《人间词话》英译（六十八）

曾纯甫中秋应制，作《壶中天慢》词，自注云：“是夜，西兴亦闻天乐。”谓宫中乐声，闻于隔岸也。毛子晋谓：“天神亦不以人废言。”近冯梦华复辨其诬。不解“天乐”两字文义，殊笑人也！<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Tseng Ti, in response to an imperial command in midautumn one year, composed a tz’u to the tune of ‘Hu chung t’ien man’. In his own prefatory note, he commented: ‘That night even Hsi-hsing heard the heavenly music’. By this he meant that the sounds of music from within the palace could be heard on the opposite shore. But Mao Chin said: ‘The heavenly spirits would not have wasted their words on humans’. More recently Feng Hsu once more tried to clear up [Mao’s] mistake, but it really makes one laugh that he did not explain the meaning of the two words ‘heavenly music’ (ti’en-yueh天乐).