从小丘西行百二十步，隔篁竹，闻水声，如鸣佩环，心乐之。伐竹取道，下见小潭，水尤清冽。全石以为底，近岸，卷石底以出。为坻，为屿，为嵁，为岩。青树翠蔓，蒙络摇缀，参差披拂。

潭中鱼可百许头，皆若空游无所依。日光下澈，影布石上，佁然不动；俶尔远逝，往来翕忽，似与游者相乐。

潭西南而望，斗折蛇行，明灭可见。其岸势犬牙差互，不可知其源。坐潭上，四面竹树环合，寂寥无人，凄神寒骨，悄怆幽邃。以其境过清，不可久居，乃记之而去。

同游者：吴武陵，龚古，余弟宗玄。隶而从者，崔氏二小生：曰恕己，曰奉壹。

谢百魁  译：

The Small Tarn West of the Knoll

Liu Zongyuan

A walk of some one hundred and twenty paces west of the knoll took us to a bamboo grove, across which we heard the sound of water ringing like silver pendants. Gladdened by this, we cut a path through the bamboos and were confronted with a small tarn, which was limpid and made us feel chilly. It had a solid stone bottom. Closer to the shore, the stone rolled up and stood out in the shape of elevations, islets, rugged knolls and rocks. Green trees were wrapped in verdant vines, which, varied in length, drooped over the water and shook imperceptibly.

There were in the tarn some one hundred heads of fish, all looking as if they were swimming in the air without any support. With the sunlight refracted into the water, the fish cast their shadows on the stone and seemed to be poising in ease and pleasure. Another moment they darted away, scudding hither and thither, apparently partaking of the happiness of us onlookers.

Looking in the southwestern direction, we saw a stream meander in a serpentine manner, shimmering in different shades of green. The banks of the stream zigzagged like canine teeth, giving us no inkling as to its source. Enclosed by the dense bamboos, we were pervaded with a deep feeling of solitude and bone-chilling tranquility as well as a profound sense of melancholy and seclusion. The environment being too unworldly, we found it unfit to stay long and went away, keeping the place in our memory.

I was accompanied on this trip by Wu Wuling, Gong Gu and my brother Liu Zongxuan, and followed by two youngsters of a Cui family, one called Shuyi, another Fengyi.