于是妖童破女，荡舟心许：鹤首徐回，兼传羽杯；掉将移而藻挂，船欲动而萍开。尔其纤腰束素，迁延顾步；夏始春余，叶嫩花初，恐沾裘而浅笑，畏倾船而敛裾。
So those charming youngsters row their sampans, heart buoyant with tacit love, pass to eath other cups of wine while their bird- shaped prows drift around. From time to time their oars are caught in dangling algae, and duckweed float apart the moment their boats are about to move on. Their slender figures, girdled with plain silk, tread watchfully on board. This is the time when spring is growing into summer, the leaves a tender green and the flowers blooming,- among which the girls are giggling when evading an outreaching stem. Their shirts tucked in for fear that the sampan might tilt.
可见当时嬉游的光景了。这真是有趣的事，可惜我们现在早已无福消受了。
That is a glimpse of those merrymaking scenes. It must have been fascinating, but unfortunately we have long been denied such a delight.
于是又记起《西州曲》里的句子：
Then I recall those lines in Ballad of Xizhou Island:
采莲南塘秋，
莲花过人头。
尹低头弄莲子，
莲子清如水。
Gathering the lotus, I am in the South Pond,
The lilies in autumn reach over my head;
Lowering my head I toy with the lotus seeds.
Look, they are as fresh as the water underneath.
今晚若有采莲人，这儿的莲花也算得“过人头”了；只不见一些流水的影子，是不行的；这令我到底惦着江南了——这样想着，猛一抬头，不觉已是自己的门前；轻轻地推门进去，什么声息也没有，妻已睡熟好久了。
If there were somebody gathering lotuses tonight, she could tell that the lilies here are high enough to "reach over her head"; but, one would certainly miss the sight of the water. So my memories drift back to the South after all.Deep in my thoughts, I looked up, just to find myself at the door of my own house. Gently I pushed the door open and walked in. Not a sound inside, my wife had been fast asleep for quite a while.
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