STUDY IN CHINA GLOBAL (SCG)卖炭翁
白居易
卖炭翁，伐薪烧炭南山[1]中。
满面尘灰烟火色，两鬓苍苍[2]十指黑。
卖炭得钱何所营？身上衣裳口中食。
可怜身上衣正单，心忧炭贱愿天寒。
夜来城外一尺雪，晓驾炭车辗冰辙[3]。
牛困人饥日已高，市南门[4]外泥中歇。
翩翩两骑来是谁？黄衣使者白衫儿[5]。
手把文书口称敕[6]，回车叱牛牵向北[7]。
一车炭，千余斤，宫使驱将惜不得[8]。
半匹[9]红纱一丈绫，系[10]向牛头充炭直[11]！
注释：
[1] 南山：终南山。
[2] 苍苍：形容鬓发斑白。
[3] 辗（niǎn）冰辙（zhé）：轧着结冰的车道行走。
[4] 市南门：唐代长安有东、西两个市场，每个市场都有东、南、西、北门。
[5] “黄衣”句：黄衣使者，指太监，唐代级别较高的太监穿黄衣。白衫儿，太监手下的爪牙。
[6] “手把”句：口称敕（chì），嘴里说着皇帝的命令。敕，君主的诏命。
[7] 牵向北：唐代长安市场在城南，宫廷在城北，所以叱牛向北行。
[8] “宫使”句：宫使，即上面所说的黄衣使者。驱将，把牛车赶走。将，语气助词。
[9] 半匹：唐代四丈为一匹，半匹为二丈。
[10] 系（jì）：绑扎。
[11] 直：同“值”。
The Old Charcoal Seller
Bai Juyi
What does the old man fare?
He cuts the wood in southern hill and fires his ware.
His face is grimed with smoke and streaked with ash and dust,
His temples grizzled and his fingers all turned black.
The money earned by selling charcoal is not just
Enough for food for his mouth and clothing for his back.
Though his coat is thin, he hopes winter will set in,
For cold weather will keep up the charcoals good price.
At night a foot of snow falls outside city walls;
At dawn his charcoal cart crushes ruts in the ice.
The sun is high, the ox tired out and hungry he;
Outside the southern gate in snow and slush they rest.
Two riders canter up. Alas! Who can they be?
Two palace heralds in the yellow jackets dressed.
Decree in hand, which is imperial order, one says;
They turn the cart about and at the ox they shout.
A cartload of charcoal a thousand catties weighs;
They drive the cart away. What dare the old man say?
Ten feet of silk and twenty feet of gauze deep red,
That is the payment they fasten to the ox’s head.
The poet sympathizes with the old charcoal seller in poverty and in misery.
《卖炭翁》是唐代诗人白居易创作的组诗《新乐府五十首》中的第三十二首诗。此诗以个别事例来表现普遍状况，描写了一个烧木炭的老人谋生的困苦，通过卖炭翁的遭遇，深刻地揭露了“宫市”的腐败本质，对统治者掠夺人民的罪行给予了有力的鞭挞与抨击，讽刺了当时腐败的社会现实，表达了作者对下层劳动人民的深切同情，有很强的社会典型意义。全诗描写具体生动，历历如绘，结尾戛然而止，含蓄有力，在事物细节的选择上和人物心理的刻画上有独到之处。
“The Old Charcoal Seller” is the thirty-second poem in the group poem “Fifty Songs of New Music” written by Bai Juyi, a poet of the Tang Dynasty. It describes the plight of an old man who burns charcoal to make a living. Through the charcoal seller’s encounter, the poem profoundly exposes the corrupt nature of the “palace market” and gives a powerful scolding and attack on the ruler’s crime of plundering the people. It expresses the author’s deep sympathy for the working people of the lower class and has a strong social significance. The poem is vivid and vivid in its descriptions, and ends abruptly and powerfully, with originality in the choice of details and the psychological portrayal of the characters.
