卫泳·《闲赏·元旦》英译

闲赏·元旦

卫泳

元旦应酬作苦，且阅岁渐深，韶光渐短，添得一番甲子，增得一番感慨。庄子曰：大块“劳我以生”。此之谓乎！吾所取者，淑气临门，和风拂面，东郊农事，举趾有期。江梅提柳，装点春工，晴雪条风，消融腊气，山居之士，负暄而坐，顿觉化日舒长，为人生一快耳。

Thoughts at Leisure on New Year’s Day

Wei Yong

It is actually a grind to attend a lot of trivial social activities during the New Year’s Day.¹ Besides, good days will look increasingly shorter as we grow older. Therefore, once we are one more year older, we will have the regret that our future days are one year shorter. Zhuangzi’s words that “Nature makes me grow with toil”² must refer to this situation. Therefore, the attitude I should adopt is that when spring is coming and an agreeable breeze is caressing my face, it is time that I should get ready to do the farm work in the eastern suburbs. The plum blossoms along the riversides and the willows on the causeways decorate the beautiful scenery in spring. The east wind blows away the lingering snow on sunny days, dispelling the piercing cold air in the coldest 12^th month of the lunar year. When the folks who dwell in the hills sit outside to bask their backs in the sun, they suddenly feel that the time of the day is now becoming longer. What a delightful thing in life it is!

1. Here, New Year’s Day refers to Chinese Spring Festival, which usually lasts from the first day to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

2. Zhuangzi’s original words run as follows, “Nature carries me with my form, makes me grow with toil, relaxes me with old age, and rests me with death. Therefore, I consider both my life and my death good.”

（王宏、张顺生 译）