hannah+egg

2008/3/16

iBT考試是一項惡魔的考驗，所以其中的聽力測驗說是惡魔的呢喃也不為過，一般而言，如果要從頭到尾傻傻考過去，對高手來說也不是什麼難事，但是對於如我一般的傻蛋來說，沒有方法就去考，跟拿錢施捨ET$沒什麼兩樣，只是ET$並不會因此而有一絲絲感謝，所以題型的掌握是看緊荷包的第一步。

INDEPENDENT WRITING: Argument

Question:

Some students like to take distance-learning courses by computer. Other students prefer to study in traditional classroom with a teacher. Consider the advantages of both options, and make an argument for the way that students should organize their schedules.

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Model:

Both distance-learning courses and traditional classes provide important but different experiences for college students. On the one hand, there are many advantages to distance-learning courses. One of the most important benefits is the opportunity to attend class at your convenience. This is very important for students hold full-time jobs since they can choose to take their classes on a schedule that allows them to continue working. Another advantage is the chance to complete assignments at your own pace. For students who can work more quickly than their classmates, it is possible to earn more credits during the semester. A huge advantage to international students is the option of listening to lectures more than once.


On the other hand, there are advantages to attending a traditional class. The structured environment is beneficial, especially for students who are not as highly motivated. In addition, it is more likely that you will develop a personal relationship with the teacher, an advantage not only for the course but also after the course when you need a recommendation. By seeing you and talking with you face-to-face, the teacher will remember you better. It is also easier to get an immediate response to questions because you only have to raise your hand instead of sending e-mail and waiting for an answer. Last, the opportunity for study groups and friendships is different and more personal when you sit in the same room.


Given all the advantages of both types of courses, I think that students would be wise to register for distance-learning courses and traditional classroom courses during their college experiences. By participating in distance-learning courses, they can work independently in classes that they may be more difficult for them, repeating the lectures on computer at convenient times. By attending traditional classes, they can get to know the teachers personally and will have good references when they need them. They will also make friends in the class. By sharing information with other students, they can organize their schedules for the following semester, choosing the best classes and including both distance-learning and traditional courses.

(coped from Barron’s, pp. 85)

故事與新聞／認認一個英文單字

2011/02/24

【聯合報╱楊照】   這個字很適合拿來描述我們外交部這段時間的表現…… 認不認得這個英文單字：esquivalience？不認得？那你可以去查一下新版的《新牛津美語字典》（New Oxford American Dictionary），裡面會告訴你這個字的意思是：「故意逃避自己的官方責任。十九世紀開始出現，或許是源自於法文esquiver，『躲避，溜走』。」 不過，如果你拿起家中案頭的其他字典，或者將字輸入到各種電子字典中，保證你怎麼查都查不到這個字，要是你查到了，那可就有事了。 為什麼會這樣？因為這個字根本就是《新牛津美語字典》編輯部發明的，不存在的字。什麼？字典裡竟然有虛構的字？編字典的人怎麼可以幹這種事？ 字典裡有虛構的字，不止《新牛津美語字典》，基本上每一本字典裡都藏有這種憑空創造的字，放這樣的字在字典裡，倒不是出於編輯的惡作劇壞心，而是有具體用處的。 這是保護著作權的重要機關。辛辛苦苦編出一本厚重的字典，要如何防止別人貪便宜，把你的字典拿去剪剪貼貼，改頭換面就變出他們的字典呢？字是共通的，字的意思解釋也不會有多大的差別，要怎樣證明別人的字典抄襲、盜取你的內容？ 要是esquivalience這個字出現在《新牛津美語字典》以外的字典裡，就一定牽涉到抄襲、盜取，這個字就是為了找出抄襲、盜取而放在那裡埋伏的。 同樣道理，百科全書裡也會有其實不存在的人或物或事。例如《新哥倫比亞百科全書》中有一個叫作Lilian Virginia Mountweazel的女士，她於1942年出生於美國俄亥俄州，三十一歲英年早逝。她原先是一位專業的噴泉設計家，後來改行當攝影師，最有名的作品是一系列拍攝美國鄉間路邊家戶信箱的照片。 別忙著去找她拍的系列信箱。世界上從來沒有這麼一個人，她從頭到尾只存在，而且只能存在於《新哥倫比亞百科全書》裡。 字是假的，不過esquivalience這個字被編派來指涉的意思，卻一點也不假。這個字很適合拿來描述我們外交部這段時間的表現，從埃及撤僑，到處理與菲律賓的紛爭，裡面有多少esquivalience！菲律賓特使來台，外交部又沒有辦法完成談判目標，倉卒將特使送進總統府去和總統會談；然後利比亞政情生變，十五位僑民，外交部竟然要花三天時間才有辦法完成撤僑，唉，這不又是一連串的esquivalience？ 外交部上上下下沒有一個人認得esquivalience這個字，那很正常，重點是：可不可以有人確實負起責任來，將許多「故意逃避自己的官方責任」做法，從外交部行事中予以排除、趕走呢？

NPR 新聞聽讀：

 


< Sam Chwat, Dialect Coach To The Stars (And To Us)

Copyright ©2011 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.


-March 8, 2011 - (Soundbite of music)

-TERRY GROSS, host:

-This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross.

When Robert De Niro needed to learn an Appalachian accent for his role in Martin Scorsese's 1991 film "Cape Fear," he was coached by Sam Chwat, a speech therapist who specialized in helping actors learn or lose regional accents for their roles. Chwat's clients included: Julia Roberts, Kathleen Turner, Willem Dafoe, Andie MacDowell, Danny Glover and Tony Danza. Chwat also worked with immigrants who wanted to lose their accents.

