第二章 開始人生
Chapter Two The Beginning of One’s Life
第一節 出生是人生的起點
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。
他反對男權社會的禮法道德，而欣賞、讚美、體貼女性，甘願做女性的護衛者。他忠於對林黛玉的真摯愛情，反對封建家長的包辦婚姻。當他心愛的林黛玉死去，而他所珍視的美麗的女性在封建社會的摧殘下死的死散的散時，他認識到現實的黑暗醜惡，也感到人生的痛苦和幻滅，最後他絕望了，拋棄了家庭和社會，出家當和尚去了。
A Dream of Red Mansions depicts a tragic world, which consists of the three dimensions—the society,family and individual. As far as individual dimemison is concerned, Jia Baoyu is a representative of themany tragic characters. The novel portrays the life tragedy of Jia Baoyu, who is an idealized character of theauthor’s. Jia Baoyu lives in the home of pleasure and luxury, but is endowed with sentiment and passionatedevotion. He does not choose to travel the arranged path to do his studies and take his official career by thefeudal patriarchy, but resets himself onto the way to revolt against feudal ethical codes. He thinks more offeelings than of feudal ethical codes, and he prefers beautiful young women to men, thinking that youngwomen are made of water, pure as ever and men of clay, stinking and stifling. He objects to rules of etiquettesand ethics in the male chauvinist society, but appreciates, eulogizes and cares for the female and volunteersto protect them. He upholds his true love for Lin Daiyu and opposes the arranged marriage by the feudalpatriarchy. As his beloved Lin Daiyu and other beautiful young women were tortured to death or scatteredhere and there in the feudal society, he came to recognize the darkness and evils of the realities, feel a pain ofsuffering and illusion in life and eventually renounce his family and the society in utter despair to be tonsuredto become a monk.
一般說來，戀愛、結婚、組建家庭是人生重要的三步。小說描寫了賈寶玉和林黛玉、薛寶釵之間的愛情婚姻悲劇。賈寶玉與林黛玉的愛情是“木石前盟”，是建立在兩情相悅、兩心相知的基礎之上的自由純潔的愛情，不講門第，不計利害，重情不重禮，生死與共，與封建禮教背道而馳，是一種叛逆的愛情。因為這種愛情不合封建禮教，不符合封建家族的利益，不遵從封建家長的意誌，所以最終被扼殺，造成了林黛玉的死亡和賈寶玉的出家，上演了一出令人心碎的愛情悲劇。賈寶玉與薛寶釵的婚姻是“金玉良緣”，薛寶釵是一個遵禮守教的封建淑女，她重禮不重情，自覺地壓抑自己的個性和情感，時時處處按封建禮教的要求行動，安分守拙，城府很深。雖然賈寶玉被迫與薛寶釵結婚，但由於他和薛寶釵誌不同，道不合，最後拋棄了薛寶釵而出家，造成了他們之間沒有愛情的婚姻悲劇。由於賈寶玉與林黛玉之間的愛情悲劇和賈寶玉與薛寶釵之間的婚姻悲劇，“核心家庭”在賈府這個封建貴族大家庭內部一建立就被毀滅了。沒有年青一代的小“家”，大“家”怎能長久？
Generally speaking, love, marriage and family are the important three steps in one’s life. Thenovel portrays the tragic love and marriage between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu on the one hand andbetween Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai on the other. The love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, whichis“predestined”and based on their mutual love and understanding, is a free and pure love without anyconcern for family status and interests; and it is also a constant and rebellious love, which emphasizes feelingrather than feudal ethical codes, and thus runs counter to feudal ethical codes. This kind of love conforms toneither the feudal ethical codes nor the interests of the feudal families nor the will of the feudal patriarchy, soit is strangled to death and ends in a heart-breaking tragedy, including the death of Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu’sdecision to be tonsured to become a monk. The marriage between Jia Baoyu and Xue Baochai is“well-matched”. As a beautiful and virtuous lady, Xue Baochai adjusts herself to feudal ethical codes. She thinksmore of feudal ethical codes than of feelings; She involuntarily restrains her temperament and feelings andalways behaves herself according to the needs of the feudal ethical codes. She knows her place, but she isvery astute. Although Jia Baoyu gets married to Xue Baochai by force, he has little in common with her andfinally decides to forsake her and tonsure himself to become a monk. Thus their marriage without love endsup tragically. Because of the tragic love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu and the tragic marriage between JiaBaoyu and Xue Baochai, the“nuclear family”is destroyed as soon as it is built up within the Jia mansions,a big aristocratic family of the feudal society. Without the younger generation’s“nuclear family”, how can abig family last long?
社會是由人們——男女——生活在一起而聚合成的有一定秩序的群體。《紅樓夢》描寫了女人的悲劇。小說虛構了一個女性的樂園——大觀園，在那兒生活著一群美麗活潑的青春少女，其中有林黛玉、薛寶釵、史湘雲、賈探春等這樣的貴族小姐，也有晴雯、紫鵑、襲人等丫鬟，還有藕官、芳官、蕊官等女伶，她們一個個美貌聰明，是美的化身，但她們的命運結局都是悲慘的，都沒有逃脫封建勢力的摧殘和迫害。曹雪芹讚美她們的聰明才智，同情她們的不幸命運，同時也對摧殘美的社會提出了強烈的控訴。除了女人的悲劇，男人就沒悲劇嗎？大觀園外以男人為中心的統治者世界與大觀園內以女人為中心的被統治者世界之間的鮮明對照不僅揭露了中國封建社會末期上層建築的腐敗和反動的本質，也宣判了中國封建社會不可避免地要滅亡。
Society is the aggregate of people—men and women living together in a more or less ordered community.
A Dream of Red Mansions depicts the tragedy for the female. It visualizes an Eden for the female—A GrandView Garden, where there live a bevy of beautiful, vivacious and youthful girls, including the aristocratic ladieslike Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Shi Xiangyun and Jia Tanchun, the maidservants like Qingwen, Zijuan and Xirenand the actresses like Ouguan, Fangguan and Ruiguan. All of them are beautiful and intelligent, and eventhe personifications of beauty, but they have ended in tragedy, none of whom stay free from the tortures andpersecutions of the feudal influences. Cao Xueqin extolled their ingenuity, sympathized with their unfortunatefates and bitterly condemned the society of wrecking the beauty. Besides the tragedy for the female, is there notragedy for the male? The striking contrast between the rulers’ world centered by men outside the Grand ViewGarden and the ruled world centered by women inside the Grand View Garden not only exposes the corruptand reactionary nature of the superstructure in the last period of Chinese feudal society but also pronounces theinevitable doom of Chinese feudal society.
在描寫上述三層悲劇的同時，《紅樓夢》還展示了“四大家族”是如何上與朝廷、下與地方官員組成以封建專製國家政權為中心的統治網來殘酷地壓迫和無情地剝削全國廣大的勞苦民眾的。“四大家族”的封建統治集中體現了整個封建社會的黑暗統治，正如他們的衰亡反映了整個封建製度不可避免地滅亡一樣。
While presenting the above three dimensions of the tragedy, the novel also demonstrates how the fourbig families were linked with the court and the local officials to form a network of control with the feudalautocratic state power as its center to savagely oppress and ruthlessly exploit the broad labouring masses allover the country. The feudal rule of the four big families epitomizes the dark rule of feudal society as a whole,just as their decline reflects the inevitable doom of the entire feudal system.
曹雪芹生前沒有完成他的不朽著作，現在僅存有他寫的前八十回並有脂硯齋評語的抄本。他寫了不隻這些，但不幸的是後麵章回的手稿已遺失。現今小說的後四十回是高鶚續作的。高鶚（1758—1815），字蘭墅，乾隆年間的進士，做過翰林院侍讀。高鶚的文學才華和思想境界都比不上曹雪芹，所以他續的後四十回無論在藝術上還是思想上都無法與曹雪芹的前八十回相比，但他把《紅樓夢》補全，使《紅樓夢》成為一部首尾完整渾然一體的小說，他的功勞還是值得稱讚的。
Cao Xueqin did not finish his monumental work before he died. Only eighty chapters written by him areextant in manuscript form with comments by Zhi Yanzhai. He wrote more than these but unfortunately themanuscripts of the later chapters were lost. The last forty chapters in the present novel were the work of Gao E.
Gao E (1758—1815), courtesy name Lanshu, passed the imperial examination for Jinshi during the reign ofEmperor Qianlong and became a tutor to the Imperial Academy. His literary talent and thought rank next toCao’s and his chapters, therefore, fall behind Cao’s in artistry and thought. However, his merits deserve praisefor he has written the sequel to A Dream of Red Mansions and made a complete whole of it.
1.2 作者人生1.2 The writer’s Life眾所周知，《紅樓夢》的作者是曹雪芹（1715—1763），名沾，字夢阮，號雪芹、芹圃、芹溪。他出生在南京，祖籍在今天的東北遼陽市。他的祖先，盡管是漢族人，但後來被接納入滿族右白旗。接連三代，六十多年，他的祖父輩均任江寧（今天的南京）織造。他的曾祖母孫氏是康熙皇帝幼年時期的保姆，其祖父曹寅是康熙皇帝的陪讀和近身侍衛。康熙皇帝六下江南巡視，有四次就是曹寅陪著照顧，獨享殊榮。在曹寅死後，曹家在曹雪芹父親曹俯的統領下繼續享受著康熙皇帝的恩寵。但當雍正皇帝當政時，曹俯因被指控財經虧空和驛站管理失誤而遭革職，家庭財產被沒收。曹家從此結束了平靜幸福的日子。他們必須從南京搬家到北京。曹雪芹原本過著嬌養奢侈的生活長大。由於貧困纏身，他最終遷居到京西郊外鄉下的茅舍裏。茅舍隻有蓋席陋窗，繩床瓦灶。他家有時窮得吃不起飯，隻有喝粥。1762年他年幼兒子的過早去世給了曹雪芹致命的打擊。從此他就一病不起，沒錢買好藥治療，他本人也於1763年2月12日與世長辭了，享年48歲。
It's well known that the author of A Dream of Red Mansions is Cao Xueqin (1715—1763). Hispersonal name was Zhan. His courtesy name was Mengruan. His literay names were Xueqin,Qinpu or Qinxi.
He was born in Nanjing. His ancestral home was in what is now Liaoyang City, in Northeast China, and hisforebears, although Han Chinese themselves, had been accepted into the Manchu Right White Banner.
For three successive generations, a period of some 60 years, his ancestors had held the post of TextileCommissioner in Jiangning (Present-day Nanjing). His paternal great grandmother, surnamed Sun, hadbeen nursemaid to the infant who was later to become the Kangxi Emperor, and his grandfather, Cao Yin,had been the future emperor’s study companion and close attendant accompanying him when he came tothe throne on four of his six inspection tours of the south, a singular honor. After the death of Cao Yin, thefamily, under the headship of Cao Xueqing’s father Cao Fu, continued to enjoy the emperor's favor, but whenthe Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, Cao Fu was removed from his office and punished on chargesof financial mismanagement and incompetence in the management of courier stations. The family propertywas confiscated, and the Caos’ halcyon days came to an end. They had to move from Nanjing to Beijing.
Cao Xueqin, who had spent his childhood in pampered luxury, now shared the family’s fate of a wretchedexistence. Dogged by poverty, he eventually moved to a rustic hovel with matting windows, earthen stove andrope-bed on the west outskirts of the capital. He was then so poor that his family sometimes had nothing moresubstantial to eat than porridge. The death of his young son in 1762 was a crushing blow to Cao, from whichhe never recovered. Unable to afford good medical treatment, he himself passed away on February 12, 1763,at the age of forty eight.
曹雪芹生性高傲，是一位特別有才幹的文學家。他也是一位畫家，愛畫各種各樣的石頭，其繪畫風格正如他一個名叫敦敏的朋友所評述：剛毅。但曹雪芹的出名全靠他寫作了小說《紅樓夢》所取得的輝煌成就。
Cao Xueqin was haughty by nature, but an extremely talented literary man. He was also a painter wholiked painting stones, in a style described by a friend of his—Dun Min, as sturdy. But Cao’s fame rests on hismagnificent achievement in writing the full-length novel A Dream of Red Mansions.
曹雪芹在經曆了家庭從權力和富裕的全盛期到突然衰敗的痛苦後，在極端貧困的情況下寫作了《紅樓夢》。封建社會臨亡前的各種矛盾和由於統治集團內部鬥爭而降落在曹家的各種災難，使曹雪芹睜開了雙眼，看清了很多現實的社會現象，也都被他最生動地寫進了書裏。他的人生經曆不僅提供了他寫《紅樓夢》的素材，而且提高了他的意識並錘煉了他的性格。借助《紅樓夢》，曹雪芹將他對人生深切的悲劇體驗，對人類心靈的深刻洞察，對小說結構和人物的藝術創新以及對漢語語言的純熟運用一並留給了世人。
A Dream of Red Mansions was written in circumstances of dire poverty, after Cao Xueqin had sufferedthe decline of his family fortunes from its heyday of power and affluence. The various contradictions inmoribund feudal society and the calamities befalling his own family due to struggles within the ruling classopened Cao Xueqin’s eyes to many significant social phenomena which he described most vividly in his book.
His life experiences not only provided the material for the novel, they also raised his awareness and temperedhis character. With A Dream of Red Mansions, Cao Xueqin bequeathed people with the tragic experiencesof his life, his deep insight into humankind’s inner worlds, his artistic invention of the novel’s structure andcharacters, and his great mastery of language.
曹雪芹為什麼要寫《紅樓夢》呢？他在《紅樓夢》第一回裏是這樣解釋的：他想記下他曾經曆過的一些夢幻，但想借用“通靈”寶玉的比喻，隱去他經曆過的事實，因此，求助“甄士隱”之類的名字。但書中所記何事何人？作者又解釋說：我在忙忙碌碌的塵世中，一事無成，忽然想起我曾認識的所有女子，一一比較，我漸漸醒悟，她們的行為舉止和思想見識都在我之上；我堂堂須眉，誠不如她們裙釵；我實愧則有餘，悔又無益，真沒辦法！此時我決定將已往所賴天恩祖德，錦衣紈絝之時，飫甘饜肥之日，背父兄教育之恩，負師友規訓之德，以致今日一技無成，半生潦倒之罪，編述一集，以告天下：知我之負罪固多，然閨閣中曆曆有人，萬不可因我之不肖，自護己短，一並使其泯滅也。所以家住茅舍席窗、土灶繩床，並不足妨我襟懷；況那晨風夕月，階柳庭花，更覺得潤人筆墨，我雖不學無文，又何妨用假語村言，敷演出來，亦可使閨閣昭傳，複可破一時之悶，醒同人之目，不亦宜乎？故曰“賈雨村”雲雲。
Why did Cao Xueqin write A Dream of Red Mansions? In the opening chapter of the novel, heexplains: The author wanted to record certain of his past dreams and illusions, but he tried to hide the truefacts of his experience by using the allegory of the jade of“Spiritual Understanding”. Hence his recourseto names like“Zhen Shiyin”（homophone for“true facts concealed”）. But what are the eventsrecorded in this book, and who are the characters? About this he explains further: in this busy, dusty world,having accomplished nothing, I suddenly recalled all the girls I had known, considering each in turn, and itdawned on me that all of them surpassed me in behavior and understanding; that I, shameful to say, for all mymasculine dignity, fell short of the gentler sex. But since this could never be remedied, it was no use regrettingit. There was really nothing to be done. I decided then to make known to all how I, though dressed in silkand delicately nurtured thanks to the imperial favour and my ancestors’ virtue, had nevertheless ignoredthe kindly guidance of my elders as well as the good advice of teachers and friends, with the result that Ihad wasted half my life and not acquired a single skill. But no matter how unforgivable my crimes, I mustnot let all the lovely girls I have known pass into oblivion through my wickedness or my desire to hide myshortcomings. Though my home is now a thatched cottage with matting windows, earthen stove and rope-bed,this shall not stop me from laying bare my heart. Indeed, the morning breeze, the dew of night, the willowsby my steps and the flowers in my courtyard inspire me to wield my brush. Though I have little learning orliterary talent, what does it matter if I tell a tale in rustic language to leave a record of all those lovely girls.
This should divert readers too and help distract them from their cares. That is why I use the other name“JiaYucun”(homophone for“fiction in rustic language”).
