Su Shi: The Stone Bell Mountain ~ 苏轼《石钟山记》 with English Translations

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小编导读:《石钟山记》是北宋著名文学家苏轼的作品。这篇文章通过记叙作者对石钟山得名由来的探究,说明要认识事物的真相必须“目见耳闻”,切忌主观臆断的道理。

苏轼《石钟山记》

《水经》云:“彭蠡之口有石钟山焉。”郦元以为下临深潭,微风鼓浪,水石相搏,声如洪钟。是说也,人常疑之。今以钟磬置水中,虽大风浪不能鸣也,而况石乎!至唐李渤始访其遗踪,得双石于潭上,扣而聆之,南声函胡,北音清越,枹止响腾,余韵徐歇。自以为得之矣。然是说也,余尤疑之。石之铿然有声者,所在皆是也,而此独以钟名,何哉?
元丰七年六月丁丑,余自齐安舟行适临汝,而长子迈将赴饶之德兴尉,送之至湖口,因得观所谓石钟者。寺僧使小童持斧,于乱石间择其一二扣之。硿硿焉,余固笑而不信也。至莫夜月明,独与迈乘小舟,至绝壁下。大石侧立千尺,如猛兽奇鬼,森然欲捕人;而山上栖鹘,闻人声亦惊起,磔磔云霄间;又有若老人咳且笑于山谷中者,或曰此鹳鹤也。余方心动欲还,而大声发于水上,噌吰如钟鼓不绝。舟人大恐。徐而察之,则山下皆石穴罅,不知其浅深,微波入焉,涵淡澎湃而为此也。舟回至两山间,将入港口,有大石当中流,可坐百人,空中而多窍,与风水相吞吐,有窾坎镗鞳之声,与向之噌吰者相应,如乐作焉。因笑谓迈曰:“汝识之乎?噌吰者,周景王之无射也;窾坎镗鞳者,魏庄子之歌钟也。古之人不余欺也!”
事不目见耳闻,而臆断其有无,可乎?郦元之所见闻,殆与余同,而言之不详;士大夫终不肯以小舟夜泊绝壁之下,故莫能知;而渔工水师虽知而不能言,此世所以不传也。而陋者乃以斧斤考击而求之,自以为得其实。余是以记之,盖叹郦元之简,而笑李渤之陋也。

The Stone Bell Mountain
Su Shi

The Classic of Water says: “At the mouth of Pengli stands the Stone Bell Mountain.” Its commentator Li Daoyuan(died A.D. 527) states that “there is a deep water at its foot, where the winds and waves striking the rocks make a sound like that of great bells.”
People often discredit this statement, for bells and musical stones submerged in waves do not make such a sound, not to speak of rocks. Not until the Tang Period did Li Bo visit the place, where he found two rocks from the water. When struck with a wooden handle, they made a clanging sound, dying away gradually like bells, one in a clearer and the other in a muffled tone. He thought he had thus verified the origin of the name. But I had my doubts, for there are certainly rocks which make a ringing sound when struck, but these were said to make sounds like bells.
In June 1084, I was making a voyage from Qi’an to Linru, and my eldest son, and thus we had no opportunity to visit it and see the stone bells. A monk sent a boy to show us. The boy took an ax and struck at some of the rocks near by at random, but there was nothing unusual about the dull thuds. I gave up for hearsay and laughed.
That night, however, there was a bright moon, and I took a boat with Mai to the foot of the mountain. The river here was flanked by a high cliff almost a thousand feet high. As seen in the moonlight, the rocks looked very much like some weird monsters or dark spirits in frightening postures. The hawks nesting above flew up with raucous cries upon hearing our approach. There was another noise like an old man coughing chortling somewhere in the air. We were told that this came from a species of cranes. I was quite moved and was thinking of turning back when a great noise came over the waters, booming and whining like drums and bells, which quite frightened the boatman.
Upon close examination, I found that at the foot of the cliff were a number of stone caves of unknown depth. When the waves hit the caves, it made that roaring, surging noise. On turning back past Hanshan, at the point where the lake waters joined the big river, there was a huge rock in the middle of the stream, big enough to hold a hundred people. This huge boulder was full of holes and hollows, and the winds and waters sucking through them swish-swashed and make a booming noise, which joined with the clanging from the water caves to make such a symphony.
I said to my son: “Mai, you see. That clanging from the caves will help you to understand the mention in history book of the sound of the bells of the Emperor Jing of Zhou Dynasty, and the boom will help you to appreciate the description of the orchestra bells of Wei Zhuangzi. Evidently, what the ancient books tell us is true.”
One is often inclined to doubt ancient records until one personally sees these things. Li Daoyuan must have seen what we have seen, but he was not very explicit. The scholars usually would not take the trouble to take a boat to the foot of the cliff, so they could not have known. The boatmen know about it, of course, but they do not record it in books. Li Bo verified it only superficially by knocking at a couple of rocks on land, and he never really found out where the sounds came from.
I write this down, to show that Li Daoyuan did not say enough and Li Bo did not know enough.

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