很多人會說：會去考英檢都是有掛勾的啦，出了臺灣英檢就沒有屁用了，不如去考多益托福雅思。

這句話我也在極好的朋友口中聽過，但我從不懷疑英檢是一項語言檢定。

語言檢定的目的到底是什麼？如果出國是唯一目標，那好，英檢成績的確無法拿來換機票，這時候唯有把錢大筆大筆送給ETS和補習班，才有機會和歐美學校交流。但是，如果把語言檢定的目的單純視為增進語言能力呢？那麼英檢無用的道理何在？

全民英檢或托福，實質上都是一樣的，出國只是附帶的效益，想要申請美國的學校之前通過美國的托福，如果很合理的話，那麼在台灣讀書考英檢也是很合理的。事實上在歐洲讀書，托福也不見得有用，因為歐洲較常採取英國辦的雅思測驗，這時候為什麼就沒有人罵托福無用呢？

臺灣人的大美國主義令人欷噓。考一次托福要150美金，那可以用來考三次英檢，而且托福考試中當機的比率居高不下，ETS卻很少為此道歉負責，許多補托福想要藉此去美加留學的人，在補習班耗了兩三年，托福考了又考，語言能力有沒有變好因人而異，但大多數都是靠背「機經」提升分數的，我曾把托福高分的作文格式拿給一個作英語教學研究的美國作家指教，他打了我一下，說：你不准再拿給我看這種爛東西。我問：那要寫什麼？他說：請用最簡單的詞彙表達你要表達的東西，一開始要把自己變成一個小學生，才會進步。

但是我的托福老師卻教：請一定要用Big Words（難字）來讓阿豆仔以為我們懂很多。

每種語言測驗有不同的考法，可以測驗出不同能力，托福考過100分的不見得能通過高級英檢，如果每種測驗都能駕輕就熟輕鬆過關，那麼誰也都沒話說。再說，真正想要提升語言能力的人，與其耗費數年來讀托福題庫，不如省下一點補習費來考考看英檢或其他測驗，會更發現自己缺乏的部分，對出國也是有幫助的。

所以，想出國的人請不要說英檢無用，不是每個人都想出國，也不是每個人都想當ETS的搖錢樹。

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The following are some interesting examples of Tu Fu’s “impressionistic” little poems:
以下是杜甫一些極富印象派特色的有趣例子：
絕句二首之一 杜甫
絕句二首之二 杜甫
閣夜 杜甫
絕句漫興九首之七 杜甫
江畔獨步尋花七絕句之六 杜甫

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Short poems, it should be noted, were no innovation. In many of the short poems—actually folk songs of the third century—we find many similar records in which simple incidents and feelings were caught and registered. All the so-called “little songs” are attempts to seize fragments from nature of from human life and reveal their quintessence.
應該注意的是，短詩其實並不是什麼新的東西。許多短詩事實上就是三世紀的民歌，我們能夠發現他們同樣記錄了簡單的事件、捕捉了情感。幾乎所謂的「小詩」都企圖要捕捉自然與人事中的片段，並顯出其中的精華。

This mood and this technique made a special appeal to Tu Fu in his old age and in these little gems we see the dexterity of his mature hands in fashioning the short, crisp lines until they were artlessly natural and yet unexpectedly stunning.
在杜甫晚年，這種詩歌精神與技巧對他產生特別的吸引力，而且在這些小珍品中可以看到他用成熟且靈巧的手法，創作出簡潔明快的句子，直到句子毫無雕琢味並且還有意想不到的驚豔效果。

He would accuse the spring wind of intruding into his garden without permission and of breaking the branches of his flowers. He would poke fun at his neighbor’s willow tree for having flirted with the spring wind and losing its longest branch by way of penalty.
他會責備春風未經許可闖入他的花園還摧折花的枝葉。他會戲弄鄰人的柳樹，說柳樹向春風調情並且因此被罰，斷了最長的樹枝。

He would recognize the cormorant on the sandy beach as an old acquaintance and urge the latter to visit him a hundred times each day. These little poems, which appear to be most casual and effortless, were really the crystallizations of a long-practiced artistry.
他會認出沙洲上的鳧鳥彷若舊識，並且催促鳧鳥每天拜訪他一百次。這些小詩似乎是最隨意且容易的，實在是高明藝術技巧的具體化。

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當兵士將詩呈交於帥，帥又呈上朝廷，於是唐明皇遍尋六宮，指示作者不會受到懲罰所以不應隱藏身份。一名宮女承認了，並說她罪該萬死。明皇大為感動，決定讓她嫁給得到詩的人，還說：「我願實現你們今生之姻緣。」
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唐朝還有另一個傳統，在於描寫大量禁苑才女，及她們與外在世界隔離的壓抑情緒：（描寫的內容是）她們將詩寫在紅葉上並將這些文學作品（抒情詩）藉由護城河的流水送到更廣大的世界去。
難怪在長安，許多想要追求文學榮耀的人會在護城河到處閒逛，因為到了幕秋，那裡的樹葉轉紅，被隔離的女詩人會變得極度感性。
至少有三則記載，記錄詩人與女詩人，由於這些吉祥紅葉所帶來的宮廷恩典而歡喜結緣。
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--完--
★註：由於學期結束了，打字也累了，所以後面部分就偷懶了。

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In the above poem we can see that Tu Fu, while lamenting the fate that had befallen the various impoverished scholars of the empire, could still see the humorous side or poverty. In this we see most clearly Tu Fu’s indebtedness to the humorous treatment of the tragic phases of life so common in folk songs—a type of literature which he had never despised.
在上面的詩中，可以看到杜甫雖然哀悼著降臨在諸多唐朝窮困學者的命運，仍能在貧窮當中看到幽默的一面。最為清楚的是，杜甫得益於用幽默來對待生活中悲慘的時期，在他的民歌中如此常見，這是他從未鄙視過的文學形式。

In many of the titles to his poems he indicated clearly his intention of writing humorous verse. Even when he was writing long historical poems of a serious nature like “Pei Chêng,” “Northward Travels,” there are injections of lines and phrases that revealed the poet’s fondness of the humorous and jocular.
從許多杜詩的標題中就清楚顯示他創作幽默詩句的意圖。即使當他寫作本質嚴肅的長篇歷史詩，例如「北征」，也都在行句之間注入他對幽默與滑稽的喜愛。

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This lighthearted side of Tu Fu’s poetic temperament did not preclude his frequent manifestations of seriousness in life and his deep-seated concern with and sorrow for his age. As a poet, however, he did not put on any air of dressed-up solemnity or venture to be purely didactic.
杜甫詩人個性中無憂無慮的一面，並不與他慣常的表現形式相抵觸，他慣常書寫生命的嚴肅以及根深柢固的感時傷老之情。然而，身為詩人，他並不會刻意板起臉孔或者矯揉造作。

Just as he could laugh heartily, his occasional efforts to swallow his own sorrows were all the more touching. The sadness he felt in the evening of his life is most clearly revealed in the poems in which he reminisced about incidents and feelings of his younger days.
就像他能由衷地笑，他偶而努力吞嚥自己悲傷之舉，更加令人動容。他晚年所感受的悲傷，更清晰顯示於詩作中，在這些詩裡他緬懷年少時期的所見所感。