那麼，他如何寫《紅樓夢》的？在第一回裏曹雪芹告訴讀者：我想曆來野史的朝代，無非假借“漢”“唐”的某時，莫如我這故事，不借此俗套，隻按自己的事體情理，反倒更新穎獨特。為什麼硬要一定的朝代或確定的日期呢？此外，大多數一般市民更喜歡輕鬆愉快的文學而不喜歡曲高和寡的昂貴圖書。何況如此多的浪漫野史中，或訕謗君相，或貶人妻女，奸淫凶惡，不可勝數；更有一種風月筆墨，其淫穢汙臭，最易壞人子弟。至於才子佳人等書，千部一腔，千人一麵，且終不能不涉及淫濫。那些作者為了要寫進兩首情詩豔賦，故意捏出兩個陳規老套的男女主人公，又必旁添一小人撥亂其間，如戲中的小醜一般，更有甚者，使女仆侍女說話之乎者也，迂腐不堪。所有這些小說都充滿了矛盾，荒唐得極不自然。
竟不如我年輕時親見親聞的幾個女子，雖不敢說強似前代書中所有之人，但觀其事跡原委，亦可消愁解悶，至於幾首歪詩，也可噴飯供酒；其間離合悲歡，興衰際遇，俱是按跡循蹤，不敢稍加穿鑿，至失其真。現在窮人每天關心的是衣食，而富人卻從沒滿足，他們閑時美色娛樂，物欲獲取或無事找事，何時要讀道德文章？我既不想人們對我這部書感到奇異，也不要他們為取樂而去閱讀；我隻願世人在那醉餘睡醒之時，或避事消愁之際，能從中找到消遣。看一下此書，不但是洗舊翻新，卻也省了些壽命筋力，更不去謀虛逐妄了。還有，此書會向讀者提供某些新鮮的東西，不像那些有很多才子佳人悲歡離合的陳腐大雜燴，如曹子建（192—232，名植，曹操之子，三國時期魏國著名詩人）、卓文君（公元前2世紀嫁給學者司馬相如的寡婦）、紅娘（元劇《西廂記》中一侍女作的媒人）之類。曹雪芹於悼紅軒中，披閱十載，增刪五次，纂成目錄，分出章回，又題曰《金陵十二釵》；並題一絕，詩雲：滿紙荒唐言，一把辛酸淚！都雲作者癡，誰解其中味？
Then, how did he write A Dream of Red Mansions? In Chapter One, Cao Xueqin tells readers: If there’sno way of finding out the date, you can easily ascribe this tale to some time in the Han or Tang Dynasty.
But since all novels do that, I think my way of dispensing with this convention and just dealing with my ownadventures and feelings is more original. Why insist on a certain dynasty or definite date ? Besides, mostcommon people of the market-place much prefer light literature to improving books. The trouble is that somany romances contain slanderous anecdotes about sovereigns and ministers or cast aspersions upon othermen’s wives and daughters so that they are packed with sex and violence. Even worse are those writers ofthe breeze-and-moonlight school, who corrupt the youth with pornography and filth. As for books of thebeauty-and-talented-scholar type, a thousand are written to a single pattern and none escapes borderingon indecency. In order to insert a couple of their own love poems, the writers invent stereotyped heroes andheroines with the inevitable low characters to make troubles among them like clowns in plays, and make eventhe slave girls talk pedantic nonsense. So all these novels are full of contradictions and absurdly unnatural.
Much better are the girls I have known myself during my younger days. I wouldn’t presume to rank them assuperior to all the characters of earlier works, yet their stories may serve to dispel boredom and care whilethe few doggerels I have inserted may raise a laugh and add zest to wine. As for the scenes of sad partingsand happy meetings, prosperity and decline, these are all true to fact and not altered in the slightest to causea sensation or depart from the truth. At present the daily concern of the poor is food and clothing, while therich are never satisfied. All their leisure is taken up with amorous adventures, material acquisition or trouble-making. What time do they have to read political and moral treatises? I neither want people to marvel at thisstory of mine, nor do I insist that they should read it for pleasure; I only hope they may find distraction herewhen they are sated with food and wine or searching for some escape from worldly cares. By glancing overit in place of other vain pursuits, they may save their energies and prolong their lives, sparing themselvesthe harm of quarrels and arguments, or the trouble of chasing after what is illusory. Besides, this story offersreaders something new, unlike those hackneyed and stale hodge-podges of sudden partings and encounterswhich teem with talented scholars and lovely girls, for instance, Cao Zijian (192—232, Cao Cao’s youngerson, a noted poet of Wei State of the Three kingdoms Period), Zhuo Wenjun (the widow who married thescholar Sima Xiangru in the second century B.C), Hongniang (the maid and go-between in the Yuan dramaThe Western Chamber)and the like. Cao Xueqin in his Mourning-the-Red Studio pored over the book forten years and re-wrote it five times. He divided it into chapters, furnished headings for each, and renamed itThe Twelve Beauties of Jinling. He also inscribed on it this verse:
Pages full of fantastic talkPenned with bitter tears;All men call the author mad;None his message hears.
在寫作《紅樓夢》的過程中，為了避免對所謂破壞性寫作實行殘酷的懲罰，作者不得不使用一種隱匿的間接的寫作方法。因此，在小說一開頭，作者就通過講述“女媧補天”和“木石前盟”的神話故事，求助甄士隱、甄英蓮、賈雨村等人名，溫柔富貴鄉、大荒山無稽崖青埂峰、太虛幻境等地名，警幻仙子、神瑛侍者、風流孽鬼等鬼神，隱去其親身經曆過的真事；通過記錄其夢幻、詩詞、燈謎、酒令、簽語、歌曲、專名等，求助諧音（例如在太虛幻境小鬟捧給寶玉的茶名“千紅一窟”，“窟”諧音同“哭”，酒名“萬豔同杯”，“杯”
諧音同“悲”）、隱含（例如在王熙鳳的夢中，秦可卿告訴她“三春去後諸芳盡，各自須尋各自門”，隱含著“若如今以為榮華會永遠不思將來後路，則是鼠目寸光”之意）、預示（如警幻仙子令寶玉看的“他家上中下三等女子的終身冊籍”，那些冊籍就預示著那些女子的人生）等，便將甄士（真事）隱去賈雨村言（假語存焉）了。換言之，作者不能公開披露當時政治鬥爭的真相，他隻能宣稱他書“一丁點兒都不觸及時事”，相反，“其主題是情愛”。事實上，偉大的現實主義作家曹雪芹已達到了對現實政治的邪惡進行了激烈抨擊的程度。小說表麵上大量談論的是寶玉與黛玉之間的愛情，而實際上，通過愛情故事和其他一係列的事件，作者深刻地揭露了封建製度的邪惡和封建統治者的罪行。小說也描述了勞動群眾的痛苦和反叛，真實地反映了封建末期的社會矛盾和當時的實際政治鬥爭。除用他不落俗套、隻按自己的事體情理，反倒顯得新鮮別致的寫作方法和用一種隱匿的間接的寫作方法外，鮮明的對照也是另一種最突出的寫作方法，如甄寶玉與賈寶玉，賈母與劉姥姥；太虛幻境與現實社會；大觀園外以男人為中心的統治者世界與大觀園內以女人為中心的被統治者世界等之間的鮮明對照。正如魯迅在其《中國小說史略》中所說：“自從《紅樓夢》誕生以來，傳統的思想和寫法都被打破了。”
In writing A Dream of Red Mansions, in order to avoid the cruel penalties for subversive writing, theauthor had to write in a veiled, indirect way. Thus at the start of the novel the author tried to hide the truefacts of his experience by telling the myths of Nv Wa Repairing the Sky and the Pledge Between Plant andStone, hence his recourse to names of people Zhen Shiyin, Zhen Yinglian, Jia Yucun, etc, names of placesthe Home of Pleasure and Luxury, Blue Ridge Peak of Baseless Cliff of Great Waste Mountain, Illusory Landof Great Void, etc., names of ghosts and gods or goddesses, the Goddess of Disenchantment, the attendantShen Ying, the romantic souls, etc, by recording his dreams and illusions, poems and verses, lantern riddles,drinking games, drawing lots, songs and music, proper names, etc., hence his recourse to homophones (e.g. inIllusory Land of Great Void, the name of the tea the young maids present to Baoyu is Thousand Red Flowersin One Cavern, in which the word“Cavern”is the homophone for“sob”and the name of the wine is TenThousand Beauties in One Cup, in which the word“Cup”is the homophone for“grief”), implications (e.g.
In Wang Xifeng’s dream, Qing Keqing tells her that“after the three months of the spring, all flowers will fadeand each will have to find his own way out”which implies that it would be very short-sighted not to takethought for the future in the belief that our present good fortune will last for ever), indications (e.g. the Goddessof Disenchantment makes Baoyu“look at the three registers of the girls in his own household”, whichindicate the girls’ lives), etc. so that he could have the true facts concealed with fiction in rustic language. Inother words, the author could not openly present the true facts of the contemporary political struggle. He couldonly claim that his book“did not touch at all on current events”and that on the contrary“the main themewas love”. In fact, the great realist writer Cao Xueqin mounted a bitter attack on the evils of real politics. Onthe surface this novel deals largely with the love between Baoyu and Daiyu, but actually, through this story aswell as many other episodes in the book, the author penetratingly exposes the evils of the feudal system andthe crimes of the feudal rulers. It also describes the sufferings and revolt of the labouring masses, truthfullyreflecting the social contradictions in the last period of feudalism as well as the actual political struggles ofthe time. Besides his way of dispensing with this convention and just dealing with his own adventures andfeelings is more original and writing in a veiled, indirect way, a striking contrast is another most outstandingwriting method, for example, the striking contrasts between Zhen Baoyu and Jia Baoyu, between the Ladydowager and Granny Liu, between Illusory Land of Great Void and the actual society, between the rulers’
world centered by men outside the Grand View Garden and the ruled world centered by women inside theGrand View Garden,etc. Just as Lu Xun observed in The Historical Development of Chinese Fiction：“Theappearance of this novel marked a break with traditional ideas and methods of writing.”
曹雪芹的巨大成就不僅在於寫了一部具有圓滿至上的藝術與完美無缺的技巧的偉大小說《紅樓夢》，還在於他把一種新的較高級的對人生和愛情的觀念引入了中國文學和社會。
Cao Xueqin’s great distinction is not only having written a great novel A Dream of Red Mansions withconsummate art and perfect technique, but also having introduced a new and higher conception of life andlove into Chinese literature and society.
曹雪芹的人生是永遠光輝燦爛的人生。曹雪芹所寫的《紅樓夢》之美，正如莎士比亞的第18首商籟詩所歌頌的美一樣永存。因此，曹雪芹就永遠活在我們讀者的心中——通過寫作《紅樓夢》，曹先生把他的生命融入了不朽的作品中，從而使他的生命無限延長，人死名存，雖死猶生，這種精神難道不值得我們去學習和研究嗎？
Cao Xueqin’s life is one that is shining brilliantly for ever. The beauty of A Dream of Red Mansionsby Cao Xueqin can exist for ever just as the beauty praised in Shakespearean Sonnet XVIII. Therefore, CaoXueqin is always living in the hearts of all readers on earth—by writing A Dream of Red Mansions, Mr Caohas embodied his life in his everlasting works. His life is consequently prolonged for ever—his body is deadwhile his fame is undying. He’s still living on in spirit. Isn’t it worth our learning and study?
1.3 作品欣賞1.3 Appreciations of the Novel《紅樓夢》有著豐富的思想和觀念，是一個藝術的多麵世界，越鑽研，發現的東西也越多。其迷人之處，簡而言之，就在於它充分而真實地揭示了青年人的天真、熱情、優美和親切。盡管小說中的主人公賈寶玉和林黛玉生活的時代及其社會情況和文化環境早已消失，但他們的夢想和渴望以及大觀園的年輕女子們仍然撥動著今天人們同情的心弦。
A Dream of Red Mansions is rich in ideas and concepts. It is a multi-faceted world of art into whichthe more one delves the more one finds. The charm of the novel lies, in short, in its revealing youth fully andtruthfully, in its uncovering the naivety, zeal, grace and tenderness of the younger generation. Although theera in which the protagonists of the novel Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu lived, together with its social conditionsand cultural environment, has long since vanished, their dreams and longings, together with those of theyoung ladies of the Grand View Garden, still strike a sympathetic chord in the hearts of the people of today.
《紅樓夢》是我國古典小說藝術的頂峰，其藝術成就首先表現在萬紫千紅般的人物陣容（多達975個）上。作者以其超級的藝術繪出了一整套全貌世態畫，整個畫廊充滿了高度個性化並十分典型的人物。通過對人物日常生活的細節描寫，塑造了不同特性、不同思想、不同情感的人物。在使用對話中，他也表現了傑出的技能，讓每個人物的嘴裏說出獨特的話來，使讀者感到好像看見並聽到了說話的人物一樣。賈母、賈政、賈寶玉、元春、林黛玉、薛寶釵、史湘雲、王熙鳳、秦可卿、尤二姐、劉姥姥、襲人、晴雯和其他人等都有各自獨特的個性，逼真得就像還活在我們之中一樣。這些豐富多彩的眾多人物，在各自不同的生活層次和地方，以各自不同的處世哲學和觀點，網織出賈府大院裏錯綜複雜的人際關係和矛盾衝突。
除了他們說話做事的獨特方式、外貌、服飾和生活安排的特性外，這些人都有各自明顯的性格特征。讀者隻憑他們的說話方式或房間布置就知道他們是誰。小說人物塑造的獨特之處就在於它打破了傳統小說寫好人全好，壞人全壞的模式，調動不同的手法，從不同的側麵寫出人物豐富複雜的個性特征。如此成功的人物描寫不僅在中國文學中就是在整個世界文學領域都是少見的成就。
A Dream of Red Mansions is the peak of the art of the novel in ancient China. Its artistic achievementis displayed first of all in its dazzling array of characters (as many as 975). With superb artistry the authorpresents a panoramic genre-painting, a whole gallery of highly individual yet typical characters. Throughdetailed descriptions of their dail life he succeeds in depicting their different idiosyncrasies, thoughts andfeelings. In the use of dialogue too he shows outstanding skill, putting such distinctive speech into eachcharacter’s mouth that the reader feels as if he can see and hear the speaker. Lady Dowager, Jia Zheng, JiaBaoyu, Yuanchun, Lin Daiyu, Xue Baochai, Shi Xiangyun, Wang Xifeng, Qin Keqing, Second Sister You,Granny Liu, Xiren, Qinwen and the others all have their distinct personalities and are as true to life as ifthey were living among us. These richly complex characters with their different stations in life and divergentviews and philosophies act out an intricate pattern of human relationships and conflicts within the Jia familymansion. Apart from their distinct ways of acting and speaking, and the peculiarities of their appearances,dress and living arrangements, these people all have clear character traits. The reader knows who is who justby their manner of speaking or the layouts of their rooms. Peculiar to the characterization in this novel is thefact that it breaks with the stereotypes of traditional Chinese fiction like good characters always describedas good and bad ones as bad, and employs different writing methods to display their rich and complicatedpersonalities from different angles. Such character delineation is a rare accomplishment not only in Chineseliterature but in the whole field of world literature.
《紅樓夢》的文學價值還表現在其藝術結構的宏大和精致之中。圍繞賈寶玉與林黛玉和薛寶釵之間的戀愛，小說簡直就是當時整個社會的縮影。很多人物和事件彙聚，相互聯係又相互製約，使故事情節一環扣一環地互為因果地順利發展，無情地富於戲劇性地達到悲劇高潮。《紅樓夢》所呈現的世界就像現實生活本身一樣豐富、複雜、深沉和自然。盡管是曹雪芹根據他自己的人生經曆和家庭的曆史創作的《紅樓夢》，但小說毫無雕作的痕跡，表現得十分自然流暢，渾然一體，使其成為了藝術的壯美極品。
The literary merit of A Dream of Red Mansions is also displayed in the grandness and exquisiteness ofits artistic structure. The novel is a microcosm of the world of its time, revolving around the love between JiaBaoyu and Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai. The host of personages and events converge on, link and restrict eachother to make the plot develop smoothly in a chain of cause and effect, as the tragedy moves dramatically andinexorably to its climax. The world of A Dream of Red Mansions is as rich, complicated, deep and natural aslife itself. Though created by Cao Xueqin according to his own experiences of life and his family history, thenovel betrays no trace of craftsmanship, but presents itself as a natural and spontaneous entity, and it is thisaspect that marks it as a sublime work of art.
