《人间词话》英译（一百一十五）

（魏承班）词逊于薛昭蕴、牛峤，而高于毛文锡，然皆不如王衍。五代词以帝王为最工，岂不以无意于求工欤。<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

As a tz’u writer, [Wen Ch’eng-pan] must yield place to Hsueh Chao-yun and Niu Ch’iao but is superior to Mao Wen-hsi. However, none of them can equal Wang Yen. Among the tz’u writers of the Five Dynasties period, the emperors and kings must be rated the most skilled. Is this not perhaps because they made no conscious effort to achieve that skill?