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Although he never succeeded in detaching himself completely from the many basic difficulties threatening the reigning dynasty and the T’ang Empire as a whole, he was, after all, living the life of a retired scholar, spending his leisure on a farm.
雖然他從未成功地將自己抽離於威脅唐朝與皇帝的基本困難，整體而言，他畢竟是退隱的文人，度暇日於田園間罷了。

His daily schedule consisted in planting vegetables and picking mushrooms. While on one hand he lamented that he would fail to sleep at night on account of his inability to stop wars and to rectify the universe, he could in the daytime find much that was poetic in the chores of daily living.
他的日常安排就在於種疏拾菇。雖然他一方面難過自己因為無法止戰事、正乾坤而夜不成眠，卻能在日常生活的工作中發現詩作的泉源。

These little discoveries of what was meaningful and pleasant he recorded in his many “little poems.” These poems, recording small episodes of farm life, small reactions and impressions, were patterned into a verse form that was known as the chüeh chü, consisting of four lines composed of seven of five syllables.
這些既有意義又有趣的小發現，杜甫記錄於他的許多「小詩」中。這些詩記錄了田園生活的小情景、小情感與印象，都成為絕句的模型，由四句五言或四句七言所組成。

This verse form was not subjected to the limitations of tonal sequence or elaborate rhetoric. Externally it had a good deal in common with the quatrains of the yüeh fu type which Li Po had written with the greatest dexterity and which were originally intended to be sung to music.
這些詩句並不受到平仄與對仗的限制。形式上有許多地方與四行的樂府詩相同，亦即李白最為拿手的體裁，也是原先用來配樂而歌的體裁。

In spirit it was an entirely different vehicle completely detached from musical accompaniment and, therefore, peculiarly adapted to language of the common people. Tu Fu was able to breathe so much new life into this convenient verse form that many major poets of the following Sung Dynasty continued to cherish this chüeh chü form.
內在上，這些絕句完全是不同的載體，與音樂伴奏徹底分開，因此特別適合一般民眾的語言。杜甫能夠於其中吟詠如此多的新生活，因此許多後繼的宋代主要詩人都繼續珍愛這種絕句形式。

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In 759 Tu Fu was dismissed from office. Wandering all the way to far away Szechuan in his forty-eighth year, Tu Fu began to realize what official life was like and where he, as an individual, stood in a withering society. In his twenty poems written during his sojourn at Chinchow, he seemed to feel a keen disappointment in current politics. Thus he wrote:
759年杜甫被免官，48歲的他在遙遠的四川到處漫遊，當他一個人站在衰頹的社會現實中，他開始領悟到官場生活的本質。在他的〈秦州雜詩二十首〉裡頭，詩人似乎對當前的政治感到極度失望，因此他寫道：「唐堯真自聖，野老復何知。」

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Again, his disappointment was expressed in another poem entitled “His Ping Ma,” or “Purging of the Woes of War.”
又一次，他把失望表現於另一首詩中，題為〈洗兵馬〉。

In this he referred to those who climb on the bandwagon of the national heroes; of how everybody had become princes and dukes; of how according to dynastic flatterers all tiny kingdoms outside of China were submitting tributes, thus reiterating his disappointment with the young emperor whom the poet estimated to be a mediocre ruler.
詩中提到那些登上花車的國家英雄以及如何「天下盡化為侯王」，如何成為阿諛者口中的「寸地尺天皆入貢」，因此杜甫重申他對於心目中這位年輕的平庸統治者的失望。

Thenceforth, he made up his mind that there was not much he could do and that he should not entertain any further hope of “elevating the emperor above Yao and Shun.” From that time on—especially after his arrival in Szechuan—he finally resolved to live the life of a poet for the rest of his life.
此後他做出決定，他已經沒有什麼能做的了，也不應該對「致君堯舜上」懷抱著深刻的希望。從那時起，尤其在他抵達四川以後，決定要以詩人的身份終老一生。

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In the third period of his literary production, his life was a little more composed although as yet not entirely free from extreme poverty.
在文學創作的第三階段，雖然尚未徹底擺脫極度貧窮，他的生活卻稍微平靜起來。

Nonetheless, he had a little more rest and a little more leisure compared with his constant flight in the previous period. The heart of the T’ang Empire was still exposed to a whole series of emergencies.
不過，比起前一個時期不斷逃難的過程，他得以稍事休息，並得到些許餘暇。中原地帶仍然暴露於一連串的危機當中。

The An Lu-shan rebellion was prolonged by a new rebellion led by another insubordinate semi-Chinese general, Shih Ssŭ-ming; the Turfans, dissatisfied with their share of the war booty, pressed their invasion to the wall of the capital; and the central government was dropping daily in prestige and real power, making it possible for the different war lords stationed in the frontier regions to become so many petty kings.
安祿山之亂因為史思明叛變而延續著，他是一個不服從權威的將軍，帶有一半中國血統；而吐番也因為不滿意分得的戰利品，施加軍事壓力於首都城牆；此外中央政府的威信與實權也日漸滑落，軍閥得以駐紮在邊疆地區佔地為王。

China was destined to experience another period of political disintegration and division. Realizing what history had decreed for the future, Tu Fu confirmed his belief that what was open to him was nothing more than the life of a poor but dedicated poet. As before, he had no liking for reclusion and so he did not seek to leave the world, seeking only contentment and regularity in life as he found it. Hence, his poems written in this third period were ones descriptive of the simple life.
中國註定要經歷另一次政治的分崩離析。杜甫深知歷史上的前車之鑑，他更堅定了自己的信念，呈現在他面前的雖只是貧窮的生活，同時也是一種獻身於詩歌的生活。一如既往，他不喜歡隱居，因此不會想脫離世俗，他只求生活能夠滿足與規律，就像他所建立的那樣。因此，他在第三階段所作的詩，描述著儉樸的生活。

The echoes of war and devastation were still audible and political dependency was still attended with hardships but he was never deprived of his ability to elicit smiles and poetry from adverse circumstances. With the ripening of his age, his verse forms became absolutely mature.
戰爭與荒蕪所帶來的迴響仍可聽聞，政治依附也仍伴隨著苦難，但是他從未讓自己的能力被剝奪，還能夠在逆境中展露笑容與詩作。隨著年歲增長，他的詩變得完全成熟。

