Question about TV show "The Water Margin" (水滸傳)

pkchan wrote:
慕宏 2005-5-10 19:46
《沁园春·雪》中的“原驰蜡象”
听了此话，若有所悟，再看那塬，果然象个梯形，四边陡顶上平。出差回来便查字典，果然“原”字可以同“塬”。此时再读“原驰蜡象”便有了形象：被积雪覆盖的群塬乍看似一群蜡做的大象，在漫天的雪花中仿佛奔驰而来。

wherestip wrote:

Yueyin,

我也不知道清涧县在哪里. 但看这个地图, 延长在延川的南边, 清涧在延川的北边. 所以这几个县的地势应该是差不太多的. 我插队的公社叫安沟, 当年是穷中之穷的地方.

http://www.9654.com/m/yanchuan.htm

nigerose wrote:
hi, Lesley，我不是很懂诗词。但不要用你农业专家的思维来思考具体是指颜色还是材料，当作一个整体来想象吧。

[修改时间: 2009-03-25 04:31 GMT]

lai an wrote:

http://www.proz.com/forum/chinese/48523-书香世界_parfum_des_livres-page4.html#824881
Ming and Qing Fiction
...
At the same time as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" there was also Shi Nai'an's "Water Margin ". This novel draws its material from the story of the Liangshan Peasant Revolt headed by Song Jiang in the final years of the Northern Song, the author basing his recreation on the relevant "Water Margin" story-telling scripts, zaju operas, and folklore. The novel portrays the different tragic experiences of many of the oppressed, and writes of them all finally arriving at Liangshan by way of their own individual paths of resistance, and then from this, it vividly depicts the process of genesis and development of the peasant war. "To be driven to Liangshan" has become a set-phrase of the Chinese people, and Li Kui, Wu Song, Lin Chong and all the others, are heroes known to practically every household.
(Translated from Wang Yong Kuan et al., Native land, China Youth Press, Beijing, 1983)

lai an wrote:

Steve

1 Thank you very much! 不敢当。I am quite fond of 'frolicking' here, for two reasons: I think I have seen pictures and animations of Chinese dragons frolicking in the clouds. And, for me, there is an association with 'leviathan frolicking in the ocean'. (BTW in that piece, for 四面, I had to make a choice between on 'all four sides' and 'all around' ... )

2 In the same way, the Great Wall-dragon at Jiayuguan appearing and disappearing in the Gobi evoked (for me) pictures of 'Nessie' (not the plesiosaur, the sea-serpent type) in the loch: http://www.explorehistoricalif.com/images/badwater_nessie.jpg

3 Two questions:
i How do dragons move? only up-and-down or from also side-to-side 'snakewise'? (If it's only 忽高忽低，忽上忽下, then 'sinuous' won't do, I guess, and perhaps 'meandering' could be doubtful ... 请问，你的‘meander' 是‘慢悠悠无目标地走’的意思吗，还是...?)
ii And I wonder are 游龙 and 舞龙 stock images, like lion-rampant?

[ Apparently Nessie visited Shenyang last year, courtesy of a Scottish company: http://www.polenth.com/news/archives/19 The Dragon Stone. This is a nice site. It has all sorts of dragons, including Mongolian naga. But no taniwha ... http://www.proz.com/kudoz/english_to_chinese/folklore/1309831-taniwha.html ]

4 Auspicious animals etc, Song poet, Li Qing Zhao:
《醉花阴》：薄雾浓云愁永晨，瑞脑消金兽。
"Drunk under Flower Shadows"：
'Mist and thick clouds tire of endless day, the auspicious essence leaves the golden animal.'
Any suggestions?

