Listen to this article当时是六月十八日，早晨较凉快，我带一仆人先到胥江渡口登上小船等待。不久芸果然乘小轿来到，我们解开缆绳乘船离开了虎啸桥。此刻，渐渐看见湖面上风帆急，沙鸥飞。
This was on the eighteenth day of the sixth moon. That day, I brought a servant and arrived first at Hsukiang Ferry, where I waited for her in the boat. By and by, Yun arrived in a sedan-chair, and we started off, passing by the Tiger’s Roar Bridge, where the view opened up and we saw sailing boats and sand-birds flitting over the lake.
显得水天一色。芸激动地说： “这就是太湖么？今日得见天地之广阔，真是没有虚度此生啊！想天下闺中人，有的终身不能见到这种景色。”
The water was a white stretch, joining the sky at the horizon. “So this is Taihu!” Yun exclaimed. “I know now bow big the universe is, and I have not lived in vain! I think a good many ladies never see such a view in their whole lifetime.” As we were occupied in conversation, it wasn’t very long before we saw swaying willows on the banks, and we knew we had arrived at Wukiang.
我登上岸拜奠完毕，回来看见船中空空荡荡。急忙询问艄公，他便手指着远方说：“你没看见长桥柳荫下，正在观看鱼鹰捕鱼的那个人吗？”原来如此：是芸与船家女已经登上岸了。
I went up to attend the funeral ceremony, but when I came back, Yun was not in the boat. I asked the boatman and he said, “Don’t you see some one under the willow trees by the bridge, watching the cormorants catching fish?” Yun, then, had gone up with the boatman’s daughter.
我走到了她身后，见她热得粉汗盈盈，正依靠在船家女孩身上看得出神哩！我拍着她的肩膀说：“你的罗衫都被汗水湿透了！”芸回头说：“我是害怕钱师竹的家人到船上来，所以故意暂时躲避他们。你为什么这么快就回来了？”我马上戏言：“我是想来追捕逃跑的人啊！”
When I got behind her, I saw that she was perspiring all over, still leaning on the boatman’s daughter and standing there absorbed looking at the cormorants. I patted her shoulder and said, “You are wet through.” Yun turned her head and said, “I was afraid that your friend Ch’ien might come to the boat, so I left to avoid him. Why did you come back so early?” “In order to catch the renegade!” I replied.
于是我挽着她重新登上了小船，掉过船头返回到万年桥下，这时太阳还没落山。舷窗降落下来，清风徐来，轻摇纨扇，身着罗衫，剖瓜解暑。
Wethen came back hand-in-hand to the boat, and when we stopped at the Bridge ofTen Thousand Years. The sun had not yet gone down. And we let down all thewindows to allow the river breeze to come in, and there, dressed in light silkand holding a silk fan, we sliced a melon to cool ourselves.
不一会儿，晚霞映桥，烟笼柳暗，银月升天，渔火满江。我叫仆人与艄公到船头共同饮酒。
Soon the evening glow was casting a red hue over the bridge, and the distant haze enveloped the willow trees in twilight. The moon was then coming up, and all along the river we saw a stretch of lights coming from the fishing boats. I asked my servant to go astern and have a drink with the boatman.
船家女儿名叫素云，与我有杯酒之交，人也不俗气，便招呼她过来与芸同坐。船头没有点灯火，只在月光下愉快地对酌畅饮，并且竞猜酒令。
The boatman’s daughter was called Suyun. She was quite a likeable girl, and I had known her before. I beckoned her to come and sit together with Yun on the bow of the boat. We did not put on any light, so that we could the better enjoy the moon, and there we sat drinking heartily and playing literary games with wine as forfeit.
乾隆甲寅（1794年）七月，我从广东归来，有个同伴叫徐秀峰，也就是我的表妹夫。他带回一个小妾来，炫耀赞美自己的新人漂亮，也邀请芸过去看了看。过了几天，芸对徐秀峰说：“美是够美，然而琴棋诗画的韵味和文学风采不足呢！”
When I came back from Eastern Kwangtung in the seventh moon, 1794, there was a boy cousin-in-law of mine, by the name of Hsu Hsiufeng, who had brought home with him a concubine. He was crazy about her beauty and asked Yun to go and see her. After seeing her, Yun remarked to Hsiufeng one day, “She has beauty but no charm.”
徐秀峰急忙问：“这么说，你的郎君纳妾，也必须选个既漂亮又有风雅韵味的女子啦？”芸说：“那当然了！”从此，芸便痴心为我物色女子，可惜年头短缺资金。
“Do you mean to say that when your husband takes a concubine, she must have both beauty and charm?” answered Hsiufeng. Yun replied in the affirmative. So from that time on, she was quite beat on finding a concubine for me, but was short of cash.