His short poems of this age were the natural overflow of his personality recorded at random without adornment and without conscious artistry but all palpitating with poetic flavor. They were continuations of the tradition of T’ao Yüan-ming and vanguards of the poetry of the Sung Dynasty.
到了這個年紀，他的短詩是他人格的自然流露，筆端自由而不佳裝飾，也沒有人為的加工，有的只是富於詩味的悸動。這些詩繼承了陶淵明的傳統，並成為宋詩的先驅。

What he was experiencing during this stage was real rustic life and not the life of self-styled farm hermits of the earlier part of the T’ang Dynasty. As a result, his poetry was real poetry dedicate to the appreciation of nature.
他在這時期歷經了真正的田園生活，不同於初唐時具有個人風格的田園隱士。因此，他的詩真正致力於贊頌自然。
（茅屋為秋風所破歌 杜甫）

Abstract

There are already synopses to ten data of phonetic correspondence system between Liuqiu language and Chinese during more than three hundred years in Ming and Qing dynasties. About one thousand entries are listed. At the beginning of the investigation, ten kinds of language materials were compared with each other to see how Chinese vocabularies are like. We can find some kinds of “Records of Mission to Liuqiu, Yee Yu” have their predecessors. On contrast, the four related writings in Qing dynasty have specific edit styles, especially the last one of Liuqiu Translation (A.D. 1800) which is almost not only the personal-created Ryu-Han corresponding phrases book, but also the one representing a generalization of good views or ideas.

58
This passage is outstanding because it illustrates how concrete the poet was in presenting his imagery and how under circumstances of absolute distress, Tu Fu, the man, could well afford to joke with tiny boys and girls. This sense of humor, which was intimately a part of his personality, and a philosophy of living which he had cherished ever since his boyhood days, was also visible in his other poems written during this time. While his long poem, “Northward Travels,” especially in its humorous elements, reminds us of the poetry of Tso Ssŭ; Tu Fu’s shorter poems of this period, especially the three poems entitled, “Chiang Ts’un,” or “Chiang Village,” resemble the poems of T’ao Yüan-ming. Both T’ao and Tu were amply fortified by their appreciation of the humorous in adverse circumstances. Thus fortified, even hunger and penury would not lead to loss of mind, on one hand, and hunger and penury would not lead to loss of mind, on one hand, and degeneracy, on the other.

59
His trip to Loyang and his observations of the ruins and destitution there inspired him to write numerous narrative poems in which were recorded the different facets of the scars of warfare. Among these masterly poems on social problems, which have been collectively labeled New Lyrical Ballads, probably the most admired was “The Sheriff of Shih-hao Village.” It was a short narrative poem describing how a sheriff was recruiting able-bodied men in a small community. He came to one family where an old man had made his escape by climbing over the yard wall and the aged woman left behind to plead her case with the sheriff.

60
The literary technique of this poem was unique and surprising. When a draft officer resorting to compulsion decided to kidnap an aging grandmother, the other aspects of social and political injustice may well be imagined.

55
Tu Fu’s most unreserved criticism of contemporary political and social corruption was expressed in an even greater poem, the poem in which he described his travels from the capital to Fênghsien County. This poem, formerly subjected to misdating and misinterpretation, was really not written before the eruption of the An Lu-shan rebellion. Although, when this poem was written, the T’ang emperor, Hsüan-tsung, and his imperial consort, Yang Kuei-fei, were wintering in comfort and luxury in the Hua Ch’ing Palace, a mountain resort in Li Shan away from the capital, the T’ang empire was far from being the utopian society that some of the court circles thought it was. Tu Fu, on arriving home, had heard of the tragic news of his youngest son’s starvation. His sense of deep personal bereavement immediately reminded him of the many injustice to which he had been subjected and the social iniquities which he had seen with his own eyes. It had also reminded him of the excessive luxury and unjustifiable extravagance he had witnessed at the winter capital through which hi had traveled on his trip home. Further restraint being now beyond him, he gave full expression to his feelings in this unprecedented indictment in the form of a long narrative entitled, “On My Way to Fênghsien County.”
杜甫將其對政治社會的腐敗墮落最不加保留的批評寫成傑作，這首詩寫於他自長安行旅至奉先縣的途中。這首以往被標錯年代且被錯誤解讀的詩，其實並不早於安祿山之亂。但在這首詩問世之後，玄宗與楊貴妃仍在遠離國都的驪山勝地華清宮奢華地過冬。唐朝距離權貴們所以為的烏托邦其實很遠。杜甫一回到家，就聽聞么兒餓死的慘劇。個人深刻的喪親之痛提醒他曾蒙受的以及親眼所見的社會不公。這也讓他想起他在國都的冬天所見證的極度奢華與鋪張浪費，於是他啟程回家。深深的壓抑，使得他將滿腔情緒用長篇敘事體寫出空前的控訴，詩名為：〈自京赴奉先縣詠懷五百字〉。

56
The war drums were soon sounded in Yüyang, the center of the An Lu-shan rebellion, and Tu Fu was to enter his second period of literary production which ended with his relocation in Szechuan in 765. In this period of great confusion and reversal of the scales of value, Tu Fu’s powers of observation became keener, his art more realistic, his views more profound, and the vistas opened up in his poetry more comprehensive and humane. In this regard he was a forerunner of the poet with a social conscience.
當安祿山之亂的大本營漁陽響起戰鼓，杜甫也進入文學創作的第二階段，此階段直到765年移居四川之後才結束。由於此時期他的價值標準大為混亂與顛覆，使得觀察力更加敏銳，藝術表現更趨近現實，視野更加深遠。而且他詩中對人道關懷的展望更加開闊了。
57
When he was marooned in Ch’angan he was the different facets of the tragedy and plight of the imperial capital. These impressions were organized and recorded in two of his most famous poems. One was the “Lament of the River Bank” (“Ai Chiang-t’ou”) and the other was “Lamenting of the Imperial Heir” (“Ai Wâng-sun”). The first was a poem of twenty lines in which the poet described the Ch’üchiang, or the Winding River which skirted the city of Ch’angan. The second presented the sole remnant of the imperial family as an imaginary literary vehicle for the presentation in dialogue form of all the destruction and cruelty brought upon the imperial clan. By elaboration one episode in the life of an individual, the poet succeeded in recreation the general atmosphere surrounding the tragic fate of an imperial clan facing extinction. This technique of using a narrow canvas in suggesting the contents of a whole panorama was a technique begun by the writers of the ancient ballads but not brought to perfection until it was touched by the genius of Tu Fu. His concentration on one episode and, through that episode, his ability to create a well-rounded but unique impression, furnished the most effective means to arouse an intense emotional response on the part of his readers. This technique was not only consistently utilized by Tu Fu himself in his later narrative poems but also adopted by such leading poets of later generations as Po Chü-i (also Po Chü-yi) and Chang Chin in similar compositions. Thus was formed the common technique for the so-called New Lyrical Ballads or hsin yüeh-fu. Upon Tu Fu’s arrival at the emergency capital of Fênghsiang in 756, he had the written permission of the new emperor to go on a trip to Fuchou (in present-day Szechuan Province) to visit with his family. The experiences of this trip were woven into a long poem entitled “Pei Chêng” or “Northward Travels.” This poem was apparently an artistic effort beloved by the poet. The artistic attainment of this poem, however, was not as great as the labors that the poet had put into it. On the other hand, in the midst of many stretches which are prosaic descriptions in verse, the poem sparkles with a rare sense of humor and insight into human nature with contrast sharply with and palliate the innate feeling of tragedy.
當他被放逐於長安，看到首都不同層面的悲慘與困境，就把這些印象組織、記錄成兩首著名的作品〈哀江頭〉與〈哀王孫〉。前一首有二十句，描寫的是長安城緣的曲江；第二首用虛幻的比喻來敘寫皇室遺族，藉由對話形式表現出皇室宗族所遭遇的毀滅與慘狀。精心描繪詩中主角經歷的事件，詩人成功地重塑了皇族面臨絕滅的臨場氣氛。使用有限的背景來聯想成全面的描繪，這樣的手法雖可溯及古詩人，卻一直要等到杜甫的天分去發揮才得以完全。不只在場景上很專注，杜甫也藉由這些畫面意象，使他有能力創造出完美且獨特的技巧，有效地喚起讀者強烈的情緒反應。

