Wu Chengen(1500-1582) Ming novelist. Born in Shanyang, with the courtesy name Ruzhong and the pseudonym Sheyang Shanren. He suffered repeated setbacks in the imperial examinations. He was appointed as a tribute student in the Jiajing period and later served as the magistrate of Changxing County in Zhejiang. He was ashamed to bow down for a few grains of rice, so he left the country and devoted himself to writing. He liked to read wild stories and strange novels since he was a child. He was good at making jokes. In his later years, he wrote “Journey to the West”, which tells the story of the Tang monk Xuanzang’s journey to the West. He also has “Sheyang Xiansheng’s Manuscripts” and “Yu Ding Zhi”.
对月感秋
[明]吴承恩
人云天上月，
中有嫦娥居。
孤栖[1]与谁共？
顾兔并蟾蜍。
冰轮[2]不载土，
桂树无根株[3]。
纷纷黄金粟[4]，
岁岁何由舒[5]？
一闭千万年，
玉颜[6]近何如？
相违不咫尺[7]，
照我阑干偶。
一杯劝尔酒，
为我留须臾[8]。
注释：
[1]孤栖：孤孤单单地栖居。
[2]冰轮：圆月。
[3]无根株：此句指的是那高耸月宫的桂树不生枝干。
[4]黄金粟：代指桂花。
[5]舒：舒发，生长。
[6]玉颜：美丽的容颜。
[7]咫尺：比喻距离很近。
[8]须臾：片刻，一会儿。
The Autumn Moon[1]
Wu Chengen[2]
’Tis said a fair lady on high
Resides in the moon up the sky.
With whom her solitude to share?
An ugly toad and a jade hare.
On icy moon there is no clay;
The rootless laurel tree can’t stay.
How can its golden grains appear
So abundant from year to year?
Shut up for long years in her place,
How is now her beautiful face?
I am so near her moon of jade
When it shines on my balustrade.
Moon, will you drink a cup of wine
To her loneliness as to mine?
注释：
[1]It was said that a beautiful lady drank the elixir of immortality, flew to the moon and lived there lonely with a hare of jade and an ugly toad beside a laurel tree.
[2]Wu Chengen was the author of A Journey to the West.
