
士隐意欲也跟着过去，方举步时，忽听一声霹雳若山崩地陷，士隐大叫一声，定睛看时，只见烈日炎炎，芭蕉冉冉，梦中之事，便忘了一半。 又见奶母抱了英莲走来。	Shi-yin was on the point of following them through the archway when suddenly a great clap of thunder seemed to shake the earth to its very foundations, making him cry out in alarm. And there he was sitting in his study, the contents of his dream already half forgotten, with the sun still blazing on the ever-rustling plantains outside, and the wet-nurse at the door with his little daughter Ying-lian in her arms.
士隐见女儿越发生得粉装玉琢，乖觉可喜，便伸手接来抱在怀中斗他玩耍一回， 又带至街前，看那过会的热闹。	Her delicate little pink-and-white face seemed dearer to him than ever at that moment, and he stretched out his arms to take her and hugged her to him. After playing with her for a while at his desk, he carried her out to the front of the house to watch the bustle in the street.
方欲进来时，只见从那边来了一僧一道： 那僧癞头跣足，那道跛足蓬头，疯疯癫癫，挥霍谈笑而至。	He was about to go in again when he saw a monk and a Taoist approaching, the monk scabby-headed and barefoot, the Taoist tousle-haired and limping. They were behaving like madmen, shouting with laughter and gesticulating wildly as they walked along.
及到了他门前，看见士隐抱着英莲，那僧便大哭起来，又向士隐道：“施主，你把这有命无运、累及爹娘之物抱在怀内作甚？”	When this strange pair reached Shi-yin's door and saw him standing there holding Ying-lian, the monk burst into loud sobs. 'Patron,' he said, addressing Shi-yin, 'what are you doing, holding in your arms that ill-fated creature who is destined to involve both her parents in her own misfortune?'
士隐听了，知是疯话，也不睬他。	Shi-yin realized that he was listening to the words of a madman and took no notice.
那僧还说：“舍我罢!	But the monk persisted: 'Give her to me!
舍我罢！”	Give her to me!'
士隐不耐烦，便抱着女儿转身， 才要进去，那僧乃指着他大笑，口内念了四句言词，道是：	Shi-yin was beginning to lose patience and clasping his little girl tightly to him, turned on his heel and was about to re-enter the house when the monk pointed his finger at him, roared with laughter, and then proceeded to intone the following verses:
惯养娇生笑你痴，菱花空对雪澌澌。	'Fond man, your pampered child to cherish so— That caltrop-glass which shines on melting snow!
好防佳节元宵后，便是烟消火灭时。	Beware the high feast of the fifteenth day, When all in smoke and fire shall pass away!'
士隐听得明白，心下犹豫，意欲问他来历。 只听道人说道：“你我不必同行，就此分手，各干营生去罢。	Shi-yin heard all this quite plainly and was a little worried by it. He was thinking or asking the monk what lay behind these puzzling words when he heard the Taoist say, 'We don't need to stay tether. Why don't we part company here and each go about his own business?
三劫后我在北邙山等你，会齐了，同往太虚幻境销号。”	Three kalpas from now I shall wait far you on Bei-mang Hill. Having joined forces again there, we can go together to the Land of Illusion to sign off.'
那僧道：“最妙，最妙！”	'Excellent!' said the other.
说毕，二人一去，再不见个踪影了。	And the two if them went off and soon were both lost to sight.
士隐心中此时自忖：这两个人必有来历，很该问他一问，如今后悔却已晚了。	'There must have been something behind all this,' thought Shi-yin to himself. 'I really ought to have asked him what he meant, but now it is too late.'
这士隐正在痴想，忽见隔壁葫芦庙内寄居的一个穷儒，姓贾名化、表字时飞、别号雨村的走来。	He was still standing outside his door brooding when Jia Yu-cun, the poor student who lodged at the Bottle-gourd Temple next door, came up to him.
这贾雨村原系湖州人氏，也是诗书仕宦之族， 因他生于末世，父母祖宗根基已尽，人口衰丧，只剩得他一身一口， 在家乡无益，因进京求取功名，再整基业。	Yu-cun was a native of Hu-zhou and came from a family of scholars and bureaucrats which had, however, fallen on bad times when Yu-cun was born. The family fortunes on both his father's and mother's side had all been spent, and the members of the family had themselves gradually died off until only Yu-cun was left. There were no prospects for him in his home town, so he had set off for the capital, in search of fame and fortune.