《紅樓夢》使用的語言既通俗又清麗，準確精練，生動形象，自然流暢，具有詩情畫意。人物的語言達到了高度的個性化， 能夠準確地顯示出人物的身份、地位和性格，新鮮傳神，令人讚歎不已。難怪人們會說曹雪芹是個語言大師，他的語言創造使《紅樓夢》的語言達到了爐火純青的地步。
The language used in A Dream of Red Mansions is marked by popularity and elegance, accuracy andconciseness, liveliness and graphicness, naturalness and fluency as well as poetic beauty. The language foreach character achieves a very high degree of individuality and precisely indicates his or her identity, statusand temperament. It is so fresh and lifelike as to be praiseworthy. No wonder people say Cao Xueqin is agreat master at language. His language competence has almost perfected the language of A Dream of RedMansions.
《紅樓夢》是部百科全書式的小說，以一個貴族家庭為中心展開一幅社會曆史全景畫卷。當時中國社會的每級每第，從皇帝的配偶到商販、信童, 都是以真實生活的時興式樣再現出來，並且，以封建社會末期出現的所有社會矛盾為線索貫穿全書情節。例如主仆間、妻妾間的爭鬥，貴族中的經濟危機，繼承權的爭奪，封建主義和新生的民主精神的鬥爭等等。小說還提供了當時貴族家庭的園藝建築、車馬用具、衣裝飾品、習慣禮儀、食物飲料、醫藥補品等的大量細節。實際上，《紅樓夢》所介紹的文化內容之豐富多彩不僅在中國文學史上，就在世界文學史中也是同類小說所罕見的。
A Dream of Red Mansions is an encyclopedic novel. Centered on an aristocratic family, it unrollsa panorama of social history. Every grade and station of Chinese society of that time—from an imperialconsort to peddlers and messengers boys—are presented in a true-to-life fashion. In addition, all the socialcontradictions which emerged toward the end of the feudal period are threaded through the plot: for instance,the conflict between master and slave, that between the master of the house’s legal wife and his concubines,the economic crisis in a noble clan in the absence of an heir, and that between feudalism and the newlysprouting spirit of democracy. The novel also provides a wealth of details concerning aristocratic householdsin those days—garden architecture, the equipage of carriages, clothing and ornaments, customs and etiquette,food and drink, medicines, etc. Indeed, the cultural reference content of A Dream of Red Mansions is of akind rarely seen not only in the history of Chinese literature but also in the history of world literature.
在中國古典小說中，因一部作品的研究而在學術界成為一門專學的，大概隻有《紅樓夢》一書。幾百年來對《紅樓夢》的學習和研究，經久不衰，論爭迭起，包含著很多有趣的課題和謎案，如《紅樓夢》的版本、思想藝術內容、最後四十回、後續問題、文學主題，曹雪芹的生活和家庭背景、紅學曆史等。對這些課題和謎案的不同觀點和解釋，便出現了不同的紅學學派，如評點派、 索隱派、 新紅學派等。甚至在今天，它仍是我們中國人談論的熱門話題。由此可見《紅樓夢》在中國文學史上至高無上的地位。
The Chinese classic A Dream of Red Mansions is perhaps the only novel to have become a specializedfield of study. The research on and study of the novel has continued for hundreds of years, and hasengendered a great deal of debate, bringing up interesting themes and mysteries, such as its editions, itsideological and artistic content, the last 40 chapters, the sequels, the literary content, Cao Xueqin’s life andfamily background, the history of Redology, etc. Because of the different viewpoints and interpretations aboutthe themes and mysteries mentioned above, there are different schools of Redology, such as the Pingdian(Commentating) school, the Suoyin(Tracing out the hidden) School, the New Redologist school, etc. Even upto now, it is still a hot topic of conversation among us Chinese. All this fully proves its paramount status in thehistory of Chinese literature.
《紅樓夢》從一開始以手抄本形式流傳起就吸引了廣大讀者的興趣，像燎原之火一樣迅速蔓延，甚至超越了國境，傳到了國外。自19世紀40年代以來，《紅樓夢》已出版了英文、德文、法文、日文、俄文、意大利文、匈牙利文、羅馬尼亞文、朝鮮文、越南文、泰國文等外文版。所有這些翻譯文本都能幫助全世界的讀者增加對《紅樓夢》的鑒賞機會，確定《紅樓夢》是人類文化財富寶庫中的一塊真正的寶玉，從而對人類文明作出持久的曆史貢獻。
A Dream of Red Mansions attracted the interest of a wide range of readers as soon as it began tocirculate in hand-copied form. It was spread like wildfire, even beyond the border of China. Since the 1840s,the novel has been published in many foreign languages, including English, German, French, Japanese,Russian, Italian, Hungarian, Romanian, Korean, Vietnamese and Thai, etc. All these translations have helpedto increase appreciation of A Dream of Red Mansions among readers worldwide and establish the novel asa true jewel in the store of mankind’s cultural wealth, thereby making an indelible historical contribution tohuman civilization.
1.4 主要人物的人生（經驗教訓）1.4 Major Characters’ Lives (Experiences and Lessons)賈母：賈母出生於金陵史侯貴族家庭。她成人之後，嫁給榮國公之長子賈代善。榮國公死後，長子賈代善襲了官。他們生了兩子一女，長子賈赦，次子賈政，女名賈敏。賈代善早已去世，太夫人尚在，自然就成了賈家的最高統治者。正如賈母自己所說：“我進了這門子，做重孫媳婦起，到如今，我也有個重孫子媳婦了……憑著大驚大險、千奇百怪的事，也經了些。”“我到你們家已經六十多年了，從年輕的時候到老來，福也享盡了。”“聽見賈母喉間略一響動，臉變笑容，竟是去了。享年八十三歲。”
The Lady Dowager: The Lady Dowager was born of an aristocratic family of Marquis Shi of Jinling. Aftershe grew up, she was married to Jia Daishan, the elder son of the Duke of Rongguo. Jia Daishan succeededto the title after his father’s death. They had two sons and a daughter: the elder son Jia She, the youngerson Jia Zheng, the daughter named Jia Min. Jia Daishan has been dead for many years but his wife, LadyDowager Shi, is still alive and has naturally become the top ruler of the Jia Household. Just as the LadyDowager said:“I came to this house as the bride of a great grandson, and now I have great granddaughtersin law myself. ... I’ve had plenty of shocks and frights and seen all manner of amazing happenings.”“I’velived in your family sixty years and more, from girlhood to old age, and had more than my share of goodfortune.”“Now they heard a rattling in her throat, and a smile overspread her face as she breathed herlast—at the age of eighty three.”
賈母是個好當家，正如她自己所說：“當日我象鳳丫頭這麼大年紀，比她還來得呢！他如今雖說不如我，也就算好了，比你姨娘（王夫人）強遠了！”賈母非常精明能幹。她恰當地處理了各種家庭矛盾，如賈璉、熙鳳和平兒間的矛盾等等。她堅定地解決了園子裏的人開賭局的嚴重問題，她巧妙地處理了很多重要的家務事，如她大兒子想要她丫頭鴛鴦作妾之事等。
The Lady Dowager is a good manager of the Jia Mansions. Just as she said:“At Xifeng’s age I outshoneher. Still, even if she’s not up to me she’s way ahead of your aunt (Lady Wang)!”The Lady Dowager isextremely clever and capable. She properly handled all kinds of contradictions in the Jia Mansions, such asthe contradiction among Jia Lian, Xifeng and Ping’er, etc. She firmly solved the serious problem that someservants in the Garden had formed gambling clubs. She skillfully dealt with many important family affairs, forinstance, her eldest son Jia She wanted to make her maidservant Yuan Yang his concubine, etc.
賈母顧大局，識大體。雖說她“素來本不大喜歡賈赦，那邊東府賈珍究竟隔了一層”，但她還是在錦衣軍查抄寧國府後，“叫邢王二夫人同著鴛鴦等開箱倒籠，將做媳婦到如今積攢的東西都拿出來，又叫賈赦、賈政、賈珍等一一的分派。”並說：“你們別打量我是享得富貴受不得貧窮的人哪！不過這幾年看著你們轟轟烈烈，我樂得都不管，說說笑笑，養身子罷了。那知道家運一敗，直到這樣！若說外頭好看，裏頭空虛，是我早知道的了， 隻是‘居移氣，養移體’，一時下不了台就是了。如今借此正好收斂，守住這個門頭兒，不然，叫人笑話。”
The Lady Dowager bears the overall situation in mind and puts the general interest above all.Althoughshe“had never been too fond of Jia She, while Jia Zhen being of the East Mansion was not one of herdescendants,”after the Imperial Guards raided the Ning Mansion, she“made Lady Xing, Lady Wang,Yuan Yang and others open up her cases and take out all the things she had stored away since coming hereas a bride. Then she summoned Jia She, Jia Zheng and Jia Zhen to share out her belongings.”And shesaid:“But you mustn’t imagine I’m someone who enjoys riches and rank and can’t endure poverty. Theselast few years you seemed to be doing fine, so I didn’t interfere, content to laugh and chat and nurse myhealth, never dreaming that our family was doomed to ruin like this! I knew all along that we were putting onan empty show, but everyone in the household was so used to luxury that we couldn’t cut down expenses allof a sudden. Well, here’s a good chance to retrench, to keep the family going, if we don’t want to become alaughing-stock.”
賈母人生經驗豐富，熱愛家庭，熱愛子女，特別溺愛孫兒孫女，是個眾人尊敬的“老祖宗”。她總是慈祥和藹，充滿了人情味。但賈母的愛是根據其整個家庭利益而有所不同的。
以寶黛之戀為例。盡管賈母很愛她年輕有病的外孫女，但她認為黛玉作為寶玉的婚姻伴侶完全不合適，因為黛玉“最小性兒，又多心”，常生病，更重要的是黛玉幫助並助長寶玉背叛封建習俗，導致寶玉走上招致家庭敗落之路。當熙風告訴賈母黛玉已死時，賈母眼淚交流，說道：“是我弄壞了她了！但隻是這個丫頭也忒傻氣！”她想到園裏去哭她一場，又惦記著寶玉，兩頭難顧。賈母無奈，隻得叫王夫人去，並指示說：“你替我告訴她的陰靈：‘並不是我忍心不來送你，隻為有個親疏。你是我的外孫女兒，是親的了；若與寶玉比起來，可是寶玉比你更親些。倘寶玉有些不好，我怎麼見他父親呢！’”相反，賈母見了寶玉後卻徑直去看寶釵，並憐憫地說：“我的兒！我告訴你，你可別告訴寶玉。都是因你林妹妹，才叫你受了多少委屈！你如今作媳婦了，我才告訴你：這如今你林妹妹沒了兩三天了，就是娶你的那個時辰死的。如今寶玉這一番病，還是為著這個。你們先都在園子裏，自然也都是明白的。”
The Lady Dowager has rich experience in life. She loves her family, her children, even indulging hergrandsons and granddaughters. She is beloved and respected as“Old Ancestress”. She is always kind andamiable, full of human interest. But the Lady Dowager’s love is differentiated according to the interests of heraristocratic clan. Take the love betwen Baoyu & Daiyu for example. The Lady Dowager, despite loving hersickly young granddaughter very much, regards her as completely unsuitable as a marriage partner for Baoyu,for Daiyu, is narrow-minded, hyper-sensitive and often ill, more importantly, she aids and abets Baoyu in hisrebellion against feudal lodes, leading him down a path that spells ruin for the family. When Xifeng told theLady Dowager that Daiyu had died, the Lady Dowager sobbed and said:“I have her death on my conscience.
But the child was really too foolish!”She was in a dilemma, wanting to go to the Garden to mourn Daiyu,yet reluctant to leave Baoyu. So the Lady Dowager asked Lady Wang to go instead and instructed:“Tell herspirit from me. It’s not because I’m heartless that I’m not coming to see you off, but there’s someone closerhere whom I have to see to. As my daughter’s daughter you are dear to me; but Baoyu is closer to me eventhan you. If any harm comes to him, how am I to face his father?”On the contrary, having seen Baoyu, theLady Dowager directly went in to see Baochai and said compassionately:“I’ll tell you, child, but don’t letBaoyu know. It’s all because of your Cousin Lin that you’ve been so unfairly treated. Now that you’re marriedI can tell you the truth: your Cousin Lin died a couple of days ago—at the very hour of your wedding. Thisillness Baoyu has is because of her. You used to live together in the Garden, so I’m sure you know what Imean.”
賈母是福壽雙全。為什麼呢？人們會說，她的福來自出身好，嫁得好。但答得遠不夠完善。更重要的是，她的福壽來自她有上述好品質和她所說的下列好性格。她說：“大凡一個人，有也罷，沒有也罷，總要受得富貴，耐得貧賤才好呢。你寶姐姐生來是個大方的人。頭裏他家這樣好，他也一點兒不驕傲；後來他家壞了事，他也是舒舒坦坦的。如今在我家裏，寶玉待他好，他也是那樣安頓；一時待他不好，也不見他有什麼煩惱。我看這孩子倒是個有福的。你林姐姐，他就最小性兒，又多心，所以到底兒不長命的。鳳丫頭也見過些事，很不該略見些風波就改了樣子。他若這樣沒見識，也就小器了。”
The Lady Dowager enjoys both felicity and longevity. Why? People will say that her happiness comesfrom her good birth and good marriage. But it’s far from perfect. What’s more important, her felicity amdlongevity come from her good qualities mentioned above and her good characters of what she says asfollows:“People should make the best of what they’ve got, able to enjoy rank and riches or to put up withpoverty. Your Cousin Baochai has always been broadminded. When her family was well-off she wasn’t theleast bit conceited; later, when they got into trouble, she kept cheerful. Now that she’s one of our family, whenBaoyu treats her well, she takes it calmly, and if he’s bad to her it doesn’t provoke her. I think that’s her goodfortune. Your Cousin Daiyu, on the other hand, was narrow- minded and hyper-sensitive; that’s why shedidn’t live long. Xifeng, being more experienced, shouldn’t let upsets influence her behaviour. If she’s sofoolish, that’s rather petty too.”
賈政：賈政是賈母之次子，自幼酷喜讀書，得祖父鍾愛，原要他從科甲出身，不料其父臨終遺本一上，皇上憐念先臣，即叫長子賈赦襲了一等將軍之職，又問還有幾個兒子，立刻引見，並賜賈政額外主事職銜，叫他入部實習，不久便升了工部員外郎。賈政的夫人王氏，頭胎給他生了個兒子叫賈珠，十四歲通過了州縣考試，後來娶了李紈為妻，生了一子名叫賈蘭，但賈珠不到二十歲就病死了。王夫人的第二個孩子是個女兒，生在大年初一，名叫元春，第三個孩子又是個公子，名叫寶玉。賈政和趙姨娘生有一個女兒，叫探春，一個兒子叫賈環。因此，賈政共有五個孩子。
Jia Zheng: Jia Zheng is the younger son of Lady Dowager. He was so fond of studying as a child thathe was his grandfather’s favourite and he was hoped to make a career for himself through the examinations.
However, when his father died, his father left a valedictory memorial, and the Emperor out of regard for hisformer minister not only conferred the title General of the First Rank on his elder son Jia She but askedwhat other sons there were, granted Jia Zheng an audience, and as an additional favour gave him the rank ofAssistant Secretary with instructions to familiarize himself with affairs in one of the ministries. He has soonrisen to the rank of Under-Secretary in the Board of Works. Jia Zheng’s wife, Lady Wang, bore him a soncalled Jia Zhu who passed the district examination at fourteen, married Li Wan before he was twenty andhad a son named Jia Lan, but then fell ill and died. Lady Wang’s second child was a daughter, born on thefirst day of the year and called Yuanchun. Their third child was another son named Baoyu. Jia Zheng andConcubine Zhao had two children, the daughter named Tanchun, the son named Jia Huan. Thus, Jia Zhengaltogether had five children.
