詩歌:桃花源記
【中文原文】
晉太元中，武陵人捕魚爲業；緣溪行，忘路之遠近。忽逢桃花林。夾岸數百步，中無雜樹，芳草鮮美，落英繽紛，漁人甚異之。復前行，欲窮其林。
林盡水源，便得一山。山有小口，彷彿若有光，便舍船從口入。初極狹，才通人。復行數十步，豁然開朗。土地平曠，屋舍儼然，有良田、美池、桑竹之屬，阡陌交通，雞犬相聞。其中往來種作，男女衣着，悉如外人；黃髮垂髫，並怡然自樂。
見漁人，乃大驚，問所從來，具答之。便要還家，設酒殺雞作食。村中聞有其人，鹹來問訊。自雲先世避秦時亂，率妻、子、邑人來此絕境，不復出焉，遂與外人間隔。問今是何世，乃不知有漢，無論魏晉。此人一一爲具言所聞，皆嘆惋。餘人各復延至其家，皆出酒食。停數日，辭去。此中人語云：“不足爲外人道也。”
既出，得其船，便扶向路，處處志之。及郡下，詣太守說如此。太守即遣人隨其往，尋向所志，遂迷不復得路。
南陽劉子驥，高尚士也。聞之，欣然規往，未果，尋病終。後遂無問津者。
【英文譯文】
A Tale of the Fountain of the Peach Blossom Spring
In the year of Taiyuan of the Jin Dynasty, there lived a man in Wuling jun who earned his living by fishing. One day, he rowed his boat along a stream, unaware of how far he had gone when all of a sudden, he found himself in the midst of a wood full of peach blossoms. The wood extended several hundred footsteps along both banks of the stream. There were no trees of other kinds. The lush grass was fresh and beautiful and peach petals fell in riotous profusion. The fisherman was so curious that he rowed on, in hopes of discovering where the trees ended.
At the end of the wood was the fountainhead of the stream. The fisherman beheld a hill, with a small opening from which issued a glimmer of light. He stepped ashore to explore the crevice. His first steps took him into a passage that accommodated only the width of one person. After he progressed about scores of paces, it suddenly widened into an open field. The land was flat and spacious. There were houses arranged in good order with fertile fields, beautiful ponds, bamboo groves, mulberry trees and paths crisscrossing the fields in all directions. The crowing of cocks and the barking of dogs were within everyone's earshot. In the fields the villagers were busy with farm work. Men and women were dressed like people outside. They all, old and young, appeared happy.
They were surprised at seeing the fisherman, who, being asked where he came from, answered their every question. Then they invited him to visit their homes, killed chickens, and served wine to entertain him. As the words of his arrival spread, the entire village turned out to greet him. They told him that their ancestors had come to this isolated haven, bringing their families and the village people, to escape from the turmoil during the Qin Dynasty and that from then onwards, they had been cut off from the outside world. They were curious to know what dynasty it was now. They did not know the Han Dynasty, not to mention the Wei and the Jin dynasties. The fisherman told them all the things they wanted to know. They sighed. The villagers offered him one feast after another. They entertained him with wine and delicious food. After several days, the fisherman took his leave. The village people entreated him not to let others know of their existence.
Once out, the fisherman found his boat and rowed homeward, leaving marks all the way. When he came back to the jun, he reported his adventure to the prefect, who immediately sent people to look for the place, with the fisherman as a guide. However, the marks he had left could no longer be found. They got lost and could not find the way.
Liu Ziji of Nanyang jun , a learned scholar of high repute, was excited when he heard the fisherman's story. He devised a plan to find the village, but it was not carried out. Liu died soon afterwards, and after his death, no one else made any attempt to find it.
【Notes】
1. Taiyuan was the title of the reign of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (376－396).
2. Wuling is today's Changde City, Hunan Province.
3. Nanyang is today's Nanyang City, Henan Province.
【作者介紹】
Tao Yuanming (365－427) was a great poet during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and was born in Jiujiang County, Jiangxi Province. Dissatisfied with the politics of his time, he resigned from his post as magistrate of Pengze County. He retired to his home village and lived there for the next twenty-three years till his death. This piece of writing is regarded as one of the earliest pieces about Utopianism in Chinese literature.
羅經國，1930年生，上海人。先後肄業於聖約翰大學、清華大學，1955年北京大學英語系畢業，1961年北京大學研究生畢業，1978至1980年在美國任訪問學者。自1961年起長期在北京大學英語系任教，講授過“歐洲文學”、“英國文學選讀”、“19世紀英國文學”、“20世紀英國文學” 等課程。曾先後任楊周翰等主編的兩卷集《歐洲文學史》（1964，1971）的主要編者和李賦寧任總主編的四卷集《歐洲文學史》（1999）的第一卷主編。著作有《新編英國文學選讀》、《狄更斯的創作》等，譯作有四卷集的《世界文明史》、《人造人的故事》等。現爲北京大學退休教授。