自前岁来此，又淹蹇住了，暂寄庙中安身，每日卖文作字为生，故士隐常与他交接。	Unfortunately he had got no further than Soochow when his funds ran out, and he had now been living there in poverty for a year, lodging in this temple and keeping himself alive by working as a copyist. For this reason Shi-yin saw a great deal of his company.
当下雨村见了士隐，忙施礼陪笑道：“老先生倚门伫望，敢街市上有甚新闻么？”	As soon as he caught sight of Shi-yin, Yu-cun clasped his hands in greeting and smiled ingratiatingly. 'I could see you standing there gazing, sir. Has anything been happening in the street?'
士隐笑道：“非也。	'No, no,' said Shi-yin.
适因小女啼哭，引他出来作耍。	'It just happened that my little girl was crying, so I brought her out here to amuse her.
——正是无聊的很， 贾兄来得正好，请入小斋，彼此俱可消此永昼。”	Your coming is most opportune, dear boy. I was beginning to feel most dreadfully bored. Won't you come into my little den, and we can help each other to while away this tedious hot day?'
说着便令人送女儿进去，自携了雨村来至书房中，小童献茶。	So saying, he called for a servant to take the child indoors, while he himself took Yu-cun by the hand and led him into his study, where his boy served them both with tea.
方谈得三五句话，忽家人飞报：“严老爷来拜。”	But they had not exchanged half-a-dozen words before one of the servants rushed in to say that 'Mr Yan had come to pay a call.'
士隐慌忙起身谢道：“恕诓驾之罪，且请略坐，弟即来奉陪。”	Shi-yin hurriedly rose up and excused himself: 'I seem to have brought you here under false pretences. I do hope you will forgive me. If you don't mind sitting on your own here for a moment, I shall be with you directly.'
雨村起身也让道：“老先生请便。	Yu-cun rose to his feet too. 'Please do not distress yourself on my account, sir.
晚生乃常造之客，稍候何妨。”	I am a regular visitor here and can easily wait a bit.'
说着士隐已出前厅去了。	But by the time he had finished saying this, Shi-yin was already out of the study and on his way to the guest-room.
这里雨村且翻弄诗籍解闷，忽听得窗外有女子嗽声。	Left to himself, Yu-cun was flicking through some of Shi-yin's books of poetry in order to pass the time, when he heard a woman's cough outside the window.
雨村遂起身往外一看，原来是一个丫鬟在那里掐花儿：生的仪容不俗，眉目清秀，虽无十分姿色，却也有动人之处。	Immediately he jumped up and peered out to see who it was. The cough appeared to have come from a maid who was picking flowers in the garden. She was an unusually good-looking girl with a rather refined face: not a great beauty, by any means, but with something striking about her.
雨村不觉看得呆了。	Yu-cun gazed at her spellbound.
那甄家丫鬟掐了花儿方欲走时，猛抬头见窗内有人：敝巾旧服，虽是贫窘，然生得腰圆背厚，面阔口方，更兼剑眉星眼，直鼻方腮。	Having now finished picking her flowers, this anonymous member of the Zhen household was about to go in again when, on some sudden impulse, she raised her head and caught sight of a man standing in the window. His hat was frayed and his clothing threadbare; yet, though obviously poor, he had a fine, manly physique and handsome, well-proportioned features.
这丫鬟忙转身回避，心下自想：“这人生的这样雄壮，却又这样褴褛，我家并无这样贫窘亲友。	The maid hastened to remove herself from this male presence; but as she went she thought to herself, 'What a fine-looking man! But so shabby! The family hasn't got any friends or relations as poor as that.
想他定是主人常说的什么贾雨村了，怪道又说他必非久困之人，每每有意帮助周济他，只是没什么机会。”	It must be that Jia Yu-cun the master is always on about. No wonder he says that he won't stay poor long. I remember hearing him say that he's often wanted to help him but hasn't yet found an opportunity.'
如此一想，不免又回头一两次。	And thinking these thoughts she could not forbear to turn back for another peep or two.