賈政對孩子要求很嚴格。他的女兒元春教育得好，因賢孝才德，選入宮作女史去了。當寶玉被送去上學時，賈政指教道：“你去請學裏太爺的安，就說我說的，……隻是先把《四書》一齊講明背熟，是最要緊的。”當賈政得知寶玉在家荒疏學業，在外流蕩優伶，表贈私物，他氣得麵如死灰，隻喝命：“堵起嘴來，著實打死！”當賈母來時，賈政立即上前躬身陪笑說道：“大暑熱的天，老太太有什麼吩咐，何必自己走來，隻叫兒子進去吩咐便了。”
當賈母責罵他打她心愛的孫子時，他忙跪下含淚說道：“兒子管他，也為的是光宗耀祖。老太太也不必傷感，都是兒子一時性急，從此以後，再不打他了。”對母親，賈政總是百依百順，十分孝敬。
Jia Zheng is very strict with their children. His daughter Yuanchun was well educated and chosen to bea Lady-Clerk in the palace of the heir apparent because of her goodness, filial piety and talents. When Baoyuwas sent to school, Jia Zheng instructed:“Give my compliments to the school principal, and tell him fromme that he’d far better expound The Four Books and make his pupils learn them by heart.”When Jia Zhengwas told that Baoyu had neglected his studies at home and played about outside and exchanged gifts withactors, Jia Zheng was livid with fury and roared:“Gag him! Beat him to death!”When his mother came,he immediately stepped forward to bow respectfully and said with a smile:“Why should you vex yourself,mother, and come over on such a hot day? If you have any instructions, just send for your son.”When theLady Dowager scolded him for having beaten her dear grandson, at once he fell on his knees, tears in his eyesand pleaded:“If your son disciplines his son, it is for the honour of our ancestors. Don’t grieve, mother! Iwas wrong to lose my temper. I shall never beat him again.”To his mother, Jia Zheng is always docile andobedient, full of filial piety.
賈政是個謙恭厚道之人，大有祖父遺風，最喜讀書人，禮賢下士，拯溺救危。他對皇上總是無限忠誠。甚至錦衣軍查抄了賈府之後，他還感激涕零，望北跪拜向皇上謝恩。
Jia Zheng is an unassuming, generous man who takes after his grandfather, well-disposed to scholarsand delighted in honouring worthy men of letters and helping those in distress. He is always utterly loyalto the Emperor. Even after the Imperial Guards having raided the Jia Mansions, with tears of gratitude hekowtowed towards the north to thank the Emperor.
他決心做個好官。“那年正值京察，工部將賈政保列一等，二月，吏部帶領引見。皇上念賈政勤儉謹慎，即放了江西糧道。”他曉行夜宿，到了本省，見過上司，即到任拜印受事，便查盤各屬州縣米糧倉庫。他出示嚴禁，並諭以一經查出，必定詳參揭報。他認真查辦，州縣饋送，一概不受。門房、簽押、長隨等人，抱怨道：“你們爺們到底還沒花什麼本錢來的。我們才冤：花了若幹銀子，打了個門子，來了一個多月， 連半個錢也沒見過！想來跟這個主兒是不能撈本兒的了。”次日，他們都辭去了。“那些可去的去了，”留下的家傭商議道：“我們去不了的，到底想個法兒才好。”隔一天，管廚房的上來要錢。賈政將帶來銀兩付了。以後便覺樣樣不如意，比在京的時候倒不便了好些，無奈，便喚管門李十兒來，說：“現在帶來銀兩，早使沒有了。藩庫俸銀尚早，該打發京裏取去。”李十兒稟道：“老爺說家裏取銀子，取多少？現在打聽節度衙門這幾天有生日，別的府道老爺都上千上萬的送了，我們到底送多少呢？”賈政道：“為什麼不早說？”李十兒說：“我們新來乍到，又不與別位老爺很來往，誰肯送信？巴不得老爺不去，好想老爺的美缺呢。”賈政道：“胡說！
我這官是皇上放的，不與節度做生日，便叫我不做不成！”李十兒笑著回道：“老爺說的也不錯。京裏離這裏很遠，凡百的事，都是節度奏聞。他說好便好，說不好便吃不住。到得明白，已經遲了。就是老太太，太太們，那個不願意老爺在外頭轟轟烈烈的做官呢？”賈政道：“依你怎麼做才好？”李十兒道：“也沒有別的，趁著老爺的精神年紀，裏頭的照應，老太太的硬朗，為顧著自己就是了。不然，到不了一年，老爺家裏的錢也都貼補完了，還落了自上至下的人抱怨，都說老爺是做外任的，自然弄了錢藏著受用。倘遇著一兩件為難的事，誰肯幫著老爺？那時辦也辦不清，悔也悔不及！”賈政道：“據你一說，是叫我做貪官嗎？送了命還不要緊，必定將祖父的功勳抹了才是？”李十兒回稟道：“老爺極聖明的人，沒看見舊年犯事的幾位老爺嗎？這幾位都與老爺相好，老爺常說是個做清官的，如今名在那裏？現有幾位親戚，老爺向來說他們不好的，如今升的升，遷的遷。隻在要做的好就是了。
老爺要知道：民也要顧，官也要顧。若是依著老爺，不準州縣得一個大錢，外頭這些差使誰辦？”李十兒解釋說：“那些書吏衙役，都是花了錢買著糧道的衙門，那個不想發財？俱要養家活口。”“隻要老爺外麵還是這樣清名聲原好；裏頭的委屈，隻要奴才辦去，關礙不著老爺的。”賈政被李十兒一番言語，說得心無主見，道：“我是要保性命的！你們鬧出來不與我相幹！”說著，便踱了進去。“李十兒便自己做起威福，鉤連內外一氣的哄著賈政辦事，反覺得事事周到，件件隨心，所以賈政不但不疑，反多相信。”結果，賈政被節度使題參。題本上去，虧得皇上的恩典，沒有交部，便下旨意，說是“失察屬員，重征糧米，苛虐百姓，本應革職，姑念初膺外任，不諳吏治，被屬員蒙蔽，著降三級，加恩仍以工部員外上行走，並令即日回京。”賈政從江西糧道被題參回京後，仍在工部行走，日夜不敢怠惰。他實為他那社會的一個有道德責任和禮儀的楷模。
He is determined to be a good official.“That year the records of officials in the capital were examined,and the Ministry of Works ranked Jia Zheng as first class. In the second month, the Minister of OfficialAffairs took him to an audience at court and the Emperor, in recognition of his frugality and circumspection,appointed him Grain Commissioner of Jiangxi.”Travelling by day and resting at night, he finally reachedhis provincial post and presented himself to his superior. He then went to his office, and when the officialseal had been ceremoniously made over to him, he started checking up on the granaries in the districts andcounties under his jurisdiction. He issued stern prohibitions, threatening to report in detail any instances ofcorruption that were discovered. He carried out serious investigations and refused all gifts sent by the localofficials. The Yamen secretaries, scriveners, attendants, runners and others all complained,“You gentlemenat least didn’t sink any capital into landing your posts. We’re the ones who’ve been sold out: we spent potsof silver to get these jobs, but after more than a month here we haven’t made a single cent! If we stick to thismaster, we shall probably never recoup our capital.”The following day they all resigned.“Those able toleave have gone,”the family stewards remaining there said.“But as we can’t, we must think of some wayout.”“A day later, when the steward in charge of the kitchen came with a request for money, Jia Zheng hadto pay him out of his own pocket. But after that things went from bad to worse—compared with this, it hadbeen plain sailing in the capital. In desperation he summoned the gateman Li Shi’er and said:“The silverwe brought was spent days ago, and it’s not yet time to draw the allowance from the provincial treasury. Weshall have to send to the capital for more.”“How much money does Your Lordship want us to fetch fromhome?”replied Li,“I’ve heard that the governor will be celebrating his birthday in a few days, and all theother officials are sending him thousands of taels. How much shall we send?”“Why didn’t you tell meearlier?”said Jia Zheng.“We’re new here and haven’t had much to do with those other gentlemen; so whyshould they send us word? They’re only hoping you won’t call to congratulate him, sir; so that when you’redismissed they can get your lucrative post.”“Nonsense!”Jia Zheng retorted.“I was appointed by HisMajesty. The governor can’t dismiss me just because I fail to congratulate him on his birthday.”“You’reright, of course, sir,”replied Li with a smile.“But the capital is far away, and it’s the governor who reportson everything here. If he commends you, you are a good official; if he finds fault, you’re likely to lose yourjob. By the time the court learns the truth, it is too late. Our old lady and the other mistresses are all longingfor you to have a magnificent success here.”“What would you do in my place?”asked Jia Zheng.“Justthis, sir. While you’re in your prime, with friends at court and the old lady in good health, look after your owninterests. Otherwise, in less than a year you’ll have spent all your family’s money and made those above andbelow resent you too. They’ll all assume that in this provincial post Your Lordship must be salting moneyaway. So if some trouble crops up, who’s going to help you? By then it will be hard to clear yourself and toolate to regret!”“Are you advising me to become a corrupt official?”protested Jia Zheng.“Forfeiting mylife would be of less consequence, but would you have my ancestors deprived of their noble titles?”“Agentleman of your discernment, sir, must surely have noticed which officials have landed in trouble in recentyears. All old friends of Your Lordship’s they were, and you often remarked on their probity; but now what hasbecome of their good name? On the other hand, some relatives whom you have always run down have beenpromoted. It all depends on how well one handles things. You must understand the need, sir, to care for thelocal officials as well as for the people. Why, if you had your way, sir, and wouldn’t let the local magistratesmake a cent, who would handle all the work in the provinces?”explained Li.“Those clerks and runnersall bribed their way into this Yamen; so of course they all want to feather their nests. They have families tosupport.”“All you need to do is keep up appearances, living up to your good name as an honest official,while in private we underlings get the job done and take whatever blame there may be without involving YourLordship.”Jia Zheng did not know what rejoinder to make to this.“I can’t risk my life!”he exclaimed,“Ifyou get into trouble, I won’t be responsible.”He then retired to his room. After that Li Shi’er assumed greatairs, conniving with others inside and outside the Yamen to handle affairs unbeknown to Jia Zheng, who feltso satisfied that all was going smoothly that, far from suspecting Li, he trusted him completely. ConsequentlyJia Zheng has been impeached by the governor. A report has been sent to the court, but thanks to HisMajesty’s clemency it hasn’t been referred to the ministry. It has been decreed:“Since he failed to keep hissubordinates in check and levied too heavy a grain tax, cruelly exploiting the people, he should be dismissed.
But in view of the fact that he was new to this provincial post and inexperienced in administration, enablinghis subordinates to deceive him, he is to be demoted three ranks and, by the gracious favour of the Emperor,can still serve as assistant minister of the Ministry of Works. He is to return forthwith to the capital.”AfterJia Zheng was impeached and returned to the capital to his old post in the Ministry of Works from his post asGrain Commissioner of Jiangxi, never, day and night, did he neglect his duties. Indeed, he is really a model ofpropriety with a strong sense of moral obligation in his society.
賈政不慣俗務，下朝回家，不過看書著棋而已。他不知理家，隻得叫賈璉夫婦總理家務；他管束不了手下長隨們，隻得讓其中飽私囊；他未能管教好子侄，“誰知這樣鍾鳴鼎食的人家兒，如今養的兒孫們，竟一代不如一代了！”作為一個皇帝指命的官員，賈政起初被賜予額外主事職銜，不久升了工部員外郎；他自皇上欽點學政任滿後，即放了江西糧道，盡管降了三級，仍以工部員外上行走，榮國世職，仍是他襲了，“俟丁憂服滿，仍升工部郎中”。賈政一生，盡管工作勤勤懇懇，循分供職，也隻過得平安和平庸而已。
Jia Zheng is unaccustomed to practical business. All he does on his return from court is to read booksor play chess. He has no idea how to manage the household. That’s why he has turned over the supervision ofhis family affairs to Jia Lian and his wife. He can not control his subordinates but let them feather their nests.
He has failed to bring up his sons and nephews well—“Who would’ve thought that each new generation ofthis noble and scholarly clan is inferior to the last.”As an official appointed by the Emperor, Jia Zheng hasbeen given the rank of Assistant Secretary at first, soon risen to the rank of Under-Secretary in the Boardof Works; after his term of office as Examiner of Provincial Education by His Majesty’s favour, he has beenappointed Grain Commissioner of Jiangxi; though having been demoted three ranks, he can still serve asassistant minister of the Ministry of Works and will keep the title of Duke of Rongguo, and“after the periodof mourning is to be made vice-minister of the Ministry of Works”.In spite of his diligent and steady work athis post, Jia Zheng only has a life of peace and mediocrity.
賈寶玉：賈寶玉出身富貴。因為祖母疼愛，原係和姐妹們一處嬌養慣了。這也正是他為什麼喜歡在內幃廝混，不愛讀書的原因之一。他雖淘氣異常，但聰明乖覺，百個不及他一個。說起孩子話來也奇，他說：“女兒是水做的骨肉，男子是泥做的骨肉，我見了女兒便清爽，見了男子便覺濁臭逼人！”“因他自幼姐妹叢中長大……他便料定天地間靈淑之氣，隻鍾於女子，男兒們不過是些渣滓濁沫而已。”其後有人寫了《西江月》一詞，批得極確，詞曰：
無故尋愁覓恨，有時似傻如狂；縱然生得好皮囊，腹內原來草莽。
潦倒不通庶務，愚頑怕讀文章；行為偏僻性乖張，那管世人誹謗！
Jia Baoyu: Jia Baoyu was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Because his grandmother’s alwaysdoted on him, he’s used to being spoilt with the girls. That’s one of the reasons why is he delighted in playingabout in the women’s apartments and taking no interest in books. Though he is remarkably mischievous, yetso clever you won’t find his equal in a hundred. And he says the strangest things for a child.“Girls are madeof water, men of mud,”he declares.“I feel clean and refreshed when I’m with girls but find men dirty andstinking.”“As a result of being brought up among girls... he had come to the conclusion that while humanbeings were the highest form of creation, the finest essences of nature were embodied in girls, men beingnothing but the dregs and scum.”Subsequently, someone gave an admirable picture of Baoyu in the versewritten to the melody The Moon over the West River:
Absurdly he courts care and melancholyAnd raves like any madman in his folly;For though endowed with handsome looks is he,His heart Lawless and refractory.
Too dense by far to understand his duty,Too stubborn to apply himself to study,Foolhardy in his eccentricity,He’s deaf to all reproach and obloquy.
賈寶玉生長在貴族家庭的姐妹和女仆之中。他發現貴族生活虛偽、可惡、腐敗，一點兒都不喜歡。他厭惡所有追求金錢地位的男人，爾虞我詐，忘恩負義。他同情並尊重女性。他對女仆就如姐妹一般平等對待。他認為純潔的美隻有在天真無邪的年輕姑娘，包括出身低微的女仆中才能找到。因此，他極力避免參加與他同地位的其他人的娛樂和社交活動，他個人寧願與他家大觀園內天真正直的女孩子們混在一起。他的長輩因他持有非正統見解的傾向而鞭責他，他卻全然不動。相反，在封建壓迫的不斷衝擊下，他的叛逆性格變得更加強烈而堅定，在他愛上了林黛玉而他家長們卻給他娶了薛寶釵時，他的叛逆達到了頂峰。
Jia Baoyu is bred up among his sisters and maids in an aristocratic family. He has no inclination for thearistocratic way of life, which he finds hypocritical, hateful and corrupt. He detests the pursuit of rank andwealth indulged in by other gentlemen who are trying to cheat or outwit one another, cutting down the tree thatgives them shade. He has sympathy for and respect women. He equally treats all the maids like his sisters.
To him, pure beauty is to be found in innocent young girls, including low born servant girls. Therefore, hedoes his best to avoid taking part in the pastimes and activities of others of his station. He personally prefersto mingle with the innocent and guileless young girls of the household in the Grand View Garden. He is quiteunmoved when his elders castigate him for his heretical inclinations. On the contrary his rebellious naturebecomes more ardent firm under the impact of constant feudal oppression, culminating in his falling in lovewith Lin Daiyu and his elders marrying him off to Xue Baichai.
賈寶玉性格異常，其淘氣憨頑出於眾小孩之外，更有幾件千奇百怪口不能言的毛病：
他總愛“弄花兒，弄粉兒，偷著吃人嘴上擦的胭脂，有個愛紅的毛病兒”。他非常喜愛女孩子。他是“千古情人獨我癡”，“登時發起癡狂來”，“望先以情欲聲色等事警其癡頑，或能使他跳出迷人圈子，入於正路”。總而言之，他“癡”，他為情“癡”，為愛“癡”。但他絕不是一個好色之徒，隻是生性多情而已。他的情愛經曆了一個從盲目，到熱烈，到真誠，到情悟，到情絕幾個階段的漸進過程。那就是為什麼他最終離開了他那年輕美麗、溫柔賢惠的妻子寶釵的原因。他“男濁女清”的觀念違反了封建社會傳統的“男尊女卑”的觀念。這也是為什麼他被認為是那個時代的叛逆者的原因之一。
Jia Baoyu is no ordinary youth but more high-spirited and wilful than other boys, with someindescribably perverse streaks in his character: He is always fond of“playing about with girls’ cosmetics andpowder. He often likes to kiss the rouge on girls’ lips. He habitually runs after everything in red.”He caresfor girls too much. He is“the most passionate lover of all time”.“This instantly threw Baoyu into one ofhis frenzies”.“We beg you to warn him of the dangers of lusting after women, so that he may escape fromtheir snares and set his feet on the right path”. In a word, he’s crazy—crazy about passion and crazy withlove. But he is definitely not a lewd man and he is only born with a passionate nature. His love has undergonea gradual process from blind stage to passionate, to sincere, to understanding, to desperate stages. That’s whyhe has finally left his young and beautiful, gentle and virtuous wife Baochai. His idea that“men are dirtywhile women are clean”runs counter to the traditional feudal idea that men are superior to women. This isone of the reasons why he is considered as a rebel of his times.
