Chinese Learning

No more fandalism free mp3 hosting

2010-09-03T01:42:00.000-07:00

I just noticed that fandalism's free mp3 hosting is gone, so all Indy's voice recording is not available any more. That's too bad.

The End

2009-09-13T12:35:00.000-07:00

It's been fun to write this blog so far. However, Indy is going to high school, and I'm working on a new project. That means the blog is not going to continue any more. Cheers.

Summer time

2009-06-18T14:46:00.000-07:00

I need more interesting material to keep Indigo interested in it. It's been frustrating. Send me your suggestions, thanks!

衣贵洁，不贵华

2009-06-01T20:55:00.000-07:00

衣贵洁，不贵华。

一天，孔子对儿子孔鲤感叹道:“君子是不可以不学习的，与人会面是不可以不加修饰的，仪容不加修饰就会显得不整洁，仪容不整洁就显得对别人不尊重，对别人不尊重就显得失礼，人一失礼就难以在这个世界上处事。那些站在很远的地方就显出光彩的，是仪容修饰得整洁的人，与人接近而能让人心中亮堂的，是有渊博学问的人。”

孔鲤听后问道:“您的意思是说，君子一定要善于修饰自己了。可是您不是一直教导我说君子只要保持本质就可以了，不需要讲究文采的吗?”孔子说:“鲤啊,文采如同本质一样重要,文质彬彬才能成为一个君子。如果一个人过于质朴，缺少文采的话，就会显得粗俗，但是也不能不讲究文采，如果一个人文采多于质朴的话，他就会流于虚伪、浮夸。花言巧语，伪装和善，这种人是很少有什么仁德的。只有质朴与文采配合恰当，这才是个君子啊!”

Clothes should be clean, and not superficial

One day, Confucious told his son Kong Li, "Gentlemen have to learn and be educated, and have to be polite to the people they meet, if not they'll give them the impression that they are not gentlemanly, and will appear disrespectful, and unmannered, and disrespectful and unmannered people will not be successful in life. If you see people at a distance that emanate brightness, that is because they dress appropriately, and when standing close to a person will let the person feel happy, they are educated and wise."

Kong Li digested this information then asked, "So you mean that, I have to dress myself up nicely. But didn't you always tell me that I as long as I have my personable charm around me it was fine, and I didn't have to be elegant in appearance." Confucius replied, "Ah, my son, An elegant appearance and characteristic quality are both important, but being elegant and refined in manner will allow you to become a good man. If a person was very modest and down-to-earth,

but lacked elegance, they would look quite ungainly, and yet they can still strive for an elegant look, but if a person has more looks than charisma, they will be misled. Deceiving words, camouflages kindness, and these kinds of people usually are not kindhearted. They only have character and appearances to match with appropriately, only this can make up a gentleman!"

Summary of Chapter 30

2009-04-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

Indy's summary of chapter 30

魏国把蜀国先灭了，变成了晋国。然后晋国又灭了吴国。三国鼎立结束了，西晋统一政权。

sanguo30 by Indigo

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This is the end of the story of Romance of Three Kingdoms.

As promised, Indy is taking a 4 week's break from Chinese. I picked 红楼梦 for her next project, but she is not too hot on that one. We'll see...

第三十章三国终归晋

2009-04-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

第三十章三国终归晋
Chapter 30: The End of the Three Countries

诸葛亮夺下渭南魏寨，屯兵五丈原。为了激司马懿出战，诸葛亮派人送去妇女服饰，羞辱他胆小如女人。可是司马懿仍然不出战。
ZhuGe Liang captured the Wei's southern barracks along the Wei River, and stationed his troops around WuZhangYuan. And to lure SiMa Yi into battle, he sent some men to present some women's attire, to mock him. But SiMa Yi didn't come out.

诸葛亮为了北伐，日夜操劳，身体越来越差了。这天夜里，诸葛亮走出营帐，观望星象，然后对姜维说:“我恐怕就要死了。
In order for ZhuGe Liang to head out to a northern expedition, he overworked his body, and was steadily becoming weaker and weaker. That night, ZhuGe Liang walked out of the camp, and watched the stars, then told Jiang Wei, "I am afraid that I am going to die."

不久，诸葛亮卧病不起。临终前，他给刘禅写下遗表，嘱咐他要以统一天下为重。
Shortly after, ZhuGe Liang was overcome with sickness and couldn't get out of bed. Before his death, he wrote his will to Liu Shan, and told him to unite the three countries some day.

诸葛亮让人做了自己的木雕像，定下临终之计。司马懿听说诸葛亮已死，下令出击。
ZhuGe Liang ordered some men to make a wooden statue for him, and use it as a plan. After SiMa Yi heard tht ZhuGe Liang had passed away, he ordered his troops to move out.

正追着，魏军忽见蜀军拥着诸葛亮杀出来。司马懿吓得回马就逃，后来才知中计。
While charging, the Wei army suddenly saw the Shu army stampeding out with ZhuGe Liang. SiMa Yi was so frightened he fled, and later realized he had fallen in a trap.

诸葛亮的灵枢运到成都，刘禅和百官出城二十里迎接，蜀国上下极度悲痛。
ZhuGe Liang's remains arrived at ChengDu, and Liu Shan and hundreds of officials came to welcome them, the whole Shu country was swept with lament and sorrow.

姜维不忘诸葛亮的遗愿，在十年的时间里，五次率军讨伐魏国，但都没有成功。
Jiang Wei did not forget ZhuGe Liang's last wishes, and within ten years, led the army to attack the Wei country five times, but never managed to win.

公元252年，司马懿病死，他的儿子司马昭当权。不久，司马昭派军大举进攻蜀国。
It was the year 252, and SiMa Yi had gotten sick and died, his son SiMa Zhao took power. And it wasn't long, when SiMa Zhao sent his troops to attack Shu country.

再说后主刘禅整天沉溺于酒色，宦官黄皓趁机结党营私，逐渐把持朝政。
Meanwhile Liu Shan was spending his life drinking and womanizing, and the eunuch Huang Hao took this oppurtunity to gain power, and eventually had control over the government.

黄皓卜卦后，对刘禅说不久魏将归蜀，刘禅便不再理会姜维请战魏军的奏章。
After Huang Hao went to the temple to fortune tell, he told Liu Shan that Wei would soon lose to Shu, so Liu Shan didn't pay attention to Jiang Wei's request for battle.

魏军势如破竹，接连攻克蜀国数座城池。姜维等人寡不敌众，魏军直逼成都。
The Wei army's power was tremendous, and captured many of Shu country's cities. Jiang Wei and his men were hopelessly outnumbered, and the Wei army charged forward to ChengDu.

刘禅吓得赶紧交出玉玺投降，蜀国灭亡。司马昭上奏魏主，封刘禅为安乐公。
Liu Shan was so shocked that he hurriedly surrendered, and Shu country was destroyed. SiMa Zhao went to the Wei emperor, and appointed Liu Chan as the duke of happiness.

第二天，司马昭设宴款待刘禅时，命乐师演奏蜀乐。蜀国的官员听了都掩面流泪。
The following day, While SiMa Zhao gave a banquet for Liu Shan, he ordered some musicians to play some Shu music. Hearing the music, the ex-Shu officials were all weeping.

司马昭见刘禅嬉笑如常，便问他是否想念蜀国。刘禅说:“这里这么快活，我早已乐不思蜀了？”
SiMa Zhao saw that Liu Shan was merry and content, and asked him if he missed Shu country. Liu Shan replied, "It's so busy and jolly here, I already forgot what Shu was like."

司马昭自此消除了对刘禅的戒心。司马昭因收蜀有功，被魏帝曹奂封为晋公。
Any watchfulness SiMa Zhao had towards Liu Shan immediately vanished. He then was awarded for conquering Shu, and was promoted to the duke of Jin.

不久，司马昭病死，他的儿子司马炎持剑逼迫魏帝退位，自己做了皇帝。
Shortly after, SiMa Zhao died of an illness, and his son SiMa Yan made the current Wei emperor give up his power, and he appointed himself as emperor.

司马炎励精图治，晋国日益富强。此时，东吴孙权也已病死，他的孙子孙皓继位。
SiMa Yan tried very hard to get prosperity, and day by day Jin was getting more prosperous and strong. At this moment, Sun Quan had also passed away, and his grandson Sun Hao took his place.

孙皓不顾老百姓的死活，大造宫殿。此外，他还滥杀大臣，很多大臣都心怀不满。
Sun Hao didn't care for the common people, and built a great big palace. Meanwhile, he also killed many ministers, and many of the others were all resentful.

公元279年，司马炎拜杜预为大将军，命他率水陆大军大举伐吴，以图一统天下。
It was the year 279, SiMa Yan appointed Du Yu as the commander-in-chief, and ordered him to attack Wu from the water and land routes, in order to conquer the world.

杜预大军所到之处，吴兵望凤而逃。晋军拿下江陵等重镇，直逼东吴首都建业。
Wherever Du Yu and his army went, the Wu soldiers would flee. The Jin army captured JiangLing and other important places, and made a steady push to DongWu's capital.

吴军守将张象知道自己抵挡不住晋军的攻势，赶紧竖起白旗，向晋军投降。
The Wu army's general ZhangXiang knew that he couldn't defeat the Jin army, and hurriedly held up the white flag, to surrender to Jin.

晋军将领命张象叫开建业城门，晋军涌入城中，守城的吴军四散逃命。
The Jin army's general ordered Zhang Xiang to open the city gates, and the Jin army swarmed through, the soldiers that were guarding the city fled.

孙皓见大势已去，只好决定仿效刘禅。他命人将自己绑起来，率官员向西晋投降。
Sun Hao saw that this great amount of power was lost, so he decided that he would copy Liu Shan.He ordered some men to tie him up, and lead some officials to surrender.

司马炎封孙皓为归命侯。从此，三国鼎立的局面结束了，西晋建立了统一的政权。
SiMa Yan appointed Sun Hao as the duke of fate. From thereon after,the three countries were no more,and the Jin dynasty united the land.

Summary and recording of Chapter 29

2009-03-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

Indy's summary for Chapter 29

诸葛亮差一点在上方谷把司马懿和他的大军烧掉了，可是突然下雨了。司马懿再也不敢出战了。

Her recording.

sanguo29 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第二十九章智困司马懿

2009-03-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

第二十九章智困司马懿
Chapter 29: Trapping SiMa Yi

几年后，诸葛亮见蜀中粮草丰足，便上表刘禅，请求出师北伐。刘禅应允，于是诸葛亮率兵三十四万出师祁山。司马懿在渭水之滨迎敌。可是他斗不过诸葛亮，魏军惨败，司马懿自此坚守不出。
A few years after, ZhuGe Liang saw that the Shu's provisions were very abundant, and wrote a letter to Liu Chan, asking to send an expedition to the north. Liu Chan complied, so ZhuGe Liang led his army of 340,000 to Qi Shan. SiMa Yi was at the Wei River with his troops. But he could not defeat ZhuGe Liang, and the Wei army lost badly, and SiMa Yi himself didn't come out to battle.

诸葛亮见军中粮草运转不便，就设计出“木牛”“流马”，用来运输粮草。
ZhuGe Liang saw that the provisions had trouble being shipped, and devised a "Mu Niu" and "Liu Ma," and used them to ship the provisions.

司马懿知道后，命人抢来几匹木牛流马，依样仿造两千多匹，也用于搬运粮草。诸葛亮闻报命王平前去劫粮。
After SiMa Yi learned of this, and ordered his men to steal some, and copied the styles to make over 2000 copies, and used these to ship provisions as well. When ZhuGe Liang heard of this he ordered Wang Ping to raid the provisions.

魏军驾着木牛流马运粮时，王平率军杀了过来。魏军措手不及，被杀死大半。
While the Wei army tugged along the "Mu Niu" and "Liu Ma" that carried all of their provisions, Wang Ping and his army charged over. The Wei army was caught unprepared, and over half of them were killed.

王平率军扭转木牛流马的舌头后，埋伏起来。魏兵追来，发现木牛流马不会动了。
After Wang Ping led his army to twist the tongue of the "Mu Niu" and "Liu Ma", they hid to prepare an ambush. The Wei army caught up, and discovered that the Mu Niu and Liu Ma couldn't move anymore.

这时，伏兵四起，魏兵大败。王平又把木牛流马的舌头扭了回来，它们又能走了。
At this moment, the Shu soldiers got up, and the Wei army lost badly. Wang Ping twisted the tongue in the "Mu Niu" and "Liu Ma" again, and they could now move.

司马懿率军来夺粮草，不料又中埋伏。蜀将廖化没砍到司马懿，司马懿侥幸逃脱。
SiMa Yi led his army to seize the provisions, but were ambushed. A Shu general, Liao Hua, couldn't slash at SiMa Yi, and SiMa Yi escaped.

此后，司马懿再也不出兵了。诸葛亮只好屯兵种田，以便与魏军长期相持。
Afterwards, SiMa Yi never sent out his troops again. ZhuGe Liang could only make his troops work the fields, and at the same time was at a stalemate with the Wei army.

随后，诸葛亮命马岱在上方谷里埋好火药;又命魏延前去骂阵，设法引出司马懿。
After, ZhuGe Liang ordered Ma Dai to bury some gun powder in ShangFang valley; and then sent Wei Yan to curse the soldiers, a clever way to lure SiMa Yi out.

一天，魏将夏侯兄弟禀报司马懿:“看来蜀军要久住这里，如不除去，恐成日后大患。”便主动请战。司马懿应允了。
One day, the Wei generals XiaHou brothers reported back to SiMa Yi, "It looks like the Shu army is going to stay here for a while, if we don't eliminate them, I'm afraid our days will be numbered." He then started to take the lead and prepare for battle. SiMa Yi agreed.

夏侯兄弟出兵后，正遇见蜀兵假装往上方谷运粮。魏军一拥而上，蜀兵大败。粮草被魏军全部抢走，还有几名蜀兵被俘。
After the XiaHou brothers led some troops out, he saw that the Shu army was pretending to ship their supplies to the ShangFang valley. The Wei army charged toward them, and the Shu army lost badly. The supplies were taken by the Wei army, and some Shu soldiers were also captured.

司马懿从俘兵口中得知诸葛亮在上方谷，便叫部将攻祁山，自己攻上方谷。
SiMa Yi found out that ZhuGe Liang was at ShangFang, and dispatched some men to attack QiShan, while he would attack ShangFang.

众将不解，司马懿笑道:“我们烧掉蜀军的粮草，断绝他们的给养，不就胜了？”
The other generals were confused, and SiMa Yi chuckled. "If we burn the Shu army's supplies, and cut off their provisions, aren't we going to win?"

很快，司马懿和两个儿子率五千精兵，向上方谷杀去。
Swiftly, SiMa Yi and his two sons led 5,000 hand-picked soldiers, and headed towrd ShangFang.

魏延按诸葛亮的安排，遇到司马懿后，只杀了一会儿，就假装战败，退回上方谷。
Wei Yan followed ZhuGe Liang's instructions, and after meeting up with SiMa Yi only fought for a little bit, and then pretended to lose, and retreat back to ShangFang.

司马懿派人查看，知道谷内都是草房，以为真的是囤粮之地，便一直追到上方谷里。
SiMa Yi sent some men to check, and knew that in side was full of straw huts, and thought that it really was the place with all the provisions, and chased them all the way inside ShangFang.

司马懿率大军刚进上方谷，谷口就被蜀军烧断了，谷里预先埋好的火药也着了起来。
Just as SiMa Yi led his big army into ShangFang, the entrance was burned by the Shu army, and inside the gunpowder was ablaze.

司马懿惊得手足无措，看到四周没有一条路可逃，只好下马抱住两个儿子痛哭。
SiMa Yi was so shocked that he didn't know what to do, and he saw that there was no escape route, so he could only dismount his horse and cry while holding his sons.

这时，忽然狂风大作，天空下起瓢泼大雨。一转眼，满山谷的大火都被浇灭了。司马懿大喜，赶紧带人冲杀出去。
At this moment, and there was suddenly a huge gust of wind, and huge torrents of rain were pouring down. In the blink of an eye, the fire was extinguished. SiMa Yi was ecstatic, and hurriedly led his men and dashed out.

诸葛亮看到大雨救了司马懿的性命，只能哀叹老天不帮忙。
ZhuGe Liang saw that the rain had saved SiMa Yi, and sighed that the heavens weren't helping.

司马懿领兵要回大营，却发现大营已被蜀兵占领了，便慌忙向渭河方向逃去。
SiMa Yi led his army to return to the barracks, but discovered that his main camp was taken over by the Shu army, and hurriedly started escaping to the Wei River. He built a camp at the north shore.

司马懿在渭河的北岸安下营寨。从此，他不再出战，只是观察蜀军的动静。
From that point on, he never went out to battle again, and only studied the Shu army's movements.

Summary and recording of Chapter 28

2009-03-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

Indy's summary
诸葛亮用了“空城计”把司马懿吓跑了。他把司马懿弄跑了就去斩了马谡。

sanguo28 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第二十八章空城计退敌

2009-03-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

第二十八章空城计退敌

Chapter 28: The Empty City Strategy Pushes Back the Enemy

诸葛亮得知街亭失守，忙命关兴、张苞带人埋伏起来，遇到魏军，只管擂鼓呐喊，不去交战;又命姜维、马岱先去山谷埋伏，掩护各路人马撤退。

After ZhuGe Liang heard that JieTing had been lost, and hurriedly ordered Guan Xing and Zhang Bao to bring some men and set up an ambush, and when they meet the Wei army, they just shout and pound their drums, and not actually go to battle; and ordered Jiang Wei and Ma Dai to go to a valley to prepare an ambush, and then saw to it that his men retreated.

蜀军的粮草都存在西城。为了不把这些粮草留给司马懿，诸葛亮率众前去搬运。

The Shu army's provisions were all stored in XiCheng. And because they weren't willing to hand over their provisions to SiMa Yi, ZhuGe Liang led the other soldiers to move them.

运粮的兵将走后，蜀营只剩文官和老兵。这时探马来报，司马懿率大军攻打过来。

After the soldiers who shipped the provisions left, the Shu encampment was only left with civil officers and old soldiers. At this moment a scout came back to report, he said that SiMai Yi was leading a big army to attack.

诸葛亮登城一看，发现魏军兵分两路向西城蜂拥而来。诸葛亮镇定地说:“大家不要惊慌，我自有退兵之计。”

ZhuGe Liang climbed on the city walls to look, and he saw that the Wei army was heading to XiCheng using two routes. ZhuGe Liang spoke calmly. "Everyone do not panic, I have a plan."

诸葛亮命士兵隐藏起来；大开四门，每门派二十名军士扮成百姓，洒扫街道。

ZhuGe Liang ordered his troops to hide; and opened all four city gates, and at each gate 20 soldiers were ordered to disguise as civilians, and pretend to clean the streets.

司马懿率军来到城下，看到诸葛亮悠闲地抚琴，城门内外的百姓低头打扫街道。

SiMa Yi led his army toward the city, and saw ZhuGe Liang leisurely playing an instrument, and within the city walls were just civilians sweeping away along the streets.

司马懿顿时起了疑心，忙命军队撤退。司马懿的儿子司马昭说:“也许是城中无兵，诸葛亮故意装样子给我们看的。”

SiMa Yi grew suspicious, and ordered his men to retreat. SiMa Yi's son, SiMa Zhao stated, "Maybe there are no soldiers in the city, and ZhuGe Liang is just putting on a show for us."

司马懿说:“诸葛亮一生谨慎，从来不冒险。今天城门大开，里面肯定有伏兵。”于是两路魏军全部撤退。

SiMa Yi replied, "ZhuGe Liang has always been calculating, he never risks anything. Today the gates are wide open, but inside there should be an ambush." So the entire army all retreated.

看着魏军远去，随从的官员惊魂初定，都对诸葛亮佩服得五体投地。诸葛亮说：“我们人少，如果弃城逃走，肯定会被活捉。”

Seeing that the Wei army was far off, the officials were all excited, and praised ZhuGe Liang about his clever skills. ZhuGe Liang said, "We are small in numbers, if we flee the city, we will definately be captured."

诸葛亮料定司马懿发现自己中计后，还会再回来，便让西城百姓随蜀军回到汉中。司马懿正往小路撤退，忽然关兴、张苞杀了出来。司马懿以为中了埋伏，不敢恋战，率兵退回街亭。

ZhuGe Liang figured that when SiMa Yi finds out he was tricked, he would come back, and told all the civilians to go back to HanZhong with the soldiers. SiMa Yi was just retreating along a trail, and suddenly Guan Xing and Zhang Bao charged out. SiMa Yi thought he was being ambushed, and didn't want to fight for a long time, and led his army back to JieTing.

司马懿见蜀军退兵了，打听后才知道，诸葛亮当时只有二千五百人，根本没设埋伏。司马懿说：“我不如诸葛亮！”

SiMa Yi saw that the Shu army had also retreated, and then he found out, that ZhuGe Liang had only 2500 people, and didn't set up an ambush. SiMa Yi said, "ZhuGe Liang is too good for me!"

回到汉中，马谡跪到诸葛亮面前请罪。诸葛亮怒道:“我若不斩你，怎么服众？”

After returning to HanZhong, Ma Su knelt in front of ZhuGe Liang to admit his errors. ZhuGe Liang was angry. "If I don't kill you, how do I calm down the others?"

马谡哭着说:“如今我自知罪大，死而无怨。”于是诸葛亮挥泪斩了马谡。

Ma Su started sobbing. "Today I must confess that my crimes have been very high, and I am willing to die for them." So ZhuGe Liang wiped away his tears and killed Ma Su.

诸葛亮认为街亭失守，自己应负主要责任，于是上表后主刘禅，请求革去他的职位。

ZhuGe Liang saw that because JieTing was lost, so he should take responsibility for it, so he wrote a letter to Liu Chan, and pleaded for him to take away his position.

刘禅准奏，贬诸葛亮为右将军，总督蜀军。此后，诸葛亮厉兵秣马，准备再出祁山。

Liu Chan agreed, and demoted ZhuGe Liang, to watch over the Shu army. Afterwards, ZhuGe Liang trained the soldiers and took care of the horses, to prepare to go past QiShan once again.

Summary of Chapter 27, recording of Chapter 26 and 27

2009-03-05T20:50:00.000-08:00

马谡，一个缺少战经验的将，被诸葛亮派去守街亭。可是因为他没有经验，失去了街亭。

Is it close to what Chapter 27 says?

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第二十七章马谡失街亭

2009-02-27T00:10:00.000-08:00

第二十七章马谡失街亭
Chapter 27: Ma Su Loses JieTing

诸葛亮南征回来，见朝野清明，国富民足，就积极准备北伐，想实现统一中原的抱负。建兴五年三月，诸葛亮率领三十万大军出师伐魏。
ZhuGe Liang returned from an expedition to the south,saw that the government was clear and bright,and everyone was content,and immediately started preparing for an expedition to the north,and wanted to fulfill his dream of uniting the middle plains.In the 5th year of the 3rd month of the JianXing era,and then ZhuGe Liang led his army of 300,000 soldiers to attack Wei.

诸葛亮攻下不少城池，并用反间计破了天水郡，收降智勇双全的姜维。
ZhuGe Liang attacked many villages,and used a strategy to conquer TianShui,and collected the brave and wisdom-filled Jiang Wei.

魏帝曹睿闻讯十分惊慌，赶紧加封司马懿为平西大都督，领兵二十万前去御敌。
The emperor of Wei, Cao Rui, was alarmed when he heard this,and hurriedly promoted SiMa Yi to commander-in-chief,and led an army of 200,000 people to go ward off the enemy.

诸葛亮猜想司马懿肯定攻打街亭，截断自己的运粮路线，于是召集众将，询问谁愿意把守街亭。
ZhuGe Liang guessed that SiMa Yi would attack JieTing,and cut off his supply routes,and called upon the generals,and asked who wanted to guard JieTing.

话音刚落，参军马谡站出来请战。马谡熟读兵书，而且颇有心得，但缺少实战经验。
When ZhuGe Liang finished,Ma Su volunteered himself to battle.Ma Su had read and studied books on war,and had a lot of understanding,but he lacked experience.