52
In those days of apparent peace and prosperity, the pride of the world was the powerful Yang family. The main pillar of the Yang house was the beautiful Yang Yühuan, the imperial consort elevated to the position of kuei-fei, or noble consort. Her cousin, Yang Kuo-chung, had been made prime minister and her two sisters had been ennobled the Princess of Kuo and the Princess of Ch’in. It was the sparkling brilliance of these girls of the Yang family which supplied Tu Fu with the theme of his “Li-jên Hsing” or “The Ballad of the Beauties.”
在國勢鼎盛的時期，最為驕傲的要算是楊家人。主要的臺柱便是美人楊玉環，從宮女晉升為貴妃。他的堂兄楊國忠被立為宰相，兩個妹妹也分別被封為虢國夫人與秦國夫人。這些光鮮亮麗的楊家姊妹們給了杜甫〈麗人行〉的題材：

麗人行 杜甫

53
In satirizing the excessive power of the imperial relatives, the poet clearly maintained large measures of artistic restraint. He could have but did not say more. In spite of the semblance of peace and prosperity latent troubles all along the frontier were already obvious. Disturbances of a political as well as a military nature were being created by the Khitan, His, and Turkic tribes in the north and by the Turfans in the west, each ravaging and plundering frontier towns, periodically necessitating many a punitive expedition. For the year 751 a major military defeat of the Chinese imperial forces was registered in their attempt to quell a rebellion of barbarian tribes in Yünnan. The fatalities involved had mounted to sixty thousand. When imperial rescripts were issued to the citizens of the two metropolitan districts and to Honan and Hopei for volunteers for rebuilding the expeditionary force, popular reaction was completely negative. Consequently the prime minister, Yang Ku-chung, instructed the agencies of the imperial censorate to resort to pressure and violence in obtaining recruits, and injustices and corruption became widespread. The resentment of the common people which Tu Fu had witnessed was well expressed in his “Ballad of the war Chariot.” When we compare this poem with Li Po’s “Fighting Sough of the City” we see clearly that Li Po’s was an imitation of ancient ballads and Tu Fu’s poem was an indictment of current politics. Indictments as bold and unadorned as this were something new since the age of the Book of Song. In this light we might say that Tu Fu was a founder of a new tradition. Even some of the folk songs and literary ballads descriptive of the destructiveness of war do not measure up to the directness and clarity that Tu Fu had exhibited in accusing the government and even the emperor of misrule:
（〈麗人行〉中）雖然杜甫竭盡所能地諷刺皇親國戚，他還是在很大程度上清楚的謹守藝術限制。他可以說得更多，但是沒有。儘管外表看起來和平繁盛，國境一帶的潛在危機早已明顯可知。政治紛擾以及兵戎不斷，起自於北方的契丹、奚、突厥（回紇），以及西方的吐番，他們週而復始的蹂躪、掠奪邊城，使得朝廷必須定期懲罰性地征討。西元751年大唐軍的一場戰役，表現出鎮壓雲南吐番的企圖心，死傷達六萬人。當朝廷的敕令下達長安、洛陽以及河南、河北，招募自願者以重建遠征軍，大眾的反應是非常消極的。結果，宰相楊國忠下令巡察史（刺史？）訴諸脅迫、暴力的手段來徵兵，不公正（黑心）、貪腐廣泛可見。杜甫把親眼所見人民的憤慨之情寫在〈兵車行〉中，把這首詩拿來跟李白的〈戰城南〉相比較，無論是李白對古樂府的模仿，或者杜甫對政治現況的控訴都清晰可見。如此直露無華的控訴乃是自《詩經》以來的一項創新，從這個角度來看，杜甫可說是新傳統的奠基者。即使是某些描寫戰爭慘狀的民歌或文學詩歌，都不如杜甫在譴責統治者亂政時所展現得那般率直、清晰。

54
This mention of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to dull the edges of criticism against the reigning T’ang emperor did not carry boldness to the extreme. In “The Ballad of the Beauties” the Princesses of Kuo and Ch’in were forthrightly mentioned by name.
杜甫用漢武帝來暗指唐代君王並不算非常勇敢。卻在〈麗人行〉裡直率地把虢國夫人、秦國夫人給指了出來。

49(251)
Even when he was describing his own impoverishment he never failed to see the humorous side of poverty. In the group of three poems entitled “Sighs During an Autumn Rain,” hi wrote:
儘管他描述著自己的貧困，他看待的角度從來不失幽默。在〈秋雨歎三首〉中，寫道：

