作者：曹雪芹
无才可去补苍天，枉入红尘若许年。
此系身前身后事，倩谁记去作奇传？
Translation: xql3009
石上偈一首
A Buddhist Chant on the Rock
Author: Cao Xue Qin (the original author of Dreams of Red
Mansions)
To patch up skies is beyond my talent;
Invalid on earth for years I’ve remained.
Let it be a life alive or life behind;
Whom can I invite to relate my legend?

自题一绝
作者：曹雪芹
满纸荒唐言，一把心酸泪。
都云作者痴，谁解其中味？
Translation：xql309
A Self-titled Quatrain
Author: Cao Xue Qin
The pages are full of absurd lines,
And permeated with bitter tears mine.
The author is said to be insane.
Whom shall his suggestion entertain?

太虚幻境对联
作者：曹雪芹
假作真时真亦假，无为有处有还无。
Translation：xql309
An antithetical couplet in the void dreamland
Author: Cao Xue Qin
If once falsehood be made true, true becomes false;
Where unreal be formed real, there real turns unreal.

(嘲甄士隐一绝)
作者：曹雪芹
惯养娇生笑你痴，菱花空对雪澌澌。
好防佳节元宵后，便是烟消火灭时。
Translation: xql3009
(A quatrain to mock Zhen Shi Yin)
Author: Cao Xue Qin
To rear and surfeit her in fondness, mock you fool!
Chestnut lilies mirror a void in the snowy pool.
Beware of traps after the Lantern Festival!
For then fires shall extinguish and smokes not spiral.

咏怀一联
（贾雨村咏怀一联）
作者： 曹雪芹
玉在椟中求善价，
钗于奁内待时飞。
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql309
(An antithetical couplet versified by Jia Yu Cun in the
moonlight)
The jade in the casket demands a fair price;
The hairpin in the case awaits a soaring rise.

贾雨村对月寓怀一绝
作者： 曹雪芹
时逢三五便团圆，满把晴光护玉栏。
天上一轮才捧出，人间万姓仰头看。
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql3009
(Versification of a quatrain by Jia Yu Cun in the moonlight)
On the fifteenth the moon is full;
Jade rails bathe in the flood of moonlight.
Traversing up in the nightfall,
The round moon holds people’s eyesight.

好了歌
作者： 曹雪芹
世人都晓神仙好，惟有功名忘不了！
古今将相在何方？荒冢一堆草没了。
世人都晓神仙好，只有金银忘不了！
终朝只恨聚无多，及到多时眼闭了。
世人都晓神仙好，只有娇妻忘不了！
君生日日说恩情，君死又随人去了。
世人都晓神仙好，只有儿孙忘不了！
痴心父母古来多，孝顺儿孙谁见了？
Song of “A Nice End”
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql3009
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet for official rank, everyone vies!
Where are generals and ministers all-time?
All vanished in graves among wild briars.
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet gold and silver, everyone desires!
Insatiably they gather all their lives.
Fortune nearly amassed, they closed their eyes.
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet to darling wife, everyone is all eyes!
Her lips pour love daily while man is alive.
Once man dies, she becomes another’s wife.
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet in sons in descent, everyone prides!
Forever there are many craving parents.
Who has ever seen the filial descendants?


为了更紧扣“好了歌”的主题，也为了随后甄士隐和道人的对话更有逻辑上的关联，我对最后两句作了订正: Endless crave many parents hold without end, Who sees a filial descendant in the end? 突出渲染了“了”字。所以随后的对话可以展开：
Hearing the verse, Shi Yin came forth, “What is all that you’ve
just related?” he asked, “I only heard these NICE and END, END and NICE.”
“If you got those two words NICE and END, then you are pretty smart,” the Taoist priest replied. “You have to realize that everything on this earthly world bears an end, to END is to be NICE. So without an END, it is not NICE; to be NICE, it commands an END. My song can thus be titled “Song of A Nice End.” ---.
订正版如下：
好了歌
作者： 曹雪芹
世人都晓神仙好，惟有功名忘不了！
古今将相在何方？荒冢一堆草没了。
世人都晓神仙好，只有金银忘不了！
终朝只恨聚无多，及到多时眼闭了。
世人都晓神仙好，只有娇妻忘不了！
君生日日说恩情，君死又随人去了。
世人都晓神仙好，只有儿孙忘不了！
痴心父母古来多，孝顺儿孙谁见了？
Song of “A Nice End”
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql3009
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet for official rank, everyone vies!
Where are generals and ministers all-time?
All vanished in graves among wild briars.
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet gold and silver, everyone desires!
Insatiably they gather all their lives;
Fortune nearly amassed, they closed their eyes.
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet to darling wife, everyone is all eyes!
Her lips pour love daily while man is alive;
Once man dies, she becomes another’s wife.
Commons all know immortals are nice,
Yet in sons in descent, everyone prides!
Endless crave many parents hold without end,
Who sees a filial descendant in the end?


红楼梦第二回诗文
(娇杏赞)
作者：曹雪芹
偶因一着错，便为人上人。
(Lauder of Jiao Xing)
Translation: xql309
An initial casual blunder
Made her above others later.

智通寺对联
作者：曹雪芹
身后有余忘缩手，眼前无路想回头。
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql309
An antithetical couplet at the Zhi Tong Temple
Much made enough for next life, one forgets to rest his hands;
At the end of the road nowadays, one wants to go backwards.


第三回
1
荣禧堂对联
作者：曹雪芹
座上珠玑昭日月，堂前黼黻焕烟霞。
An antithetical couplet on the Hall of Glory and Bliss
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql309
Like sun and moon, on the dais shine pearls and verses;
Like gleaming clouds, in the hall glow emblem’d dresses.

西江月(一)
作者：曹雪芹
无故寻愁觅恨，
有时似傻如狂。
纵然生得好皮囊，
腹内原来草莽。
潦倒不通世务，
愚顽怕读文章。
行为偏僻性乖张，
那管世人诽谤!
The Moon over the West River( 1 )
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql309
Rancor and woes he seeks for no reason,
At times to such an extent like a madman.
Though he appears to be a handsome gentleman,
He is a forlorn hope, hollow person.
Too upset to know the social ritual,
He fears of reading the fine article.
With weird character and behavior headstrong,
He ignores earthly slanders headlong!

西江月( 二 )
作者：曹雪芹
富贵不知乐业，
贫穷难耐凄凉。
可怜辜负好韶光，
于国于家无望。
天下无能第一，
古今不肖无双。
寄言纨绔与膏粱：
莫效此儿形状！
The Moon over the West River( 2 )
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql309
Affluent and noble he is, rather than able;
Of austere bleakness he is unbearable.
Unworthy of his best prime is this noble.
His country and forefathers he does fail.
In uselessness, he ranks number one;
Betraying ancestors, he’s second to none.
My admonition to the young fop in all:
Never follow such a perverse example!

（宁府上房对联）
作者：曹雪芹
世事洞明皆学问，人情练达即文章。
（An antithetical couplet at the fine chamber of Ning Mansion）
Author: Cao Xue Qin
Translation: xql309
Handling mortal affairs well is of wonderful learning.
Mastering social skills renders the fine composition.