诸葛亮有些不放心，马谡说:“街亭决不会失守。”说完立下了军令状。
ZhuGe Liang had some qualms,but Ma Su said, "JieTing will not fall."and once he said those words he signed a military contract.

诸葛亮拨给马谡两万余名精兵，派王平协助，并嘱咐必须在紧要路口扎下营寨。
ZhuGe Liang assigned him 20,000 well-trained soldiers,and ordered Wang Ping to help,and build barracks at important crossings.

来到街亭，马谡查看了地形，决定把营寨扎在山上。
After arriving at JieTing,Ma Su scanned his surroundings,and decided to build the barracks in the mountains.

王平劝马谡应该按照丞相的吩咐，在要道口扎营。可马谡根本不听王平的劝阻。
Wang Ping insisted Ma Su to follow the prime minister's orders,and build the barracks at the road crossings.But Ma Su ignored Wang Ping's words.

王平只好带五千兵马在山的两边扎营，随后画好地图，连夜派人给诸葛亮送去。
So Wang Ping could only bring 5,000 of their troops to build the encampment in the mountains,and afterwards started drawing the maps,ordered some men to deliver the map to ZhuGe Liang that very night.

为占领街亭，司马懿派人打探情报，结果得知蜀军已驻扎在街亭。司马懿叹道:“诸葛亮果然厉害。”
In order to capture JieTing,SiMa Yi dispatched some men to gather information,and learned that the Shu army was stationed around JieTing.SiMa Yi exclaimed, "ZhuGe Liang really is smart!"

司马懿领兵来到街亭，见马谡竟在山上扎营，就率兵围住小山，并截断蜀军水源。
SiMa Yi led his troops to JieTing,and saw that Ma Su had constructed his barracks in the mountains,and led his army to surround the small mountain,and cut-off the Shu army's water supply.

蜀兵久困，却冲不下山来。马谡十分烦躁，命士兵强行突围，否则格杀勿论。
The Shu army was surrounded for awhile,but could not charge down the mountain.and Ma Su was very anxious,and ordered his troops to burst out of the encirclement,or else they'll get killed in the blink of an eye.

蜀军刚冲下去，就被魏兵打了回来。王平想派兵去援助，却被张郃的兵马拦住了。
Just as the Shu army charged down the mountain,they were beaten back by the Wei army.Wang Ping wanted to send reinforcements,but was blocked off by Zhang He.

围到半夜，山上没水，司马懿又放火烧山。马谡见街亭守不住了，便带领一支人马冲下山，杀出重围，向西边逃去。
In the middle of the night,there was no water on the mountain,and SiMa Yi had set the mountain on fire.Ma Su saw that JieTing couldn't be defended anymore.so he led his men with him to charge down the moutainside,and they burst through the encirclement,escaping to the west.

魏兵紧追不舍，幸亏王平、高翔和魏延来救，马谡才保全了性命。
The Wei army started relentlessly chasing after them,and thankfully Wang Ping, Gao Xiang and Wei Yan came to the rescue,otherwise Ma Su would have lost his life.

这边诸葛亮看过地图，正想另派将领替换马谡，却听探马报告说街亭已经失守。
Meanwhile, after ZhuGe Liang had scanned the map,he wanted to replace Ma Su with another general,but then he heard that JieTing was already no more.

Summaries of Chapter 25 and 26

2009-02-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

Indy's summaries

Chapter 25
蜀国元气大伤因为陆逊打败了他们，刘备就生病了。他死之前把他的儿子们交给了诸葛亮。诸葛亮保证他会帮助蜀国。

Chapter 26
当南蛮王孟获被诸葛亮七擒七放，他不服。可是他最后被抓了才心服口服。

第二十六章七擒南蛮王

2009-02-15T14:19:00.000-08:00

第二十六章七擒南蛮王
Chyaputa 26: Capture King of Nan Man Times Seven

诸葛亮在成都，把蜀国治理得国富民强、建兴三年，诸葛亮得报，南蛮王盂获勾结建宁太守雍阁等人起兵谋反，于是诸葛亮亲自率军征讨。
While ZhuGe Liang stayed at ChengDu,he successfully made the State of Shu a wealthy and properous country, and in year 3 of JianXing Era,when ZhuGe Liang heard the news,the king of NanMan allied with the governor of JiangNing to rebel,ZhuGe Liang himself led his army on an expedition.

孟获迎战蜀将王平。王平与孟获打了几回合，就假装失败逃跑。孟获不知是计，紧追不舍，结果进入蜀军的包围圈。
Meng Hou battled against the Shu general Wang Ping.After exchanging some blows,Wang Ping pretended to flee.Meng Huo was stupid,so he immediately started chasing after,which resulted in him being surrounded by Shu soldiers.

就这样，孟获被魏延带兵活捉了。诸葛亮放被俘的蛮兵回家，蛮兵十分感动。
So it was like this,Meng Huo was captured.ZhuGe Liang freed the other prisoners,and the released war prisoners were touched.

孟获表示不服，于是诸葛亮给他解开绳索，让他回去准备再战。
But Meng Huo didn't admit that he had lost,so ZhuGe Liang freed him as well,and told him to go back and prepare for another fight.

孟获请来两洞元帅阿会喃、董荼那。董荼那作战不力，被孟获重打一百军棍。
Meng Huo brought two marshals, A Hui Nan and DongTu Na.DongTu Na wasn't very good at his job,and was punished with 100 lashes.

当晚，董荼那带人捆了孟获，献给诸葛亮。孟获仍然不服：“我被自家人捉住，不算你本事高明。”，诸葛亮再次放了他。
That night,DongTu Na led some people to tie up Meng Huo,and present him to ZhuGe Liang.Meng Huo, of course, was still not willing to admit defeat. "I was betrayed by my own people,that doesn't count as a win on your side." ZhuGe Liang released him again.

孟获让弟弟孟优假意给蜀军献宝，以做内应。见到孟优等人，诸葛亮设宴款待。
Meng Huo told his little brother Meng You to pretend to give the Shu army a treasure,and make it like a Trojan horse.Upon seeing Meng You and his people,ZhuGe Liang held a banquet.

当晚，孟获领兵偷袭蜀营，却发现孟优等人都醉倒了。这时，赵云率兵杀来。
That night,Meng Huo led his army to raid the Shu camps,but discovered that Meng You's men were all drunk silly. At this moment,Zhao Yun came charging over with an army.

孟获突出重围，来到泸水岸边，正好遇到几个蛮兵划小船来接他。孟获慌忙登船，还没站稳就被绑了起来。原来这些蛮兵是蜀兵假扮的。
Meng Huo burst through the encirclement,and arrived at the shore of a river,and met some stray soldiers who came over on a little boat to pick him up.Meng Huo hurriedly hopped on board,and hadn't even stood upright before he was tied up.It turned out that the stray soldiers were Shu soldiers in disguise.

孟获第三次被擒，还是不服。诸葛亮又放了他。盂获借来十万蛮兵再次攻打蜀军。
This was the third time that Meng Huo was captured,and was still unrelenting.ZhuGe Liang released him again.Meng Huo called upon 100,000 more soldiers to attack the Shu.

等蛮兵松懈了，诸葛亮出奇兵，大败孟获，将他追到树林中。
when Meng Huo's soldiers slackened their positions,ZhuGe Liang led out some soldiers for a surprise attack,and was victorious against Meng Huo,and chased him into the forest.

孟获见诸葛亮坐小车出来，想冲过去抓他，却踏入陷阱。诸葛亮第四次放了他。
When Meng Huo saw ZhuGe Liang riding a cart over to where he was,he tried to catch ZhuGe Liang,but failed because he fell through a traphole.ZhuGe Liang released him for the fourth time.

孟获投奔银冶洞洞主杨锋，杨锋却将他捆交诸葛亮。诸葛亮第五次放了他。
Meng Huo fled to YingYeDong to seek Yang Feng for help,but Yang Feng tied him up and handed him over to ZhuGe Liang.ZhuGe Liang released him again (for the fifth time).

孟获请来木鹿大王。木鹿大王驱赶大群猛兽向蜀军进攻，诸葛亮用画好巨兽的盾牌迎敌。真兽见到假兽反而害怕，蜀军大胜。
Meng Huo invited KING MU LU.KING MU LU rode a Roman horse-drawn chariot followed by his army of demons as they charged towards the Shu army,ZhuGe Liang used his prepared shields with monsters drawn on them to charge at them.The real demons were frightened of the fake ones,and the Shu soldiers won by a great margin.

随后，孟获等人来投降。诸葛亮知道有诈，令人拿下，果然发现孟获等人身藏利刃。诸葛亮知道孟获不服，又把他放了。
Afterwords,Meng Huo came to surrender.ZhuGe Liang knew it was a hoax,and ordered his men to seize them,and it turned out that Meng Huo and his men were all carrying weapons.ZhuGe Liang knew that Meng Huo would still not admit to his loss,and released him once again.

孟获请来乌戈国藤甲军。诸葛亮放火打败他们，捉住孟获后，还想放他回去。
Meng Huo invited WuGe Country's armor-made-from-vines army. ZhuGe Liang simply started a fire to beat them,and after capturing Meng Huo,and still wanted to let him go.

这次，孟获流着泪说:“七擒七放，自古都没有这样的事情。”自此心服口服。
This time,"Seven captures, seven releases," Meng Hu sobbed,"Since the ancient times there has never been such a situation before."He finally gave up in both mind and spirit.

第二十五章托孤白帝城

2009-02-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

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第二十五章托孤白帝城
Chapter 25: Liu Bei's Will at BaiDi City

刘备好不容易逃到白帝城，这时马良也从成都赶回来，把诸葛亮的话告诉给刘备。刘备感慨地说:“我早听丞相的话，就不至于有今天的惨败了！”
Liu Bei finally escaped to BaiDi City, and at this moment Ma Liang also hurried back from ChengDu, and told Liu Bei what ZhuGe Liang had said. Liu Bei was touched. "If I had listened to him earlier, then there wouldn't be this humiliating defeat!"

与陆逊一战，蜀汉元气大伤。刘备悔恨成疾，一病不起。
When battling with Lu Xun, the state of Shu has suffered heavy blows. Liu Bei was seized with remorse, and became dreadfully ill.

刘备自知快要死了，就派人到成都召诸葛亮等人，连夜赶到白帝城，听受遗命。
Liu Bei knew he would die soon, so he sent some men to ChengDu to call ZhuGe Liang, who came to BaiDi City that very same night, and listened to Liu Bei's will.

诸葛亮让太子刘禅留守成都，自己带着刘备的两个小儿子刘永、刘理来见刘备。
ZhuGe Liang told Liu Chan, the crown prince, to stay behind in ChengDu, and he would go bring Liu Bei's two younger sons Liu Yong and Liu Li to see Liu Bei.

刘备对诸葛亮说:“我就要死了，太子年幼，只有托付给丞相了。”说完泪流满面。
Liu Bei told ZhuGe Liang, "I'm going to die, the crown prince is youthful and young, I can only give him to you to take care of." once said Liu Bei started weeping.

刘备又说:“马谡只会纸上谈兵，不能大用。”接着，他写起遗诏。
He said, "Ma Su is an armchair strategist, and is therefore useless." Following that, he started writing his will.

随后，刘备让群臣进来，把遗诏递给诸葛亮。诸葛亮等人哭拜不止。刘备对诸葛亮嘱咐道:“刘禅软弱，如先生认为不可辅佐，就自立为王。以先生的才能，定能安邦定国。”
Then, Liu Bei told the other officials to come in, and gave his will to ZhuGe Liang. ZhuGe Liang and the others could only cry and bow down. "Liu Chan is really weak," Liu Bei informed ZhuGe Liang, If you believe that he can't be helped, then you can become the emperor. With your skill, you can lead our country to peace."

诸葛亮听后，手足无措，流泪跪拜道:“臣怎敢不尽全力辅佐后主、誓死效忠呢？”
After listening, ZhuGe Liang didn't know what to do, so he started weeping and knelt down. "How can I not give it my all, with the best of my abilities?"

刘备请诸葛亮坐下，对两个儿子说:“我死之后，你们兄弟三人要视丞相如父。”
Liu Bei told ZhuGe Liang to sit, and told his sons, "After I die, you guys need to view ZhuGe Liang as your father."

诸葛亮惶恐地说:“臣肝脑涂地，也难报陛下的知遇之恩啊。”刘备这才心安。
ZhuGe Liang spoke up. "I am willing to sacrifice my life, to fulfill your desires." Liu Bei relaxed.

刘备死后，诸葛亮回到成都，宣读了遗诏，请刘禅即皇帝位。
After Liu Bei passed away, ZhuGe Liang returned to ChengDu, and read the will, and proclaimed Liu Chan to be emperor.

消息传到魏国，曹丕听从司马懿的建议，联络辽东鲜卑、南蛮和孙权，兵分五路，向蜀国大举进攻。
The news spread to Wei Country, Cao Pi listened to SiMa Yi's suggestion, and talked to Xian Bei, Nan Man, and Sun Quan, who split their troops to go five different routes, and headed toward Shu Country to attack.

后主刘禅闻报后大惊，急忙来见诸葛亮。诸葛亮称已想好退四路兵之计，只有孙权一路，
还不知派谁去。第二天上朝，诸葛亮见邓芝能言善辩，就让他出使东吴。
When Liu Chan heard of this he was greatly surprised, and hurriedly went to go see ZhuGe Liang. ZhuGe Liang thought of a plan to block four routes, except for Sun Quan's, because he didn't know yet who he would send. The next morning, ZhuGe Liang met Deng Zhi, who was god-like in his supreme powers of persuasion, and told him to go as an ambassador to DongWu

这时，孙权虽答应曹丕起兵相助，但还在观望，迟迟没有发兵。
At this moment, even though Sun Quan agreed to help Cao Pi, he was still looking, and in the end didn't send any troops.

不久，诸葛亮计退魏军的四路人马。此时恰好邓芝来议和，孙权便决定联蜀抗魏。
Shortly after, ZhuGe Liang came up with a plan to push back Wei's soldiers. and at the last minute Deng Zhi arrived to talk, and Sun Quan agreed to side with the State of Shu to defend against Wei.

该死的温柔?

2009-02-04T13:17:00.001-08:00

I heard Indy was listening to YouTube, then she started to sing along: 该死的温柔. I asked her a few times what she was singing, she kept giving me the same answer.

She watches and listens to YouTube, and she knows that I don't like those copycat Asian teen bands. For one thing, no one understand what they sing and they don't have much style. Is this the way she tries to annoy me?

BTW, the line means: damned tenderness. Well, close enough.

Summary of Chapter 24

2009-01-31T23:09:00.000-08:00

Here's Indy's summary, and recording.

因为刘备做了一件傻事（他把他的营寨都连了起来），陆逊把刘备的营寨都烧掉了。刘备只好逃到白帝城了。

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第二十四章陆逊烧连营

2009-01-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

第二十四章陆逊烧连营

Chapter 24: Lu Xun Burns Down Barracks

刘备报仇心切，亲自率百万大军浩浩荡荡地杀奔东吴，一路势如破竹。孙权见势不妙，赶紧将张飞的脑袋和范疆、张达交给刘备，请求和好，共同灭魏。

Revenge took over Liu Bei's heart, and he himself led millions of troops charging toward DongWu, and swiftly went on his way. Sun Quan saw that things weren't working in his favor, and hurriedly had Fan Jiang, Zhang Da, and Zhang Fei's head handed over to Liu Bei, asking for peace, and work together to vanquish WeiGuo.

刘备杀死范疆、张达后，怒气未消，仍要灭掉吴国。孙权大惊，这时有位大臣极力推荐陆逊领兵御敌。

After Liu Bei mercilessly slaughtered Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, his anger did not vanish, and still wanted to crush DongWu (even more so than before). Sun Quan was greatly shocked. And at this moment a minister suggested they use Lu Xun to fend the enemy off.

陆逊虽是读书人，但是智谋出众。于是孙权命人筑起高坛，拜陆逊为大都督。

Even though Lu Xun was a scholar, his wisdom was very outstanding. So Sun Quan ordered for some men to build a tall platform, and ceremoniously make Lu Xun the commander in chief.

刘备没把书生出身的陆逊放在眼里，攻打得更急了。陆逊只是坚守，决不出战。

Liu Bei belittled Lu Xun, who was a scholar, and started attacking more fiercely. Lu Xun didn't rise up to the challenge, and therefore didn't go out to fight.

蜀汉大军从巫峡建平起，直接彝陵地界，扎下四十多个营寨，连绵七百余里，与吴军对峙了七八个月。

Shu Han started constructing it from WuXua, and it went directly along the YiLing boundary, and built over 40 barracks there, and they were all together 700 miles in length, and they clashed with DongWu for 7 to 8 months.

转眼到了夏天，天气酷热，蜀兵叫苦不迭，于是刘备将营寨挪到茂密的山林里。

Summer came in the blink of an eye, the weather was boiling hot, and the soldiers moaned and whined at the weather, so Liu Bei moved the camps to a cooler place within the forests.

谋士马良极力反对，可刘备不听劝阻。马良便画下扎寨的地形图，送交诸葛亮。诸葛亮说：“汉朝气数将近，假如陆逊用火攻、怎么解救？”

The advisor, Ma Liang, argued against the decision, but Liu Bei wouldn't hear of it. Ma Liang drew a map of the barracks, and gave it to ZhuGe Liang. ZhuGe Liang said, "The Han dynasty is almost over, if Lu Xun uses fire to attack, how are we going to rescue them?"

诸葛亮看完地图，让马良连夜去见刘备，改屯兵营寨，如兵败就去白帝城暂避。

After reading the map, ZhuGe Liang told Ma Liang to go meet Liu Bei that very night, and alter the troops' camps, if Liu Bei loses then go to BaiDi City to standby.

陆逊见刘备移寨山林，先派出一队人马到蜀营试探性地进攻，并让他们大败而归。

Lu Xun saw that Liu Bei had moved his barracks to the woods, and sent some men to attack them to spy, and told them to lose on purpose.

蜀军取胜后，以为陆逊的军队不堪一击，更加大意了。陆逊却因此探得蜀军虚实。

After Liu Bei's soldiers won, they thought that Lu Xun's army was weak, and were even more careless. Subsequently, Lu Xun then found out the actual situation.

陆逊在帐内做好部署，让士兵一路用船运载茅草，一路攻北岸，一路攻南岸，每人各自携带火种和引火的东西，到蜀营时顺风点火。

Lu Xun stayed in his tent to finish deciding battle arrangements, and told his soldiers to use boats to transport straw, and one group would attack the northern shore, and another would attack the southern shore, each person brought with him fuel and things to start fire, and upon arriving at the enemys' camps started lighting fires.

到了晚上，忽然刮起东南风。陆逊命士兵们火速向蜀军大营进发。

At night, wind suddenly started blowing from the southeast. Lu Xun ordered his men to start attacking the Shu soldiers asap.

他们在蜀营点起大火，很快，连在一起的蜀军营寨变成一片火海，蜀军死伤无数。

They started huge fires at the barracks, and swiftly, the connected barracks were all drowned in an ocean of fire, and countless of Liu Bei's troops died and/or were injured.

刘备急忙上马，却被吴将徐盛截住。幸好张飞的儿子张苞杀入重围，救出刘备。这时，忽听喊声震天，就见吴军从前后包抄过来。刘备叹道:“朕今日命丧此地。”

Liu Bei hurriedly mounted his horse, but was stopped by a DongWu general by the name of Xu Sheng. Luckily Zhang Fei's son Zhang Bao charged through the ranks, and saved Liu Bei. At this moment, there was suddenly a bone-rattling cry, and everywhere DongWu soldiers were seen rampaging from all sides. Liu Bei sighed. "I am going to die here."

紧急关头，赵云赶了过来，一枪刺死吴将朱然，救出刘备，往白帝城逃去。陆逊怕曹魏偷袭东吴，不敢追赶，下令撤军。

Just as things seemed hopeless, Zhao Yun arrived, and with one thrust of his spear killed the general Zhu Ran in a shower of red, and saved Liu Bei, then started fleeing toward BaiDi City. Lu Xun feared that the state of Wei would sneak attack DongWu, and didn't chase after, so he ordered his men to retreat.

Summaries of Chapter 22 and Chapter 23

2009-01-23T17:39:00.000-08:00

Indy's summaries

Chapter 22

关羽遇到了埋伏被孙权捉到了，然后孙权把他除掉了。孙权想要刘备他们以为曹操杀了关羽，可是曹操发现了，然后病死了。

Chapter 23

因为范疆和张达怕张飞要杀他们，他们俩想把张飞杀了。张飞喝醉了，所以范疆和张达可以把他杀了。刘备听说张飞死了发誓要给他和关羽报仇。

第二十三章张飞遭暗害

2009-01-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

Indy's recording, a playful with her friend K.

sanguo23 by Indigo

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第二十三章张飞遭暗害
Chapter 23 Zhang Fei's Misfortunate Encounter With Murder

刘备得知关羽被害，哭倒在地，好半天才醒转过来。他发誓要消灭东吴，替关羽报仇。于是他一面亲自操练兵马，一面加封张飞为车骑将军，让他同时起兵。
When Liu Bei heard of Guan Yu's death, he fell hysterically to the ground weeping, and didn't come back to consiousness for awhile. Liu Bei vowed to himself that he would destroy DongWu, and get revenge for Guan Yu. So he trained his troops, and promoted Zhang Fei, and told him to muster more soldiers.

关羽之死令张飞悲愤不已，张飞终日以酒浇愁，鞭打士卒，以发泄心中愤懑。
Guan Yu's death made Zhang Fei really sad, so he drank wine constantly to wash away the pain, and in his rage whipped soldiers, to vent the resentment in his heart.

这天，张飞来到成都，一见刘备便放声痛哭，问刘备何时才能伐吴，给关羽报仇。
One day, Zhang Fei arrived at ChengDu, and once he saw Liu Bei he started crying uncontrollably, and asked Liu Bei when they would get to attack DongWu, and avenge Guan Yu's death.

刘备让张飞率兵从阆中出发，自己率兵在江州与他会合，共同伐吴。张飞临走前，刘备一再叮嘱他不要饮酒误事。
Liu Bei told Zhang Fei to lead the troops out from LangZhong, and he himself would lead his army to JiangZhou and meet him there, and they would both attack DongWu. Before Zhang Fei left, Liu Bei reminded him once again to not drink wine and mess things up.

回到阆中，张飞令范疆、张达三日内制齐白旗白甲。二人完不成任务，请求宽限。
After returning to LangZhong, Zhang Fei ordered Fan Jiang and Zhang Da to make white flags and armor within three days. The two couldn't complete this task in time, and asked for more time.

张飞大怒：“我恨不得今天就发兵报仇，你们竟敢违抗军令！”将二人绑在大树上，各鞭打五十下。范疆、张达被打得鲜血直流。
Zhang Fei was furious. "I wanted this to be the day we go and get our revenge, but noooo, you guys can't even complete this order!" he then promptly had the two tied to a tree, and they both got 50 lashes. Fan Jiang and Zhang Da were whipped so hard blood flowed down like waterfalls.

打完后，张飞说:“明天一定要备齐，否则杀了你俩示众。”说完，转身回帐。随后，范疆、张达被手下军士扶回营中。
After the whipping, Zhang Fei said, "The flags and armor better be prepared by tomorrow, otherwise I'll kill you in front of everyone else." And with those lovely parting words, he left. Afterwards, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da were escorted back to the camp.

范疆说:“明天我们肯定备不齐白甲、白旗。只有杀死张飞，我们才有活路。”
Fan Jiang said, "We can't make all these by tomorrow for sure. I say we just kill Zhang Fei, so we can have a chance to live."

不过，范疆担心打不过张飞，张达说:“如果他喝醉了，我们就有机会下手。”
However, Fan Jiang worried that their strength couldn't match up to Zhang Fei, but Zhang Da assured him. "If he gets drunk, then we'll use this as our chance to finish him!''

当晚，张飞又想起关羽，顿时觉得烦躁不安。他又喝得大醉，在大帐中睡着了。
That night, Zhang Fei thought of Guan Yu again, and started feeling restless and anxious. He drank so much he was drunk silly, and fell asleep then and there.