秋雨歎三首 杜甫
雨中百草秋爛死，階下決明顏色鮮。
著葉滿枝翠羽蓋，開花無數黃金錢。
涼風蕭蕭吹汝急，恐汝後時難獨立。
堂上書生空白頭，臨風三嗅馨香泣。

50(251)
During this first period of his literary activity he was in the prime of manhood and extremely eager to make his contributions to society. In moments of complete frustration he would express feelings of impatience with the lack of justice and would consider giving up everything to become a hermit.
在他文學活動的第一個時期正處於壯年，極度渴望對社會有所貢獻。幾次徹底的挫敗之後，他便用一種欠缺公正的態度急切地表達他的情感，並且想考慮放棄一切當個隱士算了。

去矣行 杜甫
君不見韝上鷹，一飽則飛掣。
焉能作堂上燕，啣泥附炎熱。
野人曠蕩無靦顏，豈可久在王侯間。
未試囊中餐玉法，明朝且入藍田山。

51(251)
The allusion to the jade diet was to Li Yu of the Later Wei Dynasty, who was said to have pulverized seventy pieces of jade for his daily diet to ensure physical immortality. The best jade was said to have come from the Blue Field Mountains. That was why Tu Fu was eager to go there for his experiment. Although he had no cooked rice, he would think of living on jade. This was a typical example of how Tu Fu would suggest disapproval of hermitage and at the same time distill from it any possible fun. It is this spirit of positivism that distinguished him from his eminent friend, Li Po.
詩中指的是後魏李預，據說他曾椎玉七十枚成屑，日日服用以確保長生不老。相傳最好的玉產自藍田山，這就是為什麼杜甫想要到那裡去試驗看看。沒米煮飯，但卻想吃玉過活。這是個典型的例子說明了為什麼杜甫暗示了隱士生活之不可行，同時他從中提煉出任何可能的嘲諷。這就是杜甫獨特的實證精神（正面思維），有別於他的知名好友李白。

46(250)
Tu Fu’s poetry shows three stages of development and progress in chronological order: (1) poems written before the great rebellion, (2) poems written during the rebellion and its aftermath, and (3) poems written toward the end of his life after his relocation in Chengtu.
杜甫的詩依次呈現了三個時期的發展：一、安史之亂之前的詩；二、叛亂期間與災後期間的詩；三、晚年移居成都之後所寫的詩。

47(250)
Tu Fu’s life in the first period was that of “donkeyback riding for thirty years.” Even after his elevation to an official post following his submission of the three fu compositions, his poverty seemed to have persisted. But in spite of his poverty ge always retained his bountiful humor, the kind of humor which was ingrained in him and was never consciously or artificially cultivated. Frequently, while the themes of his poetry were serious in the extreme, a few lines would precariously border on the pattern of limericks.
杜甫在第一時期的生活就是所謂那「騎驢十三載」。就算他在獻上三大禮賦之後升了官，他還是的貧窮依然如故。儘管貧窮，他還是保有充分的幽默感，而這種深植於心中的（根深柢固的）幽默感並不是有意識地或者刻意地培養出來的。當詩中的主題非常嚴肅的時候，他經常採用一種臨界於（幾近於）打油詩的方式來寫作。

48(250)
While he was facing poverty while holding a lowly position in Ch’angan, his most intimate friend was Chêng Ch’ien, a doctor in the Kuang-wên Kuan, or the Hall of Liberal Arts. Between the two of them there were frequent exchanges of verses written in mutual friendly ridicule, of which the following is an exmple:
儘管在長安的小官職不能使他脫離貧窮，杜甫還是結交了鄭虔這樣的知心朋友，鄭虔是廣文館博士。兩人時常以贈答以詩，詩句中常流露出朋友之間的揶揄，試看一下的例子：

　戲簡鄭廣文虔，兼呈蘇司業源明 杜甫
　廣文到官舍，繫馬堂階下。醉則騎馬歸，頗遭官長罵。
　才名四十年，坐客寒無氈。賴有蘇司業，時時與酒錢。

43(249)
At the end of the reign of T’ien Pao (755) he traveled to a distant county, Fênghsien, to see his wife and family:
天寶末年(755)，杜甫旅行到遙遠的奉先去探望她的妻子和家人：
自京赴奉先縣詠懷五百字 杜甫
入門聞豪咷，幼子餓已卒。

44(249)
It was in sorrowful circumstances like this that he sharpened his powers of observation and widened his care of the family into a grave concern for the state. Pouring out his mind without reservation he wrote a long poem of a hundred lines entitled, “On My Way from the Capital to Fênghsien County”—a poem in which he frankly unfolded the gloomy picture of the hard facts of life below the veneer of the so-called K’ai Yüan and T’ien Pao prosperity. Even before the ink of this poem had dried, general disorder accompanying the great rebellion had reached the state of absolute despair. Toward the end of the year Loyang had fallen, By the following summer in 756 the strategic pass of T’ungkuan was captured by the rebels. The emperor had no sooner left Ch’angan in great haste than the capital itself capitulated. A month later, a crown prince ascended the throne in Lingwu County to be known to posterity as Emperor Su Tsung. After resettling his family in a more secure place, the poet hurried to the emergency capital but was kidnapped on his way so that he kek not arrive at Fêng-hsien until the following year. Thenceforth, he busied himself partly by following the court in flight until it was back at Ch’angan, and partly by filling appointments away from the capital. He visited Loyang in ruins in 758 where he stayed for a while and wrote numerous poems—some strongly emotional—recording historic facts of the age.

45(250)
After relocating himself in county after county as a result of rapid official transfers, he seemed to have been suspended by his superiors, which fact aggravated his problems of poverty even more. In 760 he traveled southward from Shensi Province in the north to present-day Szechuan Province where he lived in Chengtu from 760 to 765. It was during this short period of comparative rest that his talents were appreciated by the military commissioner, Yen Wu, who recommended Tu Fu’s appointment as his staff adviser with the accompanying rank of counselor of the department of works, a position which gave rise to a popular appellation by which the poet is frequently indentified--Tu Kungpu or Tu of the Ministry of Public Works. From 765 to 770 he again found himself busy with constant relocation in different parts of Szechuan Province and along the Yangtze River eastward to the present-day Honan Province, where he died in Hêngchow at the age of 58.

