《咏絮之才》成语英译与典故

八十九、咏絮之才

东晋时有一位丞相叫谢安，

谢丞相对于诗歌最喜欢。

有一天北风呼呼大雪飘，

他带领侄儿侄女赏雪玩。

俗话说“瑞雪兆丰年”，

赏雪人个个心中喜悦添。

谢安想何不对雪把诗赋，

顺便把孩子们的学问考一遍。

老丞相指着大雪笑颜开，

要孩子们一人一句作诗玩。

大侄儿谢朗知道考他们，

心里头害怕落后忙争先。

他念道：“撒盐空中差可拟”，

老谢安笑笑说道“不恰当。

瑞雪怎好比作盐？”

回头问侄女谢道韫：

“好孩子，你若想好何不念？”

道韫说：“我想的恐怕也不好，

说出来，敬请叔叔指教俺。

我说是：‘未若柳絮因风起’。”

一句诗，乐坏叔叔老谢安。

谢朗说：“妹妹诗句果然好，

柳絮比雪不一般，

风吹柳絮如飞雪。

形象生动多好看。”

丞相见侄儿评论也不差，

乐得捋须举杯盏。

如果是女孩年幼有诗才，

便与道韫是一般。

A Talent for Singing of Willow Catkins

In the Western Jin Dynasty（265—316A.D.）there was a prime minister named Xie An，who took the greatest interest in poetry.One day a strong north wind was blowing a big snow.He took his nieces and nephews to watch the snow.The old saying went that a big snow implied a bumper harvest.The snow⁃view⁃ers were all very pleased.Xie An then thought to him⁃self，“Why not let each of them make a poem about the snow？So that I can test their knowledge.”

The old prime minister pointed to the snow and smiled，and asked each of them to present a poem of the snow.The eldest nephew Xie Lang knew that his uncle wanted to give them a test，but he feared that he might lag behind.He read out，“It is snowing just like distributing salt from the sky.”Old Xie An laughed and said，“it isn't proper，how can you com⁃pare snow with salt？”

Turning his head back to his niece Xie Daoyun，“my good niece，why don't read out yours？”Daoyun said，“mine is not a good one either I'm afraid，and I sincerely beg your criticism.”She then read from her mind，“just like catkin flying with the wind.”This line made her uncle very pleased.

Xie Lang said，“my sister's line was really wonder⁃ful，comparing snow to willow catkin was quite extraor⁃dinary.It was life⁃like and vivid and sounded nice，too.”The old prime minister noted that his nephew's re⁃view was also quite to the point.He happily stroked his beard and raised his wine cup.If you get a girl who has a poetry talent，just say that she is just like Daoyun，who has the talent for singing of the willow catkin.