半夜里，范疆、张达对守卫谎称有重要军情禀报，于是顺利地进入张飞的大帐。
In the middle of the night, Fan Jiang and Zhang Da told the sentries that they had important matter to discuss, so they easily got into Zhang Fei's room.

他们见张飞在昏睡，抽出短刀就要下手，可走近却发现张飞正大睁着眼睛。
The two men saw that Zhang Fei was sleeping, so they got out their swords and were about to strike, but as they neared Zhang Fei they saw that his eyes were open.

范疆、张达以为张飞醒了，吓得不敢动手。过了一会儿，他们听到张飞鼾声如雷，才知道他能睁着眼睛睡觉。
Fan Jiang and Zhang Da thought that Zhang Fei was awake, and were so scared that didn't dare make a move. A moment passed, and they heard Zhang Fei's thunderous snores, when they realized that Zhang Fei could sleep with his eyes open.

于是，范疆一刀刺死了张飞，张达用刀割下张飞的脑袋，二人连夜逃往东吴去了。
So, Fan Jiang killed Zhang Fei with one stab, Zhang Da used his sword to cut off Zhang Fei's head, and the two of them fled to DongWu.

刘备听说张飞遇害，放声痛哭。他发誓要消灭东吴，为关羽、张飞报仇。
After Liu Bei heard of Zhang Fei's demise, he wept his heart out. He swore to himself that he would crush DongWu, and avenge Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's deaths.

孙权听说刘备要攻打他，忙派诸葛瑾去求和，说愿意交还荆州。可是刘备一口回绝，一心要出兵报杀弟之仇。
After Sun Quan found out that Liu Bei was going to attack him, and hurriedly dispatched ZhuGe Jin to ask for a truce, and they were willing to trade in JingZhou. But Liu Bei angrily rejected them, and determindly gathered up soldiers to avenge his brothers.

第二十二章兵败走麦城

2009-01-13T22:37:00.000-08:00

sanguo22 by Indigo

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(Indy's voice recording)

第二十二章兵败走麦城
Chapter 22: The Defeated Flee to MaiCheng

曹操见孙权夺下荆州，急忙提兵前往樊城。关羽迎敌时因箭伤初愈，臂力不支，无法取胜。这时曹仁打开城门杀了过来，关羽只好领兵奔往襄阳。
Cao Cao saw that Sun Quan had taken over JingZhou, so he hurriedly led the troops to FanCheng. While Guan Yu was fighting off the enemy his arrow injury was still recovering, so he wasn't as strong as before, and couldn't win. At this moment Cao Ren exploded from the city gate, and Guan Yu could only lead his army toward XiangYang.

路上，有探子报告荆州、公安、南郡都被东吴占领了。关羽大怒，率兵来夺荆州。
Along the way, a sentry reported that JingZhou, GongAn as well as NanJun were all conquered by DongWu. Guan Yu was enraged, and led his troops to take back JingZhou.

吕蒙得报后，厚待荆州将士家人。关羽的将士得知家人平安，不时有人逃回荆州。
After Lu Meng got the report, and generously treated JingZhou's soldiers' families. After Guan Yu's soldiers knew their families were safe and sound, now and then some soldiers would desert the army and flee to JingZhou.

关羽一路上看到许多将士逃亡，更加气愤，大意之下中了埋伏。经过奋力拼杀，关羽的身边仅剩三百多人。
As Guan Yu watched his men desert him, he would be more incensed, and carelessly walked into an ambush. After much fighting, only 300 plus soldiers were left by Guan Yu's side.

关羽来到麦城，派人向上庸守将孟达求救。孟达一向对关羽不满，不愿出兵。
Guan Yu arrived at MaiCheng, and sent some men to ask General Meng Da for help. Meng Da didn't like Guan Yu too much, and refused to help.

刘备的义子刘封想派兵救援，孟达却从中挑拨，因此刘封也不愿出兵。
Liu Bei's foster son, Liu Feng, wanted to help them, but Meng Da instigated something, so Liu Feng also didn't send reinforcements.

关羽等不来救兵，粮食也快吃完了。东吴派诸葛瑾前来劝降，却被关羽骂了出去。
Guan Yu didn't receive any reinforcements, and the food was almost gone. DongWu sent ZhuGe Jin to convince them to surrender, but was only screamed and cursed at by Guan Yu.

孙权见劝降不成，下令围住麦城。关羽不愿死守，让周仓率余兵坚守麦城，自己带关平等人从北门突围。
Sun Quan saw that the persuasion to surrender failed, and ordered for MaiCheng to be surrounded. Guan Yu wasn't willing to defend the city to the death, and told Zhou Cang to lead the remaining soldiers to defend MaiCheng, and he himself would go from the north gate and try to get out of the surrounding soldiers.

没走多久，关羽一行遇到埋伏。关羽不敢久战，杀了几回合，就率兵向西逃去。
He didn't go that far, when Guan Yu came upon an ambush. Guan Yu didn't want to battle too long, and attacked a few times, then led his soldiers to flee to the west.

逃至峡谷，两边的伏兵又冲了出来，用长钩和套索将关羽绊倒，活捉了他。
They fled to a canyon, when the enemy came charging from both sides, and they used lassoes and hooks to make Guan Yu fall, and captured him alive.

关平孤身奋战，也被吴军抓住了。关羽宁死不降，孙权只好将关羽、关平处死了。
Guan Ping fought bravely, and was also captured. Guan Yu refused to surrender, Sun Quan could only execute them instead.

张昭献计，将关羽的首级送到许昌，让刘备以为杀关羽是曹操的主意，痛恨曹操。
Zhang Zhao came up with a plan, to bring Guan Yu's head to XuChang, and let Liu Bei believe that killing Guan Yu was Cao Cao's idea, and hate Cao Cao.

孙权依计行事。曹操得到关羽的首级，非常高兴。司马懿识破东吴的计策，劝告曹操。曹操这才醒悟。司马懿说：“东吴想嫁祸我们，我们应厚葬关羽。”
When Cao Cao received Guan Yu's head, he was very happy indeed. Sima Yi saw through DongWu's clever plans, and went to warn Cao Cao. It was then that Cao Cao realized that he was being tricked. SiMa Yi realized, "DongWu wants to place the blame on us, so we should give a proper funeral to Guan Yu."

此后，曹操总是梦到关羽，头痛难忍。华佗建议用斧子劈开他的头骨，祛除病根。
Afterwards, Cao Cao always dreamed of Guan Yu, and had many migraines. Hua Yuo suggested that they use an ax to crack open his skull, and eliminate the root of the problem.

曹操以为华佗要害自己，将他折磨至死。不久，孙权来信请曹操称帝，被曹操拒绝。
Cao Cao thought that Hua Tuo wanted to kill him, and had him tortured to death. Shortly after, Sun Quan sent a letter inviting Cao Cao to become an emperor, but Cao Cao refused.

没多久，曹操病重身亡，世子曹丕继位。曹丕逼迫汉献帝把王位让给了他。
It wasn't that long, when Cao Cao died of his illness, Cao Cao's song, Cao Pi, succeeded his position. Cao Pi forced the Emperor Xian of Han to give his title to him.

Summaries of Chapter 20 and 21

2009-01-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

Indy's summaries.

Chapter 20

当曹操听说刘备夺得西川，他自己想去攻下西川。可是，黄忠和严颜把天荡山（天荡山是曹操囤粮的地方）占领了，也把曹操的粮食都烧掉了。

Chapter 21

刘备夺取和当了汉中王以后，曹操跟孙权一同想攻打荆州，把汉中夺取回来。孙权的大将，鲁蒙，骗了刘备的士兵，取下了荆州。

第二十一章奇谋夺荆州

2008-12-30T21:44:00.000-08:00

sanguo21 by Indigo

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第二十一章奇谋夺荆州
Chapter 21: A Brilliant Strategy to Seize JingZhou

老将黄忠、严颜获胜的捷报传到成都，诸葛亮、刘备都很高兴，于是下令立即发兵夺取汉中。曹操亲率四十万大军领兵征讨，两军在汉水两岸对峙。

The old generals Huang Zhong and Yan Yan's victory travelled to ChengDu, ZhuGe Liang and Liu Bei were very happy, so they ordered for them to immediately go capture HanZhong. Cao Cao led an army of over 400,000 soldiers to defend, and the two armies met on either side of the river.

诸葛亮命赵云率五百名士兵，埋伏在汉水上游的小山上，只要听到炮响就擂鼓，但不要出战。

ZhuGe Liang ordered Zhao Yun to lead 500 soldiers, and plan an ambush upstream of the Han River on a hill, and when they hear a cannon fire they would beat their drums, but not go into battle.

当晚，曹营的灯刚熄灭，蜀军就放炮、擂鼓。曹操领兵出营，却发现没有一个人。曹兵刚回去，炮声、鼓声又响起来了。一连三天都是如此，曹操只好下令退兵。

That night, when the lights at Cao Cao's camp were distinguished, then Liu Bei's army started firing cannons and beating their drums. Cao Cao led his army out of the camp, but to his astonishment there was no one. When his army just returned, the cannon-firing and the drumming started up again. This happened for three straight days, and Cao Cao could only call his troops to retreat.

曹操率疲兵撒退时，刘备率大军杀了过来，势如排山倒海。曹军大败，失掉汉中。

When Cao Cao led his exhausted soldiers away, Liu Bei charged at them with his huge battalion, and it was like a huge tsunami. Cao Cao lost badly,and they lost HanZhong as well.

刘备当上汉中王，曹操不服气，派人去见孙权，想与他联合攻打荆州，夺回汉中。

Liu Bei was annointed king of HanZhong, and Cao Cao was not a happy camper, so he sent some men to meet with Sun Quan, his plan was to attack JingZhou with Sun Quan, and recapture HanZhong.

孙权非常为难，他知道关羽有个小女儿，就派诸葛瑾到荆州为自己的儿子提亲。

Sun Quan was a bit tormented, because he knew that Guan Yu had a daughter, and had sent ZhuGe Jin to JingZhou to represent his son and ask for Guan Yu's daughter for marriage.

关羽看不起孙权，见到诸葛瑾，趁机把孙权羞辱一番：“我的虎女怎能嫁给孙权的犬子？”于是，孙权与曹操结成联盟。

Guan Yu however disliked Sun Quan, and when he saw ZhuGe Jin, he used this moment to say, "How could my beloved daughter marry Sun Quan's repulsive son?" So, Sun Quan agreed to amalgamate with Cao Cao.

曹军退至樊城后，关羽担心东吴趁机攻打荆州，便下令沿江大建烽火台。有敌情马上烧烟放火，作为信号。

After Cao Cao and his army retreated to FanCheng, Guan Yu was afraid that DongWu would use this moment to attack JingZhou, so he ordered for beacon towers to be built along the edge of the river. and if an enemy was spotted the tower was to be lit immediately, and they used this as a signal.

关羽攻打樊城时，右臂中了一支毒箭。名医华佗为他刮骨疗毒，才治好他的箭伤。

While Guan Yu was attacking FanCheng, his right arm was poisoned by a poisonous arrow. A well-known docter, Hua Tuo, gave him surgery, and thus healed his arm.

樊城告急，孙权命吕蒙攻取荆州。吕蒙率军到了陆口，哨马报告沿江高处都有烽火台。吕蒙大惊，此后一直装病不出门。

FanCheng was under siege, so Sun Quan ordered Lu Meng to attack JingZhou. Lu Meng led an army to LuKou, and a scout reported that there were beacon towers along the river. Lu Meng was greatly surprised, so he pretended to be sick and didn't leave the city.

孙权派陆逊探望，陆逊知道吕蒙装病，就让他托病辞职，并叫接任者恭维关羽。等关羽大意地撤掉荆州守军，我们就奇袭荆州。

Sun Quan sent Lu Xun to visit, Lu Xun knew that Lu Meng was faking his illness, so he told him to use the illness as an excuse to resign, and whoever was next in line to go flatter Guan Yu. When Guan Yu carelessly removed the sentries at JingZhou, we'll go raid JingZhou.

吕蒙依计，让陆逊接任。于是陆逊写了颂扬关羽的信，并备下厚礼，派人去见关羽。

Lu Meng followed this plan, and told Lu Xun to take over. So Lu Xun wrote a glorifying letter to Guan Yu, and started preparing lots of gifts, and dispatched some men to meet Guan Yu.

关羽看到信后，大笑东吴无人，由此不再戒备东吴，并抽调荆州的兵马去攻樊城。

After Guan Yu read the letter, he laughed at the people of DongWu, so he didn't guard against DongWu anymore, and transferred JingZhou's troops to attack FanCheng.

于是吕蒙把八十艘船扮成商船，将三万精兵藏于船内，向江边进发。

So Lu Meng disguised eighty boats as trade-ships, and hid 30,000 hand-picked soldiers in the ships, and sent them to the other side of the river.

到了江边烽火台，吕蒙对蜀兵说他们是商船，想到岸边避避风。蜀兵信以为真。

After arriving at a beacon tower, Lu Meng told the Liu Bei's soldiers that they were merchants, and wanted to stay by the shore to avoid the wind. Liu Bei's soldiers believed this to be real.

半夜里，船舱内的精兵杀上岸来，活捉了守烽火台的士卒，随后来到荆州城下。

In the middle of the night, the elite soldiers stormed from the boats on to shore, and captured the guarding soldiers at the beacon towers, and then arrived at JingZhou's gate.

吕蒙让俘获的蜀兵叫门，将城门骗开。结果，没动一刀一枪，吕蒙就取下荆州。

Lu Meng told the captured soldiers to knock on the gate, and so the door was tricked opened. As a result, without a single fight, Lu Meng captured JingZhou.

第二十章计夺天荡山

2008-12-24T19:16:00.000-08:00

sanguo20 by Indigo

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第二十章计夺天荡山
Chapter 20: Capturing TianDang Mountain

曹操听说刘备夺得西川，便命大将曹洪镇守汉中，自己亲率大军，想一举攻下西川。刘备急忙派张飞去镇守巴西，阻挡曹军。
After Cao Cao heard that Liu Bei had conquered XiChuan, he immediately ordered for the elite general Cao Hong to guard HanZhong, and Cao Cao himself would lead an army,
and their goal was to capture XiChuan. Liu Bei hurriedly dispatched Zhang Fei to defend BaXi, and hold off Cao Cao's army.

曹将张郃被张飞打得大败，于是坚守不出。张飞故意在寨前饮酒，想激张郃出战。
Zhang He, one of Cao Cao's generals, lost badly against Zhang Fei, and thus he stayed put.
Zhang Fei purposely drank wine in front of the encampment, hoping to lure Zhang He out to battle.

张郃见张飞不把他放在眼里，气得纵马冲进张飞的营寨，一枪刺倒了他。
Zhang He saw that Zhang Fei was belittling him, and angrily mounted his horse and charged towards Zhang Fei, and stabbed him viciously.

这时，张郃才发现刺倒的是个稻草人，慌忙退了出去，却见真张飞率兵冲了过来。张郃只得硬着头皮迎战。
At this moment, Zhang He realized too late that he had pierced through a strawman,
and in a flurry raced back, but it was then that he saw Zhang Fei leading an army charging right at him. Zhang He could only race into the battle.

张郃的士兵也遭到伏击，死伤无数。张郃率残兵拼死突围后，狼狈地逃了回去。曹洪大怒，要把张郃推出去斩首。
Zhang He's soldiers were also ambushed, and many died, while others were wounded.
Zhang He led the rest of his army out of the enemy lines, they rushed away and escaped.Cao Hong was furious, and wanted to behead Zhang He.

在众将求情下，张郃被罚戴罪立功，去攻打葭萌关。守将不敌，派人到成都求救。
Under the pleadings of the other generals, Zhang He's life was spared, but he had to redeem himself, and went to attack JiaMeng Pass. The defending generals stood no chance, and dispatched some men to the capital to ask for reinforcements.

刘备见信后聚众商议。老将黄忠请战，可诸葛亮认为他年老，不是张郃对手。
After Liu Bei read the letter he consulted with a few people. The old general Huang Zhong wanted to go to battle, but ZhuGe Liang thought he was too old, and couldn't face Zhang He by himself.

于是黄忠拿起架上大刀，舞动如飞，又拉断两张硬弓，诸葛亮便派他迎战。
So Huang Zhong grabbed a broad sword from a rack, and swiftly swung it around, and then stretched and broke two strong bows, so ZhuGe Liang told him to lead the army to battle

第二天，黄忠挑战张郃。二人大战二十余回合，不分胜负。
The next day, Huang Zhong fought with Zhang He. The two of them exchanged many blows, but neither won.

忽然，黄忠部下老将严颜带兵从后面杀来。两军夹攻，张郃大败，只得退兵。曹洪忙派夏侯尚、韩浩援助张郃。
Suddenly, an elderly general, Yan Yan, one of Huang Zhong's subordinates, came charging while leading a group of soldiers. The two armies attacked from both sides of Zhang He, and Zhang He lost sorely, and could only retreat. Cao Hong hurriedly ordered XiaHou Shang and Han Hao to help Zhang He.

一天，黄忠探得前面的天荡山是曹军囤粮的地方，就找来严颜商量破敌之计。此后几天，黄忠天天败阵撤退。
One day, Huang Zhong found out that ahead of them in TianDang Mountain was the rovisions supply of Cao Cao, so he called Yan Yan to talk about a plan to crush them.
A few days after that, Huang Zhong kept on losing and retreated everyday.

夏侯尚乘胜追至关下。刘备派兵前来相助，黄忠却笑说这是他的骄兵之计。
XiaHou Shang chased them to the pass. Liu Bei sent some men to help, Huang Zhong only chuckled and said that was his plan.

当晚，黄忠带兵出关，打得曹军措手不及。张郃退至天荡山，黄忠追到山下。
That night, Huang Zhong led his army out of the pass, and caught Cao Cao's army unprepared. Zhang He retreated to TianDang Mountain, Huang Zhong chased him down the mountain.

天荡山守将夏侯德见状笑道:“黄忠远道而来，又深入战地，我定能获胜。”
XiaHou De, a general at TianDang Mountain, laughed, "Huang Zhong came from a long way, and is deep into the battle field, I surely will win."

夏侯德派韩浩迎战，只一回合，就被黄忠砍死。此时，严颜又烧了曹军的粮草。
XiaHou De ordered Han Hao to go battle, and in one blow, Huang Zhong had killed him. At the moment, Yan Yan started to burn Cao Cao's provisions.

夏侯德慌忙领兵救火，却被严颜当场杀死。张郃、夏侯尚落荒而逃。就这样，黄忠、严颜一举夺取天荡山。
XiaHou De hurriedly led his troops to douse the flames, but was killed by Yan Yan. Zhang He and XiaHou Shang fled. So it was like this, Huang Zhong and Yan Yan took over TianDang Mountain.

Indy's streaming audio for Chapter 18 and 19

2008-12-12T21:30:00.000-08:00

sanguo18 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

sanguo19 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

Some of the tones are off, oh well... It's apparent that she was looking at pinyin. I wish there's a parental control to turn off pinyin button with a password.

Summary of Chapter 19 第十九章关羽单刀会

2008-12-12T21:18:00.000-08:00

Indy's summary on Chapter 19.

因为诸葛瑾的家人被孙权扣下了，诸葛亮要帮他。他答应要把荆州还给孙权可是关羽不满意。鲁肃和孙权想一个办法拿回荆州，可是办法失误了。

Chapter 17 Summary

2008-12-10T00:59:00.000-08:00

Indy's summary (some mistakes look like pinyin mistakes)

诸葛亮想统治西川。所以张飞来到了巴郡。让(然)后张飞活捉了巴郡的太守，要把他给占（斩）了。可是张飞没有处置他。他们就很快得到了落成（雒城）。

Chapter 18 Summary

2008-12-10T00:55:00.000-08:00

Indy’s summary

张飞跟马超打了很多占(仗)，可是不分胜败，因为刘备老怕会出事。终于，诸葛亮来了，帮了刘备和张飞打败马超和统一西川。

第十九章关羽单刀会

2008-12-08T19:49:00.000-08:00

第十九章关羽单刀会
Chapter 19 Guan Yu Brought His Sword to a Meeting

听说刘备已经攻占西川，孙权就将诸葛亮的哥哥---正在吴国任职的诸葛瑾的家人扣下，让诸葛瑾去西川见诸葛亮，务必讨回荆州。
After he heard that Liu Bei had already conquered XiChuan, Sun Quan took ZhuGe Jin, Zhuge Liang's brother who was an official of DongWu, family members hostage and told ZhuGe Jin to go to XiChuan to see ZhuGe Liang, and get back JingZhou.

诸葛亮得到消息，马上做好安排。诸葛瑾见到诸葛亮后，放声痛哭，把家人被扣押的事说了一遍，还让他归还荆州。
After ZhuGe Liang heard the news, he hurriedly got his preparations ready. After ZhuGe Jin saw ZhuGe Liang, he bawled and cried like a baby, and told him that his family was being held hostage, and told him to give back JingZhou.

诸葛亮说:“明天我们一同去求见刘皇叔。”诸葛瑾握着诸葛亮的手连声道谢。
ZhuGe Liang said, "Tomorrow we will go together to meet Liu Bei." ZhuGe Jin held ZhuGe Liang's hands and thanked him profusely.

第二天，诸葛亮与哥哥一起求见刘备。刘备说:“看军师的面子，我还荆州一半。”
The next day, ZhuGe Liang and his brother went together to meet Liu Bei. Liu Bei said, "Seeing as it is for you, I'll give back half of JingZhou."

刘备写好一封信，让诸葛瑾带给关羽。诸葛瑾非常感激，对刘备再三道谢。
Liu Bei wrote a letter, and told ZhuGe Jin to bring it to Guan Yu. ZhuGe Jin was really grateful, and thanked Liu Bei many times.

诸葛瑾来荆州求见关羽，关羽见信后怒道:“荆州是大汉疆土，怎能送给东吴？我哥哥答应了，我却不答应！”
ZhuGe Jin went to meet Guan Yu at JingZhou, and upon seeing him Guan Yu hollered, "JingZhou is a noble territory. how can we give it to DongWu? My brother agreed, but I disagree!"

诸葛瑾回禀孙权，孙权只得放了诸葛瑾的家人。鲁肃献计，请关羽来陆口赴宴。如果关羽不还荆州，就杀了他。
ZhuGe Jin went back to report to Sun Quan, and Sun Quan could only release ZhuGe Jin's family members Lu Su offered Sun Quan some advice, he would invite Guan Yu over to attend a banquet at LuKou. If Guan Yu wouldn't hand over JingZhou, they would kill him.

孙权应允，鲁肃就派人去请关羽。关羽答应下来，并让关平备十只快船接应。
Sun Quan agreed to the plan, and Lu Su dispatched some men to go invite Guan Yu. Guan Yu said he would attend, and told Guan Ping to prepare ten fast boats to pick him up.

鲁肃得知关羽要来赴，就让五十名刀斧手埋伏在临江亭后；又命吕蒙、甘宁领兵埋伏在岸边，见机行事。
After Lu Su heard that Guan Yu was going to attend the banquet, he ordered fifty experienced swordsmen to hide behind the Lin River Pavilion; and he also ordered Lu Meng and Gan Ning to lead the army to hide near the shore, and act according to the situation.

第二天，关羽乘船来赴宴，身边只有周仓捧刀侍立。鲁肃见状，感到又惊又喜。
The next day, Guan Yu went to attend the banquet by boat, and he was by himself except for Zhou Cang holding Guan Yu's trusty sword by his side. Lu Su saw this, and was surprised yet happy.

鲁肃把关羽领到临江亭内，设宴招待关羽。关羽入席饮酒，说说笑笑，非常自然。
Lu Su led Guan Yu over to the pavilion, and hosted his banquet to entertain Guan Yu. Guan Yu was festive and drank wine, he laughed and joked, and was very casual.

席间，鲁肃说:“刘皇叔曾答应取得西川后便归还荆州，可你们为何迟迟不还？”
Inside the pavilion, Lu Su said, "Liu Bei agreed that that he would return JingZhou after acquiring XiChuan, yet why do you guys not keep your promises?"

关羽说:“今天我喝多了，改天请你到荆州商议吧。”他边说边挽着鲁肃走向江边。
Guan Yu replied "I drank a lot tonight, I'll talk to you about JingZhou some other time." As he said those words he kept on leading LuSu towards the bank of the river.

