A letter from Su Shi to Zhang Zihou. Full text translation

The original translation notes and appreciation of Su Shi's "Zhang Yu Zi Hou" are as follows:

Original: It's raining in Huangzhou, and it's dark. Fish, rice and charcoal are quite cheap, even suitable for the poor. However, Shi has never done any work in his life, and Zi Hou knows it. Pay as much as you earn and do whatever you want. Ziyou has seven daughters, all in debt, all in the canal. I don't know when they will arrive here. See (3) a monk's house, clothes and vegetables, and a meal with a monk. The difference is simple, so I am afraid of it.

Poor people lost their lives and their minds were rough, but they lost each other. They are afraid that they have been hungry and cold for many years, so they can't miss a lot. However, as the saying goes, we will deal with it ourselves. Can Ann worry in advance?

Huangzhou is remote and rainy, and the weather here is gloomy. Fish, rice and charcoal are cheap, which accords with my poverty. However, I have never worked in my life, and I am not good at saving. As you know, my son is very stupid. The salary of an official is running out.

My younger brother Su Zhe has seven children and owes a mountain of debts. My own wife and children also live by the water, and I don't know when the days of poverty will end. I live in a monk's house now, wearing coarse clothes and eating coarse grains.

(Note) ① This letter was written by Su Shi after he was demoted to Huangzhou for Wutai Poetry Case. 2 means tired: call your wife and children with an open mind. 3 See: Same as "Now". ?

Having a meal with a monk is very simple and lacking, which scares me. We have a general idea of the gains and losses of hardship and prominence, but we just cut off millet and official salary. We are worried that we will freeze to death and starve to death in a year, so we have to think about it a little. However, as the saying goes, where the water flows, it naturally forms a waterway. Such things will naturally be dealt with after the meeting. How can you worry in advance?

[Appreciation of the article]: When an individual encounters extreme setbacks in life, what attitude should he take to treat the harsh reality and complicated life? Maybe he will be decadent and world-weary, and his fortune will be reduced; Maybe he will try to smile, so he is free and easy, but he can't hide his inner loss. As a result, all the values of self are lost, the power of life is disappearing, and finally it is helplessly involved in the whirlpool of painful fate.

However, in the second year of Yuanfeng in Song Shenzong (10 7 9), when Su Shi was accused by some powerful people in the imperial court, Luo Zhi was impeached and demoted as the assistant envoy of Huangzhou Yingyong, he faced a cruel and painful fate. What is his attitude? Perhaps full of enthusiasm, or perhaps the hardships of the environment tempered his understanding temperament. At this time, Su Shi, who lived in a fallen land, had no feelings of loss and resentment.

Because he has realized that fate is playing tricks on him unscrupulously, but he has not been wronged. He has exhausted all his physical and mental strength and made an indifferent and pleasant self-adjustment to the painful life in reality.

He wrote with ease and pride to tell the other party that he planted terraces and rice himself, and that 5 0 mu of land was a free world for him and his wife who shared weal and woe. In his previous official career, he had had enough of indifference, hypocrisy and ingratiation, so he felt more relaxed and sloppy in his work.

Although farming may be hard and monotonous, the harvest is meager and you can only live on it. However, it is this kind of rural work that has healed his mental trauma and aroused his infinite pride: this is an unconstrained world, and he has shed sweat and left footprints; This is self-labor that does not depend on others. The interest of labor lies in his integration with nature. Through the limited conquest of nature, he realized the full value of his body and mind and proved the existence of a confident self in the real life environment.

As if chatting with a colleague and telling a story, Su Shi told the other side an interesting story with great interest:-The first cow was dying of illness, but the skilled cow doctor could not diagnose what disease it was and was at a loss. He is still an old lady who works day and night. She knows what to do, suits the medicine, and sure enough, the medicine can cure the disease. This is really a trivial matter, but Su Shi wrote a book seriously.

It is not difficult to imagine his happy expression and relaxed mood when he tells it with a pen. He didn't want to arouse each other's interest with trivial things after dinner, but clearly expressed his relaxation and happiness after enjoying the taste of country life.