山不在高,有仙则名。
A mountain
needn’t be high;It is famous so long as there is a deity on it.
水不在深,有龙则灵。
A lake needn’t
be deep;It has supernatural power so long as there is a dragon in it.
斯是陋室,惟物德馨。
My home is
humble,
But it enjoys
the fame of virtue so long as I am living in it.
苔痕上阶绿,草色入帘青。
The moss
creeping onto the doorsteps turns them green.
The color of the
grass reflected through the bamboo curtains turns the room blue.
谈笑有鸿儒,往来无白丁。
Erudite scholars
come in good spirits to talk with me,
And among my
guests there is no unlearned common man.
可以调素琴,阅金经。
In this humble
room, I can enjoy playing my plainly decorated qin,
or read the
Buddhist Scriptures quietly,
无丝竹之乱耳,无案牍之劳形。
Without the
disturbance of the noisy that jar on the ears,
or the solemn
burden of reading official documents.
南阳诸葛庐,西蜀子云亭。
My humble home
is like the thatched hut of Zhuge Liang of Nanyang,
or the Pavilion
Ziyun of Xishu.
孔子云:“何陋之有?”?。
Confucius once
said:
“How could we
call a room humble as long as there is a virtuous man in it?”
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