鲁肃说刘备不讲信义，这时周仓忍不住插嘴道:“天下的土地怎能为东吴独占？”
Lu Su said that Liu Bei was not being honest, and at the moment Zhou Cang couldn't help but burst out, "How can the land underneath the skies be taken over by DongWu?"

关羽脸色一沉，取过周仓捧着的青龙偃月刀，让他赶紧离开这里。周仓明白关羽的意思，走到岸边一摇红旗，就见关平率埋伏好的船只疾驰而来。
Guan Yu's expression darkened, and took his trusty sword that was in Zhou Cang's hands, and told him to leave here at once. Zhou Cang understood, and walked over to the river bank and waved a red flag, and saw the prepared ambush coming towards them.

关羽一直拉着鲁肃。伏在岸边的吴兵怕伤了鲁肃，只好眼看着关羽乘船离开。
Guan Yu kept on leading Lu Su towards the banks. The soldiers standing guard on the banks were afraid of hurting Lu Su, and they could only watch Guan Yu hop on the boat and depart.

第十八章挑灯战马超

2008-11-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

第十八章挑灯战马超
Chapter 18: Raising Torches to Battle Ma Chao

诸葛亮等人到达雒城后，和刘备一起攻占了雒城。刘璋赶紧向汉中的张鲁求救。此时，西凉名将马超正在张鲁军中，便自告奋勇，要求前去攻打刘备。
After ZhuGe Liang and the others reached LuoCheng, he and Liu Bei attacked LuoCheng together. Liu Zhang frantically went to Zhang Lu of HanZhong for help. At this moment, XiLiang's famous general Ma Chao was amongst the soldiers, and volunteered to take charge,and requested to start attacking Liu Bei.

诸葛亮想激张飞迎敌。当张飞请战时，诸葛亮只当没听见，故意转头对刘备说:“只有调来关羽，才能打败马超。”
ZhuGe Liang wanted to anger Zhang Fei into attacking the enemy. When Zhang Fei asked to battle them, ZhuGe Liang pretended not to hear, and purposely told Liu Bei, "We have to wait for Guan Yu, in order to defeat Ma Chao."

张飞叫道:“军师小看我，我若不能活捉马超，任凭处罚。”当即立下军令状。
"You are underestimating me!" Zhang Fei shouted, "If I can't capture Ma Chao alive, then I am willing to be punished." He then immediately signed a contract.

于是，诸葛亮让张飞领兵火速前往西川重地葭萌关御敌，还让刘备和魏延接应。
So, ZhuGe Liang had to let Zhang Fei lead the army ASAP to defend XiChuan's JiaMeng Pass, and even told Liu Bei and Wei Yan to act as reinforcements.

到葭萌关的第二天，马超领兵前来挑战。刘备见马超气宇不凡，威风凛凛，不由得非常喜欢，一心想收服他。
The second day after arriving at JiaMeng Pass, Ma Chao led his troops over to battle. Liu Bei saw that Ma Chao was calm and cool, and very imposing, and couldn't help but like him a lot, and decided to get him to his side.

张飞出阵迎战，二人大战百余回合，不分胜负。刘备怕他们有闪失，便鸣金收兵。
Zhang Fei came out to fight, and the two of them traded many blows,and neither won. Liu Bei was afraid that there would be accidents, and started calling Zhang Fei back.

张飞回营埋怨刘备道:“我就快活捉马超了。请哥哥让人点起火把，安排夜战。”
After coming back to the encampment Zhang Fei yelled, "I was about to capture Ma Chao!
Please Brother, tell the soldiers to bring torches, so we can arrange a night attack."

这边马超回到阵前，叫张飞迎战。张飞跑出阵，刘备只好下令点起千支火把。
Ma Chao returned to the front ranks, and demanded for Zhang Fei to battle him. Zhang Fei ran out, and Liu Bei could only order for them to light thousands of torches.

火把将战场照得如同白昼。战过数十回合，马超突然虚晃一枪，回马就走。
The blazing flames lit the whole battlefield up, just like a bright sunny day. Blows were exchanged, when Ma Chao suddenly waved his spear, and galloped away on his horse.

张飞纵马追赶。马超悄悄拿出流星锤，转身向张飞打去。张飞侧身躲了过去。
Zhang Fei urged his horse on, chasing the man. Ma Chao stealthily got out his trusty meteor hammer, whirled around and swung it at Zhang Fei, Zhang Fei dodged it just in time.

马超上前再战，张飞见他走近，便取出箭，突然向他射了过去。马超也闪身躲了过去。刘备怕他俩有闪失，又命收兵。
Ma Chao came up front to fight, and Zhang Fei saw him move closer, then he got out his bow and arrows, and swiftly shot it. Ma Chao dodged it as well. Liu Bei was afraid the two would have accidents, so he ordered to withdraw the troops.

第二天，张飞又要战马超。这时诸葛亮到了，对刘备说自己可施计让马超归降。
The next day, Zhang Fei wanted to fight Ma Chao again. ZhuGe Liang arrived at this moment, and he told Liu Bei that he had a plan to have Ma Chao surrender.

诸葛亮知道张鲁的谋士杨松爱财，便派人收买他，让他造谣说马超要占西川。
ZhuGe Liang knew that Zhang Lu's advisor Yang Song loved money, and ordered people to go bribe him, and tell him to spread rumors that Ma Chao wanted to conquer XiChuan.

张鲁本来就对马超有所猜疑，因此信以为真，不让马超回兵。马超进退两难。
Zhang Lu originally was suspicious of Ma Chao, and he believed the rumors, and wouldn't let Ma Chao go back to the army. Ma Chao was in a difficult situation.

时机成熟，诸葛亮派马超的朋友李恢去劝降。马超也想弃暗投明，就降了刘备。
The situation was in their favor, so ZhuGe Liang dispatched Ma Chao's friend Li Hui to go persuade him to surrender. Ma Chao also wanted to ditch the bad side and go to the good side, so he surrendered.

刘备乘胜追击，没几天就来到成都城下。刘璋见大势已去，只好开门投降。就这样，刘备顺利地占领了西川。
Liu Bei used this time as an advantage, and reached ChengDu in a matter of days. Liu Zhang saw that this huge amount of power was lost, so he had to surrender as well. So it was like this, that Liu Bei easily conquered XiChuan.

It's been hectic

2008-11-30T14:02:00.000-08:00

I've been flying all over, both international and domestic. I just got some time today to update this blog. Indigo was taking some breaks while I was gone :-)

第十七章张飞擒严颜

2008-10-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

sanguo17 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第十七章张飞擒严颜
Chapter 17: Zhang Fei Captures Yan Yan

诸葛亮认为，荆州东有孙权，北有曹操，并不好守，因此极力劝说刘备夺取土地肥沃的益州。刘备考虑再三，接受了诸葛亮的建议。
ZhuGe Liang thought,that east of JingZhou had Sun Quan,the north had Cao Cao,it was hard to guard,so he tried his best to convince Liu Bei to conquer the fertile lands of YiZhou.Liu Bei mulled this over,and decided to follow ZhuGe Liang's suggestion.

刘备让诸葛亮率关羽、张飞、赵云镇守荆州，自己则同黄忠、魏延、关平等将领率领五万大军进入西川。
Liu Bei told ZhuGe Liang to lead Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun to protect JingZhou,and he himself would go with Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, and Guan Ping as well as other generals to lead 50,000 troops into XiChuan.

西川的益州牧刘璋担心曹操进攻，想借刘备的力量抵御他，因此刘备顺利入川。
XiChuan's governor, Liu Zhang, worried that Cao Cao would attack,and wanted to borrow Liu Bei's soldiers to fend him off,so Liu Bei easily entered the province.

不久，曹操宣称要出兵南征。刘备想和孙权一起打败曹操，便写信向刘璋辞行。
Shortly after,Cao Cao announced that he would send troops on an expedition to the south.Liu Bei wanted to battle Cao Cao together with Sun Quan,so he wrote a letter to Liu Zhang to bid farewell.

不料，刘璋察觉出刘备想取西川的意图，下令不许放走刘备的一兵一卒。诸葛亮得知后，让关羽守住荆州;又命张飞领兵一万，从大路杀到西川的雒城。
Surprisingly,Liu Zhang figured out that Liu Bei wanted to conquer XiChuan,so he ordered not to free Liu Bei's soldiers.After ZhuGe Liang knew of this,he told Guan Yu to defend JingZhou;and ordered Zhang Fei to lead an army of 10,000 soldiers,and attack XiChuan's city LuoCheng from the land.

诸葛亮和赵云则从水路赶往西川。临行前，诸葛亮嘱咐张飞要爱护百姓和士卒。
ZhuGe Lang and Zhao Yun headed speedily toward XiChuan from the water ways. Before leaving,ZhuGe Liang told Zhang Fei to care for the citizens and soldiers.

张飞遵照教导，很快来到了巴郡。巴郡太守严颜得报后，打定主意坚守不出。
Zhang Fei obeyed,and they arrived at BaJun in no time at all.After Yan Yan, BaJun's governor heard of this,he decided to not engage in battle.

张飞叫了几天阵，可严颜就是死守不出。于是张飞率兵沿城叫骂，却仍然不管用。
Zhang Fei yelled and screamed for several days,but Yan Yan would not budge.So Zhang Fei led his troops around the citywalls to curse and scream at them,but it was useless.

一天，张飞侦察地形，发现这座城周围都是乱山，就命令军士去山上寻找小路。
Zhang Fei was scouting the area,when he discovered that all around the walls were scattered knolls,so he ordered his soldiers to hike up the mountains to look for little passages.

军士找到小路后急忙回禀，张飞故意高声说:“今晚三更出城，走小路过关。”
After finding some little roads the soldiers hurriedly went back to announce their discoveries,and Zhang Fei purposely shouted, "Tonight at three o' clock we're going around the city,and using the little routes to get past the city."

严颜探知消息，晚上领兵埋伏在小路上。不久张飞出现了，严颜立即冲杀出来。这时，背后一声锣响，又见张飞杀了过来。原来先前一个是假的，严颜才知中计。
Yan Yan heard the Intelligence,so at night he led some troops and set up an ambush on the small routes.It wasn't long until Zhang Fei appeared,Yan Yan immediately rushed out.At this moment,there was a bell sound from behind them,and then Zhang Fei streaked over again.It turns out that the first one was fake,and Yan Yan knew he fell into a trap.

张飞活捉严颜，又占领了巴郡。他将严颜押上来，命令他投降，严颜坚决不从。
Zhang Fei captured Yan Yan alive,and then took over BaJun.He brought Yan Yan up,and ordered him to surrender,Yan Yan was adamant and would not comply.

张飞大怒，下令将严颜推出去斩首。严颜面不改色，大步走下堂去。
Zhang Fei was furious,so he ordered his soldiers to chop Yan Yan's head off.Yan Yan remained as cool as a cucumber,and swaggered over to the platform.

张飞钦佩严颜的为人，便向他叩头赔罪。严颜非常感动，答应归降。
Zhang Fei admired Yan Yan's will,and promptly kowtowed to him in apology.Yan Yan was very touched,and agreed to surrender.

于是张飞命严颜为前部，直奔雒城。一路上，严颜将把守各关的旧部纷纷招降。
So Zhang Fei appointed Yan Yan as a vanguard,and headed directly towards LuoCheng.Along the way,Yan Yan got all his old subordinates at every pass to surrender.

就这样，张飞不打一仗，不丢一卒，竟然赶在诸葛亮和赵云的前面，顺利地到达西川的咽喉城市---雒城。
So it was just like this,that Zhang Fei didn't fight any battles,he didn't lose a single soldier,and was actually ahead of ZhuGe Liang and Zhao Yun,and easily made it to the strategic city...LuoCheng.

Summary: 三气周瑜

2008-10-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Indy's summary:

周瑜被诸葛亮气了三次。第一次是他气得从马上晕倒了。第二次是他气得又晕倒了。第三次他太生气了，就死了。

第十六章三气周公瑾

2008-10-05T17:21:00.000-07:00

sanguo16 by Indigo

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第十六章三气周公瑾
Chapter 16: Zhou Yu is majorly pissed.THREE times.

刘备、诸葛亮的船队刚走出不远，周瑜带着船队也追来了。诸葛亮便让众人弃船登岸，骑马从陆路赶往荆州。周瑜哪里肯罢休，他也命船队靠岸，率军继续追击。
Liu Bei and ZhuGe Liang's group of boats didn't make it very far,when Zhou Yu came chasing after them leading his navy.ZhuGe Liang then told everybody to abandon ship and go to shore,and gallop away on their horses to JingZhou.Zhou Yu would not give up,and he also ordered his crew to dock on the shore,and he led his troops to give chase.

正追着，周瑜忽见关羽，黄忠、魏延分别率军从三面杀来。吴军中了埋伏，大败。
While giving chase,Zhou Yu suddenly saw Guan Yu,Huang Zhong and Wei Yan were each leading troops from three sides and charging toward them.They had walked right in to an ambush,and lost badly.

周瑜率残兵上了战船，听到岸上刘备的将士齐声嘲笑他：“周郎妙计安天下，赔了夫人又折兵。”不禁气得昏了过去。
Zhou Yu led the rest of his troops on to their boats,and heard Liu Bei's soldiers mocking him, "Zhou Yu's good ideas make the world at peace,and lost Mme. Sun AND lost your troops."Zhou Yu was so mad he fainted.

周瑜一心想夺取荆州，于是叫鲁肃向刘备要回荆州。诸葛亮早看出周瑜的计谋。让刘备见到鲁肃便放声痛哭。刘备依计行事。
Zhou Yu still had one thought burned into his mind: to take back JingZhou,so he called Lu Su to tell Liu Bei to return JingZhou.ZhuGe Liang had already seen through Zhou Yu's plans.and told Liu Bei to cry when he saw Lu Su.Liu Bei obeyed.

鲁肃疑惑不解，诸葛亮解释道:“西川的刘璋是我家主公的同宗兄弟，怎能攻取？”
Lu Su was puzzled,ZhuGe Liang explained, "Liu Zhang of XiChuan is Liu Bei's brother from the same generation,how can he attack them?"

诸葛亮趁机请鲁肃转告孙权宽限几日。鲁肃见刘备如此悲伤。只得答应了。
ZhuGe Liang took this moment to tell Lu Su to tell Sun Quan to extend the time by a few days.Lu Su saw that Liu Bei was so sorrowful,that he could only agree.

鲁肃回去后。将发生的事告诉周瑜。周瑜叹道：“你中了人家的缓兵之计了。我还有一计，你得再跑一趟。”
After Lu Su returned,he told all that happened to Zhou Yu.Zhou Yu hollered, "You fell for their trap!But I still have some Trix(TM) (harhar xD) up my sleeve,you'll need to go there again."

鲁肃按吩咐，又对刘备说东吴愿攻打西川，以此换回荆州，并请支援些粮草。
Lu Su complied,then told Liu Bei that DongWu was willing to attack XiChuan,in exchange for JingZhou,and asked for some provisions to back them up.

诸葛亮识破东吴的计谋，假装答应了。鲁肃走后，他就对赵云等人交代一番。
ZhuGe Liang saw through this plan,and pretended to agree.After Lu Su left,he told Zhao Yun and the others his ingenious plan.

鲁肃回禀周瑜，说诸葛亮已答应送粮劳军了。周瑜大笑，亲自领兵向荆州进发。
Lu Su reported back to Zhou Yu,and said that ZhuGe Liang agreed to bring provisions over.Zhou Yu laughed heartily,and led his army over toward JingZhou.

周瑜来到悄无一人的荆州城下，正在纳闷时。忽然看见赵云率兵出现在城上。
Zhou Yu arrived at the city gate of JingZhou which was surprisingly silent and desolate,he was feeling confused,then suddenly saw Zhao Yun leading troops out on the city walls.

赵云高声说:“军师已料到都督不会攻取西川，特命我在此等候都督。”周瑜见计策被诸葛亮识破，调转马头就跑。
Zhao Yun called out loudly,"ZhuGe Liang already knew that you wouldn't attack XiChuan,and ordered me to wait for you."Zhou Yu knew that ZhuGe Liang had saw through his plans,so he turned around and galloped away on his horse.

不久，有探马称蜀军从四面杀来，说要活捉都督。周瑜气得大叫一声，掉落下马。
Shortly after,the scouts came out and said that Liu Bei's troops were charging towards them from all directions,and said that they were going to capture Zhou Yu alive.Zhou Yu was so infuriated he roared in rage,and fell off his horse.

军士们将周瑜救上船，周瑜咬牙发誓，定要取下西川。
The soldiers helped Zhou Yu on to a boat,Zhou Yu gritted his teeth and swore,that he would conquer XiChuan.

周瑜命船队攻打西川。这时，又有探马报说上游的水路已被诸葛亮堵死了。很快，诸葛亮派人送来信件，劝周瑜别攻西川，以免曹操趁乱攻打吴国。
Zhou Yu ordered his navy to attack XiChuan.At this moment,there were some more scouts who reported that the upstream was blocked by ZhuGe Liang.Swiftly,ZhuGe Liang dispatched some men over to send a letter,to persuade Zhou Yu not to attack XiChuan,in order to prevent Cao Cao from using this moment of chaos and attacking DongWu.

看着这封连劝带挖苦的信，周瑜气病交加，连喊几声：“既生瑜，何生亮！”就死去了，终年三十六岁。
After reading this sardonic heartfelt letter of persuasion,Zhou Yu was enraged,and repeatedly shouted, "GOD, YOU HAVE ALREADY CREATED ME,SO WHY MUST YOU CREATE ZHUGE LIANG!?'"Then he died,and was only 36 years old.

Summary: 刘备做新郎

2008-10-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Indy's summary:

周瑜想把荆州夺回来。他让孙权的妹妹假嫁给刘备。这样他可以拿回荆州。可是，诸葛亮早已看透了他们的计划。刘备娶了孙权的妹妹然后乘船逃去荆州去了。

But I think it should be 他让孙权把妹妹假嫁给刘备。and 逃去荆州了。

Funny lines

2008-09-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

Indy had a couple of funny lines here.

Indy: you could only come to get my daughter's opinion.

Indy's second try: you guys are just taking advantage of my darling daughter!

Indy: Zhou Yu didn't want to fail.

Indy's second try: Zhou Yu failed (ahaha loser), but he continued on with his next plan (Plan Q).

第十五章刘备做新郎

2008-09-30T20:05:00.000-07:00

sanguo15 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第十五章刘备做新郎
Chapter 15: Liu Bei Becomes a Groom

关羽放走曹操后，回到夏口领罪。在刘备的劝说下，诸葛亮才免去关羽的死罪，让他日后将功赎罪。接着，诸葛亮又用计攻占了南郡、襄阳、荆州。
After Guan Yu let Cao Cao escape,he returned to XiaKou to be punished.Under Liu Bei's persuasion,ZhuGe Liang spared Guan Yu's life,and told him to do good deeds to atone for his sins.Following these events,ZhuGe Liang conquered NanJun, XiangYang, and JingZhou.

周瑜知道后极其愤怒，打算攻打刘备，夺回荆州。恰好这时有人来报，刘备夫人甘氏死了，周瑜一听顿时有了主意。
Zhou Yu was furious after he found out about this,and planned to attack Liu Bei,and recapture JingZhou.It was at this moment that some men came back to report,that Liu Bei's wife died,and Zhou Yu immediately devised a plan.

周瑜给孙权写信，让他把妹妹假许给刘备，这样便能捉住刘备来换取荆州了。孙权见信后命吕范到荆州说媒。吕范说明了来意，刘备不敢答应，只说考虑一下。
Zhou Yu sent a letter to Sun Quan,and told him to pretend to let his sister marry Liu Bei,this way they could capture Liu Bei and get back JingZhou.After Sun Quan read over the letter he ordered Lu Fan to go to JingZhou to act as a matchmaker.Lu Fan stated her purpose there,but Liu Bei was reluctant to agree,and only said he'd think it over.

诸葛亮劝刘备答应下来，说：“我保管主公既能娶到孙权的妹妹，又不失荆州。”几天后，刘备带赵云前往东吴。临行前，诸葛亮交给赵云三个锦囊，要他一路依计行事。
ZhuGe Liang persuaded Liu Bei to agree,and said, "I garantee that you will marry Sun Quan's sister,and not lose JingZhou in the process." A few days after,Liu Bei brought Zhao Yun with him to DongWu.Before leaving,ZhuGe Liang gave Zhao Yun three little bags filled to the brim with his genius plans,and told him to do as the plans say.

来到东吴，赵云拆开第一个锦囊，依计命军士四处宣扬孙权要把妹妹嫁给刘备。
After arriving at Dong Wu,Zhao Yun tore open the first bag,and he ordered the soldiers to spread gossip around the city about Sun Quan's sister marrying Liu Bei.

吴国太听说后非常愤怒，连忙过来责问孙权。孙权见隐瞒不住，只好如实交代。吴国太：“你们打不过刘备，只能打我女儿的主意。”
The emperess of Wu heard of this and was furious,she hurriedly went to Sun Quan to demand what was happening.Sun Quan saw he couldn't hide it from her,and could only confess about the ''marriage plan".The emperess said, "You guys can't defeat Liu Bei,you guys are just taking advantage of my darling daughter!!"

国太执意要约刘备在甘露寺相见，母命难违，孙权只得答应了。
The emperess was adamant in wanting to meet Liu Bei at GanLuSi,and because her word had to be obeyed,Sun Quan had to agree.

第二天，国太见刘备气宇轩昂，十分喜欢。不久她挑个好日子，把女儿嫁给了他。
The next day,The empress saw that Liu Bei had an impressive demeanor,and immediately took a liking to him.Before long she picked a date,and let him marry her daughter.

周瑜不甘失败，又让孙权用奢华的生活来迷住刘备，让他留在东吴。刘备果然天天饮酒享乐，连赵云都不想见了，几乎忘掉了荆州。
Zhou Yu failed (ahaha loser), but he continued on with his next plan (Plan Q),and told Sun Quan to use the life of luxury to entice Liu Bei,and make him stay at DongWu.Indeed Liu Bei drank wine and had fun everyday,and didn't even want to see Zhao Yun,and nearly forgot about JingZhou.

赵云急忙打开第二个锦囊。看完后，赵云来见刘备，称曹操正率大军杀奔荆州。
Zhao Yun hurriedly opened up the second bag.After reading it,Zhao Yun went to meet Liu Bei,he said that Cao Cao was leading his army towards JingZhou.

刘备醒悟过来，于是带着夫人以到江边祭祖为借口，悄悄地离开了东吴。
Liu Bei woke up (figuratively),and brought his wife to the riverbank to hold a ceremony in memory of his ancestors as an excuse,and quietly left DongWu.

孙权得报后，马上派人去追。周瑜也派兵前去拦截。赵云保护着刘备和夫人连夜赶路。到柴桑地界时，前有周瑜的兵马拦截，后有孙权的追兵，情况万分紧急。
After Sun Quan heard of this,and immediately dispatched some men to chase them.Zhou Yu also sent some men to hold them off.Zhao Yun protected Liu Bei and his wife as they fled that very same night. They arrived at the border of ChaiSang,and in front of them were Zhou Yu's soldiers blocking the way,and behind them were Sun Quan's men chasing after them,the situation was very urgent indeed.

赵云看完第三个锦囊。建议请孙夫人相助。刘备便将事情的来龙去脉告诉给夫人。刘备说：“你哥哥将夫人嫁给我，并非为夫人考虑，是想夺荆州。”于是孙夫人卷起车帘，大骂拦截的吴军将领。众将领不敢继续阻拦，只得放行。
Zhao Yun finished reading the third baggy.and suggested that they ask Liu Bei's wife to help.Liu Bei then told the whole story to his wife.Liu Bei said, "Your brother wanted us to marry,but didn't have your wellbeing in mind,he wanted to conquer JingZhou."Liu Bei's wife rolled up the curtains,and yelled and cursed the intercepting soldiers' ancestors a thousand times over and shouted profanites.The generals were afraid to continue blocking them,and had to let them go.

刘备一行赶到江边时，诸葛亮已率船队等候。众人登船乘风驶向荆州。
When Liu Bei and the others arrived at the riverside,ZhuGe Liang had already led a group of boats over and was waiting for them.They boarded the boats and headed for JingZhou with the wind behind their backs.

