袁枚·《黄生借书说》英译

An Observation on My Lending Books to Huang Yunxiu

Huang Yunxiu borrows books from me and I, master of Suiyuan Garden, have this to remark:

Books, unless borrowed from others, have scarcely the luck to be read by anyone. Have you not heard about the bibliophiles? The Seven Extracts and the Complete Library of the Four Treasures are books of sovereigns. But how many earnest readers are there among wealthy people? Furthermore, innumerable are cases in which grandfathers and fathers accumulated books while sons and grandsons threw them to rubbish heaps.

It is not only the case with books. It is also true of everything in the world. If it is something not belonging to me but borrowed with importunity from others, then I am sure to fondle with it a lot lest the owner urge me to return it in no time. I would say to myself, “Today it is here, but tomorrow it will be gone and I shall not see it again!” If it is already in my possession, I am sure to put it on the shelf, saying, “It can wait and I shall appreciate it another day.”

When I was a child, I was fond of reading. Since my family was poor, books were hardly obtainable. A gentleman, surnamed Zhang, had a large stock of them. I tried to borrow some from him, but met with refusal. When I came home, they sometimes appeared vividly in my dream. This showed how thirsty I was for books. So whether  I had read, I could comprehend and learn by heart. After I had been given an official rank, much of my salary was expended on piles of books, which were either eaten by bookworms or covered with dust and spider webs. Then I began to admire the application of books borrowers and recall the days of my adolescence.

Now Huang is as poor as I was, and he borrows books as I did in the past. But there seems to be some difference between my sharing with others my library and Mr. Zhang’s stinting his. Such being the case, can I say that I was unfortunate to have met with Zhang, while Huang is fortunate to have met with me? Having learned the two kinds of experience, he will certainly give more devotion to his studies and be forward in returning the books. I hereby write this essay and give it to him together with the books I am lending him.