寶玉素日本就懶與士大夫諸男人接談，更不用說向他們學些仕途經濟，以便將來應酬事務。他也最厭峨冠禮服賀吊往還等事情。每日一清早到祖母和母親處請安後便回園中遊玩，甘心為諸姐妹和丫頭們充役服務。他怕讀“四書五經”之類的正經書，但總愛讀各種雜書，以便雜學旁收。他把一堆古今小說，並那飛燕、合德、則天、玉環的“外傳”，與那傳奇劇本放在床頂上，無人時便偷看。對《西廂記》《牡丹亭》等，他讚不絕口，說：“真是好文章！你要看，連飯也不想吃！”。他鄙視讀書以求上進的人，給人家起個外號“祿蠹”，對參加科舉考試以求功名利祿的人稱為“國賊祿鬼”“沽名釣譽”，把那些正統書說成是前人無故生事，立意造言，原為引導後世的須眉濁物。關於科舉考試的八股文，寶玉說：“更有時文八股一道，因平素深惡，說這原非聖賢之製撰，焉能闡發聖賢之奧，不過是後人餌名釣祿之階。”他的上述言辭當時是違背忠孝之道的，而忠孝之道則是封建道德的核心，也是封建社會的立國根本。他父母時常要他用功讀書，特別是他父親對他非常嚴格，一再說：“就是做得幾句詩詞，也並不怎麼樣，有什麼稀罕處？比如應試選舉，到底以文章為主。你這上頭倒沒有一點兒功夫。我可囑咐你：自今日起，再不許做詩做對的了，單要習學八股文章。
限你一年，若毫無長進，你也不用念書了，我也不願有你這樣的兒子了。”並對寶玉的老師說：“我今日自己送他來，因要求托一番。這孩子年紀也不小了，到底要學個成人的舉業，才是終身立身成名之事。”寶玉的老師也說：“為什麼不念書，隻是心野貪玩？詩詞一道，不是學不得的，隻要發達了以後，再學還不遲呢。”但寶玉卻說：“我最厭這些道學話。更可笑的，是八股文章，拿他誆功名，混飯吃，也罷了，還要說‘代聖賢立言’！”寶玉有負父母師長養育教誨之恩。因此，他被認為是不肖的孽障，是不孝之子。他不愛四書、八股文和科舉考試，那就意味著他不願接受爵位來為國為皇上效勞。因而，他是個不忠之徒。不忠不孝使得寶玉成了封建社會的一個叛逆者。
Baoyu has an inveterate dislike of entertaining literati and officials or men in general, let alone learnfrom them something about the world and administration, which may help him to manage his own affairsin future. He also hates putting on ceremonial dress to pay calls, return visits or offer congratulations orcondolences. Every day after paying his respects early in the morning to his grandmother and mother hespends the rest of the day amusing himself in the Garden, often glad to idle away his time by offering hisservices to the girls and maids. He hates serious books, such as The Four Books and The Five Classics butgives all his time to all kinds of unorthodox books so as to acquire miscellaneous knowledge. He even keepsa pile of novels old and new, tales about imperial concubines and empresses, as well as romantic librettoson the canopy over his bed to read when he is alone. He keeps on singing praises of the Western Chamber,The Peony Pavilion, etc.“They’re real masterpieces!”he often says,“You won’t be able to give a thoughtto eating once you start reading them.”He sneers at those who study hard so as to get on and gives them anickname“career-grubbers”. He also calls those who take part in the Imperial Examinations so as to seekofficial positions and riches“time-servers and place-seekers”,“fishing for fame and reputation”. Hesays that the orthodox books are all the fault of the ancients who had nothing better to do than coin maximsand codes to control stupid, uncouth men. About the eight-section essays in the Imperial Examinations,Baoyu said that there were the fashionable eight-section essays which he had always loathed, taking the viewthat as these were not written by sages or worthies they could not expound the wisdom of sages or worthiesand were simply ladders by which later examination candidates climbed up to bureaucratic advancement.
His words mentioned above were then contrary to the teachings of loyalty and filial piety, which were thecore of feudal morals and also the foundation of the state in the feudal society. His parents often urge him tostudy hard. Especially, his father is very strict with him and says repeatedly that“you may write a few linesof poetry but it’s not up to much, nothing to boast about. After all, when you come to take the examinations,it’s essay-writing that counts; but you’ve neglected that. Here’s what you’re to do from now on. Stop versifyingand writing couplets, and concentrate on studying eight-section essays. I give you one year. If you’ve madeno progress by the end of that time you can stop studying, and I shall disown you!”And he said to Baoyu’stutor:“I have brought my son here myself today because I have a request to make. He’s no longer a childand it’s time for him to study for his career, so as to establish himself and win a name in future.”“Whyshould he just play about instead of studying?”Baoyu’s tutor answered.“Poetry is all very well, but he’llhave plenty of time to take that up after passing the official examinations.”But Baoyu says“I can’t standsuch moral talk. And those eight-section essays are still more ridiculous. Using them to wangle a degree andmake a living—that’s not so bad; but how can you claim they‘voice the views of the sages?’”Baoyu hasfallen short of the expectations of his parents and the tutor, who brought him up. That’s why he is regardedas a degenerate and an unfilial son. He has a dislike for The Four Books, the eight-section essays and theImperial Examination. This means that he will never accept a noble rank to serve the state and the Emperor.
Consequently, he is taken as a disloyalist. Disloyalty and unfilial piety make Baoyu a rebel in the feudalsociety.
關於人之生死，他說：“可恨我為什麼生在這侯門公府之家？我雖然高貴，但綾錦紗羅，也不過裹了我這枯株朽木，羊羔美酒，也不過填了我這糞窟泥溝：‘富貴’二字，真真把人荼毒了！”“人誰不死？隻要死的好。那些個須眉濁物隻知道‘文死諫’、‘武死戰’這二死是大丈夫死名死節。竟何如不死的好！必定有昏君他方諫，他隻顧邀名，猛拚一死，將來置君於何地？必定有刀兵他方戰，猛拚一死，他隻顧圖汗馬之名，將來棄國於何地？”“可知那些死的，都是沽名釣譽，並不知大義。”
About man’s birth and death, he declares:“Why did I have to be born into this noble family? Althoughmy status is higher, I’m just a stump of rotten wood swathed in silks and satins, just a cess-pool or gutterfilled with choice wines and meats. Riches and rank are anathema to me.”“All men must die. The thing isto die for good reasons. Those vulgar sods believe that ministers who die for remonstrating with the Emperorand generals who die in battle win immortal fame as fine, upright men—but wouldn’t it be better if they didn’tdie? After all, there has to be a despot on the throne before ministers can remonstrate; but they court deathin their eagerness to make a name, with a complete disregard for their sovereign. In the same way, there hasto be a war before generals can die in battle; so they fight recklessly and try to win fame by dying, with nothought of the country’s welfare. That’s why I say these aren’t worthy deaths.”“They die to win a reputation,and don’t know noble principles.”
封建時代的婚姻不是建立在愛情的基礎上，而是基於家族利益的各種考慮。賈家盡管經曆了幾代顯耀，但已衰落，不僅經濟上收入不夠揮霍的生活方式支出，而且他們在道德上和精神上都衰敗了。“誰知這樣鍾鳴鼎食的人家兒，如今養的兒孫，竟一代不如一代了！”在整個家族子孫中，隻有賈寶玉有望振興賈家的未來。當賈家的命運變得更糟糕時，其家長就變得日愈急於糾正寶玉的任性，以便他能恢複賈家興旺的情景，一再暗示寶玉與寶釵才是完美的婚配並加緊限製寶玉的自由。封建壓迫的鐐銬加緊了寶黛之戀的束縛，盡管他們之間的愛情是世上最純潔、最崇高、最真誠的。正如寶玉所說：“我隻恨我天天圈在家裏，一點兒做不得主， 行動就有人知道，不是這個攔，就是那個勸的，能說不能行。雖然有錢，又不由我使。”寶玉一直追求自由、平等和愛情。結果，在經曆了身邊各種封建矛盾的痛苦碰撞後，他發現他不能忘記他所愛的人來和寶釵生活在一起，終於離開了家庭，遁入了空門。正是：
“看破的，遁入空門；癡迷的，枉送了性命。”
“都道是金玉良緣，俺隻念木石前盟。
歎人間，美中不足今方信；縱然是齊眉舉案，到底意難平。”
Marriage in feudal times was not based on love, but on considerations of family advantage. The Jias,although they have been a distinguished clan for generations, are in decline, not only economically—theincome from their estates is no longer sufficient to support their lavish lifestyle—but more importantly,they are in decline morally and spiritually.“Who would’ve thought that each new generation of this nobleand scholarly clan is inferior to the last.”Nowhere in the whole clan is mere a scion who gives them somuch hope for their future prosperity as Jia Baoyu. As the fortunes of the Jia family worsen, the head of thehousehold grows daily more anxious to correct Baoyu’s waywardness so that the boy can restore the situation,hinting time and again that Baoyu and Baochai would make a perfect match and tightening the restrictionson Baoyu’s freedom. The bonds of feudal oppression tighten around Baoyu and Daiyu although their mutuallove is the purest, the noblest, the sincerest in the world. Just as Baoyu said:“My trouble is that I’m coopedup at home all the time and am not my own master. Every move I make is known, and there’s always someonetrying to stop me or dissuade me, so whatever I say, I can’t do a thing. Though I’ve money, I can’t spend it asI want.”Baoyu has been seeking freedom, equality and love, but after he has undergone the painful clash offeudal contradictions in his surroundings, he has only found that he can not forget his sweetheart to live withBaochai, and finally he has left the family home—has become a Buddhist monk. Truly:
“Those who see through the world escape from the world,While foolish lovers forfeit their lives for nothing.”
“Well-matched, all say, the gold and the jade;I alone recall the pledge between plant and stone.
I sigh, learning that no man’s happiness is complete:
Even a pair thought well-matchedMay find disappointment.”
林黛玉：林黛玉的出身既是世祿之家又是書香之族。她的父親是林如海，前科的探花，後已升蘭台寺大夫，本貫姑蘇人氏，今欽點為巡鹽禦史。林如海之祖，也曾襲過列侯的，今到如海，業經五世；起初隻襲三世，因當今隆恩盛德，額外加恩，至如海之父，又襲了一代；到了如海，便從科第出身。林黛玉之母賈敏是賈代善和賈母即史氏之女。由於林黛玉沒有兄弟姐妹，她父母愛她如掌上明珠。見她生得聰明俊秀，也欲使她識幾個字，不過假充養子，聊解膝下荒涼之歎。
Lin Daiyu: Lin Daiyu was born of a family which was cultured as well as noble. Her father was LinRuhai who had come third in a previous Imperial Examination and recently been promoted to the censorate.
A native of Gusu, he had now been selected by the Emperor as a Commissioner of the Salt Inspectorate.
One of Lin Ruhai’s ancestors five generations earlier had been ennobled as a marquis. The rank had beenconferred for three generations; then, as the benevolence of the present gracious Emperor far exceeded thatof his noble predecessors, he had as a special favour extended it for one more generation, so that Lin Ruhai’sfather had inherited the title as well. He himself, however, had made his career through the examinations. LinDaiyu’s mother Jia Min was the daughter of Jia Daishan and Lady Dowager, i.e, nee Shi. Because Lin Daiyuhad no brothers and sisters, her parents loved her dearly. And because she was as intelligent as she waspretty, they decided to give her a good education to make up for their lack of a son and help them forget theirloss.
隻可惜林黛玉很年輕時她父母就先後病逝了。她隻得到她外婆賈母家去，並在那兒被撫養長大。她在外婆的家裏，必須步步留心，時時在意，不能多說一句話，不可多行一步路，恐被人恥笑了去。在勢利的賈家深宅大院裏，她設法保持著自己的自尊，用率直、刻薄的言語保護自己不受輕蔑和欺侮。“你方才叫我吃燕窩粥的話”，黛玉對寶釵歎道，“……那些底下老婆子丫頭們，未免嫌我太多事了。你看這裏這些人，因見老太太多疼了寶玉和鳳姐姐兩個；他們尚虎視眈眈，背地裏言三語四的，何況於我？況我又不是正經主子，原是無依無靠投奔了來的，他們已經多嫌著我呢；如今我還不知進退，何苦叫他們咒我？”“我是一無所有，吃穿用度，一草一木，皆是和他們家的姑娘一樣，那起小人豈有不多嫌的？”“花謝花飛飛滿天，紅消香斷有誰憐？”“一年三百六十五日，風刀霜劍嚴相逼。”在那種情況下，林黛玉變得猜忌小氣，多愁多病，多愁善感。
Unfortunately Lin Daiyu’s parents died of diseases one after another when she was quite young. She hadto go to her maternal grandmother’s home and be brought up there. She must watch her step in her new home,be on guard every moment and weigh every word, so as not to be laughed at for any foolish blunder. Shemanages to keep her self-respect in the midst of the grand and snobbish Jias, warding off slights and bullywith her candid and carping tongue.“You just said I should eat bird’s-nest.”Daiyu exclaimed with a sighto Baochai,“...but those below would be bound to think me too pernickety. Look how jealous these peopleare and how much gossip there is here because the old lady favours Baoyu and Xifeng. In my case, they’dresent it even more. After all, I’m not a daughter of the house, I’m here because I’ve nowhere else to go. Theyresent me enough as it is. If I should push myself forward, they’d all start cursing me.”“But I have nothing.
Yet all I eat, wear and use, down to the least blade of grass or sheet of paper, is the same as their own girls get.
Naturally those petty-minded people dislike me.”“As blossoms fade and fly across the sky, who pities thefaded red, the scent that has been ?”“Each year for three hundred and sixty-five days the cutting wind andbiting frost contend.”Under such circumstances, Lin Daiyu has become jealous and petty-minded, sick withlonging, always melancholy and moody.