Summary: 赤壁败曹操

2008-09-21T16:13:00.000-07:00

Indy's summary:

周瑜派黄盖去打曹操。黄盖用火把曹操的船都烧掉了。因为曹操的船被烧掉，他只得逃走。他逃到华容道见了关羽。关羽挡路，可是关不忍杀曹操，就放他走了。

第十四章赤壁败曹操

2008-09-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

sanguo14 by Indigo

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第十四章赤壁败曹操
Chapter 14: Cao Cao loses at ChiBi

却说曹操经过核查，已经相信黄盖是真降，于是约定当晚黄盖押着运粮船来降。船头插菁龙守旗作为信号。军营里，周瑜则安排好进攻曹操的兵马。
Cao Cao investigated the situation,and already believed that Huang Gai really is going to surrender,so he arranged that night for Huang Gai to bring provisions and lead a fleet of ships to come surrender.At the bow he was to put a green dragon flag to use as a signal. At the camp,Zhou Yu had prepared the soldiers and horses to attack Cao Cao.

夜晚，黄盖率二十只火船，船内满载干柴、芦苇等易燃物，顺风向曹操营寨进发。
Zhou Yu had prepared the soldiers and horses to attack Cao Cao.At night,Huang Gai led twenty fireboats,and inside the boats were filled with logs and reeds and other flammable items,they headed toward Cao Cao's camp with the wind behind their backs.

曹操得报后，高兴地登船观看，只见远处驶来一队船，船头都插着青龙牙旗。
When Cao Cao heard of this,he was so happy he hopped on to a boat to look,and saw a group of boats in the distance coming closer and closer,green dragon flags were flapping in the wind, stuck precariously at the bows of the boats.

船越驶越近，曹操的谋士程昱说:“来船如此轻快。不像运粮船，丞相要小心。今晚刮东南风，不可不防。”曹操说：“糟糕，我中计了。”
The boats were sailing closer, and Cao Cao's advisor, Cheng Yu, remarked, "The arriving boats are pretty lightweight and built for speed.They're not like provision boats,Prime Minister, you must be careful.The wind is coming from the southeast direction tonight,we have to be on guard." Cao Cao replied, "Dammit,I fell for their trap."

曹操醒悟，忙命军士领兵前去阻挡，可是为时已晚，只见黄盖冲过阻拦，指挥各船一起点火，向曹军水寨冲去。
Cao Cao realized what was happening,and he quickly ordered his troops to stop the boats,but it was too late,Huang Gai sped through the defense,commanded the boats to be lit on fire,and started speeding toward Cao Cao's navy.

曹操的船队被铁链相连，转眼全部被引燃，曹营变成了火海。
Cao Cao's boats were connected with chains,and in the blink of an eye they were all on fire,Cao Cao's camp turned into an ocean of fire.

曹兵纷纷跳水逃生，烧死和淹死的不计其数。曹操见情况紧急，忙向岸边逃去。
Cao Cao's men dived into the water to save themselves,but there were countless of those who drowned or burned to death.Cao Cao saw that the situation was dire,and hastily started fleeing to shore.

不料岸边也燃起大火，原来周瑜暗中安排将士，到曹操囤粮的地方放火烧粮。
However, the shore was now also ablaze with flames,and it turns out that Zhou Yu had secretly dispatched some soldiers,and set the place where Cao Cao kept his provisions on fire.

大火烧得几十万曹军顷刻瓦解。曹操顾不上收拾残军，急忙乘船逃走。
The fire rendered Cao Cao's soldiers useless in a matter of seconds.Cao Cao could not gather up what was left of his army,and hurriedly boarded the ship and fled.

曹操逃到树木丛生的乌林，突然大笑道:“周瑜、诸葛亮若在此伏下一军......”
Cao Cao had escaped into a forest,and suddenly laughed, "If Zhou Yu and ZhuGe Liang were to ambush me,..."

话没说完，忽见赵云杀了过来。赵云说：“我奉诸葛亮将令，在此等候多时了。”曹操吓得忙叫手下人迎战，自己逃往葫芦口。
He didn't complete his sentence,and he saw Zhao Yun hurtling toward him.Zhao Yun said, "I am under ZhuGe Liang's orders,I've waited for you for a long time."Cao Cao was so frightened that he hurriedly ordered his men to fight back,and he ran toward HuLuKou.

到了葫芦口，曹操已是人困马乏。他在树下休息，又笑道:“若在此伏下一军......”
When he reached it,Cao Cao was exhausted.He rested underneath a tree,and laughed yet again, "If there's another ambush......"

这时张飞又杀了过来。曹操叫张辽迎战张飞，自己则率残兵趁乱逃走了。
At this moment Zhang Fei galloped over.Cao Cao ordered Zhang Liao to fight Zhang Fei,and he led the other troops to flee.

逃到路口，有军士报告:“前面有两条路，大路绕远，小路华容道近，却有烟火。”
When they reached a crossroad,a soldier reported, "Ahead of us are two roads,the big road is a long detour,and the smaller one, HuaRong Way, is shorter,but there is fire and smoke."

曹操说:“定是诸葛亮让人在小路烧烟。他却在大路派兵等我。”于是下令走小路。
Cao Cao said, "Then it must be ZhuGe Liang telling people to burn stuff on the smaller road.and he has an ambush waiting for me on the big road. Hmph, I won't be fooled."So he ordered everyone to take the small road.

刚到华容道，曹操就见关羽拦住去路。他只得上前对关羽动之以义，好言相求。
They just reached HuaRong Way,and Cao Cao saw Guan Yu blocking the path.He could only go up to Guan Yu,and plead for him to help.

曹操曾有恩于关羽，关羽感念旧情，不忍杀他，便放他走了。
Cao Cao had helped Guan Yu in the past,Guan Yu remembered and felt a rush of gratitude,he couldn't kill him,and let him go.

Indigo not going to Chinese school any more

2008-09-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

Well, Indigo decided not to go to Chinese school any more. She says that the program (15 min of reading and translating every school day) she is on right now is good enough for her. I am not going to argue with her. It's one of the many of decisions she'll make in her early teenage life.

Summary: 孔明借东风

2008-09-17T15:34:00.001-07:00

Indigo complained that why the (ancient) Chinese have so many names. 诸葛亮 and 孔明 were the same person.

周瑜又佩服又嫉妒诸葛亮的才能。他和诸葛亮都要用火打败曹操。周瑜派庞统去骗曹操。然后诸葛亮“借”了东风，但是周瑜还想杀诸葛亮。

第十三章孔明借东风

2008-09-17T15:34:00.000-07:00

sanguo13 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第十三章孔明借东风
Chapter 13: Kong Ming Borrows the East Wind

周瑜对诸葛亮的才能又佩服，又嫉妒，便约诸葛亮到帐内喝酒。诸葛亮一到，周瑜就说:“我想到了一条破曹之计，要向先生请教。”
Zhou Yu greatly admired ZhuGe Liang's ability,but he still was very jealous,and invited ZhuGe Liang over to drink some wine.ZhuGe Liang arrived,Zhou Yu started, "I thought of a plan to defeat Cao Cao,and would like to consult with you."

诸葛亮提议将计谋写在手心里，结果他们都写了一个“火”字，不禁会心大笑。
ZhuGe Liang suggested that they write it down on their palms,consequently they both wrote the character for fire,and chuckled.

当晚，老将黄盖来见周瑜。他建议火攻曹军，并愿去诈降。周瑜和他密议一番。
That night,the old general Huang Gai came to see Zhou Yu.He proposed that they use fire to attack Cao Cao,and was willing to pretend to surrender.Zhou Yu and he ended up collaborating in secret for awhile.

第二天，周瑜召集众将谈论军情，黄盖说:“曹操拥有百万大军，我军势弱，很难取胜，我看还是早些投降吧。”
The next day,Zhou Yu summoned the other generals to discuss battle plans,Huang Gai said, "Cao Cao has millions and millions of soldiers,our army is weak,it'll be hard to win,I think we should just surrender."

周瑜大怒：“紧要关头，你竟敢扰乱人心。” 命人打黄盖一百军杖。这一顿军杖打得黄盖皮开肉绽，昏倒了好几次。
Zhou Yu was furious, "This is a critical moment here,and you're saying that we should surrender!?"He then ordered for Huang Gai to take 100 beatings.This resulted in a painful back for Huang Gai,and he had fainted several times.

晚上，黄盖派人到曹营递交投降书。曹操坦心有诈，就再次派蒋干去探听实情。
At night,Huang Gai dispatched some men to Cao Cao's camp to hand in a letter that stated that they were surrendering.Cao Cao worried that it would be fake,so he sent Jiang Gan to gather information again.

在江东，周瑜安排蒋干巧遇凤雏先生庞统。庞统向蒋干诉苦，称自己怀才不遇：“周瑜气量小，不能容人。”
In the JiangDong area,Zhou Yu arranged for Jiang Gan to meet coincidentally with Pang Tong.Pang Tong complained to Jiang Gan,and whined that no one knew of his wondrous talents, "Zhou Yu is very jealous of other people's talents,and can't stand other talented people."

蒋干引庞统去投曹操。庞统见了曹操说:“北方人不习惯坐船，我倒有个妙计。”
Jiang Gan led Pang Tong over to work for Cao Cao.When Pang Tong saw Cao Cao he said, "People in the north aren't used to sitting on boats,but I have a plan."

庞统建议用锁环把大小战船锁住，再在船与船之间铺上木板。这样，人在船上就像在平地上了。曹操大喜，立即下令打造锁环。两天后，曹军战船就连在一起了。
Pang Tong suggested that they use chains and locks to lock the small and big boats together,and put wooden planks between each boat.This way,so walking on the boats will be like walking on the ground.Cao Cao was very excited,and immediately ordered for them to make some chains.Two days after,Cao Cao's battle ships were linked together.

周瑜得知后，高兴地登高观望。一阵西北凤过后，周瑜突然大叫一声，吐血倒地。
When Zhou Yu got note of this,he excitedly looked around on a high surface.A gust of wind from the northwest blew by,and Zhou Yu suddenly yelled,coughed up blood and fainted.

鲁肃见周瑜病重，急忙向诸葛亮讨教办法，诸葛亮便随鲁肃前去治病。
Lu Su saw that Zhou Yu was very ill,and hurriedly asked ZhuGe Liang for a plan,ZhuGe Liang accompanied Lu Su to cure the disease.

诸葛亮问过病情后，写下十六个字:欲破曹公，宜用火攻；万事俱备，只欠东风。
ZhuGe Liang asked for the condition,and wrote down sixteen words, " To defeat Cao Cao,one must use fire;everything is already ready,awaiting the east wind.

周瑜见诸葛亮看透了自己的心事，只好向他请教。诸葛亮假说自己会呼风唤雨。
Zhou Yu saw that ZhuGe Liang had seen his plan,and could only consult with him.ZhuGe Liang boasted that he could summon wind and rain.

周瑜大喜，病也好了，忙派人筑坛。诸葛亮算出要刮东南凤了，故意登坛做法。
Zhou Yu was happy,he recovered,and hurriedly dispatched some men to build a raised platform.ZhuGe Liang calculated that the southeast wind would come by,and purposely waved his arms around like a maniac.

等到半夜，周瑜听到风响，出帐时发现旗帜都向西北飘动，果然刮起了东南风。
It was midnight,and Zhou Yu heard the wind howling,and saw that the flag was waving toward the northwest direction,and the southeast wind really did start blowing.

周瑜高兴万分，忽然想到诸葛亮才高不可留，就派兵杀他。不料诸葛亮早已离开。
Zhou Yu was jubilant,and suddenly remembered that ZhuGe Liang needed to be disposed of,and ordered his men to go kill him. It turns out that ZhuGe Liang had already left.

追兵追到江边，却见诸葛亮站在船尾，赵云威风凛凛地站在一旁。诸葛亮说:“我已料到都督会加害于我，特叫子龙来接应。”随后，二人乘船箭一般地离开了。
The chasing troops followed him to the riverside,and saw him standing at the stern of the boat,and Zhao Yun stood imposingly beside him.ZhuGe Liang said, "I already figured out that Zhou Yu would want to kill me,and especially called Zhao Yun to come pick me up."Then,the two men left.

Generating MP3 files and free hosting

2008-09-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

The latest version of Penpower Chinese Expert has a new feature to convert your recording into MP3 format. I found a MP3 free hosting site fandalism.com, where you can post your MP3 files.I uploaded a few of Indigo's recent work there. It's pretty cool.

第十二章草船巧借箭

2008-09-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

sanguo12 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第十二章草船巧借箭

Chapter 12: Grass Boats Cleverly Borrow Arrows

周瑜十分嫉妒诸葛亮的才能。他得知曹操杀了蔡瑁和张允后，非常得意，便叫鲁肃去见诸葛亮，看他是否知道底细。

Zhou Yu was very jealous of ZhuGe Liang's abilities. After he heard that Cao Cao killed Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, he was very happy, and called Lu Su to go to ZhuGe Liang, to see if he knew why it happened.

鲁肃刚到诸葛亮的住处，诸葛亮就说:“恭喜!恭喜!”鲁肃装糊涂:“喜从何来？” 诸葛亮说:“曹操中了都督的计，杀了蔡瑁和张允，难道不值得恭喜吗？”

Lu Su had just arrived at ZhuGe Liang's, when ZhuGe Liang cried, "Congrats! Congrats!" Lu Su faked confusion, "Where did that come from?" ZhuGe Liang said, "Cao Cao fell into Zhou Yu's trap, and killed Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, doesn't that deserve congradulating?"

鲁肃暗暗吃惊，回去后把诸葛亮的话告诉给周瑜，周瑜不禁惊惧不安。说道：“诸葛亮料事如神，将来必是东吴心腹大患。”

Lu Su was secretly shocked, and after returning he told ZhuGe Liang's words to Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. He said, "ZhuGe Liang is famous for being able to predict things, and eventually our country will surely be in grave danger. "

第二天，周瑜故意刁难诸葛亮，让他十天内造出十万支箭。诸葛亮说:“战事紧急，我只要三天的时间就够了。如果到期完不成任务，任凭都督处置。”

The next day, Zhou Yu purposely made things difficult for ZhuGe Liang, and told him to make a hundred thousand arrows within ten days. ZhuGe Liang said, "This matter is very urgent, I only need three days. If I can't do this task by three days, I am willing to be punished."

周瑜大喜，忙说:“军中无戏言，请先生立下军令状。”诸葛亮同意了。

Zhou Yu was ecstatic, and hurriedly replied, "There is no joking in the army, please, sir, you must write down your agreement." ZhuGe Liang agreed.

诸葛亮走后，周瑜暗中吩咐工匠故意拖延时间，并派鲁肃去探听诸葛亮的动静。

After ZhuGe Liang left, Zhou Yu secretly told the artisans to slack off, and dispatched Lu Su to keep tabs on ZhuGe Liang's moves.

诸葛亮见鲁肃来了，便请他帮忙。鲁肃说:“这是你自己答应的，我怎么救你。”

ZhuGe Liang saw that Lu Su had arrived, and asked him to help. "This is what you brought on yourself," Lu Su told him, "I can't help you."

诸葛亮说:“请借给我二十只船、六百名军士，以及青布、稻草，我自有妙用。”

ZhuGe Liang replied, "I just need to borrow twenty boats and 600 soldiers, oh and as well as some blue cloth and straw, I already have a plan."

鲁肃按诸葛亮的要求拨了船只，听诸葛亮调用。第三天凌晨，诸葛亮来请鲁肃坐船同去取箭。鲁肃大惑不解，可他还是答应了。

Lu Su gave what ZhuGe Liang had requested, and let him use the materials and soldiers. It was the dawn of the third day, and ZhuGe Liang invited Lu Su to ride a boad to get the arrows. Lu Su was very confuzzled, but he agreed.

此时大雾弥漫，诸葛亮的二十只船都用绳子连在一起，船的两边插着稻草人。船舱中，诸葛亮与鲁肃喝酒聊天;江面上，船队趁雾驶到曹军水寨附近。

The fog right then was very thick and heavy, ZhuGe Liang's twenty boats were all connected together by rope, and the boats' two sides were lined with strawmen. Inside the boat cabin, ZhuGe Liang and Lu Su were chatting and drinking wine; on the river, they used the mist as an advantage to sail near Cao Cao's water camp.

诸葛亮命士兵将船只一字排开，擂鼓呐喊。鲁肃非常紧张，诸葛亮却气定神闲。

ZhuGe Liang ordered the soldiers to navigate the boats in a horizontal line facing the camp, and beat drums whilst shouting. Lu Su was very nervous, but ZhuGe Liang was very calm.

曹操怕有埋伏，让一万多弓箭手朝江中乱射，射过去的箭几乎全落在稻草人上。

Cao Cao was afraid there would be an ambush, and ordered over ten thousand bows to aim at the river and fire randomly, but the fired arrows nearly all landed on the strawmen.

诸葛亮见一侧受箭已满，便下令调转船头。很快，另一侧稻草人也插满了箭。

ZhuGe Liang saw that one side of the boat was filled with arrows, and ordered for the boat to turn around. Swiftly, the other side of the boat was filled with arrows.

这时，太阳出来了，雾渐渐地散去。诸葛亮下令全速往回开船，叫军士齐声道谢。

At this moment, the sun rose, and the fog slowly dissipated. ZhuGe Liang commanded the soldiers to go back to shore quickly, and told the soldiers to shout and say thanks.

曹操大呼上当，却追不上他们了。鲁肃对周瑜细说借箭经过，周瑜只得自叹不如。

Cao Cao realized he was tricked, but it was too late to give chase. Lu Su told Zhou Yu about borrowing the arrows, and Zhou Yu could only sigh and admit he wasn't as good as ZhuGe Liang.

草船和稻草人

2008-09-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

I requested Indigo to write a summary for each chapter from now on. Here it is for chapter 12.

因为周瑜嫉妒诸葛亮，他让诸葛亮做一个很难的任务。如果诸葛亮不能完成任务，他就可以被杀掉。可是，诸葛亮用草船和稻草人即把曹操戏弄了一番，又完成了周瑜的任务。

第十一章蒋干盗书信

2008-08-27T10:30:00.000-07:00

sanguo11 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第十一章蒋干盗书信
Chapter 11: Jiang Gan Steals Letters (gasp!)

张昭等人听说孙权决定迎战，急忙来劝他。孙权又没了主意，于是召回在外领兵的周瑜。周瑜说:“将军英明神武，岂能投降操贼?只要给我几万人马，我定可破敌！"
Zhang Zhao and some others heard that Sun Quan decided to have a battle,and hurriedly tried to dissuade him.Sun Quan was at a loss of ideas again,so he called back the leader of the troops Zhou Yu from the frontier.Zhou Yu said, "You are a general of courage and power,how can you think of surrendering to that scum Cao Cao?All you have to do is give me at least ten thousand soldiers,and I will defeat the enemy!"

孙权大喜，命周瑜总领军队抗曹。吴军在三江口附近扎营，曹操率大军沿江而下。
Sun Quan was delighted,so he ordered Zhou Yu to lead soldiers to fight Cao Cao.The Wu army camped near SanJiangKou,and Cao Cao led his big army downstream.

几天后，两军在三江口展开激烈的战斗。曹军不善于水战，大败而回。
A few days later,the two armies at SanJiangKou exploded viciously into battle.Cao Cao's army wasn't used to battling on water,and lost miserably, forcing him to retreat.

回去后，曹操命荆州降将蔡瑁、张允加紧督练水军。一天，周瑜窥探曹营时，见水军阵势严整灵活，大惊。当他得知水军都督是蔡瑁、张允时，便想除掉二人。
After retreating,Cao Cao ordered General Cao Mao and Zhang Yun of JingZhou to train his navy.One day,when Zhou Yu was spying on Cao Cao's camp,he saw that the navy was very disciplined and well-trained,and was shocked.And when he heard that the navy was led by Cao Mao and Zhang Yun,he decided to eliminate the two people.

曹营中，谋士蒋干说他和周瑜曾是同窗，可劝周瑜归降。曹操命他即刻动身。
Inside Cao Cao's camp,Advisor Jiang Gan said that he used to be classmates with Zhou Yu,and he was confident that he could convince Zhou Yu to surrender.Cao Cao ordered him to immediately get into action.

周瑜见蒋干来了，早已猜到他的来意。寒喧后，周瑜问:“你是来当说客的吧?"
Zhou Yu saw that Jiang Gan had arrived,but he had already predicted this.After greetings were exchanged,Zhou Yu queried, "You came to persuade me to surrender, eh?"

蒋干一楞，连忙否认。周瑜赔笑道:“我怕你替曹操做说客，不是就好。”于是大摆宴席，召江东群臣与他见面。
Jiang Gan stiffened,and quickly tried to deny it.Zhou Yu chuckled,"I was afraid that Cao Cao would send you over to persuade me,but if you're not, that's cool too."And with flourish he set the food out for a great feast,and called a group of officials to come and meet him.

周瑜对百官说:“我的同窗蒋干不是说客。今日喝酒，只叙友情，有谈军事者,斩！”
Zhou Yu said to the officials, "My classmate Jiang Gan didn't come to persuade me to do anything.Tonight we shall drink up,and talk to our fellow friends,and if I hear so much as a peep about the military,OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

蒋干吓得不敢出声。周瑜喝了很多酒，说:“老友相聚，一定要喝得尽兴。”
Jiang Gan was frightened speechless and he had to check his pants to see if he had peed in them.ZHou Yu drank a lot of wine,and he said, "Good friends party together,and we must drink to our hearts' content."

到了晚上，周瑜拉着蒋干走出帐外，让他看威猛的军士和堆积如山的粮草。
It was night,and Zhou Yu pulled Jiang Gan outside,and told him to look at the mighty battle forces and the endless heaps of provisions.

回席后，周瑜指着百官说:“今日真可谓'群英会'啊。”说罢，他边舞剑边唱歌。
After returning to the banquet,Zhou Yu pointed at the officials and said, "Today it should be said, "a group of heroes are here."After finishing,he started performing a sword-dances and singing.

就寝时，周瑜强拉着蒋干到自己的营帐，要他和自己同床而睡。
When retiring to bed,Zhou Yu pulled Jiang Gan into his room,and wanted him to sleep with him.

周瑜大吐一场，很快就睡下了。蒋干听到周瑜鼾声如雷，便起身偷看桌上的文件。
Zhou Yu puked a mountain,and immediately slept. Jiang Gan heard Zhou Yu's snores,and rose from the bed to sneak a peek at the documents on the table.

蒋干看到蔡瑁、张允暗通东吴的信，赶紧把信藏在衣服里，悄悄地上床假睡。
Jiang Gan saw Cai Mao and Zhang Yun's secret letters,and hastily hid the letters in his sleeve,and crept back to the bed and pretended to sleep.

到了下半夜，忽然有卫兵叫醒周瑜。周瑜起身到帐外与来人轻声说话。
It was the middle of the night,and suddenly the guards woke up Zhou Yu.Zhou Yu rose and stepped outside of his room to talk quietly with someone.

不久，周瑜回来躺下，很快又打起了呼噜。蒋干趁机跑回曹营，把书信交给曹操。
Shortly after,Zhou Yu came back and lay down,and quickly fell into a deep sleep.Jiang Gan used this moment to run back to Cao Cao's camp,and handed the letters to Cao Cao.

曹操大怒，不容蔡瑁、张允二人分辩，就把他们杀了。等见到二人的头颅时，曹操才猛然醒悟，暗自后悔中了周瑜的奸计，错杀二将。
Cao Cao was furious,and didn't give Cai Mao and Zhang Yun a chance to say anything,before killing both of them. After seeing their two heads fall to the floor,Cao Cao realized he blindly fell into a devious trap,and secretly regretted falling into Zhou Yu's evil scheme,mistakenly killing the two generals.

Here's summer.

2008-06-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

The summer is here. Indy is taking a break. I'll keep you posted for next chapter.