雨村见他回头，便以为这女子心中有意于他，遂狂喜不禁，自谓此女子必是个巨眼英豪、风尘中之知己。	Yu-cun saw her turn back and, at once assuming that she had taken a fancy to him, was beside himself with delight. What a perceptive young woman she must be, he thought, to have seen the genius underneath the rags! A real friend in trouble!
一时小童进来，雨村打听得前面留饭，不可久待，遂从夹道中自便门出去了。	After a while the boy came in again and Yu-cun elicited from him that the visitor in the front room was now staying to dinner. It was obviously out of the question to wait much longer, so he slipped down the passage-way at the side of the house and let himself out by the back gate.
士隐待客既散，知雨村已去，便也不去再邀。	Nor did Shi-yin invite him round again when, having at last seen off his visitor, he learned that Yu-cun had already left.
一日到了中秋佳节，士隐家宴已毕，又另具一席于书房，自己步月至庙中来邀雨村。	But then the Mid Autumn festival arrived and, after the family convivialities were over, Shi-yin had a little dinner for two laid out in his study and went in person to invite Yu-cun, walking to his temple lodgings in the moonlight.
原来雨村自那日见了甄家丫鬟曾回顾他两次，自谓是个知己，便时刻放在心上。 今又正值中秋，不免对月有怀，因而口占五言一律云：	Ever since the day the Zhens' maid had, by looking back twice over her shoulder, convinced him that she was a friend, Yu-cun had had the girl very much on his mind, and now that it was festival time, the full moon of Mid Autumn lent an inspiration to his romantic impulses which finally resulted in the following octet:
未卜三生愿，频添一段愁；	'Ere on ambition's path my feet are set, Sorrow comes often this poor heart to fret.
闷来时敛额，行去几回眸。	Yet, as my brow contracted with new care, Was there not one who, parting, turned to stare?
自顾风前影，谁堪月下俦?	Dare I, that grasp at windows in the wind, Hope, underneath the moon, a friend to find?
蟾光如有意，先上玉人头。	Bright orb, if with my plight you sympathize, Shine first upon the chamber where she lies.'
雨村吟罢，因又思及平生抱负，苦未逢时，乃又搔首对天长叹，复高吟一联云：	Having delivered himself of this masterpiece, Yu-cun's thoughts began to run on his unrealized ambitions and, after much head-scratching and many heavenward glances accompanied by heavy sighs, he produced the following couplet, reciting it in a loud, ringing voice which caught the ear of Shi-yin, who chanced at that moment to be arriving:
玉在椟中求善价，钗于奁内待时飞。	'The jewel in the casket bides till one shall come to buy. The jade pin in the drawer hides, waiting its time to fly.'
恰值士隐走来听见，笑道：“雨村兄真抱负不凡也！”	Shi-yin smiled. 'You are a man of no mean ambition, Yu-cun.'
雨村忙笑道：“不敢，不过偶吟前人之句，何期过誉如此。”	'Oh no!'Yu-cun smiled back deprecatingly. 'You are too flattering. I was merely reciting at random from the lines of some old poet.
因问：“老先生何兴至此？”	But what brings you here, sir?'
士隐笑道：“今夜中秋，俗谓团圆之节，想尊兄旅寄僧房，不无寂寥之感， 故特具小酌邀兄到敝斋一饮，不知可纳芹意否？”	'Tonight is Mid Autumn night,'said Shi-yin. 'People call it the Festival of Reunion. It occurred to me that you might be feeling rather lonely here in your monkery, so I have arranged for the two of us to take a little wine together in my study. I hope you will not refuse to join me.'
雨村听了，并不推辞，便笑道：“既蒙谬爱，何敢拂此盛情。”	Yu-cun made no polite pretence of declining. 'Your kindness is more than I deserve,' he said. 'I accept gratefully.'
说着便同士隐复过这边书院中来了。	And he accompanied Shi-yin back to the study next door.
须臾茶毕，早已设下杯盘，那美酒佳肴，自不必说。 二人归坐，先是款酌慢饮，渐次谈至兴浓，不觉飞觥献斝起来。	Soon they had finished their tea. Wine and various choice dishes were brought in and placed on the table, already laid out with cups, plates, and so forth, and the two men took their places and began to drink. At first they were rather slow and ceremonious; but gradually, as the conversation grew more animated, their potations too became more reckless and uninhibited.