39-2是因為編碼時漏了一段

--
39-2(247)
The pioneer, and the greatest representative of this new age was Tu Fu, with many new allies and followers to extend and magnify the new literary movement in the latter half of the eighth and the first half of the ninth centuries. Thus a most brilliant period in the history of Chinese literature was created.
杜甫是新時代的先驅，也是最好的典型，他有許多新的支持者與追隨者來壯大八世紀末九世紀初的新文學運動。因此創造出中國文學史上最為光輝的時代。

40(247)
We might be justified in saying that Chinese literature of the seventh century was the literature of childhood in which poetry consisted of games and play of a high order. At the imperial court and in the mansions of the aristocrats occasional poetry played even a positively inferior role. The literature of the K’ai Yüan and T’ien Pao reigns was only a literature of adolescence. In spite of the stylistic liberation, the contents of literature were still on the whole shallow and superficial, consisting largely only of the singing of heavy drinkers and self-appointed hermits. These decades might be justifiably labeled as shêng T’ang of the high tide of T’ang with reference to peace and prosperity in the political and social scene. From the vantage point of literature, however, the period of greatest glory came later and it was not until after the rebellion that full maturity in literature was attained. From the middle years of Tu Fu to the death of Po Chü-yi in 846, both prose and poetry embarked upon the highway of realism, returning from the romantic celestial realms to the world of man.
我們可以拿很多的舊事陳言來證明（合理化）七世紀的中國文學處於少年階段，在那個時期的詩都是上層社會人士的遊戲之作。宮廷中的貴族豪宅中，偶而會有詩作，但扮演的是明顯卑微的角色。開元天寶年間的文學，也只是處於青春期。儘管文體解放了，文學的內容仍舊是膚淺的（缺乏深度），大部分只歌頌酩酊的醉漢以及自命為隱士之人。這幾十年無疑地標誌了和平繁榮政治清明的盛唐風景。然而，從文學的觀點來看，最為榮耀的時期卻在之後才到來，直到安祿山之亂後，文學的才達到充分的成熟。從杜甫中年到白居易卒(846)，散文與唐詩走向現實主義的大道，從浪漫的天上國度回到了人間。

41(248)
Tu Fu (712-770), also known by the courtesy name, Tzǔ-mei, was a native of the county of Hsiangyang in present-day Honan Province. His grandfather, Tu Shên-yen, was a famous writer in the latter part of the seventh century. In his youth, Tu Fu had to face greatly reduced family resource and was compelled to undertake extensive travels along the China coast, which travels widened his intellectual horizons and made a lasting impression on his plastic young mind as he recalled later in a poem addressed to Wei Tsi:
杜甫(712-720)，字子美，生於襄陽，即今河南省內。他的祖父杜審言是七世紀後期著名的詩人。杜甫年少時就面臨家道中落，不得已開始沿著中國沿岸旅行到各地。旅行擴大了他的知識水準，並在他年輕可塑的心靈中留下持久的印象，因此在他晚後寫給韋濟的詩中這麼回憶著：

奉贈韋左丞丈二十二韻 杜甫
紈褲不餓死，儒冠多誤身。丈人試靜聽，賤子請具陳。
甫昔少年日，早充觀國賓。讀書破萬卷，下筆如有神。
賦料揚雄敵，詩看子建親。李邕求識面，王翰願卜鄰。
自謂頗挺出，立登要路津。致君堯舜上，再使風俗淳。
此意竟蕭條，行歌非隱淪。騎驢三十載，旅食京華春。
朝扣富兒門，暮隨肥馬塵。殘杯與冷炙，到處潛悲辛。
主上頃見徵，欻然欲求伸。青冥卻垂翅，蹭蹬無縱鱗。
甚愧丈人厚，甚知丈人真。每於百僚上，猥誦佳句新。
竊效貢公喜，難甘原憲貧。焉能心怏怏，只是走踆踆。
今欲東入海，即將西去秦。尚憐終南山，回首清渭濱。
常擬報一飯，況懷辭大臣。白鷗沒浩蕩，萬里誰能馴。

42(249)
At thirty-eight he submitted three fu compositions on the three imperial ceremonies after the reception of which he was offered an official post which he declined in preference for another minor position. Despite his humble circumstances, he befriended other poor poets like Chêng Ch’ien who were all concerned with the degeneration political and social situation. It was during these years that he wrote his poems of satire such as “The Ballad of the Beauties” and “The Ballad of the Was Chariots.” That he long remained in obscurity was probably a great blessing in disguise, for in his humble circumstances of riding donkeyback for thirty years he not only watched at close range but also actually participated in the deprivations of the masses. Hence, he was able to discover the latent dangers with which the T’ang Empire was faced before the actual volcanic eruptions, although in conformity with the taste of the time, he also was a member of the fraternity of the drinking poets. Even then, however, in his drinking songs, people heard his voice of sorrow:
杜甫38歲時曾在三場宮廷典禮中獻上三篇賦作(fu)，當他得到接見、被任命另一個小官職，他卻優先予以婉拒。儘管杜甫處境卑微，他仍然與其他窮苦的詩人往來，像是鄭虔這般擔憂著政治社會衰敗的人。正是在這幾年間，杜甫寫了幾首諷刺詩，例如〈儷人行〉、〈兵車行〉。他長期保持著沉鬱，很可能是深刻祈求的假裝，因為在他騎驢三十載的卑微處境中，他不只看得很仔細，也實際上就是苦難群眾的一份子。因此，雖然他也符合了當時代人的口味，也是好酒詩人之一，卻得以在叛亂猛然爆發之前，發現唐朝正面臨著潛在危險。可是，儘管如此，在他的飲酒詩（〈醉時歌〉）中，人們聽到了他悲傷的聲音：

醉時歌（贈廣文館博士鄭虔） 杜甫
諸公袞袞登台省，廣文先生官獨冷。甲第紛紛厭粱肉，廣文先生飯不足。
先生有道出羲皇，先生有才過屈宋。德尊一代常轗軻，名垂萬古知何用。
杜陵野客人更嗤，被褐短窄鬢如絲。日糴太倉五升米，時赴鄭老同襟期。
得錢即相覓，沽酒不復疑。忘形到爾汝，痛飲真吾師。
清夜沈沈動春酌，燈前細雨簷花落。但覺高歌有鬼神，焉知餓死填溝壑。
相如逸才親滌器，子雲識字終投閣。先生早賦歸去來，石田茅屋荒蒼苔。
儒術於我何有哉，孔丘盜跖俱塵埃。不須聞此意慘愴，生前相遇且銜杯。