黛玉每歲至春分、秋分後，必犯舊疾；今秋又遇著賈母高興，多遊玩了兩次，未免過勞了神，近日又複嗽起來，覺得比往常又重。所以總不出門，隻在自己的房中將養。今忽見寶玉也有麒麟，便恐借此生隙，同湘雲也做出那些風流佳事來，因而悄悄走來，見機行事，以察二人之意。不想剛走進來，正聽見湘雲說“經濟”一事，寶玉又說：“林妹妹不說這些混帳話，要說這話，我也和他生分了。”黛玉聽了這話，不覺又喜又驚，又悲又歎。所喜者：果然自己眼力不錯，素日認他是個知己，果然是個知己；所驚者：他在人前一片私心稱揚於我，其親熱厚密，竟不避嫌疑；所歎者：你既為我的知已，自然我亦可為你的知己，既你我為知已，又何必有“金玉”之論呢？既有“金玉”之論，也該你我有之，又何必來一寶釵呢？所悲者：父母早逝，雖有銘心刻骨之言，無人為我主張；況近日每覺神思恍惚，病已漸成……寶玉忽見黛玉在前麵慢慢的走著，似乎有拭淚之狀，便忙趕著上來笑道：“妹妹往那裏去？怎麼又哭了？又是誰得罪了你了？”黛玉回頭見是寶玉，便勉強笑道：“好好的，我何曾哭來。”寶玉笑道：“你瞧瞧，眼睛上的淚珠兒沒幹，還撒謊呢！”一麵說，一麵禁不住抬起手來，替他拭淚。黛玉忙向後退了幾步，說道：“你又要死了！又這麼動手動腳的。”寶玉笑道：“說話忘了情，不覺的動了手，也就顧不得死活。”黛玉道：“死了倒不值什麼，隻是丟下了什麼‘金’，又是什麼‘麒麟’，可怎麼好呢！”一句話，又把寶玉說急了。黛玉忙求道：“你別著急，我原說錯了，這有什麼要緊，筋都疊暴起來，急的一臉汗！”一麵說，一麵也近前伸手替他拭麵上的汗。寶玉瞅了半天，方說道：“你放心。”黛玉聽了，怔了半天，說道：“我有什麼不放心的？我不明白你這個話。”寶玉點頭歎道：
“好妹妹，你別哄我；你真不明白這話，不但我素日白用了心，且連你素日待我的心也都辜負了。你皆因都是不放心的原故，才弄了一身的病了。但凡寬慰些，這病也不得一日重似一日了！”黛玉聽了這話，如轟雷掣電，細細思之，竟比自己肺腑中掏出來的還覺懇切，竟有萬句言語，滿心要說，隻是半個字也不能吐出，隻管怔怔的瞅著他。此時寶玉心中也有萬句言詞，不知一時從那一句說起，卻也怔怔的瞅著黛玉。兩個人怔了半天，黛玉隻“咳”了一聲，眼中淚直流下來，轉身便頭也不回，竟去了，而寶玉隻管呆著臉說道：“好妹妹，我的這個心，從來不敢說，今日膽大說出來，就是死了也是甘心的！我為你也弄了一身的病，又不敢告訴人，隻好捱著。等你的病好了，隻怕我的病才得好呢。——睡裏夢裏也忘不了你！”由此可見，寶黛之戀，多麼深！
Daiyu, who suffered from a bad cough around every spring and autumn solstice, had overtaxed herstrength this year by going out more than usual, because of the Lady Dowager’s good spirits, and had recentlystarted coughing again worse than ever. She therefore stayed in her own rooms to rest. But now Baoyu’spossession of a gold unicorn like Xiangyun’s might lead to a romance between them. So Daiyu slipped overto see what was happening and judge of their feelings for each other, arriving just as Xiangyun was speakingof worldly affairs, and in time to hear Baoyu answer,“Miss Lin never talks such disgusting nonsense. Ifshe did, I’d have stopped having anything to do with her.”This surprised and delighted Daiyu but alsodistressed and grieved her. She was delighted to know she had not misjudged him, for he had now proved justas understanding as she had always thought. Surprised that he had been so indiscreet as to acknowledge hispreference for her openly. Distressed because their mutual understanding ought to preclude all talk aboutgold matching jade, or she instead of Baochai should have the gold locket to match his jade amulet. Grievedbecause her parents had died, and although his preference was so clear there was no one to propose thematch for her. Besides, she had recently been suffering from dizzy spells which might be... Baoyu happenedto see Daiyu walking slowly ahead, apparently wiping her tears. He overtook her.“Where are you going,cousin?”he asked with a smile.“What, crying again? Who’s offended you this time?”Daiyu turned andsaw who it was.“I’m all right.”She gave a wan smile.“I wasn’t crying.”“Don’t fib—your eyes are stillwet.”He raised his hand instinctively to wipe away her tears. At once she recoiled a few steps.“Are youcrazy? Can’t you keep your hands to yourself?”“I did it without thinking.”Baoyu laughed.“I was deadto all around me.”“No one will care when you’re dead, but what about the gold locket and unicorn you’llhave to leave behind?”This remark made Baoyu frantic.“Don’t get so excited,”Daiyu begged.“Whywork yourself up over a slip of the tongue? The veins on your forehead are all swollen with anger, and whata sweat you’re in!”So saying, she too stepped forward without thinking and reached out her hand to wipehis perspiring face. Baoyu fixed his eyes on her. After a while he said gently,“you mustn’t worry”. Daiyugazed at him in silence,“Worry?”she repeated at last.“I don’t understand. What do you mean?”“Dearcousin, don’t tease.”Baoyu nodded and sighed.“If you really don’t understand, all my devotion’s beenwasted and even your feeling for me has been thrown away. You ruin your health by worrying so much. Ifyou’d take things less to heart, your illness wouldn’t be getting worse every day.”These words struck Daiyulike a thunderbolt. As she turned them over in her mind, they seemed closer to her innermost thoughts than ifwrung from her own heart. There were a thousand things she longed to say, yet she could not utter a word. Shejust stared at him in silence. As Baoyu was in similar case, he too stared at her without a word. So they stoodtransfixed for some time. Then Daiyu gave a choking cough and tears rolled down her cheeks. She was turningto hurry off without one look behind, while Baoyu just stood there like a man in a trance and declared,“Dearcousin, I never ventured before to bare my heart to you. Now that I’ve summoned up courage to speak, I’ll diecontent. I was making myself ill on account of you, but I dared not tell anyone and hid my feelings. I shall notrecover till you’re better too. I can’t forget you even in my dreams.”From here we can see how deeply Baoyuand Daiyu love each other.
寶玉與黛玉的愛情是建立在兩情相悅、兩心相知的基礎之上的自由純潔的愛情，不講門第，不計利害，重情不重禮，生死與共，與封建禮教背道而馳，在當時是一種叛逆的愛情。雖說寶玉是個才子，黛玉是個佳人，但寶黛之戀和傳統類小說中的才子佳人之戀不同。
後者中，男女主角要掌握自己的人生也有鬥爭，但他們反對的隻是當時的婚姻習俗，並不是封建製度的原則。他們大多數在科舉考試中優勝了，他們的家人順從了他們不合習俗的婚姻配偶的選擇，結果協調一致了。而寶黛之戀代表了對封建家庭利益的根本挑戰。寶玉藐視功名，拒絕通過科舉考試製度來追求仕途，堅決駁斥所有人——甚至像史湘雲、薛寶釵那樣的親密者來勸告他要立誌科舉時，他都拒絕。在賈府所有的年輕女子中，隻有黛玉理解他、同情他的正直天性，同情他厭惡虛偽、做作和追名逐利的算計。正是因為黛玉幫助並助長寶玉背叛封建習俗，導致寶玉走上可能招致家庭敗落之路，賈家的家長賈母才認為黛玉作為寶玉的婚姻伴侶完全不合適。賈母說：“寶玉和林丫頭是從小在一處的，我隻說小孩子們，怕什麼？以後時常聽得林丫頭忽然病，忽然好，都為有了些知覺了。所以我想他們若盡著擱在一塊兒，畢竟不成體統。”“林丫頭的乖僻，雖也是他的好處，我的心裏不把林丫頭配他，也是為這點子，況且林丫頭這樣虛弱，恐不是有壽的。隻有寶丫頭最妥。”根據賈母的上述教導，熙鳳製訂了一個秘密計劃，並說：“隻有一個‘掉包兒’的法子”，即偷梁換柱之計。
黛玉聽得寶玉就要和寶釵舉行婚禮，這本是她數年的心病，一時急怒，迷惑了本性。她身子往前一栽，“哇”的一聲，一口血直吐出來。她唯求速死。她決心拒絕吃任何東西。當賈母、王夫人、熙鳳去看黛玉時，賈母心裏隻是納悶，因說：“孩子們從小兒在一處玩，好些是有的。如今大了，懂的人事，就該要分別些，才是做女孩兒的本分，我才心裏疼他。若是他心裏有別的想頭，成了什麼人了呢！我可是白疼了他了！”“咱們這種人家，別的事自然沒有的，這心病也是斷斷有不得的！林丫頭若不是這個病呢，我憑著花多少錢都使得，就是這個病，不但治不好，我也沒心腸了！”黛玉向來病著，自賈母起直到姐妹們的下人，常來問候；今見賈府中上下人等都不過來，連一個問的人都沒有，睜開眼，隻有紫鵑一人，自料萬無生理，因此決心焚稿斷癡情。正是寶玉娶寶釵的這個時辰，黛玉氣絕。她最後的話是“寶玉，寶玉！你好……”
The love between Baoyu and Daiyu is based on their mutual love and understanding, is a free and purelove without any concern for family status and interests; and it is also a constant and rebellious love, whichemphasizes feeling rather than feudal ethical codes, and even runs counter to feudal ethical codes. AlthoughBaoyu is a talented young man and Daiyu is a beauty, the love affair between Baoyu and Daiyu is differentfrom the way such matters are treated in the traditional genre of novels featuring talented young scholars andbeautiful girls. In the latter novels the heroes and heroines have their struggles to exert control over theirown lives, but their opposition is to the marriage conventions of the time, and not to the basic principlesof the feudal system. They mostly excel in the imperial examinations, and when they do so their familiesbecome reconciled to their unconventional choices of marriage partners, and in the end harmony reigns.
The love between Baoyu and Daiyu, on the other hand, represents a fundamental challenge to the interestsof the feudal family. Baoyu scorns fame and fortune, and refuses to pursue an official position through theimperial examination system, resolutely rebuffing all—even intimates like Shi Xiangyun and Xue Baochai—when they urge him to be ambitious. Of all the young ladies in the household, only Daiyu understandshim, sympathizing with his straightforward nature, and his loathing of hypocrisy, affectation and worldlycalculation. It’s just because Daiyu aids and abets Baoyu in his rebellion against feudal mores, leading himdown a path that may spell ruin for the family, the Lady Dowager, the matriarch of the Jia family, regardsher as completely unsuitable as a marriage partner for Baoyu. The Lady Dowager said,“Baoyu and Daiyuhave been inseparable since they were small, and I didn’t think it mattered as they were children. Sincethen, though, there’s been all this talk about her sudden illness and sudden recovery—just because they aregrowing up now. So I don’t think it proper to leave them together all the time.”“Daiyu is over-sensitive,and though that’s not a bad thing in a way it’s also the reason why I don’t want to marry her to Baoyu. Besides,she’s so delicate, I doubt whether she’s long for this world. The most suitable choice is Baochai.”Accordingto the old lady’s instructions mentioned above, Xifeng made an underhand plan and said,“the only wayis to‘palm off a dummy’on him.”That was the plan to fob off a different bride on Baoyu. The news ofBaoyu’s impending wedding to Baochai, a prospect which Daiyu had dreaded for years, had so enraged herthat she had lost her senses. She staggered and fell, vomiting blood. She just longed to die quickly. She madeup her mind to refuse to eat anything. When the Lady Dowager, Lady Wang and Xifeng went to see Daiyu,the old lady dubiously said,“It’s natural for young people who’ve played together as children to be partial toeach other; but now that they’re big enough to know the facts of life they should keep at a distance. That’s howa girl should behave if she wants me to love her. To get other ideas into her head would be most improper, andall my love for her would be thrown away.”“In a family like ours, of course there can’t be any carryings-on, but even thinking such thoughts is taboo! If that’s not the root of her illness, I’m willing to spend any sumto cure her. If it is, I doubt if it can be cured and I don’t care!”During Daiyu’s previous illness, everyonefrom the old lady herself down to the maids of her cousins had come to ask after her health. But now not onerelative or servant came, not even sending inquiries, and when she opened her eyes there was nobody butZijuan in the room. She knew there was not the least reason for her to live on. Therefore, Daiyu made up hermind to burn her poems to end her infatuation. It was in the very same hour in which Baoyu and Baochai weremarried that Daiyu breathed her last. Her last words were“Baoyu, Baoyu! How...”
黛玉生來體弱多病，但非常聰明漂亮，難怪熙鳳看到她便笑道：“天下真有這樣標致的人兒？我今日才算看見了！”在寶玉看來，黛玉“真是與眾各別”。“兩彎似蹙非蹙罥煙眉，一雙似喜非喜含情目……閑靜似嬌花照水，行動如弱柳扶風。心較比幹多一竅，病如西子勝三分。”林黛玉最突出的特點是弱不禁風，多愁善感。因此“林黛玉”現在已變成了凡有那兩個特點的人的代名詞。她的另一個特點是愛哭。她為什麼哭呢？ 她為美麗而短暫的生命哭泣——“一朝春盡紅顏老，花落人亡兩不知。”她為自己的命苦哭泣——她父母雙亡，又無兄弟姐妹，孤苦伶仃，隻得寄居親戚家中。她為愛而哭泣——“一個是閬苑仙葩，一個是美玉無瑕。
今生偏又遇著他；若說有奇緣，如何心事終虛話？
一個枉自嗟呀，一個空勞牽掛。
一個是水中月，一個是鏡中花。
想眼中能有多少淚珠兒，怎禁得秋流到冬，春流到夏！”
Daiyu was born weak and often ill, but very intelligent and beautiful. No wonder Xifeng saw her andcried with a laugh,“This is the first time I’ve set eyes on such a ravishing beauty. Her whole air is sodistinguished!”In Baoyu’s eyes, Daiyu was“different from other girls.”“Her dusky arched eyebrowswere knitted and yet not frowning, her speaking eyes held both merriment and sorrow... In repose she was likea lovely flower mirrored in the water; in motion, a pliant willow swaying in the wind. She looked more sensitivethan Bi Gan, more delicate than Xi Shi.”Lin Daiyu’s most outstanding characteristics are oversensitive andso weak as to be unable to stand any breeze. Thus“LinDaiyu”has already been turned into a substitutename for all those who have the same characteristics now. Her another characteristic is that she often weeps.
What for? She weeps for her beautiful and short life—“The day that spring takes wing and beauty fades,who will care for the fallen blossom of dead maid?”She weeps for her ill-fate—her parents are dead andshe’s all on her own, with no brothers and sisters; so she has to put up in her grandmother’s house. She weepsfor love—“One is an immortal flower of fairyland,The other fair flawless jade,And were it not predestinedWhy should they meet again in this existence?
Yet, if predestined,Why does their love come to nothing?
One sighs to no purpose,The other yearns in vain;One is the moon reflected in the water,The other but a flower in the mirror.
How many tears can well from her eyes?
Can they flow on from autumn till winter,From spring till summer?”
薛寶釵：薛寶釵出身於金陵書香繼世之家，是個生得肌骨瑩潤，舉止嫻雅，美麗聰明的姑娘。她父親在世時，對她極其疼愛，令其讀書識字，較之乃兄，竟高十倍。自父親死後，寶釵見哥不能安慰母心，她便不以書字為念，隻留心針黹家計等事，好為母親分憂代勞。近因今上崇尚詩禮，征采才能，降不世之隆恩，除聘選妃嬪外，在世宦名家之女，皆得親名達部，以備選擇，為宮主郡主入學陪侍，充為才人讚善之職。因此薛寶釵一家人來到榮府住下。
Xue Baochai: Xue Baochai came of a scholarly JinLing family. She is a beautiful and intelligent girlof great natural refinement. While her father was still alive he made her study, and she turned out ten timesbetter than her elder brother. After their father’s death it was so clear that Xue Pan would prove no comfortto their mother that Baochai gave up her studies and devoted herself to needlework and the householdmanagement, so as to share her mother’s burden and cares. Recently, to honor culture, encourage proprietyand search out talent, in addition to selecting consorts and ladies-in-waiting the Emperor in his infinitegoodness had made the Board compile a list of the daughters of ministers and noted families from whom tochoose virtuous and gifted companions for the princesses in their studies. Thus Xue Baochai and her motherand elder brother came to stay in the Rong Mansion.
不想如今忽然來了一個薛寶釵，年紀雖大不多，然品格端方，容貌美麗，人人都說黛玉不及。那寶釵卻又行為豁達，隨分從時，不比黛玉孤高自許，目無下塵，故深得下人之心；就是小丫頭們，亦多和寶釵親近。因而黛玉心中便有些不忿；寶釵卻是渾然不覺。當寶玉第一次去見寶釵時，她正坐在炕上做針線，頭上挽著黑漆油光的發髻，蜜合色的棉襖……一色兒半新不舊的，看去不見奢華，唯覺雅淡。罕言寡語，人謂藏愚；安分隨時，自雲守拙。
But now Baochai had suddenly appeared on the scene. Although only slightly older, she was such aproper young lady and so charming that most people considered Daiyu inferior to her. In the eyes of the world,of course, everyone has some merits. In the case of Daiyu and Baochai, one was lovely as a flower, the othergraceful as a willow, but each charming in her own way, according to her distinctive temperament. Besides,Baochai’s generous, tactful and accommodating ways contrasted strongly with Daiyu’s stand-offish reserveand won the hearts of her subordinates, so that nearly all the maids liked to chat with her. Because of this,Daiyu began to feel some twinges of jealousy. But of this Baochai was completely unaware. When Baoyu wentto see Baochai for the first time, she was sewing on the kang. Her glossy black hair was knotted on top of herhead. She was wearing a honey-coloured padded jacket... There was nothing ostentatious about her costume,which was none too new. Her lips needed no rouge, her blue-black eye-brows no brush; her face seemed asilver disk, her eyes almonds swimming in water. Some might think her reticence a cloak for stupidity; butcircumspect as she was she prided herself on her simplicity.