当时街坊上家家箫管，户户笙歌，当头一轮明月，飞彩凝辉， 二人愈添豪兴，酒到杯干。 雨村此时已有七八分酒意，狂兴不禁，乃对月寓怀，口占一绝云：	The sounds of music and singing which could now be heard from every house in the neighbourhood and the full moon which shone with cold brilliance overhead seemed to increase their elation, so that the cups were emptied almost as soon as they touched their lips, and Yu-cun, who was already a sheet or so in the wind, was seized with an irrepressible excitement to which he presently gave expression in the form of a quatrain, ostensibly on the subject of the moon, but really about the ambition he had hitherto been at some pains to conceal:
时逢三五便团圆，满把清光护玉栏。	'In thrice five nights her perfect O is made, Whose cold light bathes each marble balustrade.
天上一轮才捧出，人间万姓仰头看。	As her bright wheel starts on its starry ways, On earth ten thousand heads look up and gaze.'
士隐听了大叫：“妙极!	'Bravo!' said Shi-yin loudly.
弟每谓兄必非久居人下者，今所吟之句，飞腾之兆已见，不日可接履于云霄之上了。	'I have always insisted that you were a young fellow who would go up in the world, and now, in these verses you have just recited, I see an augury of your ascent. In no time at all we shall see you up among the clouds!
可贺，可贺！”	This calls for a drink!'
乃亲斟一斗为贺。	And, saying this, he poured Yu-cun a large cup of wine.
雨村饮干，忽叹道：“非晚生酒后狂言，若论时尚之学，晚生也或可去充数挂名。	Yu-cun drained the cup, then, surprisingly, sighed: 'Don't imagine the drink is making me boastful, but I really do believe that if it were just a question of having the sort of qualifications now in demand, I should stand as good a chance as any of getting myself on to the list of candidates.
只是如今行李路费一概无措，神京路远，非赖卖字撰文即能到得——”	The trouble is that I simply have no means of laying my hands on the money that would be needed for lodgings and travel expenses. The journey to the capital is a long one, and the sort of money I can earn from my copying is not enough—'
士隐不待说完，便道：“兄何不早言!	'Why ever didn't you say this before?' said Shi-yin interrupting him.
弟已久有此意，但每遇兄时，并未谈及，故未敢唐突。	'I have long wanted to do something about this, but on all the occasions I have met you previously, the conversation has never got round to this subject, and I haven't liked to broach it for fear of offending you.
今既如此，弟虽不才：‘义利’二字却还识得；且喜明岁正当大比，兄宜作速入都，春闱一捷，方不负兄之所学。	Well, now we know where we are. I am not a very clever man, but at least I know the right thing to do when I see it. Luckily, the next Triennial is only a few months ahead. You must go to the capital without delay. A spring examination triumph will make you feel that all your studying has been worth while.
其盘费余事，弟自代为处置，亦不枉兄之谬识矣。”	I shall take care of all your expenses. It is the least return I can make for your friendship.'
当下即命小童进去速封五十两白银并两套冬衣，又云：“十九日乃黄道之期，兄可即买舟西上。	And there and then he instructed his boy to go with all speed and make up a parcel of fifty tales of the best refined silver and two suits of winter clothes. 'The almanac gives the nineteenth as a good day for travelling,' he went on, addressing Yu-cun again. 'You can set about hiring a boat for the journey straight away.
待雄飞高举，明冬再晤，岂非大快之事！”	How delightful it will be to meet again next winter when you have distinguished yourself by soaring to the top over all the other candidates!'
雨村收了银衣，不过略谢一语，并不介意，仍是吃酒谈笑。	Yu-cun accepted the silver and the clothes with only the most perfunctory word of thanks and without, apparently, giving them a further moment's thought, for he continued to drink and laugh and talk as if nothing had happened.
那天已交三鼓，二人方散。	It was well after midnight before they broke up.
士隐送雨村去后，回房一觉，直至红日三竿方醒。	After seeing Yu-cun off, Shi-yin went to bed and slept without a break until the sun was high in the sky next morning.