37(246)
The sudden arrival of the catastrophe had awakened only a relatively small group from their dreams of a perfect and orderly society. Many others strained their literary efforts in praise of the reigning dynasty. For those who had stopped dreaming, however, the universe had acquired an appearance of seriousness and their own philosophies of life had become profoundly realistic. This difference in response was naturally traceable to differences in personal temperament. Even a casual look at new literary trends after the rebellion, however, would convince us that they were, by and large, the products of a completely changed age. In Tu Fu’s own words:
這突如其來的大禍，只從唐朝社會完美而井然有序的美夢中喚醒了相當少數的一群人。許多人仍舊沈醉於紙醉金迷當中，還有許多人竭盡心力地用文學來讚揚國朝統治者。然而，對那些已經停止作夢的人來說，天下人們已經學到了事情的嚴重性，他們的生活哲學變得深切符合實際。這些不同的反應，自然可以追溯自每個人性格上的不同。可是，即便是不經心的去看戰亂之後的新文學潮流，一般來說，我們相信那潮流就是時代全面改變的產物。在杜甫的詩句中：

憶昔 杜甫
憶昔開元全盛日，小邑猶藏萬家室。
稻米流脂粟米白，公私倉廩俱豐實。
九州道路無豺虎，遠行不勞吉日出。
齊紈魯縞車班班，男耕女桑不相失。
宮中聖人奏雲門，天下朋友皆膠漆。
百餘年間未災變，叔孫禮樂蕭何律。
豈聞一絹直萬錢，有田種穀今流血。
洛陽宮殿燒焚盡，宗廟新除狐兔穴。
傷心不忍問耆舊，復恐初從亂離說。
小臣魯鈍無所能，朝廷記識蒙祿秩。
周宣中興望我皇，灑血江漢身衰疾。

38(246)
Changes in literature thus reflect the transition to a new age. Literature of the latter half of the eighth century was cast in an entirely different mold from that of its predecessor. This is most clearly seen in the seriousness of attitude and the profundity of vision of the writers. Literature was no longer a pastime or a ladder to the imperial official hierarchy. Moreover, it was no longer a form of entertainment supplying the court musicians with lyrics for the amusement of the aristocracy. Nor did it consist in ventures into the unreal by imagining the toilsome life of military service, or by projecting pictures of an earthly paradise of the immortals. Leaders in literature now began to face life seriously—not imaginary life but real life—the suffering of the masses, problems of social change, challenges of state and government, and the realistic aspirations and fears of actual living.
文學的改變如此反映了新時代的變遷。十八世紀後半葉的文學從原有的前人模子，被澆鑄到完全不同的模子裡。這可以清楚地從作家嚴肅的態度和視野的深度來得知。文學不再是娛樂或者通往政治核心的階梯。更甚者，亦不再是為了滿足貴族逸樂而提供歌詞給宮廷音樂家的娛樂形式。（文學的價值）不是在於想像征旅行役的虛假冒險，也不是仙人們人間天堂的投射。文學領導者自此開始認真的面對生命，不是想像的而是真實的生命，包含了人民的苦難、社會變遷的問題、國家政治的挑戰，以及現實生活中的理想抱負和生活中恐懼。

39(247)
Traditional historians of T’ang literature have failed to stress this sudden change on the Chinese scene and the incongruities of the reigns of K’ai Yüan and T’ien Pao when they refer to the middle decades of the eighth century as an indivisible unit. Actually the line of division made by the rebellion of 755 cut deep into the century. What had preceded it was a literature singing praises to peace and prosperity with romantic contents creating man-made scenes, whereas what followed it was a literature saturated with pain and suffering reflecting a disintegrating society—a literature deeply characterized by an all-pervasive realism. This new age was no longer the age of lighthearted songs sung to the accompaniment of music. What had been known as yüeh fu, songs written in imitation of the ones sung by the Music Bureau, had done its work as an effective training program in inducing the writers to attempt liberation in technique and in spirit. Instead of subjecting themselves to further discipline, the new poets were now eager to create, hence, we have what was publicly heralded as “the new yüeh fu”—a kind of new poetry to demonstrate the new life under a new age.
傳統研究唐代文學的史家在提到八世紀中開元天寶這幾十年是個不可分的單元時，常沒有去強調這場巨變，以及兩個時期間的不一致。
事實上以755年開始的安祿山之亂為分隔線，可以深深地切分這個世紀。前者是一部用詩人浪漫文筆所創造的景象來歌頌太平盛世的文學，然而後者是一部充滿痛苦與磨難以反映社會分崩離析的文學，換句話說，後者的文學特徵就是無所不在的寫實主義。這個新時代不再是無憂無慮為配樂而歌的時代。我們所知的樂府詩，原是模仿樂府官署已有之樂，它有效引發詩人試著在技巧與精神當中尋求解放。與其讓自己委身於嚴格的紀律（格律），新一代詩人們渴望能夠創作，因此我們可以公開的預言「新樂府」的出現——一種在新時代之下說明新生活的新詩體。

34(246)
We have seen how Li Po was intent on being himself—a hermit poet satisfying himself by creative activities and paying no attention to versification as a short cut to official honors. Completely dedicated to personal freedom and glorifying the liberating influence of the beauties of nature, he was unprepared to meet the challenges of political confusion and social injustice. As a consequence, the rebellion of 755 and its upsetting effects deepened his decadence into pessimism.

35(246)
To Tu Fu, the shock of the rebellion was equally acute. Thus he sang:
歷歷開元事，分明在眼前。
無端盜賊起，忽已歲時遷。

36(246)
When the tumultuous mutiny led by An Lu-shan in 755 broke out and spread into a huge conflagration, mid-eighth-century China, which had been rhapsodizing in the plenty and peace of an age of prosperity, was caught completely unprepared. The northern half of the empire was soonest aflame, both the capital at Ch’angan and the co-capital Loyang fell, and the dynastic superstructure was on the verge of complete disintegration. It was not until the inadequacy of the dynasty to cope with the situation had been clearly demonstrated and the assistance of alien tribes had been secured that the rebellion was subdued after years of strenuous effort. Even then, the prestige and power of the central government could not be restored and the peace and prosperity of the earlier reigns could not be revived.
當安祿山之亂激烈地爆發並且蔓延出一片大火，這個大量被描述成太平盛世的八世紀中葉的中國，卻是一點準備都沒有。帝國的北半部分很快地燃起熊熊火舌，首都長安與洛陽盡皆失陷，王朝的架構處於崩解的邊緣。一直要到面臨了如此情況，王朝的缺陷才清楚地顯露出來；而且經過了多年艱苦的奮鬥，一直到取得了外族幫忙，（王室）才有把握將叛亂弭平。即使如此，中央政府的威望以及先前的繁榮盛景，也都不能再恢復了。