薛寶釵寬厚隨和，豁達大度，真有涵養，十分寬容。她在賈府中人緣好，沒人不稱讚她。甚至她的情敵林黛玉歎道：“你素日待人，固然是極好的，然我最是個多心的人，隻當你有心藏奸。從前日你說看雜書不好，又勸我那些好話，竟大感激你。往日竟是我錯了，實在誤到如今。……怪不得雲丫頭說你好，我往日見她讚你，我還不受用，昨兒我親自經過，才知道了。比如你說了那個，我再不輕放過你的；你竟不介意，反勸我那些話：可知我竟自誤了。”
Xue Baochai is kind and amiable, generous and magnanimous. She’s really good natured and tolerant.
She is so popular in the Jia Mansions that nobody can help admiring her. Even her rival in love Lin Daiyuexclaimed with a sigh:“How good you always are to others! I’m so touchy that I used to suspect your motives.
I really began to appreciate you that day when you warned me against indiscriminate reading and gave mesuch good advice. I can see now I’d misjudged you all along ...No wonder Xiangyun speaks so highly of you. Iused to be sceptical when she sang your praises, but not after my own recent experience. For instance, whenyou said anything I always answered back, but instead of taking offence you offered me good advice. Thatshowed that I’d been wrong.”
薛寶釵和林黛玉都一樣美麗動人，知書識理，並且起初都吸引著賈寶玉。事實上，寶玉曾一度撇開黛玉，依戀著寶釵。他漸漸疏遠寶釵，是因為寶釵一直催促他要適應封建習俗，與他性格不同，她傾向於封建正統觀念。寶釵重禮不重情，自覺地壓抑自己的個性和情感，時時處處按封建禮教的要求行動。寶玉再次依戀與他意氣相投的黛玉，因為她自幼兒不曾勸他去立身揚名。也正是因為這一點，賈家才決心把寶玉婚配給門當戶對而且又能把寶玉領上封建正路的寶釵，而不是婚配給與他堅定的反抗性格相合的黛玉。
Xue Baochai and Lin Daiyu are equally charming physically and intellectually, and Baoyu was attractedto both of them at first. In fact, Baoyu once clung to Baochai, putting aside Daiyu. He gradually distanceshimself from Baochai, who has been urging him to adapt himself to the feudal mores and whose characteris the opposite of his, being inclined to the ways of feudal orthodoxy. Baochai thinks more of feudal ethicalcodes than of feelings; she involuntarily restrains her temperament and feelings and always behaves herselfaccording to the needs of the feudal ethical codes. He cleaves once more to his true soulmate Daiyu, becauseshe alone had never urged him to seek an official career or fame for himself. It’s also just because of thisthat the Jias determine to marry Baoyu off to Baochai who comes from a noble and very proper family and isgenerally regarded as the very person to steer Baoyu back onto the road of feudal rectitude, instead of Daiyuwhose staunch, defiant character matches that of Baoyu well.
寶釵與寶玉的婚姻不是建立在愛情的基礎之上，而是基於家庭利益的各種考慮。作為一個封建社會的女子，寶釵本人不能通過科舉考試去獲取功名，隻能像她詩句所說，“好風憑借力，送我上青雲”。即是說，她隻能靠丈夫。她理想的丈夫是雄心勃勃，盡力追求功名富貴的人。而寶玉憎惡功名財富，生性叛逆，他們如何能幸福地生活在一起呢？他們結婚後，寶玉忘不了他心愛的黛玉，最終離家出走當了和尚。寶釵過著守活寡的生活，“完美婚姻”
變成了悲劇。“可歎停機德，……金簪雪裏埋。”“焦首朝朝暮暮，煎心日日複年年。”
The marriage between Baochai and Baoyu is not based on love, but on considerations of family interests.
As a girl in the feudal society, Baochai herself can not have scholarly honour or official rank by taking partin the imperial examinations. She has to do what her verse reads.“But lend me strength, good wind, to soarup to the azure sky at last.”That is to say, she has to rely on her husband and her ideal husband must be aman who is ambitious and tries his best to seek for fame and riches. But Baoyu detests the pursuit of rank andwealth and has a rebellious nature. How can they happily live on together? After their marriage, Baoyu cannot forget his sweetheart Daiyu and finally leaves the family home to be a Buddhist monk. Baochai is living awidowed life and the“perfect match”turns into a tragedy.“Alas for her wifely virtue, ...Buried in snow thebroken golden hairpin”.“Burned with anxiety both day and night, comsumed with anguish as time slipsaway.”
寶玉深愛黛玉卻被迫和寶釵結婚，因此作者把黛玉與寶釵放在一起寫，常常一個出現另一個就會出現，以便讀者能理解她們間的鮮明的對照。黛玉沒有兄弟姐妹，父母死得早，她與外婆表姐妹們永久住，因她沒有其他地方走，林家除她以外真沒一個人了。 但寶釵在榮府是暫住，以備選擇，為宮主郡主入學陪侍，充為人才讚善之職，並有母親和哥哥保護。
並且，她還有個舅舅王子騰是現任京營節度使。她家是賈雨村衣袋中“護身符”裏四大家族之一的薛家——“豐年好大‘雪’，珍珠如土金如鐵。”且家中有百萬之富，現領著內帑錢糧，采辦雜料。其兄雖是皇商，一應經紀世事全然不知，不過賴祖父舊日情分，戶部掛個虛名，支領錢糧。寶釵家在京有幾處房舍和商鋪，如鼓樓西大街的恒舒當鋪等。黛玉生來體弱並常常生病。她素多猜忌，好弄小性兒，多愁善感，說話直率尖刻。但寶釵先天壯實，隻是從胎裏帶來一股熱毒，犯時吃一丸冷香丸就好了。她豁達大度，寬厚隨和，大方得體，大智若愚。更重要的是，黛玉執著追求自由純潔的愛情，那種愛情不合封建禮教，不符合封建家族的利益，不遵從封建家長的意誌，她認為愛情高於一切，包括她的生命。而寶釵則是總盡力做個封建淑女，遵守“三從四德”，終於成了寶二奶奶、盡孝道的兒媳婦。
Baoyu loves Daiyu deeply but is married by force to Baochai. Thus the author puts Daiyu and Baochaitogether in writing, often one appears after another so that readers can see the striking contrasts betweenthem. Daiyu has no brothers or sisters and her mother and father died early. She stays with her grandmotherand uncle’s girls for ever because she has nowhere else to go. There is really no one left in the Lin familybesides Daiyu. But Baochai stays in the Rong Mansion for the time being for the selection of virtuous andgifted companions for the princesses in their studies under the protection of her mother and elder brother.
Furthermore, she has an uncle named Wang Ziteng who is the Commander-in-Chief of the MetropolitanGarrison. Her family is one of the most notable families in the Officials’ Protective Charm in Jia Yucun’spocket—“The Xues in their affluence are so rich and grand, gold is like iron to them and pearls likesand.”They are millionaires, in receipt of an income from the State Treasury as Purveyors for the ImperialHousehold. Her elder brother, though a Court Purveyor, knows nothing of business or worldly affairs, onlyprevailed on his grandfather’s old connections to find him a well-paid sinecure in the Board of Revenue.
Baochai’s family has some houses and shops, such as a pound called Heng Shu on the main road west of theDrum Tower, etc. in the capital. Daiyu is born weak and often ill. She’s rather jealous and petty-minded,oversensitive and speaking candidly and carpingly. But Baochai is born of a good constitution and only onepill of Cold Fragrance Pills each time an attack comes on—the Monk diagnosed her trouble as a cholerichumour she’d brought from the womb. She’s so broad-minded and sweet-tempered, generous and tactful,just a wise girl looking stupid. What is more important, Daiyu is inflexibly seeking for a free and pure love,which conforms to neither the feudal ethical codes nor the interests of the feudal families nor the will of thefeudal patriarchy, and thinks that love is above all, including her life. Baochai is always doing her best to be avirtuous lady, who observes the three obediences (in ancient China a woman was required to obey her fatherbefore marriage life and her husband during married life and her sons in widowhood) and four virtues (fidelity,physical charm, propriety in speech and efficiency in needle work) and has finally become Madam Bao, sucha dutiful daughter-in-law.
寶釵的人生與寶玉的人生因婚姻而永久地緊緊聯係在一起，而黛玉的人生與寶玉的人生因戀愛而緊密地聯係在一起。寶黛之戀被扼殺，造成了黛玉之死和寶玉決定削發為僧，終成令人心碎的愛情悲劇。寶釵與寶玉的婚姻用偷梁換柱之計婚配得天衣無縫。盡管寶玉被迫與寶釵結了婚，但他與她誌不同，道不合，最後拋棄了她而出了家，造成了他們沒有愛情的婚姻悲劇。這就是為什麼寶玉、黛玉和寶釵的人生在“紅樓夢十二支歌詞”的第一歌（除“紅樓夢引子”外）“終生誤”中都有反映——“都道是金玉良緣，俺隻念木石前盟。空對著，山中高士晶瑩雪；終不忘，世外仙姝寂寞林。歎人間，美中不足今方信：縱然是齊眉舉案，到底意難平。”
Baochai’s life is permanently bound up with Baoyu’s by marriage while Daiyu’s life is closely relatedwith Baoyu’s by love. The love between Daiyu and Baoyu is strangled to death and ends in a heart-breakingtragedy, including the death of Daiyu and Baoyu’s decision to be tonsured to become a monk. The marriagebetween Baochai and Baoyu is well-matched by a plan to fob off a different bride on Baoyu. Although Baoyugets married to Baochai by force, he has little in common with her and finally decides to forsake her andtonsure himself to become a monk. Consequently, their marriage without love ends up tragically. That’s whythe lives of Baoyu, Daiyu and Baochai are reflected in the first song (except“Prologue to The Dream of RedMansions”) A Life Misspent of“the Dream of Red Mansions Songs”—well-matched, all say, the goldand the jade; I alone recall the pledge between plant and stone. Vainly facing the hermit in sparkling snow-clad hills I forget not the fairy in lone woods beyond the world. I sigh, learning that no man’s happiness iscomplete: Even a pair thought well-matched may find disappointment.
史湘雲：史湘雲是賈母史家的侄孫女，忠靖侯史鼎的侄女。繈褓中，父母雙亡。縱居那綺羅叢，誰知嬌養？寶釵說：“湘雲在家裏一點兒做不得主。他們家嫌費用大，竟不用那些針線上的人，差不多兒的東西都是她們娘兒們動手：為什麼這幾次她來了，她和我說話兒，見沒人在跟前，她就說家裏累的慌？我再問她兩句家常過日子的話，她就連眼圈兒都紅了，嘴裏含含糊糊，待說不說的。看她的情景兒，自然從小兒沒了父母是苦的。”“上次她告訴我，說在家裏做活做到三更天，要是替別人做一點半點兒，那些奶奶太太們，還不受用呢。”
Shi Xiangyun: Shi Xiangyun is the Lady Dowager’s grandniece, of the Shi family and the niece of ShiDing, Marquis of Zhong Jing. She is still in her cradle when her parents die. Although living in luxury whowill dote on her?“Xiangyun is a nobody at home”. Baochai said,“To save expense, her people no longeremploy sewing-women but make practically everything they need themselves. That’s why, during her last fewvisits, she’s confided to me when nobody was about that she gets quite tired out at home. And when I askedabout their daily life, her eyes filled with tears and she made some evasive answer. So I gather she’s havinga hard time of it because she lost her parents so early on.”“Last time she did tell me she has to work tillmidnight at home, and if she does the least bit of work for other people the ladies of the house don’t like it.”
湘雲住在她叔父史鼎家，但她嬸母對她不好。難怪她總想到賈府作客。每當她離開賈家時，湘雲都是眼淚汪汪，並叫寶玉到跟前悄悄地囑咐道：“就是老太太想不起我來，你時常提著，好等老太太打發人接我去。”隻要湘雲一回到賈府大觀園，便如魚得水，就恢複了她那天真活潑、心直口快、無拘無束、古道熱腸的天性。
Xiangyun lives with her uncle Shi Ding but her aunt is not very kind to her. That’s why she always wantsto visit the Jia family. Whenever she leaves the Jias, her eyes are brimming with tears and beckons Baoyu toher side.“If the old lady forgets me,”she whispers,“do remind her to send someone to fetch me back.”Solong as Xiangyun returns to the Grand View Garden of the Jia family, just like a fish in water, she recoversher nature of being innocent and lively, frank and outspoken, free and easy, considerate and warmhearted.
湘雲在大觀園有很多表兄弟、表姐妹和寶釵、襲人等朋友，常在一起過得很愉快。因此，當她叔父史鼎又遷委外省大員，不日要帶家眷去上任，賈母因舍不得湘雲，便留下她，接到家中，原要命鳳姐兒另設一處與她住時，她卻執意不肯，隻要和寶釵一處住。在寶釵、黛玉來榮府之前，湘雲曾在賈家寄居過一些時期，和寶玉、襲人已成了兒時好友。黛玉因湘雲佩有金麒麟，今忽見寶玉也有麒麟，便恐借此生隙，同湘雲也做出那些風流佳事來，因而悄悄走來，見機行事，以察二人之意。不想剛走進來，正聽見湘雲說“經濟”一事，寶玉又說：“林妹妹不說這些混帳話，要說這話，我也和他生分了。”這才解除了黛玉的誤解。
Xiangyun has many cousins and friends, such as Baochai, Xiren, etc. in the Grand View Garden.
They are often having a good time there. Thus, when her uncle Shi Ding was transferred to a provincialgovernorship and would be taking his family to his new post in a few days and the Lady Dowager would notwant to part with Xiangyun and would keep her and have her fetched to their house, directing Xifeng to giveher a separate establishment, Xiangyun resolutely declined, and at her insistence they let her move in withBaochai instead. Xiangyun had stayed with the Jias for some periods of time and made good children-friendswith Baoyu and Xiren before Daiyu and Baochai came to stay in the Rong Mansion. Daiyu was much worriedabout the fact that Baoyu’s possession of a gold unicorn as Xiangyun’s might lead to a romance between them.
So she slipped over to see what was happening and judge of their feelings for each other, arriving just asXiangyun was speaking of“worldly affairs”, and in time to hear Baoyu answer,“Miss Lin never talks suchdisgusting nonsense. If she did, I’d have stopped having anything to do with her.”This has released Daiyufrom misunderstanding.
湘雲和黛玉處境相同，都父母雙亡，寄居賈母門下（賈母是湘雲的伯祖母，是黛玉的外祖母），兩個都是才女，年輕漂亮，很會寫詩，她倆聯寫的詩“寒塘渡鶴影（湘雲寫），冷月葬詩魂（黛玉聯）”已成了人們不能忘卻的千古絕句。但她們對人生的態度和性格特點不同：湘雲對人生樂觀堅強，黛玉對人生悲觀失望。湘雲性格開朗，瀟灑自如，愛說愛笑，古道熱腸，追求一種“是真名士自風流”的人生；黛玉生來體弱多病，素多猜忌，好弄小性兒，多愁善感，說話直率尖刻，追求高於一切（包括她生命）的自由純潔的愛情。
Xiangyun and Daiyu are placed in the same position—Their parents died early. They’re living with theLady Dowager (who is Xiangyun’s Grandaunt and Daiyuu’s Grandmother). Both of them are talented girls,young and beautiful, very good at writing poems. The poem written by them together“A stork’s shadow flitsacross the chilly pool (written by Xiangyun), the poet’s spirit is buried in cold moonlight”(matched by Daiyu)has become the reputed lines for myriad years, which people can never forget. But their attitudes towardstheir lives and their characteristics are quite different: Xiangyun’s attitude towards her life is optimisticand staunch while Daiyu’s is pessimistic and despondent. Xiangyun has a bright and cheerful disposition,is always natural and unrestrained, talkative and laughing, considerate and warmhearted, seeking for a lifethat“a real scholar can afford to be eccentric.”But Daiyu is born weak and often ill. She’s rather jealousand petty-minded, oversensitive and speaking candidly and carpingly. She’s been seeking for a free and purelove which is considered above everything, including her life.