[Edited at 2009-03-27 03:13 GMT]

醉花阴

- 李清照

薄雾浓云愁永昼，瑞脑消金兽。 佳节又重阳，玉枕纱厨，半夜凉初透。
东篱把酒黄昏后，有暗香盈袖。 莫道不消魂，帘卷西风，人比黄花瘦。

“薄雾愁云”是由中山王《文木赋》：“奔电屯云，薄雾浓雰”脱化而来。作者《渔家傲》：“天接云涛连晓雾。”梁简文帝诗：“晓雾晦阶前。”陶弘景诗：“惯衔晓雾惊群雁。”可见“雾”一般指早晨。“云”却不定时，有朝云、晓云、晨云、暮云……而且“云”可连“雾”，如作者《渔家傲》：“天接云涛连晓雾。”就是这样的。如此，这句的意思就是，从早晨起就有雾，雾接着浓云，一整天如此，就是所谓“浓云不雨长阴”，是最使人感无聊寂寞、最惹人怀念远人的天气，自然会使人愁了。“永”字说明“愁”的时间很长及愁的无法排遣。“永昼”多用以形容夏日，而时下已是昼短夜长的深秋季节，可知“永昼”当是一种对时间的心理错觉，作者借此点出了她独守空闺时的度日如年之感。此词的开头，缘情布景，情景交融。其中蕴含着作者丰富的思想感情，情景融于一炉。开始作者用颇具艺术魅力的笔墨，渲染了凄凉抑郁的气氛，既是环境的铺陈，也是人物思想感情的披露。谢榛认为：“凡起句当如爆竹，骤响易彻。”此词的开头，也似一声轰鸣，响彻全篇，并余音不绝，惆怅忧伤的意绪贯穿始终。 瑞脑：即龙脑，香料名。金兽：兽形的铜香炉。枯坐铜香炉旁，看那炉中的香料一点点地消融，岂不见出作者的寂寞无聊？此句写出了时间的漫长无聊，同时又烘托出环境的凄寂。

http://www.proz.com/post/1083785#1083785

One Less Bell to Answer (Marilyn McCoo)

One less bell to answer
One less egg to fry
One less man to pick up after
I should be happy but all I do is cry

lai an wrote:
Shui-Hu-Zhuan: Though I really know very little about it, I know it is much loved by the people, including the main characters, events and places. Shui-Hu to me denotes a whole genre and 'topos': Jianghu, Lulin, the Greenwood, Outlaws ...

Here is what a Chinese reference says about it:
http://www.proz.com/forum/chinese/48523-书香世界_parfum_des_livres-page4.html#824881
Ming and Qing Fiction
... The novel portrays the different tragic experiences of many of the oppressed, and writes of them all finally arriving at Liangshan by way of their own individual paths of resistance, and then from this, it vividly depicts the process of genesis and development of the peasant war. (Translated from Wang Yong Kuan et al., Native land, China Youth Press, Beijing, 1983)

wherestip wrote:

Lesley,

I have no experience in translating Chinese poems whatsoever, but here are some of my thoughts as a layman on some of the specific issues that you brought up ...


一潭云影幻游龙
As I said before, I think the use of "frolicking" in this instance is excellent, mainly because of the vivid dynamic image it creates of the dragon's reflection in the pool. A very similar Chinese expression 蛟龙戏水 is often used to impart the same sense of speed, flair, and agility of a person's movements in martial arts.
http://www.zdic.net/cy/ch/ZdicE8Zdic9BZdic9F13100.htm

游龙浮动于戈壁瀚海
Whereas the same word "frolicking" wouldn't fit as well when applied to the distant view of the Great Wall. After all, the Great Wall is not something that is constantly moving about, or not "in a state of flux" if you will. I personally think the Chinese term 游龙 in this instance is more of a metaphorical description of the twists and turns one could observe of the Great Wall, as it seemingly "meanders", or "undulates" like a dragon in motion, crisscrossing the mountain terrain of the wild frontier.

I don't think 游龙 and 舞龙 are necessarily fixed terms that represent particular stock images of a dragon either. 游 and 舞 are just different words people like to use to accentuate certain aspects of certain objects. It's the same type of usage as 游云、乱云、飞云、银月、明月、霜月, etc. One would typically choose whichever adjective suits the context and sounds the best. Some people would strictly go by which character sounds the most impressive to them.

lai an wrote:
4 Auspicious animals etc, Song poet, Li Qing Zhao:
《醉花阴》：薄雾浓云愁永晨，瑞脑消金兽。
"Drunk under Flower Shadows"：
Any suggestions?

[Edited at 2009-03-27 03:13 GMT]