第十章孙刘共抗曹

2008-06-17T23:49:00.000-07:00

sanguo10 by Indigo

Fandalism Free MP3 Hosting

第十章孙刘共抗曹
Chapter 10: Sun Quan And Liu Bei Resist Cao Cao Together

刘备来到汉津，随后被刘琦接到了江夏。曹操退兵后，见一时无法打败刘备，就写信给江东的孙权，要他出兵联合攻打刘备。
Liu Bei arrived at HanJin,but subsequently were moved to JiangXia by Liu Qi.After Cao Cao retreated,saw that at the moment he couldn't defeat Liu Bei,so he wrote a letter to Sun Quan,and wanted him to join forces with him to defeat Liu Bei.

孙权看完书信，召百官商量对策。百官们分成两派，有的主战，有的主和。
After Sun Quan read the letter,he called all his close officials to discuss these matters.the officers divided into two groups,some of them supported advocating the war against Cao Cao,others wanted peace.

孙权派鲁肃去探听刘备的虚实。见鲁肃到来，一直想联吴抗曹的诸葛亮暗暗高兴。
鲁肃主张抗击曹操，因此邀请诸葛亮去见孙权。诸葛亮假意不肯去，鲁肃再三相请，诸葛亮这才答应。
Sun Quan dispatched Lu Su to gather information on Liu Bei's case.Seeing that Lu Su arrived,ZhuGe Liang, who always wanted to join with Sun Quan to fight against Cao Cao, was secretly happy.Lu Su wanted to resist against Cao Cao,and consequentially invited ZhuGe Liang to go meet Sun Quan.ZhuGe Liang pretended to not want to go,but Lu Su pleaded with him,and ZhuGe Liang gave in and agreed.

到了东吴，鲁肃自己先去见孙权。孙权拿出曹操的劝降信，问鲁肃的意见。
After arriving at DongWu,Lu Su went to meet Sun Quan by himself.Sun Quan took out Cao Cao's letter demanding surrender,and asked for Lu Su's opinion.

鲁肃说:“要是主公您投降了，曹操怎么安置您呢？”孙权深以为然。
Lu Su said, "If you surrendered,then how would Cao Cao take care of you?"Sun Quan thought that Lu Su was right.

第二天，鲁肃带诸葛亮去见江东的百官。谋士张昭率先对刘备的实力提出质疑。
The next day,Lu Su brought ZhuGe Liang to meet JiangDong's officials.An advisor Zhang Zhao was the first to question Liu Bei's strength.

诸葛亮说:“刘皇叔兵将很少，却两次大败曹军。他的失败只因不忍丢下百姓。”
ZhuGe Liang said, "Liu Bei's soldiers are scarce,yet he defeated Cao Cao twice.his losses are only because he doesn't want to abandon the civilians."

谋士虞翻高声问：“曹操兵多将广，先生如何应付？”诸葛亮说:“曹操手下都是乌合之众，不足为惧。”
The advisor Yu Fan said loudly, "Cao Cao has a lot of people in his army,how are you going to deal with that?"ZhuGe Liang said, "There are only disordered bands of bad people (try saying that 5 times fast!) under Cao Cao,they aren't worth being afraid of."

虞翻不以为然，诸葛亮说:“刘皇叔用数千将士对抗百万曹军，难道怕曹操吗？” “你们刚打了败仗，还说大话” “你们主张投降，谁更怕曹操？”
Yu Fan was still skeptical,so ZhuGe Liang said, "Liu Bei used thousands of soldiers against Cao Cao's millions,would we be afraid of Cao Cao?""You guys just lost,yet you still talk big!" "You guys insist on surrendering,so who's more afraid of Cao Cao!?"

接着，二十余人纷纷向诸葛亮发难。诸葛亮大义凛然，舌战群儒，将他们全部辩倒。
Next,over a score of people one after another argued with ZhuGe Liang,ZhuGe Liang wasn't fazed,he argued against all the officials,and he won the debate against them.

孙权请诸葛亮去议事。诸葛亮见到孙权后，心想:“此人气概非凡，只能以言语相激，正面劝他抗曹是没用的。”
Sun Quan asked ZhuGe Liang to discuss official business.After ZhuGe Liang met Sun Quan,he thought, "This man's spirit is extraordinary,I can only agitate him with my words,to directly persuade him to fight against Cao Cao is useless."

等孙权问曹军虚实时，诸葛亮故意说:“曹操拥兵百万，您还是投降吧。”
Until Sun Quan can ask Cao Cao's side of the situation,ZhuGe Liang purposely said, "Cao Cao has an army of 1,000,000,you should just surrender."

孙权问:“刘备为何不投降？”诸葛亮说:“刘备是盖世英雄，怎能屈居人下？”
Sun Quan asked, "Why doesn't Liu Bei surrender then?"ZhuGe Liang said, "Liu Bei is a great hero,how can he succumb to such an inferior state?"

孙权一听诸葛亮暗指自己比不上刘备，顿时变了脸色，起身退到后堂去了。鲁肃责备诸葛亮不该如此轻视孙权，诸葛亮大笑道:“我自有破曹之计，他不问，我如何说呢？”
When Sun Quan heard that ZhuGe Liang was hinting that Liu Bei was better than him,his face turned blue with rage,rose and headed to the backroom.Lu Su scolded ZhuGe Liang for insulting Sun Quan,but ZhuGe Liang merely laughed, "I have plans to defeat Cao Cao,if he doesn't ask,then how can I say it?"

诸葛亮说刚才是故意以话相激，鲁肃转告孙权，孙权便请诸葛亮来到后堂。
ZhuGe Liang explained that he said those things on purpose,Lu Su passed word on to Sun Quan,and Sun Quan invited ZhuGe Liang to the backroom.

诸葛亮说:“曹军劳师袭远，不懂水战，我方必能破曹。”于是孙权决定抗曹。
ZhuGe Liang said, "Cao Cao's army are coming from far away to attack us even though they're tired,don't know how to fight on water,we can defeat him."so Sun Quan decided to fight against Cao Cao.

曹军名将五十余员

2008-06-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

How would you translate this sentence?
一连杀死曹军名将五十余员 (yī lián shā sǐ cáo jūn míng jiàng wǔ shí yú yuán)

The following was Indy's first stab at it :-).
killed over 50 of Cao Cao's soldiers as well as a famous general.

情节

2008-06-07T22:25:00.000-07:00

Indy was preparing for her Chinese school test tomorrow. I saw that she was studying a list of words, so I went through them with her. 情节was one of them. I asked her what it meant. She thought for a second and said:"love holiday, oh, no, mating season". I almost fell off the chair :-).

第九章大战长坂坡

2008-06-07T22:06:00.000-07:00

第九章大战长坂坡
Chapter 9: Big Battle At ChangBanPo

诸葛亮随刘备来到新野，刘备拜他为军师，请他掌管军中大事。诸葛亮果然极有才能，很快便将军中事务处理得井井有条。
ZhuGe Liang went with Liu Bei to XinYe, Liu Bei asked him to be his counciller, and invited him to oversee the army. ZhuGe Liang did indeed have great abilities, and very quickly, the army's business were dealt with easily.

不久，曹将夏侯惇率十万大军前来挑战。诸葛亮让赵云将曹军引入山谷，然后让埋伏在那里的军士燃起大火，这场火烧得曹军死伤惨重。
Shortly after,Cao Cao's general XiaHou Dun led 100,000 men to fight.ZhuGe Liang told Zhao Yun to lure Cao Cao's army into a valley,then the men who are already placed there will set the place on fire,the fire burned Cao Cao's army and many were injured as well as killed.

曹操不甘失败，召集五十万大军前来征讨，派遣大将曹仁率十万大军进攻新野。
Cao Cao wasn't willing to lose,and gathered 500,000 men to go on an expedition,and sent the general Cao Ren to lead 10,000 men into XinYe.

新野难守，诸葛亮就安排百姓全部转移。他在新野设好埋伏，专等曹军到来。
XinYe was hard to defend,so ZhuGe Liang arranged for all the people to relocate.and he set up an ambush at XinYe,and patiently waited Cao Cao's army's arrival.

曹军杀奔新野，发现城里竟然空无一人。曹军以为刘军害怕逃走了，就住了下来。
Cao Cao's army raced into XinYe,and discovered that the city was deserted.Cao Cao's army thought that Liu Bei's army had fleed in terror,so they stayed there for the night.

夜晚，城里突发大火，烧死无数曹军。曹军逃到白河边，河水突涨，淹死无数兵士。
原来这又是诸葛亮的计策，他让关羽在上游用沙袋截水，看到曹军便撤袋放水。
At night,the city was suddenly set ablaze with fire,and killed many of Cao Cao's soldiers.Cao Cao's army ran to the bank of the Bai River,the river had swelled up a great size,and drowned more soldiers. Turns out that this was all according to ZhuGe Liang's calculations,he told Guan Yu to go upstream and use sandbags to stop the river,when they saw that Cao Cao's army arrive they removed the bags and let the water flow again.

曹操大怒，亲自率大军进攻新野。诸葛亮建议刘备放弃樊城，退守荆州重地江陵。
Cao Cao was enraged,and personally led his army to attack XinYe.ZhuGe Liang suggested that Liu Bei abandon the city,and retreat and defend the strategic location JiangLing of JingZhou.

于是刘备一面派关羽去江夏向刘琦求救，一面率军民十余万人赶往江陵。
So Liu Bei sent Guan Yu to Liu Qi of JiangXia to beg for help,and also led an army of over 100,000 soldiers and other civilians and rushed to JiangXia.

半夜，曹军追上来了。刘备见救兵没到，只好率两千士兵迎战。危急关头，张飞杀了过来，护着刘备逃到长坂坡。
At midnight,CaoCao's army finally caught up.Liu Bei saw that reinforcements had not yet arrived,he could only lead 2,000 soldiers to battle.they were in a desperate situation,and Zhang Fei came to attack Cao Cao,helping Liu Bei flee to ChangBanPo.

天亮了，刘备见身边只剩百余人马，百姓、家小、赵云等都不知去向。他万分焦急，不由得落下眼泪。
It was morning,Liu Bei saw that only over 100 people on his side had survived,and didn't know where the other people, his family members, and Zhao Yun went to.He was very very very worried,and couldn't help but start crying.

原来赵云在寻找刘备的家眷，他数次杀入乱军，才在逃难的百姓中找到甘夫人。
It turns out that Zhao Yun was looking for Liu Bei's family members,He charged many times into the hordes of soldiers,and found Madame Gan in the midst of the crowd of running people.

这时一支曹军冲了过来，赵云挺起枪，杀出一条血路，将甘夫人送至长坂坡。
At this moment, a group of Cao Cao's army rushed by,Zhao Yun lifted his spear,and sliced and hacked his way out,and brought Mme Gan over to ChangBanPo.

接着，赵云只身杀了回来，在敌军中左冲右突，终于在枯井前找到糜夫人和阿斗。
Next,Zhao Yun singlehandedly slashed and hacked back,and chopped and sliced inside the enemy ranks,finally found Mme Mi and A Dou in front of a well.

此时糜夫人已身受重伤，她让赵云不要管她。赵云不同意，糜夫人便投井自杀了。
At the moment Mme Mi had a fatal injury,and told Zhao Yun to not mind her.Zhao Yun protested,and Mme Mi jumped into the well and died.

赵云只好埋了糜夫人，将阿斗缚在怀中，一连杀死曹军名将五十余员。
Zhao Yun could only bury her corpse,and bound A Dou to his chest,and killed over 50 of Cao Cao's famous generals.

曹操爱才，想收服赵云，便下令活捉他。曹军将士有所顾忌，赵云趁机冲出重围。赵云连战几十员曹将，早已人困马乏。他看到桥头上的张飞，连忙大声呼救：“翼德救我！”
Cao Cao liked talented people, and wanted to get Zhao Yun on his side,so he ordered his men to capture Zhao Yun alive.Cao Cao's general was a bit hesitant,so Zhao Yun used this moment to rush out of the tight encirclement. Zhao Yun battled tens of CaoCao's generals,and he and his horse were exhausted.He saw Zhang Fei at the head of the bridge,and shouted, "HELPPP MEEEE!"

张飞截住追兵，赵云才得以脱身。赵云见了刘备，将熟睡的阿斗交给他。
Zhang Fei held off the chasing soldiers,Zhao Yun finally hurried off.Zhao Yun met up with Liu Bei,and handed the sleeping A Dou to him.

刘备见赵云为了保护阿斗险些丧命，便将阿斗抛在地上，责怪一番。为了你这小子，几乎损我一员大将。赵云说：“赵云肝脑涂地，也难报主公知遇之恩。”
Liu Bei saw that Zhao Yun had protected A Dou and was nearly killed,and threw A Dou on the ground,and started blaming him.Just for you little guy,one of my senior generals almost died.Zhao Yun said, "Even if I am to die the cruelest death,it will be impossible to repay you."

桥头上，张飞命部下将树枝拴在马尾上，在树林中来回奔跑，冲起满天的尘土。
At the head of the bridge,Zhang Fei ordered the soldiers to hang tree branches from their horses' tails,and run back and forth in the forest,letting dust and dirt cloud up.

曹军追了过来，看到张飞横枪怒喝：“谁敢与我决一死战！”又看到树林里尘土飞扬。他们怕有伏兵，不敢上前。
Cao Cao's army caught up,and saw Zhang Fei waving his spear around shouting, "Who wants a battle to the death with me?!"and then saw the flying dirt inside the forest.They were afraid of an ambush,so they were hesitant to move forward.

曹军一退，张飞便率军追上刘备，与刘琦的援军合兵一处，往汉津、沔阳逃去。
Cao Cao's army backed up,Zhang Fei then led the army to catch up to Liu Bei,with Liu Qi's extra reinforcements,fled to HanJing and MianYang.

第八章三请诸葛亮

2008-05-25T16:58:00.000-07:00

第八章三请诸葛亮
Chapter Eight: Thrice Inviting ZhuGe Liang

刘备攻取许都时大败，只好率兵去投奔诸侯刘表。刘表对刘备非常热情，刘表的后妻蔡氏却对刘备不满，因为刘备不同意她的小儿子继承父位。
When Liu Bei went to attack XuDu he suffered a crushing defeat,he could only take his army back to seek help from warlord Liu Biao.Liu Biao was very nice to Liu Bei,but Liu Biao's second wife Cai Shi did not approve of Liu Bei,because Liu Bei was against her son inheriting his father's title.

蔡夫人让弟弟蔡瑁率兵去杀刘备，刘备逃走时被檀溪拦住去路。眼看追兵就要追上了，刘备只好打马往溪里跳去。谁知那马一跃而起，飞身跳到了对岸。
Mme Cai asked her little brother Cai Mao lead the army to kill Liu Bei,but when Liu Bei was escaping Creek Tan was blocking his way.when he saw that the army was catching up with him,Liu Bei could only get his horse to gallop towards the stream.Who knew that when the horse leaped up,it would leap over to the other side.

刘备来到对岸后，一位吹短笛的牧童认出了他，并邀请他去见师父水镜先生。
After Liu Bei reached the other side,a flute playing shephard boy recognized him,and invited him to meet Master Shui Jing.

草堂里，刘备见到气宇不凡的水镜先生。水镜先生让他广求贤才，以成大事。刘备问：“敢问怎样才能成就大事?”水镜先生道：“卧龙、凤雏，两人得一，可安天下。”
Inside the grass hut,Liu Bei met the extraordinary Mr. Shui Jing.Shui Jing wanted him to seek more talented people,and turn it into a great achievement.Liu Bei asked, "Can I ask how turn into such a great achievement?"Shui Jing replied, "Wo Long, Feng Chu,you need to recruit one of them,and you can dominate the world."

刘备回去后，巧遇贤士徐庶。徐庶说:“诸葛孔明，人称卧龙，诸葛孔明是一位天下奇才，将军可去拜访。”
After Liu Bei returned,he had a chance encounter with Xu Shu.Xu Shu said, "ZhuGe KongMing,also called Wo Long,ZhuGe KongMing is one of the world's greatest talented people,you're going to meet him."

于是，刘备和关羽、张飞一起去隆中卧龙冈拜访诸葛亮，不料诸葛亮没有在家。
Whereupon,Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei went together to the prosperous WoLong Hill to meet ZhuGe Liang,but consequentially ZhuGe Liang wasn't home.

回去时，刘备遇到诸葛亮的朋友崔州平。刘备想让他出山相助，可他却长揖而去。他的理由是生性闲散，无意于功名。
When they went back,Liu Bei met ZhuGe Lian's friend Cui Zhou Ping.Liu Bei wanted him to help,but he refused.He said it was because his life was short,and didn't care about honor and titles.

刘备回去后天天打听诸葛亮的消息。一天，他听说诸葛亮回来了，立即准备出发。
After Liu Bei went back he gathered for any news about ZhuGe Liang.One day,he heard that ZhuGe Liang returned,and immediately set out.

张飞建议派个人去请诸葛亮，可是刘备不以为然，于是三兄弟再次来到卧龙冈。
Zhang Fei suggested that they send someone to invite ZhuGe Liang,but Liu Bei disagreed,so the three brothers once again went to WoLong Place.

刘备跟着小童走进草庐，看见一个年轻人一边烤火，一边唱着贤士待明主的歌。
Liu Bei followed a little kid into the grass hut,and saw a young man warming up by a fire,while singing some folk songs.

刘备欢喜地说:“总算见到先生了。”年轻人还礼说自己是诸葛均，二哥诸葛亮昨天出门闲游了，不知何时回来。刘备只好留了封信给诸葛亮，便告辞了。
Liu Bei laughed, "I can finally meet you, mister."The young man introduced himself as ZhuGe Jun,and his older brother ZhuGe Liang went out yesterday to travel,and didn't know when he would return.Liu Bei could only leave a letter for ZhuGe Liang,and bid fare-well.

转眼过了新年，刘备选好日子，换上干净衣服，又要去隆中拜会诸葛亮。关羽、张飞都很不高兴，关羽说:“还是别去了，估计他徒有虚名，不敢见我们。”
New year passed in the blink of an eye,Liu Bei picked a day,changed into clean clothes,and went once again to meet ZhuGe Liang.Guan Yu and Zhang Fei weren't very happy,and Guan Yu said, "Maybe you shouldn't go,maybe he really isn't as famous as they describe him,and doesn't have the balls to meet us."

张飞听了关羽的话，嚷着要把诸葛亮绑过来。刘备训斥二人无礼，二人只好相随。
Zhang Fei heard Guan Yu's words,and started ranting about forcing ZhuGe Liang to come over here.Liu Bei scolded the two men for their rudeness,and the two quieted down.

到了隆中，刘备得知诸葛亮正在午睡，便只身站在茅庐的阶下静静等候。
After arriving at LongZhong,Liu Bei heard that ZhuGe Liang was sleeping,so he stood straight outside the thatched room and quietly waited.

过了一个时辰，诸葛亮醒了，听说刘备已等很久，连忙走出来，将他迎进茅庐。
After two hours,ZhuGe Liang woke up,and heard that Liu Bei had waited outside for a long time,and hurriedly walked out,and invited him into the cottage.

诸葛亮取出地图，建议先取荆州，再夺西川，与曹、孙形成鼎立之势后再图中原。
ZhuGe Liang retrieved a map,and suggested that they first take JingZhou,then go to XiChuan,and with Cao Cao and Sun Quan and each rule their own land then go for the Central Plains.

刘备听后极为敬佩，再三恳请诸葛亮出山相助。诸葛亮见他如此诚恳，便答应了。
After Liu Bei heard his plan he admired this man even more,then pleaded for ZhuGe Liang to join him.ZhuGe Liang saw that he was very sincere,and agreed.

Life is short?

2008-05-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here's Indy's latest work.

刘备想让他出山相助，可他却长揖而去。他的理由是生性闲散，无意于功名。

Liu Bei wanted him to help, but he refused. He said it was because his life was short, and didn't care about honor.

I found that the way she translated those highlighted parts is very interesting. It's hard for her to explain why she did so. It's surprising that a short statement "but he refused" really captured the meaning, and I don't know what could be better than that.

When I saw "his life was short", I almost bursted into laughter. It was funny. It's so American: Life is short!

第七章官渡败袁绍

2008-05-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

第七章官渡败袁绍
Chapter 7: Yuan Shao Defeated At GuanDu

袁绍想称霸天下，可是实力不足以对付曹操，于是拉拢占据江东的孙策共讨曹操。孙策兵精粮足，实力十分强大。
Yuan Shao wanted to dominate the world,but his power wasn't enough to beat Cao Cao,so he lured Sun Ce on his side and together wanted to fight against Cao Cao.Sun Ce's army's provisions were good as well as the army itself,so they were very strong.

吴郡太守许贡想暗算孙策，结果被孙策杀死了。许贡的门客便找机会射伤孙策。
The Governor of WuJun, Xu Gong wanted to kill Sun Ce,which resulted in Sun Ce killing him. Xu Gong's subjects wanted to avenge him so they found an oppurtunity to injure Sun Ce with an arrow.

孙策中的是毒箭，不久就毒发身亡了。临死前，他把权力交给了弟弟孙权。
Sun Ce was shot with a poisoned arrow,and it wasn't long before the poison spread throughout his body.Before he died,he gave all his power to his little brother Sun Quan.

曹操听说孙策已死，孙权继立，便想拉拢孙权，于是奏表皇帝，加封孙权为将军。从此，孙权的大名威震江东，前来拜会的将领、谋士络绎不绝。
Cao Cao heard that Sun Ce died,and Sun Quan inherited all his power and wealth,he wanted to get close to Sun Quan,so he wrote a letter to the emperor,and promoted Sun Quan to the rank of general.From that point on,Sun Quan was known throughout the east of ChangJiang,endless streams of generals and advisors came to visit him.

袁绍见曹操与孙权联合对付自己，不禁勃然大怒，便率七十余万大军，往官渡进发，讨伐曹操。曹操领军七万迎敌。到达官渡后，曹操令张辽带兵冲阵。
Yuan Shao saw that Cao Cao and Sun Quan worked together to fight him,was very mad indeed,and led an army well-over 700,000,and started toward GuanDu,to fight Cao Cao.Cao Cao led an army of 70,000 to fend them off.After reaching GuanDu,Cao Cao ordered Zhang Liao to lead the army and attack.

袁绍早已设下埋伏，等曹军一到，袁军便万箭齐发。曹军大败，只好退守官渡。
Yuan Shao had already planned an ambush,and after Cao Cao's army arrived,his army unleashed tens of thousands of arrows.Cao Cao's army was defeated,and could only retreat back to GuanDu.

两个月后，曹军粮草将尽，便派人到许昌火速催粮。不料半路使者被袁军抓住了。
After two months,Cao Cao's provisions weren't well stocked,so Cao Cao ordered his messenger to go to XuChang to stock up on provisions.But surprisingly met up with Yuan Shao's army and was captured.

许攸搜出书信，劝袁绍趁机攻打曹操。袁绍却怀疑许攸勾结曹操，特来设计陷害他。
Xu You searched him and found a letter which he took,and took this moment to persuade Yuan Shao to hurry and attack Cao Cao now.But Yuan Shao was afraid that Xu You was working with Cao Cao,and especially created a plan to kill him.

许攸无奈，只好连夜去投曹操。曹操已经睡下了，听说许攸来了，光着脚前去迎接。大声说：“子远肯来，我有救了。”
Xu You couldn't do anything,and that night could only go to Cao Cao for protection.Cao Cao was already asleep,and heard that Xu You arrived,he went barefooted to welcome the man.Cao Cao shouted, "You're willing to come on your own free will,I am saved."

许攸入帐后，问:“军中还有多少粮草？”曹操说:“可用一年。”
After Xu You was allowed to enter,he asked, "How many provisions does the army have?"Cao Cao said, "Enough for a year."

许攸不信，曹操立即改口说:“只有半年了。”许攸笑道:“看来曹操果然是奸雄。”
Xu You was skeptical,and Cao Cao quickly corrected himself, "Only half a year's worth."Xu You chuckled, "Looks like Cao Cao really is an arch-careerist."

曹操说:“这叫兵不厌诈，军中只有一个月的粮草了。”许攸却朗声说出实情。
Cao Cao said, "This is called all is fair in life and war,we only have a month's worth of provisions."Xu You however explained the situation in a loud voice.

