Lake Pavilion to see the snow
Zhang Dai 【Ming Dynasty】
In December of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Yu lived in the West Lake. On three days of heavy snow, the sound of people and birds in the lake was extinguished. It was more fixed, Yu picked up a small boat, hugged the fire, and went alone to the lake pavilion to see the snow. Rime is thick, the sky and the clouds and the mountains and the water, up and down the white. The shadow on the lake, only a trace of the long causeway, a little pavilion in the center of the lake, a mustard with Yu Zhou, and two or three people in the boat.
At the pavilion, two people sat facing each other, and a boy's shochu stove was boiling. Seeing Yu Daxi, he said, "There is more of this person in the lake!" "Drink with The Rest. Yu Qiang drank three whites and parted. Ask his surname, is a Jinling person, guest here. And when he got off the boat, the boat murmured, "Don't say that Xiang Gong is stupid, and there are even more idiots who are like Xiang Gong." ”
Translation:
In December of the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632 AD), I lived by the West Lake. The snow fell for many days in a row, and the sounds of pedestrians and birds in the lake disappeared. At about eight o'clock that night, I held up a small boat, dressed in fur clothes and with a stove, and went alone to the lake pavilion to watch the snow. (On the surface of the lake) the ice flowers are diffuse, the sky and the clouds and the mountains and the water are one and the same, and the white expanse is one. The skylight lake is all white. Shadows on the lake. There was only a trace of a long causeway, a little outline of the pavilion in the center of the lake, and a leaf of mine, two or three figures in the boat.
When I reached the pavilion in the center of the lake, I saw two people laying out the felt and sitting opposite each other, and a child was boiling the wine stove (the wine in it). [They] saw me and said with great pleasure, "I didn't think there would be anyone like you in the lake!" "(They) pulled me along for a drink. I drank three glasses of wine as best I could and said goodbye to them. [I] asked for their last names, and [I learned] that they were from Nanjing and lived here. When it was time to disembark, the boatman murmured, "Don't say that you are stupid, there are people who are as stupid as you!" ”