Need help translating written Chinese to English

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IsAmericanALanguage
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Need help translating written Chinese to English

Post by IsAmericanALanguage »

Going through some old stuff, I found one of my notebooks from high school in which a, I'm assuming, Chinese girl that sat next to me in a class wrote something. I'm wondering if someone can finally help me solve the mystery of what it says. Images are linked below. Thanks in advance.

http://static.ow.ly/photos/normal/dbwek.jpg
http://static.ow.ly/photos/normal/dbxJr.jpg
http://static.ow.ly/photos/normal/dbxOi.jpg

It appears to be some kind of poetry. I've made each "stanza" a separate image. The bottom two images overlap such that the line at the bottom of the second image is part of the second line of the third stanza.
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Maïwenn
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Re: Need help translating written Chinese to English

Post by Maïwenn »

Indeed, there's poems. The first one is the first stanza of a poem by 孟浩然 (Meng Haoran). My husband says it's famous, of course I have no idea myself. Here's a rough translation, you can find others online by entering those lines in google.

1. 春眠不觉晓,One has a deep sleep in spring
处处闻啼鸟。 One can hears birds singing everywhere
夜来风雨声,there is wind and rain as night falls.
花落知多少。 One cant tell how many flowers fell.

I don't know if those were written by the same poet.

2.我家洗砚池头树,
朵朵花开淡墨痕。 full of blooming light black flowers
不要人夸颜色好,no need for a lot beauty of compliments
只留清气满乾坤。just wish the good smell lasts for the world.

3.生命诚可贵, honesty is most important in life
爱情价更高,. But love is more precious
若为自由故, if one only needs freedom
二者皆可抛。 both can be broken up.
Penn ar Bed
The end of the land
Le commencement d'un monde
IsAmericanALanguage
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Re: Need help translating written Chinese to English

Post by IsAmericanALanguage »

That helps a lot. Just being able to copy the Chinese characters and paste them into Google allowed me to identify all three.

1.) Spring Dawn by Meng Horan

I slumbered this spring morning, and missed the dawn,
From everywhere I heard the cry of birds.
Last night the wind and rain came,
Who knows how many petals had fallen?

2.) Mo Mei by Wang Mian

The best I can tell, it's something like:
"I painted flowers in very light ink
They don't have the most vibrant color
But the fragrance fills the world"

3.) a quote by Sándor Petőfi

Life is dear
Love is dearer
Both can be given up for freedom
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