這幾天我跟朋友們一直在聊“重陽節”。今天就向大家介紹一首跟這個節日有關的詩，《九月九日憶山東兄弟》，出自唐代詩人王維。
The first two lines have been widely read and quoted through the ages. It means that when you live in a foreign land, like it or not, you’ll still feel like a foreigner and you’ll always miss your homeland, culture, friends, and family. And I think these words show the mind of a sensitive young man and describe the true feelings of many travellers around the world.
本詩前兩句為千古名句，廣為傳誦。這兩句詩的意思是，身處異國他鄉時，不管你願意與否，你始終覺得自己是個異鄉人，而且總會思念故土，會懷念自己背後的文化，也會想念親友。而且我也覺得，字字都展現了一個年輕人細膩敏感的內心，描述了世間千萬遊子真實的感受。
Thinking of My Brothers on Mountain-Climbing Day
By Wang Wei
Translation by Xu Yuanchong
Alone, a lonely stranger in a foreign land,
I doubly pine for kinsfolk on a holiday.
I know my brothers would, with dogwood spray in hand,
Climb the mountain and think of me so far away.
The first four characters in the title doesn’t mean September 9th in a certain year of the solar calendar. In Ancient China, people used the lunar calendar to mark time. According to The Book of Changes, yin stands for negativity and darkness, and yang stands for positivity and light. The number nine is considered as yang, so the ninth day in the ninth lunar month is a doubleyang date. That’s why this festival is called “The Double Ninth Festival” or “Chóng Yáng Festival” (Chong means “double; to repeat” in Chinese).
題目中前四個字“九月九日”，並非我們常用的陽曆9月9號。在中國古代，人們採用陰曆來記錄時間。據《易經》記載，“陰”代表消極和黑暗的一方，而“陽”代表積極和光明的一方。“九”這個數字被視為“陽”數，所以陰曆第九個月的第九日則被視為雙陽之日。這個節日也就因此得名“重九節”或“重陽節”（“重”在漢語中取“雙”、“重複”之意）。
Since the Warring States Period (475–221 BC), people have been celebrating this festival by climbing up mountains and enjoying chrysanthemum flower wine and double-ninth cakes. In this poem, Wang Wei mentioned a plant called dogwood, which was commonly used on this day. In Ancient China, people believed that wearing this plant on their clothes would keep away bad luck and diseases.
自戰國時代起，人們就有了過重陽節的傳統，登高望遠、飲菊花酒和吃重陽糕等都已是節日習俗。本詩中，王維提到了一種名為“茱萸”的植物，通常在重陽節會用到。在中國古代，人們認為佩戴茱萸有辟邪驅病之功效。
This poem reminds me of “The Road Not Taken”, by Robert Frost. He is a famous American poet and he is very good at writing about human emotions, such as loneliness and homesickness.
這首詩讓我想起了那首著名的《未選擇的路》，作者是美國著名詩人羅伯特·弗羅斯特。他善於用詩歌來展現人的孤獨和思鄉等情感活動。
(excerpt)
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
As someone who has taken “the road less travelled” in moving to a new country, I can relate to the loneliness felt by the traveler in the first poem. For me, one of the biggest struggles, of moving from London to Beijing, has been adjusting to the silence of my new apartment versus living in my family home. I know it’s not easy to start a new life in Beijing , but hopefully I’ll settle in as soon as possible.
作為一個移居他鄉的人，我也走上了“人跡更少的那條路”，我也體會到了第一首詩中，那個孤寂的遊子內心的感受。對我而言，面臨的眾多難題之一，便是從倫敦隻身來到北京，要去適應離家後，住進新公寓所感受到的那種孤寂，我知道在北京開啟新生活並非易事，希望自己會盡快適應。
That’s all for this episode of Classic Reading. Let us know what you do for the Double Ninth Festival in the comment section below. Thank you for watching and we’ll see you next time.
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