因思昨夜之事，意欲写荐书两封与雨村带至都中去，使雨村投谒个仕宦之家为寄身之地，因使人过去请时，那家人回来说：	When he awoke, his mind was still running on the conversation of the previous night. He thought he would write a couple of introductory letters for Yu-cun to take with him to the capital, and arrange for him to call on the family of an official he was acquainted with who might be able to put him up; but when he sent a servant to invite him over, the servant brought back word from the temple as follows:
“和尚说，贾爷今日五鼓已进京去了，也曾留下话与和尚转达老爷，说：‘读书人不在黄道黑道，总以事理为要，不及面辞了。’”	'The monk says that Mr Jia set out for the capital at five o'clock this morning, sir. He says he left a message to pass on to you. He said to tell you, "A scholar should not concern himself with almanacs, but should act as the situation demands," and he said there wasn't time to say good-bye.'
士隐听了，也只得罢了。	So Shi-yin was obliged to let the matter drop.
真是闲处光阴易过，倏忽又是元宵佳节。 士隐令家人霍启抱了英莲，去看社火花灯。	It is a true saying that 'time in idleness is quickly spent'. In no time at all it was Fifteenth Night, and Shi-yin sent little Ying-lian out, in the charge of one of the servants called Calamity, to see the mummers and the coloured lanterns.
半夜中霍启因要小解，便将英莲放在一家门槛上坐着， 待他小解完了来抱时，那有英莲的踪影?	It was near midnight when Calamity, feeling an urgent need to relieve his bladder, put Ying-lian down on someone's doorstep while he went about his business, only to find, on his return, that the child was nowhere to be seen.
急的霍启直寻了半夜， 至天明不见，那霍启也不敢回来见主人，便逃往他乡去了。	Frantically he searched for her throughout the rest of the night; but when day dawned and he had still not found her, he took to his heels, not daring to face his master and mistress, and made off for another part of the country.
那士隐夫妇见女儿一夜不归，便知有些不好；再使几人去找寻，回来皆云影响全无。	Shi-yin and his wife knew that something must be wrong when their little girl failed to return home all night. Then a search was made; but all those sent out were obliged in the end to report that no trace of her could be found.
夫妻二人半世只生此女，一旦失去，何等烦恼，因此昼夜啼哭，几乎不顾性命。 看看一月，士隐已先得病，夫人封氏也因思女构疾，日日请医问卦。	The shock of so sudden a loss to a middle-aged couple who had only ever had the one daughter can be imagined. In tears every day and most of the night, they almost lost the will to go on living, and after about a month like this first Shi-yin and then his wife fell ill, so that doctors and diviners were in daily attendance on them.
不想这日三月十五，葫芦庙中炸供，那和尚不小心，油锅火逸，便烧着窗纸。	Then, on the fifteenth of the third month, while frying cakes for an offering, the monk of Bottle-gourd Temple carelessly allowed the oil to catch alight, which set fire to the paper window.
此方人家俱用竹篱木壁，也是劫数应当如此，于是接二连三牵五挂四，将一条街烧得如火焰山一般；彼时虽有军民来救，那火已成了势了，如何救得下? 直烧了一夜方息，也不知烧了多少人家。	And, since the houses in this area all had wooden walls and bamboo fences—though also, doubtless, because they were doomed to destruction anyway-the fire leaped from house to house until the whole street was blazing away like a regular Fiery Mountain; and though the firemen came to put it out, by the time they arrived the fire was well under way and long past controlling, and roared away all night long until it had burnt itself out, rendering heaven knows how many families homeless in the process.
只可怜甄家在隔壁，早成了一堆瓦砾场了，只有他夫妇并几个家人的性命不曾伤了，急的士隐惟跌足长叹而已。	Poor Zhens! Though they and their handful of domestics escaped unhurt, their house, which was only next door to the temple, was soon reduced to a heap of rubble, while Shi-yin stood by helpless, groaning and stamping in despair.
与妻子商议，且到田庄上去住，偏值近年水旱不收，贼盗蜂起，官兵剿捕，田庄上又难以安身，只得将田地都折变了，携了妻子与两个丫鬟投他岳丈家去。	After some discussion with his wife, Shi-yin decided that they should move to their farm in the country; but a series of crop failures due to flooding and drought had led to widespread brigandage in those parts, and government troops were out everywhere hunting down the mutinous peasants and making arrests. In such conditions it was impossible to settle on the farm, so Shi-yin sold the land and, taking only two of the maids with them, went with his wife to seek refuge with his father-in-law, Feng Su.