湘妃竹叫黛玉竹更易记了
《蒋勋说红楼梦》（174）
一、黛玉在手帕写给宝玉的第三首是："彩线难收面上珠"，脸上的泪一颗一颗掉下来像珍珠一样，用最漂亮的绣线都难把它们穿起来。
1. The third poem Daiyu wrote to Baoyu on the handkerchief reads: "No colorful thread can gather the pearls on my face." Her tears fell drop by drop like pearls, impossible to string together even with the finest embroidery thread.
二、"湘江旧迹已模糊"，这里用了一个典故，传说舜死了以后，他的两个太太娥皇和女英，一直流泪她们的眼泪挥洒到河边的竹子上，后来人们就把这种有斑斑泪痕的竹子叫湘妃竹。
2. "The old traces by the Xiang River have blurred"—this line alludes to a legend. After Emperor Shun died, his two wives, Ehuang and Nüying, wept so profusely that their tears sprinkled onto the bamboo by the river. This type of bamboo, marked with teardrop-like spots, later became known as "mottled bamboo" or "Xiang consort bamboo."
三、这里的意思是那个古老神话的痕迹已经模糊了，可我的"窗前亦有千竿竹"，她的住处之所以叫潇湘馆，就是因为她的院子里种的是湘妃竹。"不识香痕渍也无？"是说我的眼泪会不会变成痕迹留在竹子上？
3. The meaning here is that the traces of that ancient myth have faded, yet "outside my window also stand a thousand bamboos." Her residence was named Xiaoxiang Lodge precisely because her courtyard was planted with mottled bamboo. "I wonder if their fragrant traces will stain them too?"—this questions whether her tears would also leave marks on the bamboo.
四、三首诗全是关于眼泪的，完全是黛玉的口吻。
4. All three poems are entirely about tears, completely in Daiyu's voice.
五、后来《红楼梦》里开了诗社，每一个人都开始作诗了。曹雪芹真是千变万化，他可以把自己分裂成不同人的个性去写诗。我们知道诗是最难假造的，每一个人用字、用句、用情感的方法都不同。
5. Later in "Dream of the Red Chamber," a poetry club is established, and everyone begins composing poems. Cao Xueqin was truly versatile—he could split himself into different personalities to write poetry. We know that poetry is the most difficult to fabricate, as each person's choice of words, phrasing, and emotional expression differs.
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