曹操请教计策。许攸建议去乌巢烧毁袁绍的粮草，这样袁军就不战自乱了。
Cao Cao asked help for strategies for defeating Yuan Shao.Xu You suggested that they burn Yuan Shao's provisions at WuChao,so this way Yuan Shao's army would be in chaos without any fighting from us.

第二天，曹操率精兵五干，打着袁军的旗号，顺利地来到乌巢。他们四下放火，将那里的粮草烧了个精光。
The next day,Cao Cao brought with him an elite army of 5,000,holding Yuan Shao's flag,and easily arrived at WuChao.They lit the fire everywhere,and all the provisions there were burned to the ground.

袁军没了粮草，士气低落。当晚，曹操率大军直攻袁营，袁军被打得四散逃命。袁绍来不及披甲，只带着八百余人慌忙逃走。
The same night,Cao Cao led his army to attack Yuan Shao's camp,and Yuan Shao's army fled left and right.Yuan Shao didn't have enough time to wear his armor,and only brought 800 of his men to flee.

袁绍不甘失败，重整人马后又来挑战。曹操让曹军背水一战，打得袁军死伤无数。
Yuan Shao was not willing to lose,so he regrouped all his men and horses and then came to battleCao Cao let his army go all out,and killed and injured many of Yuan Shao's men.

不久，袁绍病死了。他的三个儿子争权夺位，自相残杀，最终被曹操一一剿灭。
Shortly after,Yuan Shao died of an illness.His three sons fought over his power and inheritance,and fought with each other,and at the end were all extermintated by Cao Cao.

Some "gems"

2008-05-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

It's interesting to list some of translation, incorrectly, Indigo managed to make. What do you think of them?

官渡败袁绍
The Government Loses to Yuan Shao

往官渡进发
started toward the government

他们四下放火
they set fires 4 times

最终被曹操一一剿灭
the last one was killed by Cao Cao

第六章千里走单骑

2008-05-06T20:35:00.000-07:00

第六章千里走单骑
Chapter Six: Riding Thousands of Miles

袁术死后，刘备写表报奏朝廷，留下军马保卫徐州。曹操见刘备盘踞徐州，大怒，便派兵前去攻打他。刘备依照张飞的主意，夜里袭击曹营，不料却中了埋伏。
After Yuan Shu died,Liu Bei wrote a letter to the government,and stayed with the army to protect XuZhou.Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei was staying in XuZhou without his explicit permission,threw a huge tantrum (broke his favorite vase),ordered his army to attack him.Liu Bei followed Zhang Fei's plans,and raided Cao Cao's camp at night,but surprisingly got ambushed.

刘备和张飞失散，刘备只好投奔袁绍，张飞去了芒砀山。这时，关羽则驻守下邳，保护刘备妻小。曹操引关羽出战，然后断其后路，将他围困在一座土山上。
Liu Bei and Zhang Fei got split up,and Liu Bei could only retreat to Yuan Shao,and Zhang Fei went to MangDang Mountain.At the moment,Guan Yu was stationed at XiaPei to guard it,and protected Liu Bei's wives and children.Cao Cao lured Guan Yu out to battle,then blocked off the way back,and surrounded him on a hill.

曹操爱惜关羽的武艺人才，想让他归降，于是派大将张辽前去劝降。
Cao Cao liked Guan Yu's skill in martial arts,and wanted him to surrender,so he ordered the general Zhang Liao to try to persuade the other to surrender

关羽告诉张辽，自己宁死不投降。张辽劝道:“你死了，谁照顾刘备的家人呢？”
Guan Yu told Zhang Liao,he would rather die than surrender.Zhang Liao persisted, "If you die,who's going to protect Liu Bei's family?"

关羽想了想，提出三个条件，其中有一条是一旦得知刘备的下落便去寻找他。
Guan Yu thought about it,and listed three conditions,one of them was once they discovered Liu Bei's whereabouts they had to go find him.

曹操答应了关羽的要求，还送给他很多财物。关羽把这些财物全部交给两位嫂嫂。
Cao Cao agreed to Guan Yu's request,And gave him lots of treasure.Guan Yu gave all the treasures to two sister-in-laws.

曹操又把吕布的赤兔马送给了他，关羽知道这匹马善于奔跑，连忙拜谢曹操。
Cao Cao gave Lu Bu's Red Rabbit to him,Guan Yu knew that this horse ran very fast,and quickly thanked Cao Cao.

不久，袁绍又起兵讨伐曹操。袁军的先锋颜良武艺非凡，连斩曹操两员大将。
Shortly after,Yuan Shao, with his army, attacked Cao Cao yet again.His army's vanguard Yan Liang's martial arts skills pwned,and consecutively beheaded Cao Cao's two elite generals.

曹操的谋士推荐关羽出战，他说关羽杀掉颜良，袁绍就会怪罪刘备，借此除掉刘备。“让关羽出战，可谓一石二鸟啊！此计甚妙！”
Cao Cao's advisor suggested that they bring Guan Yu into battle,and he said that Guan Yu could kill Yan Liang,and Yuan Shao would then blame Liu Bei for the death,and they could kill off Liu Bei."Let Guan Yu out into the battlefield,that'll be killing two birds with one stone!what a brilliant plan!"

果然，关羽出战后，很快就杀掉了颜良，接着又斩杀了袁绍的大将文丑。
After Guan Yu went into battle,and swiftly killed Yan Liang,and then went on to kill Yuan Shao's general Wen Chou.

袁绍大怒，要杀刘备。刘备说:“将军息怒，这是曹操使的借刀杀人之计！我写信让二弟来助你杀敌。”袁绍这才转怒为喜。
Yuan Shao was enraged,and wanted to kill Liu Bei.Liu Bei said, "General, please, calm down,this is Cao Cao's scheme to kill me with your hands!I shall write a letter to my little brother to help fight the enemy."Yuan Shao stopped raging and became happy.

关羽收到信后，向曹操辞行。曹操故意躲着不见他，关羽只得护着二位嫂嫂离去。
After Guan Yu received the letter, he told Cao Cao he wanted to leave.Cao Cao purposely avoided him,Guan Yu could only protect his sister-in-laws and leave.

曹操赶去为他送行，送来大量财物。关羽只在马背上用刀挑过一件锦袍穿上。
Cao Cao swiftly went to send him off,and sent him a lot of jewels and silk.Guan Yu was on his horse so he used his weapon to lift a luxurious robe and put it on.

关羽渡过黄河，才知刘备已去了汝南。关羽又来到古城，听说张飞刚占领这里。
Guan Yu crossed the Yellow River,and only then did he know that Liu Bei already went to RuNan.Guan Yu then arrived at GuCheng,and heard that Zhang Fei just conquered this place.

关羽高兴地去见张飞。可是张飞圆睁环眼，喝道:“你降了曹操，还敢来见我？”
Guan Yu happily skipped over to meet Zhang Fei.But Zhang Fei glared at him with bloodshot eyes,and bellowed, "You surrendered to Cao Cao,and you dare have the guts to see me?"

这时，曹操部将蔡阳赶到这里。关羽斩了蔡阳，张飞这才相信关羽并未投降。
At that time,Cao Cao had sent his general Cai Yang over.Guan Yu beheaded Cai Yang,only then did Zhang Fei believe that Guan Yu didn't surrender to Cao Cao.

第二天，关羽听说刘备去投奔袁绍了，便去找到刘备。刘备随关羽赶往古城。
The next day,Guan Yu heard that Liu Bei went to Yuan Shao,and so he went and found Liu Bei.Liu Bei went with Guan Yu to GuCheng.

路上，赵云前来投奔，刘备如虎添翼。刘、关、张在古城重聚，大摆宴席庆贺。
On the road,Zhao Yun came over,and Liu Bei's strength was greatly reinforced.Liu, Guan, and Zhang reunited at GuCheng,and they feasted and celebrated.

第五章煮酒论英雄

2008-04-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

第五章煮酒论英雄
Chapter Five: Warming Wine While Discussing About Heroes

董卓死后，他的部将结党杀到京城，寻吕布、王允报仇。吕布抵挡不住，只得独自带兵投奔袁术去了。
After Dong Zhuo died (w00t), his lieutenant gathered an army and fought into the city,seeking for Lu Bu and Wang Yun in vengeance.Lu Bu couldn't defeat them,and could only bring his army by himself to YuanShu in retreat.

此时，曹操因战功显赫做了丞相，掌握朝中实权。他视吕布与刘备为心腹大患。
Cao Cao regained his dignity with many victories and became the prime minister,and got hold of the real power in the government.He regarded Lu Bu and Liu Bei as big trouble.

曹操发下假诏，命刘备攻打与吕布相勾结的袁术。刘备不敢违抗王命，只得出征。
Cao Cao faked an emperor's order,and commanded Liu Bei to attack Yuan Shu who was in collaboration with Lu Bu.Liu Bei did not dare defy orders,and could only do as commanded.

刘备敌不过袁术，只好投奔曹操。为对付吕布，曹操留下刘备，表荐他做了豫州牧。
Liu Bei couldn't defeat Yuan Shu,and was forced to go to Cao Cao.In order to fight Lu Bu,Cao Cao kept Liu Bei,and recommended him as the governor of YuZhou.

不久，曹操设计杀了吕布，还收降了猛将张辽。自此，曹操在朝中更是有恃无恐。汉献帝见曹操专横，就写下血诏，让国舅董承联合忠义之士，除灭奸党。
Shortly after,Cao Cao plotted to kill Lu Bu,and even took in a surrendering valiant general Zhang Liao.From then on,Cao Cao was even more powerful in the government.Emperor Xian of Han saw how powerful Cao Cao was,and wrote a royal order in blood,and ordered a royal relative Dong Cheng to ally with righteous people,and vanquish a treacherous Cao Cao and his followers.

董承在私下里与刘备等忠义之士歃血为盟，一心想除掉曹操，共扶汉室。
Dong Cheng and Liu Bei as well as other righteous people made a blood oath,all wanting to kill Cao Cao,and support as well as rebuild the Han Dynasty.

刘备加入讨贼同盟后，怕曹操怀疑，于是每天足不出户，只在后园里浇水、种菜。
After Liu Bei joined the Anti-Cao Cao Alliance,was afraid that Cao Cao would be suspicious,so he never left his house,and stayed in his backyard watering plants and growing vegetables.

一天，曹操把刘备带到府上的后花园，说：“如今梅子青青，我们正好煮酒赏梅。”
One day,Cao Cao brought Liu Bei to Cao Cao's backyard,and said, "Today's plums are so ripe,we can drink wine and appreciate the plums."

二人走进亭子里，开怀畅饮。曹操问：“玄德一定知道当世都有哪些英雄吧！”
The two walked into the pavilion,and drank to their heart's content.Cao Cao asked, "Xuan De must know the present day heros!"

刘备依次列举了袁绍、刘表等诸侯，曹操仰天笑道：“这些碌碌小人，何足挂齿！”
Liu Bei listed them one after the other, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao etc.,Cao Cao laughed, "These lowly douchebags,they're not worth talking about!"

曹操说:“当世英雄，只有你我二人。”刘备闻言，惊得将手中的筷子掉到地上。
Cao Cao said, "The present day heros,are only you and I."Liu Bei heard these words,was so surprised that his chopsticks clattered to the floor.

就在这时，天空响起炸雷。刘备装作受惊的样子，趁机捡起筷子，自嘲一番：“雷霆的威力好大呀，把我的筷子都震掉了。”
So it was at this time,a thunderstorm started.Liu Bei pretended to be frightened,and used this time to pick up his chopsticks,mocked himself by shouting,"The thunder is so loud,my chopsticks fell on the floor!"

曹操笑道:“大丈夫也怕打雷吗？”刘备说:“这么响的雷，怎能不怕？”曹操见他如此胆小，就打消了疑忌。一阵雨过，关羽、张飞急匆匆地闯入后花园。
Cao Cao chuckled, "A man like you is afraid of thunder?"Liu Bei said, "Thunder this loud,how is one not afraid of it?"Cao Cao saw how cowardly he was,he wasn't suspiscious anymore.After a shower of rain,Guan Yu and Zhang Fei hurriedly rushed in the backyard.

原来关羽、张飞怕曹操暗算刘备，便不顾阻拦冲到亭子里，按剑站在刘备的身旁。
It turned out that Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were afraid that Cao Cao would harm Liu Bei,and despite guards blocking the way, rushed in the pavilion,stood side by side with their swords next to Liu Bei.

曹操问二人因何事而来，关羽说:“我特来舞剑助兴。”曹操听了哈哈大笑：“你不要把这里当成鸿门宴啊！”
Cao Cao asked the two what their business was,Guan Yu said, "I came especially to do sword routines for your entertainment."Cao Cao heard and laughed, "You don't have to turn this place into a HongMen banquet!"

几天后，刘备借口去对付袁术，领兵五万占领了徐州。袁术不敌，战死疆场。
A few days later,Liu Bei went to face off Yuan Shu,and led an army of 50,000 men to XuZhou.Yuan Shu couldn't fend them off,and died in battle.

鸿门宴

2008-04-25T22:24:00.001-07:00

Indy made some interesting translation.

他视吕布与刘备为心腹大患。
He regarded Lu Bu and Liu Bei act weird. oO

cáocāo tīngle hāhādàxiào nǐ bùyào bǎ zhèlǐ dāngchéng hóngményàn ā
曹操听了哈哈大笑：“ 你不要把这里当成鸿门宴啊！ ”
Cao Cao heard and laughed, "You don't have to turn this place into the circus!"

Yeah, I'd laugh if it's a circus :-)

The Hero of Boiling Wine

2008-04-22T22:13:00.000-07:00

What is "煮酒论英雄"? The Hero of Boiling Wine? That's what Indy thought :-)

Is it really "boiling wine"? I think it's probably "boil some hot water to warm up the wine".

第四章巧施连环计

2008-04-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

第四章巧施连环计
Chapter Four: Cleverly Executed Chained Strategies

董卓挟持汉献帝迁都长安后，更加肆无忌惮。朝中的官员，稍不如他意，立即被砍头，抄家。官员们对董卓又恨又怕，都想除掉他，可又想不出办法来。
After Dong Zhuo coerced Emperor Xian of Han to move the capital to ChangAn,he became more brazen.The officials in the court,didn't suit to his liking,and were immediately beheaded,and their property confiscated. The officials hated as much as feared Dong Zhuo,and all wanted to get rid of him (damn right they did!),but couldn't devise a plan.

司徒王允为此忧心如焚。一天，他去后花园散步，遇到了府中的歌女貂蝉。
Wang Yun, the deputy prime minister, became very anxious indeed. One day,he took a walk in the garden,and met an artisan girl by the name of Diao Chan.

貂蝉美若天仙，又能歌善舞。王允看到她后心生一计，于是对着貂蝉跪下便拜。
Diao Chan was as pretty as a goddess,she could sing and dance.Wang Yun came up with a plan the moment he laid eyes on her,so he kneeled before Diao Chan and groveled.

貂蝉扶起王允，跪下说:“您对我恩重如山，如果您有事相求，我万死不辞。”
Diao Chan helped Wang Yun up,and in turn kneeled and said, "You have been oh so very kind to me,if you have a request,I'll risk my life to fulfill it."

王允将貂蝉领进屋，说:“董卓不仁不义，我要用连环计除去董卓和吕布。你可巧妙行事，让他们父子反目成仇！”
Wang Yun brought Diao Chan into a room (insert cat call here),and said, "Dong Zuo is apathetic and unjust,I want to get rid of Dong Zuo and Lu Bu once and for all.You can come up with clever plans,and let the father and son hate each other!"

王允邀请吕布赴宴，并叫貂蝉相陪。貂蝉万种风情，令吕布倾倒。
Wang Yun invited Lu Bu to a banquet,and let Diao Chan accompany him.Diao Chan flirted shamelessly,and Lu Bu was quickly smitten.

貂蝉说:“美酒献英雄，请将军多饮几杯！”
Diao Chan said, "Fine wine for the hero,please, drink up! Drink up!"

王允趁机说:“我想将义女貂蝉送给将军做妾，将军可愿意？”吕布喜得再三拜谢。
Wang Yun took this oppurtunity to say, "I want you, my dear goddaughter Diao Chan, to wed the general,what say you?"

不久，王允又邀请董卓赴宴。董卓喜欢貂蝉，王允便派人将貂蝉送入相府。
Wang Yun then invited Dong Zhuo for a drink.Dong Zhuo liked Diao Chan,Wang Yun ordered people to escort Diao Chan into the prime minister's home.

吕布知道后，质问王允。王允假装为难地说:“董卓要带走貂蝉，我怎敢阻拦？”
After Lu Bu knew of this,he demanded Wang Yun for answers.Wang Yun pretended to be sad and said, "Dong Zhuo took Diao Chan away,how am I suppose to disagree?"

董卓娶了貂蝉，吕布无比愤怒。貂蝉对董卓百般讨好，但一见吕布就泪流满面。
Dong Zhuo married Diao Chan,and Lu Bu was heartbroken.Diao Chan was very good to Dong Zhuo,but every time she saw Lu Bu she would burst into tears.

吕布看到后心如刀绞，但因惧怕童卓，却又无可奈何。一天，貂蝉趁董卓入朝议事，偷偷地约吕布在后花园凤仪亭相见。吕布非常高兴，提戟大步走向风仪亭。
When Lu Bu saw this it felt as if his whole heart was frozen in ice then shattered into a billion little pieces, like a squirrel crushed under a jeep's big huge wheels,but because he feared Dong Zhuo,couldn't do anything about it.One day,When Dong Zhuo went to court to discuss official matters, Diao Chan took this opportunity,sneakily arranged a meeting in the FengYi pavilion of the backyard with Lu Bu.Lu Bu was ecstastic,and carried his Long Heavenly Double Lance-Ax and sauntered over to the FengYi pavilion.

貂蝉见到吕布后，哭着说:“董卓强娶我为妻，我活着还有什么意思?我只想见将军一面，现在已别无所求。”
After Diao Chan saw Lu Bu,sobbed, "Dong Zhuo forced me to marry him,what is the point in living?All I want is to see you,and now I can die happy. You know that saying by Confucius, where he says that when people finally know what they want to know, then they can die happy or something like that..." she rambled on.

貂蝉说完，就要跳入荷花池自尽。吕布忙把画戟放在亭栏边，抱住貂蝉，好言安慰。
After Diao Chan finished her hearfelt speech (which she slaved over for quite a while in front of the mirror),made to jump into the lotus pond.Lu Bu swiftly put his Long Heavenly Double Lance-Ax next to the fence,hugged the fair maiden who he had just gloriously saved in the lights shining upon him from the heavens,and comforted the damsel in distress.

再说董卓发现吕布不见了，便到后花园里找他，却看到他正和貂蝉相拥私语。
Now, after Dong Zhuo discovered Lu Bu had disappeared,went to the backyard to find him,and saw him and Diao Chan embracing each other as if their lives depended on it and talking.

董卓大怒，拿起吕布放在一边的画戟，朝吕布用力地刺了过去。
Dong Zhuo was so enraged that he yelled to the heavens and did a very rude hand gesture,picked up Lu Bu's Long Heavenly Double Lance-Ax,and lunged at Lu Bu.

吕布逃走了，貂蝉对董卓说吕布调戏她。这边王允乘机让吕布刺杀董卓。吕布说:“不报夺妻之仇，我誓不为人！”
Lu Bu fled with his skirt in his hands,and Diao Chan tearfully told Dong Zhuo that Lu Bu had sexually harassed her.Wang Yun took this opportunity and let Lu Bu kill Dong Zhuo.Lu Bu said, "If I do not avenge him for stealing my bride,then I am not considered a man! (I'd be a shman)"

吕布决定与王允合作，于是王允以汉天子要禅位给董卓为由，将董卓骗进宫来。
Lu Bu decided to work with Wang Yun,So Wang Yun said the emperor of Han wanted Dong Zhuo to be the emperor, thus giving an excuse,and Dong Zhuo was tricked his way into the court.

董卓来到殿门外，王允让埋伏的武士向董卓猛刺。董卓的胳膊被刺伤了，他急得大叫:“吕布救我。”吕布应声而出，一戟刺中了他的咽喉。
Dong Zhuo arrived outside of the throne,Wang Yun ordered warriors ambush Dong Zhuo and stab him.Dong Zhuo's arm was injured,and he shouted, "Save me, Lu Bu!"Lu Bu heard him and walked over,and stabbed him right in the throat with his Long Heavenly Double Lance-Ax.

第三章三英战吕布

2008-04-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

第三章三英战吕布
Chapter Three: Three Heroes Face Off Lu Bu

曹操逃回家乡后，开始联络各路英雄，共同筹划讨董大计。响应的人很多，刘备也带着关羽、张飞以及好友公孙瓒前去会盟。
After Cao Cao fled to his hometown, he started to get in touch with heroes from all over,
and together they devised a plan to defeat Dong Zhuo once and for all. Many people were responsive, Liu Bei also brought Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as well as a good friend Gong Sun Zan to ally with each other.

大家选渤海太守袁绍为盟主，派长沙太守孙坚为先锋，讨董大军直逼汜水关。
Everybody chose Governor Yuan Shao of Bo Hai as the leader of this alliance, and they assigned Governor Sun Jian of Chang Sha as the vanguard, and they launched an expedition against Dong Zhuo and was currently headed toward SiShui Pass.

孙坚敌不过董卓大将华雄，袁绍急召诸侯商议对策。大家惧怕华雄，都低头不语。
Sun Jian couldn't win against Dong Zhuo's general Hua Xiong, Yuan Shao hurriedly called for dukes to discuss strategy. Everyone feared Hua Xiong, and wordlessly hung their heads.

这时关羽主动请战:“小将愿去取华雄人头，献于帐下。我如不能取胜，请斩我项上人头。” 可是袁绍的弟弟袁术却嫌他位卑职微，叫人把他赶出帐去：“来人，把这无名小卒赶出去！”
At this moment Guan Yu enthusiastically said, "I am willing to behead Hua Xiong,and present it to you.If I fail to do so,you can take my head instead."But Yuan Shao's little brother Yuan Shu thought he was just a lowly servant,and wanted him out, "Guards,kick this worthless fleabag out!"

曹操连忙劝阻袁术，说:“不妨让他出阵迎敌，如不能取胜，到时再责不迟。”
Cao Cao quickly tried to dissuade Yuan Shu,and said, "As well as letting him fight the enemy,and if he can't win,we'll think of the consequences then."

曹操给关羽斟上一杯热酒，关羽却抱拳说:“等我斩了华雄，回来再饮不迟。”
Cao Cao poured some warm wine for Guan Yu,however, Guan Yu just gave him a two-handed salute and said, "Once I behead Hua Xiong,it isn't too late to share some drinks."

关羽出阵后，很快就提着华雄的首级回来了。他端起酒杯，此时酒还冒着热气呢。
After Guan Yu left,he quickly arrived with Hua Xiong's head. He held up the wine cup,and steam was coming from the wine too.

不久，董卓统兵十五万与盟军交战。吕布手舞方天画戟，冲锋陷阵，无人能敌。
Shortly after,Dong Zhuo's army of fifteen thousand people fought with the others.Lu Bu waved his Long Heavenly Double Lance-Ax around wildly,charged into the enemy ranks,and no one could stop him.

袁绍派公孙瓒迎战吕布，但是公孙瓒哪是吕布的对手，几回合后就败下阵。
Yuan Shao ordered Gong Sun Zan to face off Lu Bu,but Gong Sun Zan wasn't even a threat to Lu Bu,and lost after a few rounds.

吕布纵马追赶公孙瓒，快追上时，举起画戟向他的后心刺去。不料这时张飞从旁边杀了过来，怒喝道:“张飞在此，吕布休得无礼!”
Lu Bu chased Gong Sun Zan on horseback,and the moment he almost caught up to him,raised his Long Heavenly Double Lance-Ax and thrust it at his back.Unexpectedly, Zhang Fei burst in from the side,and shouted, "Zhang Fei here,Lu Bu, cease this impoliteness at once!"

吕布见张飞圆睁环眼，挥舞丈八蛇矛，便飞马上前，与他斗了起来。
Lu Bu glanced at Zhang Fei's fiery expression,and wielding his Long Serpent Spear,and promptly rushed up,and dueled with him.