湘雲因她女婿病著，賈母死後，隻來的一次，屈指算是後日送殯，不能不去。又見她女婿的病已成癆症，暫且不妨，隻得坐夜前一日過來。想起賈母素日疼她；又想到自己命苦，剛配了一個才貌雙全的男人，性情又好，偏偏的得了冤孽症候，不過捱日子罷了；於是更加悲痛，直哭了半夜。寶玉瞅著也不勝悲傷，又不好上前去勸。見她淡妝素服，不敷脂粉，更比未出嫁的時候猶勝幾分。至於湘雲的婚姻，那是她叔父的主意，頭裏原好；如今丈夫死於癆病，她立誌守寡，也就苦了。
Since Xiangyun’s husband was ill, she had visited only once after the old lady’s death; but she felt shemust attend the funeral which she reckoned would be held in two days’ time. In any case, her husband’sillness had proved to be consumption, so that he was in no immediate danger. She therefore came over the daybefore the wake, when she recalled the old lady’s goodness to her, then thought of her own wretched fate. Shehad only just married a talented, handsome husband with a cheerful disposition, but then he had contractedthis fatal illness which might any day carry him off. In distress she wept half the night. Baoyu, seeing this,grieved for her too but was in no position to comfort her. He noticed that in her white mourning, her face bareof rouge and powder, she looked even lovelier than before her marriage. As for her marriage, that was heruncle’s idea and all went well to start with, but now her husband’s died of consumption and she’s made up hermind never to marry again, poor thing.
湘雲很年輕就守寡的說法在她《詠白海棠詩》“自是霜娥偏愛冷”句中得到了印證。
她很會寫詩，正如黛玉、寶釵一樣。據說她最後又嫁給了賈寶玉，聽起來很合情合理，在她《對菊》《供菊》的詩句中也有一些暗示。例如《對菊》中，“別圃移來貴比金”暗示她的再婚。詩行“數去更無君傲世，看來惟我有知音”中，是誰如此傲世？倘是寶玉，也就是雪芹，知音之人自是湘雲（黛玉已死）。“秋光荏苒休辜負，相對原宜惜寸陰”，正是“黃昏戀”者的共同心聲，共同祈盼！在《供菊》中，“彈琴酌酒喜堪儔”暗示他們的幸福生活。
“拋書人對一枝秋。霜清紙帳來新夢，圃冷斜陽憶舊遊。”“拋書人”是誰？“新夢”是什麼？“舊遊”何處？我們認為指的是曹雪芹與《紅樓夢》。曹雪芹正是通過寫《紅樓夢》來“憶”出他們的“舊遊”——他們先前的生活（經曆），來做出“新夢”——他們的新思想、新追求。“傲世也因同氣味”暗指寶玉與湘雲共同的“氣味”——“傲世”！
The view that Xiangyun is widowed when she’s quite young has been confirmed by the line“Likethe goddess of frost who loves the cold”from her poem Song of white Begonia. Xiangyun is very goodat writing poems, just as Daiyu and Baochai do. It is said that she’s finally remarried to Jia Baoyu—CaoXueqin. It sounds quite reasonable. There are also some indications in the lines of her poems Facingthe Chrysanthemum and Displaying the Chrysanthemum. For Instance, in her poem Facing theChrysanthemum: the line“Brought from another plot, more precious than gold”indicates her remarriage.
In the lines“None, surely, in the world as proud as you; I alone, it seems, know your worth”, who’s so proudin the world! None other than Cao Xueqin! If it is Baoyu, i.e Cao Xueqin, whose bosom friend is naturallyXiangyun (since Daiyu’s been dead). It’s just the aged-lovers’ heartfelt wishes and expectations that“Weshould make the most of autumn, gone so soon, and facing you I treasure every moment.”In her poemDisplaying the Chrysanthemum: the line“Music and wine gladly accompany”indicates their happy life.
In the lines“Tossing my book aside I face a spray of autumn. Fresh dreams penetrate the curtain in clearfrost, sunset in chill garden recalls a former visit.”, who’s“tossing my book aside”? What are“freshdreams?”Where’s“a former visit?”In the way of our thinking, they indicate Cao Xueqin and A Dream ofRed Mansions. By writing A Dream of Red Mansions Cao Xueqin“recalls a former visit”—their formerlives (experience) and has“fresh dreams”—their new ideas and aspirations. The line“You too disdain theworld, for we share the same taste”indicates that Xueqin and Xiangyun“share the same taste”—both ofthem disdain the world!
妙玉：妙玉本是蘇州人氏，祖上也是讀書仕宦之家，因自幼多病，買了許多替身，皆不中用，到底這姑娘入了空門，方才好了，所以帶發修行。年方十八歲，法名妙玉。如今父母俱已亡故，身邊隻有兩個老嬤嬤，一個小丫頭服侍，文墨也極通，經文也不用學了，模樣又極好。因聽說“長安”都中有觀音遺跡，並貝葉遺文，去年隨了師父上來，現在西門外牟尼院住著。他師父極精演先天神數，於去年冬圓寂了。遺言說她：“不宜回鄉，在此靜候，自有結果。”所以未曾扶靈回去。王夫人聽了報告並問道：“這樣我們何不接了他來？”林之孝家的回道：“若請他，他說：‘侯門公府，必以貴勢壓人，我再不去的。’”王夫人道：
“他既是宦家小姐，自然要性傲些。就下個請帖請他何妨？”因此，妙玉被邀請作了大觀園內櫳翠庵住持。
Miaoyu: Miaoyu comes from a Suzhou family of scholars and officials. She was delicate as a child,and although they bought many substitute novices for her, it was no use—her health didn’t improve untilshe joined the Buddhist order herself. That’s how she became a lay sister. She’s eighteen this year and hername in religion is Miaoyu. Her parents are dead now and she only has two old nurses and one maid to lookafter her. She’s widely read and well-versed in the sutras, besides being very good-looking. She came to thecapital last year, having heard there were relics of Guanyin here and canons inscribed on pattra leaves. She’sbeen living in the Sakyamuni Convent outside the West Gate. Her tutor was an excellent diviner, but shepassed away last winter. Miaoyu had meant to escort the coffin back to her native place; but as her tutor laydying she told the girl not to go back home but to wait quietly where she was for something fortune had in storefor her. So she didn’t accompany the coffin back.“In that case, why not ask her here?”Lady Wang listenedto the report and asked.“She’d refuse,”objected Lin Zhixiao’s wife.“She’d be afraid of being looked downon in a noble household.“A young lady from an official family is bound to be rather proud,”agreed LadyWang.“Why not send her a written invitation?”Thus Miaoyu was invited to be Abbess of Green LatticeNunnery in Grand View Garden.
賈母帶了劉姥姥至櫳翠庵來。妙玉相迎進去。然後她親自捧了一個海棠花式雕漆填金“雲龍獻壽”的小茶盤，裏麵放了一個成窯五彩小蓋鍾，捧與賈母，並說：“這是‘老君眉’。”賈母接了，又問：“是什麼水？”妙玉道：“是舊年蠲的雨水。”賈母便吃了半盞，笑著遞與劉姥姥，說，“你嚐嚐這個茶。”劉姥姥便一口吃盡。上茶後妙玉便把寶釵黛玉的衣襟一拉，二人隨她出去。寶玉悄悄的隨後跟了來。隻見妙玉讓他們在耳房內，她自向風爐上煽滾了水，另泡了一壺茶。她剛要去取杯，隻見道婆收了上麵茶盞來，妙玉忙命：
“將那成窯的茶杯別收了，擱在外頭去罷。”寶玉會意，知為劉姥姥吃了，她嫌醃罥，不要了。又見妙玉另拿出兩隻極好的杯來，斟了一杯給寶釵，另一杯給了黛玉，仍將前番自己常日吃茶的那隻綠玉鬥來斟與寶玉。黛玉因問：“這也是舊年的雨水？”妙玉冷笑道：“你這麼個人，竟是大俗人，連水也嚐不出來！這是五年前我在玄墓蟠香寺住著，收的梅花上的雪，統共得了那一鬼臉青的花甕一甕，總舍不得吃，埋在地下，今年夏天才開了。我隻吃過一回，這是第二回了。——你怎麼嚐不出來？隔年蠲的雨水，那有這樣清淳？如何吃得！”
黛玉知她天性怪僻，不好多話，亦不好多坐，吃過茶，便約著寶釵走出來。寶玉和妙玉陪笑說道：“那茶杯雖然醃罥了，白撩了豈不可惜？依我說，不如就給了那貧婆子罷，他賣了也可以度日。你說使得麼？”妙玉聽了，想了一想，點頭說道：“這也罷了。幸而那杯子是我沒吃過的；若是我吃過的，我就砸碎了也不能給他。你要給他，我也不管，你隻交給他，快拿了去罷。”寶玉道：“自然如此。你那裏和他說話去？越發連你都醃罥了。隻交給我就是了。”妙玉便命人拿來遞給寶玉。寶玉接了，又道：“等我們出去了，我叫幾個小麼兒來河裏打幾桶水來洗地如何？”妙玉笑道：“這更好了。隻是你囑咐他們，抬了水，隻擱在山門外頭牆根下，別進門來。”寶玉道：“這是自然的。”說著，便袖著那杯，遞給賈母屋裏的小丫頭拿著，說：“明日劉姥姥家去，給他帶去罷。”交代明白，賈母已經出來要回去，妙玉亦不甚留，送出山門，回身便將門閉了。正如歌“世難容”所說：“卻不知好高人愈妒，過潔世同嫌。”
The Lady Dowager took Granny Liu to Green Lattice Nunnery. Miaoyu promptly ushered them intothe courtyard. Then she brought out in her own hands a carved lacquer tea-tray in the shape of crab-apple blossom, inlaid with a golden design of the“cloud dragon offering longevity.”On this was a coveredgilded polychrome bowl made in the Cheng Hua period, which she offered to the Lady Dowager, and saidsmilingly:“This is Patriarch’s Eyebrows.”“What water have you used?”asked the old lady.“Rain-water saved from last year.”replied Miaoyu smiling. The Lady Dowager drank half the bowl and passedthe rest with a twinkle to Granny Liu, urging her to taste the tea. The old woman drank it straight off. Havingserved tea, Miaoyu plucked at the lapels of Baochai’s and Daiyu’s clothes and they went out with her, followedsurreptitiously by Baoyu. Miaoyu invited them into a side room, while she herself fanned the stove and whenthe water boiled brewed some fresh tea. She was just looking for cups when an old nun came in bringingthe used bowls.“Don’t put away that Cheng Hua bowl,”cried Miaoyu hastily.“Leave it outside.”Baoyuknew that because Granny Liu had used it, she thought it too dirty to keep. Then he saw Miaoyu produce twoexcellent cups and fill them, one to Baochai, the other to Daiyu. She offered Baoyu the green jade beakerthat she normally drank from herself.“Is this made with last year’s rain-water too?”asked Daiyu. Miaoyusmiled disdainfully.“Can you really be so vulgar as not even to tell the difference? This is snow I gatheredfrom plum-blossom five years ago while staying in Curly Fragrance Nunnery on Mount Xuanmu. I managedto fill that whole dark blue porcelain pot, but it seemed too precious to use so I’ve kept it buried in the earthall these years, not opening it till this summer. Today is only the second time I’ve used it. Surely you cantaste the difference? How could last year’s rain-water be as light and pure as this?”Daiyu, knowing hereccentricity, did not like to say too much or stay too long. After finishing her tea she signalled to Baochai andthe two girls left, followed by Baoyu. As he was leaving he said with a smile to Miaoyu,“That bowl may havebeen contaminated, but surely it’s a pity to throw it away? I think you’d do better to give it to that poor woman,who’d make enough by selling it to keep her for some time. Don’t you agree?”After a little reflection Miaoyunodded.“All right,”she said.“It’s a good thing I’d never drunk out of it, or I’d have smashed it. But I can’tgive it to her myself. If you want to give it to her, I’ve no objection. Go ahead and take it.”“Of course,”hechuckled.“How could you speak to the likes of her? You’d be contaminating yourself. Just let me haveit.”Miaoyu sent for the bowl and had it handed to him. As he took it he said,“After we’ve gone, shall I senda few pages with some buckets of water from the stream to wash your floors?”“That’s a good idea.”Shesmiled.“Only make them leave the buckets by the wall outside the gate. They mustn’t come in.”“Ofcourse not.”He withdrew, the bowl in his sleeve, and entrusted it to one of his grandmother’s small maidswith the instruction,“Give this to Granny Liu to take home tomorrow.”By this time the Lady Dowager wasready to leave, and Miaoyu did not press her hard to stay but saw them out and closed the gate behind them.
Just as the song Spurned by the World reads:“She knows not that superiority fosters hatred, for the worlddespises too much purity.”
妙玉在寶玉生日那天打發個媽媽送來賀卡，上麵寫著：“檻外人妙玉恭肅遙叩芳辰。”
寶玉竟不知回帖上回個什麼字樣才與“檻外人”相配。當他看見岫煙時，忙問：“姐姐那裏去？”岫煙笑道：“我找妙玉說話。”寶玉聽了，詫異說道：“他為人孤癖，不合時宜，萬人不入他目，原來他推重姐姐，竟知姐姐不是我們一流俗人！”岫煙笑道：“他也未必真心重我，但我和他做過十年的鄰居，隻一牆之隔：他在蟠香寺修煉，我家原來寒素，賃房居住，就賃了他廟裏的房子，住了十年，無事到他廟裏去作伴，我所認得的字，都是承他所授；我和他又是貧賤之交，又有半師之分。因我們投親去了，聞得他因不合時宜，權勢不容，竟投到這裏來。如今又兩緣湊合，我們得遇，舊情竟未改易，承他青目，更勝當日。”寶玉聽了，恍如聽了焦雷一般，喜得笑道：“如今遇見姐姐，真是天緣湊合，求姐姐指教。”說著便將拜帖取與岫煙看。岫煙笑道：“他這脾氣竟不能改，竟是生成這等放誕詭僻了。從來沒見拜帖上下別號的：這可是俗語說的‘僧不僧，俗不俗，女不女，男不男，成個什麼理數！”寶玉聽說，忙笑道：“姐姐不知道，他原不在這些人中裏……因取了我是個些微有知識的，方給我這帖子。”岫煙聽了寶玉這話，方笑道：“怪道俗話說的，‘聞名不如見麵’，又怪不的妙玉竟下這帖子給你，又怪不的上年竟給你那些梅花。既連他這樣，少不得我告訴你原故。”他常說，古人中，皆無好詩，隻有兩句好：“縱有千年鐵門檻，終須一個土饅頭。”所以他自稱“檻外之人”。你如今隻下“檻內人”，便合了他的心了。“噯喲”了一聲，寶玉方笑道：“姐姐就請，讓我去寫回帖。”寶玉在帖上隻寫“檻內人寶玉熏沐謹拜”幾字，親自拿了到櫳翠庵，隻隔門縫兒投進去，便回來了。
On Baoyu’s birthday Miaoyu sent an old servant with a greeting card to Baoyu who read:“Miaoyu, theone outside the threshold, sends respectful greetings on the young master’s birthday.”Bayou didn’t know howto word a reply matching that phrase“outside the threshold.”When he saw Xiuyan, he inquired:“Whereare you going, cousin?”“To have a chat with Miaoyu,”was the answer. In surprise he remarked,“She’s soaloof and unconventional that she looks down on everybody. If she thinks so highly of you, this shows you’renot vulgar like the rest of us.”“She may not really think highly of me,”replied Xiuyan with a smile,“butwe were next-door neighbours for ten years when she was practicing asceticism in Curly Fragrance Nunnery.
My family was poor, and we lived for ten years in a house rented from the nunnery; so I often went in to seeher when I was free, and she’s the one who taught me all the characters I know. Apart from being friends inpoverty, she was half my teacher too. After we had left the nunnery to join our relatives, I heard that becauseshe’d offended certain powerful people by her eccentric ways she had to come here for protection too. So asluck would have it we met again, and our old feeling for each other hadn’t changed—in fact she’s even kinderto me than before.”Much impressed by this account Baoyu said with delight,“Meeting you is a heaven-sent chance. You must tell me what to do.”Then he showed the card to Xiuyan.“She hasn’t changed in theleast,”observed Xiuyan with a smile.“She was born like this—headstrong and eccentric. I’ve never seenother people use appellations like this in greeting cards. Why, this, as the saying goes, is neither fish, fleshnor fowl! It doesn’t make sense.”“But you see she’s not one of us,”Baoyu put in.“She’s only sent me thisgreeting because she thinks I have some slight discernment.”Hearing this, Xiuyan said cheerfully,“As theproverb says,‘To know someone by repute is not as good as meeting face to face.’No wonder Miaoyu sentyou this greeting card; no wonder she gave you that plum-blossom last year. As even she shows you specialconsideration, I shall have to explain this to you.”She often says that the only good poetry written by theancients was the two lines: