Section One Birth Is the Starting Point of One’s Life
任何人從母體來到人世的第一聲啼哭就是向世人宣布他或她的人生已經開始了。但每個人的人生經曆不同，並因此使每個人的人生變得獨特而精彩。
The first cry of anyone who comes out of his or her mother’s body into the world is announcing to allpeople on earth that he or she has already begun his or her life. But everyone has different experiences inone’s life and thus one’s life becomes very unique and wonderful.
咱們讀一讀曹雪芹的《紅樓夢》並研究一下作者和其中主要人物的出生、死亡和人生，就可欣賞到他們不同的經曆和精彩人生，也能學到很多人生的經驗教訓。
Let’s read Cao Xueqin’s A Dream of Red Mansions and study the birth， death and life of the writer andthe main characters’ in the novel. We can enjoy their different experiences and wonderful lives and learnmuch from their experiences and lessons in life.
1.1 內容介紹
1.1 Introduction小說《紅樓夢》是曹雪芹於18世紀中葉清代（1644—1911）乾隆統治時期（1736—1795）根據自己的身世經曆和對現實的深切感受，飽含著血淚寫成的。清代的康熙、乾隆兩朝號稱盛世，但恰恰是在這樣的盛世中卻潛伏著危機，製造著悲劇，反映到文學創作上，就產生了《紅樓夢》這樣偉大的悲劇作品。
Based on the writer’s life experience and his deep sense of the realities， the novel A Dream of RedMansions was written by Cao Xueqin with all his devotion in the mid-eighteenth century during the reign(1736—1795) of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1644—1911). The two reigns of Emperors Kangxiand Qianlong in the Qing dynasty are known as the Golden Ages， but it is in these Ages that crises arebrewing and tragedy is in the making. Their reflections in the literary writing lead to the birth of a great tragicwork of literature—A Dream of Red Mansions.
《紅樓夢》通過對賈寶玉和林黛玉愛情悲劇的描寫，展示了以賈府為主的賈、史、王、薛四大家族的興亡史，描寫出封建末世的衰敗景象和眾多的人生悲劇，從客觀上顯示出封建社會走向沒落的曆史趨勢。全書籠罩著一層感傷與幻滅的色彩，其中的《好了歌》與《紅樓夢曲》可以看做是《紅樓夢》的主題歌。小說的第四回不僅總結了全書的主要內容，而且也總結了全書的藝術結構。作者根據主題的需要建構了故事情節。四大家族的興衰，特別是賈家的興衰，構成了全書的主線。圍繞主線展開他們相互緊密聯係的三種矛盾：統治者與被統治者間的矛盾、正統者與叛逆者間的矛盾和統治者內部之間的矛盾。貫穿全書故事的這些矛盾間的複雜發展使得賈家的最終結果是完全破產。小說在展示賈府這個封建貴族大家庭從“鮮花著錦，烈火烹油”的繁盛，走向“忽喇喇似大廈傾，昏慘慘似燈將盡”的衰亡悲劇命運的同時，也描寫了其他封建大家庭不可避免的厄運。
By depicting the tragic love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu， A Dream of Red Mansions exhibiteda history of the prosperity and decline of the four big families as the predominant Jias， the Shis， the Wangsand the Xues， and portrayed scenes of decline and numerous tragedies in life in the last period of the feudalsociety， thus objectively revealing a historical trend of the ever-declining feudal society. The novel is investedwith sentiment and illusion， of which All Good Things Must End and Songs of A Dream of Red Mansionscan be regarded as its theme song. Chapter Four of the novel not only sums up the main content but also theartistic composition. The author has constructed the plot according to the requirements of the theme. Theprosperity and decline of the four big families， especially the Jias， form the main thread running through thewhole novel. Around this thread unfolds three sets of closely interconnected contradictions： those betweenthe feudal rulers and the ruled， those between feudal orthodoxy and the rebels， and those within the rulersthemselves. The complex development of these three sets of contradictions throughout the story results finallyin the utter bankruptcy of the Jia family. The novel also depicts the inevitable doom of the other big feudalfamilies while presenting the tragic destiny of the Jia mansions， a big aristocratic family of the feudal society，from its prosperity of“gilding the lily and spraying oil over the blazing flames”to its decline of“thetottering building will collapse and the flickering candle will peter out”.
《紅樓夢》描寫的是一個由社會、家庭和個人三層組成的悲劇世界。就個人層麵而言，賈寶玉是眾多悲劇人物中的一個代表。小說描寫了賈寶玉的人生悲劇。賈寶玉是作者理想化的人物。他生活在溫柔富貴鄉裏，卻天生有一種感傷的氣質和一種癡情，他不願走封建家長為他安排的讀書做官的道路，卻走向了一條背叛封建禮教的叛逆道路。他重情輕禮，喜歡美麗的少女，厭惡男人，他認為女兒是水做的骨肉，清潔無比，而男人是泥做的， 濁臭逼人。