两人大战五十回合，难分胜负。关羽见了心急，便舞着青龙偃月刀，上前助战。吕布大吼：“让你们见识一下我的武艺！”
After about fifty rounds of fierce hacking and chopping,it was hard to decide the outcome.Guan Yu was getting impatient,And raised his Long Green Dragon Halting Moon Broadsword,and leaped into the fray. Lu Bu hollered, "I let you taste some of my martial arts skillz!"

吕布毫无惧色，愈战愈勇。三十回合后，刘备看得着急，催马上前助阵。
Lu Bu had no fear,and seemed to get even braver and stronger. After thirty rounds,Liu Bei was getting impatient from watching,and urged his horse forward to join the battle.

刘备、关羽、张飞三人大战吕布，几种兵器相撞，火星四溅，众人都看呆了。吕布大吼：“尽管放马过来！”
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei battled fiercely against Lu Bu,Their weapons clashed,sparks flew everywhere,and the other soldiers were transfixed.Lu Bu shouted, "Gimme all y'got!"

斗了一百多回合后，吕布渐渐招架不住了，便找机会突围，一直逃回关内。 After over one hundred rounds,Lu Bu was slowly becoming tired,and tried to look for a chance to retreat,and fled all the way to the inside of his camp.

吕布战败，董卓只得火烧洛阳，押着汉献帝和老百姓迁都长安，躲避起来。
Lu Bu had just lost,Dong Zhuo had to set fire to LuoYang,and escorted Emperor Xian of Han and the inhabitants to the new capital ChangAn,to hide.

曹操率军追击董卓，不料中途遭遇埋伏。曹操的腿受了伤，只好收拾残兵回营。
Cao Cao led his army to pursue Dong Zhuo,but surprisingly in the middle he was ambushed.Cao Cao's leg was injured,and was forced to bring his troops back to camp.

这时，留守洛阳的孙坚无意中得到传国玉玺，他也想称帝，便率军回到江东。
Just then,Sun Jian, who stayed behind in LuoYang, accidentally obtained the imperial jade seal,he also wanted to become an emperor,and led his troops back to the east of ChangJiang.

各路诸侯开始混战，战火连年不息，刘备、关羽、张飞只好回到平原重谋大事。
And everywhere warlords started to fight amongst themselves,the flame of war had been rekindled and burning for years,Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei could only return to the plains to discuss big plans.

Two-handed salute/greeting/farewell

2008-03-27T13:07:00.000-07:00

While Indy was working on chapter 3, I noticed that some Chinese phrases are not easy to translate. For example, 关羽说：“小将愿。。。”， "小将" is literally meant "little general" or "young (inexperienced) general". In this case, it's a self-deprecating or humble way to introduce himself. She simply used "I", which is appropriate, I think; but you couldn't sense the drama.

The second one is "抱拳”. It literally means that you move your hands in front of your chest, with one (right) palm holding the other fist (left) and with a little bowing movement. It's mainly used in greeting people or saying goodbye. She translated it as "bowed", which is not bad.

I thought it a little and discussed with her. We thought this translation of "抱拳” is a good one: "two-handed salute", "two-handed greeting" or "two-handed farewell" :-) depending on the context.

第二章曹操献宝刀

2008-03-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

One good point about this comic book is character repetition: names, places, and titles. Hopefully it will help Indy to retain many of the characters.

第二章曹操献宝刀
Chapter 2: Cao Cao Presents the Treasured Blade

中平六年初夏，汉灵帝驾崩。大将军何进立汉灵帝的小儿子刘辩为皇帝，自己掌握了朝中大权。何进想铲除宦官，就密诏并州刺史董卓率兵进京。
It was the early summer of the sixth year of the Zhong Ping Era,Emperor Ling of Han passed away.He Jing, the commander-in-chief, appointed Emperor Ling of Han's youngest son Liu Bian to become the new emperor,and he quickly took authority of the government. He Jing wanted to get rid of the eunuchs,so he secretly issued an edict to Dong Zhuo, BingZhou's Inspector to bring his army into the capital.

曹操是何进的部下。在与黄巾军作战时，曹操立了战功，被封为骁骑校尉。
Cao Cao was He Jing's subordinate.While they were fighting with the Yellow Bandanas,Cao Cao won many battles,and was promoted to the calvalry commander.

曹操听了何进的话，说:“用一个狱官杀掉宦官头目就够了，何必召外兵呢?”
After Cao Cao heard of He Jing's plan,he said, "Using a jailer to kill the head eunuch is enough,why do you want to use other troops?"

何进不听，结果宦官们听说这件事后，便先下手为强，设计杀掉了何进，洛阳城陷入一片混乱中。奉命率兵进京的董卓趁乱掌握了朝中大权。
He Jing ignored him,and after the eunuchs heard about this,they took the initiative and was the first to make a move,and plotted and killed He Jing,and the city of LuoYang was in chaos. Dong Zhuo, the one who had received the order to come to the capital took advantage of this turmoil and gained control of the royal government.

董卓想废掉刘辩，立陈留王刘协为帝，却遭到荆州刺史丁原等人的反对。
Dong Zhuo wanted to strip Liu Bian of his power,and to appoint Prince of ChengLiu, Liu Xie, as emperor,yet the Inspector Ding Yuan of JingZhou and others opposed this descision.

丁原有个义子叫吕布，英勇无比，董卓派人用“赤兔”宝马和大量财宝去收买他。
Ding Yuan had a godson called Lu Bu,he was brave and courageous as no other man,Dong Zhuo sent a red horse AKA red rabbit and riches to bribe him.

吕布见利忘义，收下礼物，第二天就杀了丁原，拜董卓为义父，董卓的势力更大了。
Lu Bu forgot all his honor at the sight of this "treasure"he accepted the gift,and killed Ding Yuan the next day,and accepted Dong Zhuo as his godfather,and Dong Zhuo's political power grew.

不久，董卓废掉刘辩，立九岁的刘协为帝，即汉献帝。董卓自己做了相国，从此更加无所顾忌，甚至带剑上殿，大臣们一点儿办法都没有。
Shortly after,Dong Zhuo took away Liu Bian's royal power,and the nine-year old, Liu Xie, became emperor,namely Emperor Xian of Han.Dong Zhuo himself became Prime Minister,and from then he became more arrogant,so much that he even took a sword into the royal palace,the officials couldn't do anything about it.

董卓为人残暴。他让人将刘辩毒死，将后妃都绞死，此外还放纵士兵残害百姓。
Dong Zhuo frightenend them with his tyrany.He told his henchman to poison Liu Bian to death,and hanged all of Liu Bian's wives,he also let the soldiers harass the peasants.

司徒王允把一些大臣请到家里，哭着说:“汉朝要亡在董卓的手里了。”
Wang Yun, the deputy prime minister, invited some officials over to his house,and cried, "The Han dynasty is going to crumble in Dong Zhuo's hands."

大家急得放声大哭，可是曹操却仰面笑道:“你们这些人啊，哭能把董卓哭死吗？”
Everyone else was so scared that they started bawling,but Cao Cao chuckled and said, "You people,will your tears drown Dong Zhuo?"

曹操说:“我愿借大人的七星宝刀，刺杀董卓。”王允这才转悲为喜，答应下来。
He continued, "I am willing to borrow the treasured seven-starred blade,and kill Dong Zhuo."Wang Yun turned from sad to overjoyed,and agreed to the plan.

第二天，曹操佩刀去见董卓。董卓把曹操视为心腹，叫吕布挑选一匹好马送给他。
The next day,Cao Cao brought the sword to meet Dong Zhuo.Dong Zhuo had always thought of Cao Cao as a loyal subordinate,and ordered Lu Bu to give him a good horse.

董卓坐久累了，面向里躺了下来。曹操拔刀去刺，却被董卓从镜子中看到了。
Dong Zhuo soon became tired,and lay down facing the wall.Cao Cao drew his sword to kill Dong Zhuo,but Dong Zhuo saw this through the mirror.

这时，吕布刚好牵马到了门外。惊慌中，曹操只好举刀跪地，说自己想要献宝刀：“我有宝刀一口，想献给恩相！”
Just then,Lu Bu had just brought the horse outside.In the madness,Cao Cao could only kneel and raise the sword,and said that he wanted to present the treasured sword,"I have a treasured blade,and want to present it to Your Majesty!"

董卓收下宝刀，然后带曹操去看马。曹操连连夸赞这是匹好马，还要求骑上试试。
Dong Zhuo accepted the blade,and walked with Cao Cao to admire the horse.Cao Cao praised the horse,and begged him to ride it.

就这样，曹操骑马跑了。董卓回想半天，才明白曹操要行刺，便下令捉拿他。
And like this,Cao Cao fled.Dong Zhuo thought about this for awhile,and finally realized that Cao Cao had come to kill him,and gave an order to capture Cao Cao.

Style?

2008-03-12T13:23:00.000-07:00

Indy finished Chapter one. I noticed one style issue. The Chinese generally place more emphasis on the title, while English on the name of the person.

For example,

汉灵帝刘宏腐败无能
Emperor Ling of Han,Liu Hong, was useless incompetent moronic fool

幽州太守刘焉担心自己兵少
The governor of YouZhou, Liu Yan, worried that he didn't have enough soldiers

A good style is probably

汉灵帝(Emperor Ling of Han)刘宏(Liu Hong)腐败无能
Liu Hong, Emperor Ling of Han, was useless incompetent moronic fool

幽州(YouZhou)太守(governor)刘焉(Liu Yan)担心自己兵少
Liu Yan, the governor of YouZhou, worried that he didn't have enough soldiers

第一章桃园三结义

2008-03-05T22:45:00.000-08:00

Each paragraph has a corresponding comic drawing to it, which I'm not going to scan. To get the text from the book in was a relatively simple process, the pen scanner is a big help. It takes about 5 seconds to scan each paragraph, you then proofread it after each chapter. Since Indy is going to spend only 10-15 min each weekday, it may take her 2 weeks to finish each chapter. Yes, I also spend time with her to make suggestions and corrections. I'll update this post when I get around to it.

第一章桃园三结义

Chapter One: Three Sworn Brothers in the Peach Garden

东汉末年，汉灵帝刘宏腐败无能，整天不理朝政，只知道吃喝玩乐。他非常信任宦官，致使宦官专权，天下大乱，终于爆发了历史上有名的黄巾起义。

It was the last years of the Eastern Han dynasty,Emperor Ling of Han,Liu Hong, was useless incompetent moronic fool,he didn't care for the state affairs,and all he did was eat, drink, and party.He trusted his eunuchs very much,which caused the eunuchs to monopolize power to govern the country,everything was a mess, finally a famous group of rebels, the Yellow Bandanas, started.

起义军的首领是巨鹿郡的张角、张宝、张梁兄弟三人。他们率领四五十万黄巾军，所向披靡，杀得官军望风而逃。

The leaders of this rebellion were Zhang Jiao, Zhang Bao, and Zhang Liang of JuLuJun.They led a group of forty to fifty thousand Yellow Bandanas,ever triumphant,even the royal troops fled with their tail between their legs.

汉灵帝命各地加强防守。幽州太守刘焉担心自己兵少，于是出榜招募士兵。

The emperor ordered more reinforcements from every place.The governor of YouZhou, Liu Yan, worried that he didn't have enough soldiers,so he posted recruitment announcements.

榜文在涿县张贴时，引来无数人观看。有个肩背草鞋的人进城也看到了榜文。

While the enlistment was posted in ZhuoXian,it attracted many different people.There was one man who carried some straw shoes saw this poster.

他是中山靖王刘胜的后代，叫刘备，因家里贫穷，靠贩卖草鞋、织草席为生。

He was the descendant of the Prince Jing of ZhongShan, Liu Sheng. Liu Bei was his name,and because his family was poor,he sold straw shoes and weaved straw mats for a living.

看完榜文，刘备不由得叹了一口气。忽然背后有人大声和他搭起了腔:“大丈夫不为国家出力，叹什么气?”

After he saw the announcement,Liu Bei sighed loudly.Suddenly the guy behind him and started hollering loudly, "Men should help the country,why are you sighing?"

此人身高八尺，黑脸膛，络腮胡子。刘备忙问他姓名。那人说自己叫张飞，字翼德。“我一直想建功立业，幸会英雄!”。

The man was eight feet tall (in the old days, 1 ft=23cm),with a dark skin tone,and a beard from ear to ear. Liu Bei hurriedly asked for his name.That man said his name was Zhang Fei,and his friends called him Yi De."I've always thought of helping the country, becoming a hero! and am so very fortunate to meeting a hero like one such as yourself!"

他们志向相投，便去酒馆继续商谈。不久，有一大汉推着一辆车在店门口停下。

Their ambitions were the same,so they went to a pub to talk.Soon after,a big man pushing a cart stopped in front of the pub.

这人身高九尺，胸前长须飘飘，面如红枣，丹凤眼，卧蚕眉。刘备见他相貌不凡，便邀他一起喝酒。那人说自己叫关羽，字云长，见了榜文，特来参军。

This man was nine feet tall,and had a big long beard hanging on the front of his chest,his face was a red date,and had red phoenix eyes,with silkworm like eyebrows.when Liu Bei saw his extraordinary looks,he invited him for a drink.The man said his name was Guan Yu,and his friends called him Yun Chang and saw the announcement,and came especially to enlist.

刘备说:“今日幸会二位英雄，干杯!”。三人谈得投机，于是约定酒后一起到张飞庄上商谈如何报效国家。

Liu Bei said,"Today I have a very good fortune to meet you two heroes,CHEERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The three soon became very good friends,and decided that after drinking they would go to Zhang Fei's house and discuss how to repay the country.

张飞说:“我庄后有座桃园，明天我们在园中祭拜天地，结为兄弟，共图大事。我们兄弟齐心协力、必能成就大事。” 刘备说:“如此甚好。”

Zhang Fei said, "There's a peach garden behind my house,tomorrow we can go there and pay our repects to the heaven and earth,and swear to become brothers,and go on many great adventures together.We brothers must concentrate on our efforts to accomplishing great achievments."Liu Bei said, "Amen."

第二天，三人在桃园盟誓，结为兄弟。刘备做了大哥，关羽是二弟，张飞是三弟。

The second day,The three men sat in the peach garden,and became brothers.Liu Bei was the Big Brother,Guan Yu was the middle brother,Zhang Fei was the little brother.

三人招募勇士，备好兵器。刘备使剑，关羽使青龙偃月刀，张飞使丈八蛇矛。

The three brothers enlisted warriors,and prepared the weapons.Liu Bei used a sword,Guan Yu wielded the Long Green-dragon-halting-Moon Broadsword,while Zhang Fei used the Long Serpent Spear.

一切备齐，三人率五百壮士投奔刘焉。刘焉是汉室宗亲，与刘备以叔侄相称。

Everything was set,The three brothers led an army of 500 to join LiuYan.Liu Yan was a royal relative,and was distantly related to Liu Bei, who called him "uncle."

从此，刘备、关羽、张飞率兵征战，杀得黄巾军四散溃逃，兄弟三人连立战功。很快，黄巾军被镇压了，刘备只被封为安喜县县尉的小官。

From this point on,Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei led the army to fight,and slaughtered the Yellow Bandanas and forced them to retreat,the brothers received many merits awarding their accomplishments.Very soon,the Yellow Bandana rebellion was crushed, but Liu Bei was only appointed as a police chief of AnXiXian.

不久，清廉的刘备因没钱贿赂督邮而遭陷害。“竟敢欺负我哥哥！”张飞气得找到督邮，将他一顿暴打。

Soon after,because Liu Bei was honest and didn't bribe the superintendent he became persecuted."Who dares to bully my big bro?!??!"Zhang Fei stormed angrily at the superintendent,and beat him up very badly.

定州太守知道后，命人捉拿刘备。刘备只好带着关羽、张飞投奔代州太守刘恢去了。

When the governor of DingZhou knew of this, he ordered him arrested.so Liu Bei had to bring Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to go to the governor Liu Hui of DaiZhou.

Names, Places, Titles and Weapons

2008-03-04T19:17:00.000-08:00

One of the daunting challenges in reading San Guo Yan Yi is that there are so many names, places, titles and weapons. I'm giving Indy some head start by standardizing on some of the names. Please help me to correct any mistakes or misunderstandings on my part.

刘备 Liu Bei (family name + given name)
曹操 Cao Cao
幽州 YouZhou (name+territory. Han dynasty had 13 Zhou 州)
巨鹿郡 JuLuJun (each Zhou had a few Jun 郡)
涿县 ZhuoXian (each Jun had a few Xian 县)
汜水关 SiShui Pass
汉献帝 Emperor Xian of Han
宦官 Eunuchs (they had no official titles, but when an Emperor placed his trust in them, they started to mess around with other official "royal officials".)
皇亲(国戚，国舅...) Royal Relatives or Royal Pain (they may or may not have official titles, but when an Emperor placed his trust in them, they started to mess around with other official "royal officials".)
大将军 Commander-in-Chief
大都督 Commander-in-Chief
大将（将军）General
相国 Prime Minister
丞相 Prime Minister
司徒 Deputy Prime Minister
太守 Governor (of a Zhou)
刺史 Inspector (generally to check and report back to the royal court on the governor of a Zhou. Each Zhou had one Inspector, who grew more powerful in Eastern Han than the governor of Zhou. BTW, variations of such "check and balance" mechanism is still in place in present day of China.)
督邮 Superintendent (generally to check and report back to the governor of a Zhou on governors of Xian. Each Superintendent was snooping around on a few Xian.)
县尉 Police Chief (of a Xian)
参军 Chief of Staff
青龙偃月刀 Long Green-dragon-halting-Moon Broadsword
丈八蛇矛 Long Serpent Spear
方天画戟 Long Heavenly Double Lance-Ax
（长）枪 Long Spear
大刀 Big Long Broadsword (Big Head Chopper) :-)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

2008-03-02T15:26:00.000-08:00

Indy is getting bored with these lame jokes. She's willing to take on more challenges. I found this comic book fancinating. She's going to read it and translate it. We figure that it will take about 8-10 months to finish this project. So stay tuned ...

三国演义
ISBN 978-7-5301-1608-1

原著明罗贯中

北京出版社出版集团

北京少年儿童出版社

总策划邢涛

主编纪江红

第一章桃园三结义

第二章曹操献宝刀

第三章三英战吕布

第四章巧施连环计

第五章煮酒论英雄

第六章千里走单骑

第七章官渡败袁绍

第八章三请诸葛亮

第九章大战长坂坡

第十章孙刘共抗曹

第十一章蒋干盗书信

第十二章草船巧借箭

第十三章孔明借东风

第十四章赤壁败曹操

第十五章刘备做新郎

第十六章三气周公瑾

第十七章张飞擒严颜

第十八章挑灯战马超

第十九章关羽单刀会

第二十章计夺天荡山

第二十一章奇谋夺荆州

第二十二章兵败走麦城

第二十三章张飞遭暗害

第二十四章陆逊烧连营

第二十五章托孤白帝城

第二十六章七擒南蛮王

第二十七章马谡失街亭

第二十八章空城计退敌

第二十九章智困司马懿

第三十章三国终归晋

Quit smoking

2008-03-02T15:25:00.001-08:00

某公患有心脏病，医生劝他戒烟，并且说，如果不能一下子戒掉，可以先改成每天饭后抽一支。一月后，他又去看医生，医生检查后发现他又有了胃病，大惑不解，问：“这是怎么回事？”“可能是因为我为了遵守您饭后一支烟的建议，每天吃饭次数过多而且不规律吧...”

Da Man went to see the doctor again,and after the doctor examined him he told him he had a stomach disease,and was greatly puzzled,"How did this happen?" he asked.Probably because I wanted to keep the promise of me smoking after every meal,and I was eating multiple times everyday so I guess I wasn't really breaking my promise..."

New set of ears

2008-03-01T15:21:00.000-08:00

Indy didn't quite get the punch line.

有个男人在一次事故中失去了两只耳朵，于是医生给他做了移植。一个月以后他回来找医生，抱怨说：“您给我移植的是女人的耳朵！”“是啊！可是，您是怎么知道的？”“嗯，我什么都听到了，可是我什么都不明白！”

Da Man lost both of his ears due to an accident,so the doctor gave him an ear transplant.A month later Da Man came back to the doctor,and complained, "You gave me girl ears!""Of course!but,how did you know?""Oh,I can hear everything fine,but I don't get it at all!"

Counting sheep

2008-02-28T23:21:00.000-08:00

某人有失眠的困扰而求助于医生…。医生问：没有试著数羊吗？病人回答：当然有，当我数到五千六百四十八只的时候，刚好天亮…。

Da Man had sleep problems which he consulted the doctor for.the doctor asked: Did you try counting sheep?Da Man replied: Of course I have,and when I counted to 5,648 sheep,the sun had just risen...

Lose weight

2008-02-27T20:19:00.000-08:00

医师对胖子说如果他每天跑八英里，连续跑三百天，就能减肥34公斤．三百天后，医师接到胖子的电话，说他已减了那么多体重，但他也因此添了个难题。“什么难题？”医师问。“我现已离家两千四百英里了。”

The docter told a fat dude that if he ran 8 miles everyday,and ran for 300 days straight,he would lose 34 kilograms. 300 days later,the fat dude called the doctor,and said that he already lost weight,but he has a problem now."What complication?"the doctor queried."I'm right now 2,400 miles away from home."

A flea or not

2008-02-26T19:37:00.000-08:00

许多人在一起喝酒，一个人身上发痒，便搔了一下，忽然摸到一只虱子。怕别人嘲笑自己脏，忙把虱子丢在地下，装作体面的样子道：“我还当它是虱子呢。” 一个客人便拾起虱子细看着，对大家说：“嘿，我还当它不是虱子呢。”

A lot of people were drinking beer together,and one person began to feel itchy all over,and scratched it,and suddenly felt a flea.Because he was afraid that people would mock him for being dirty,hurriedly threw the flea to the ground,and pretended to be "elegant" and said, "I thought it was a flea."Another person picked up the (squashed) flea and examined it,and announced, "Hey,and I thought it wasn't a flea."

Carrots for good sight

2008-02-25T20:24:00.000-08:00

“医生，我多吃胡萝卜，视力真的会有改善吗？”
“当然，您什么时候看到过兔子有戴眼镜的？”

"Hey Doc,if I eat a lot of carrots,will my vision get better?""Of course,when have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?"

Born in the year of ox

2008-02-24T22:19:00.000-08:00

县官属鼠，过生日那天，下属为了讨好他，凑了钱送给他一只黄金铸成的老鼠。县官高高兴兴地收了下来，接着说道：“你们知道吗？再过几天就是我太太的生日，她是属牛的！”

The county magistrate's zodiac animal was a rat,and the day he was celebrating his birthday,and because his subordinates wanted to please him,and collected money to help buy him a golden rat.The magistrate happily excepted it,and he said, "Guess what?In a few days it'll be my wife's birthday,and her zodiac animal is an ox!"

Indy is taking a break for a week

2008-02-18T21:41:00.001-08:00

She has a long Presidents Day holiday :-)

a little riddle

2008-02-14T21:42:00.000-08:00

喜欢在别人睡觉时谈论知识的人---大学教授

A person who likes to talk about knowledge when someone is sleeping -- a university professer...har. har. har. -_-

Master of Stinginess

2008-02-12T22:34:00.000-08:00

I heard of some variations of the same joke.

一个吝啬的人，想使自己变得更吝啬，便拜一位被称作“吝啬大师”的人为师傅。求见时，他带去两件礼物：一条纸剪的鱼；一瓶淡水，算是酒。可是老师不在家，师母出来接见。她知道那人是来学本领的，便叫婢女递上一只空杯，说：“请用茶。”又用两手合了一个圆圈模样，说：“请吃饼。”老师回来了，听了妻子款待学生的经过，急得顿了顿脚，说：“你太破费了！”又用手合了半个小圆圈，说：“半个饼就足够了！”

Once there was a very stingy person,he wanted to be even more stingy,so he became a disciple of a man who was nicknamed "Stingy Teacher."When he wanted to see the teacher,he brought two gifts with him: a paper fish;a bottle of water,which counted as wine.But the teacher wasn't at home,so his wife came to the door.She knew that the person came to learn skills,so she called a maid to throw an empty cup over,and said, "Please have some tea."and used her hands to form a circle,and said, "Please have some cake."The teacher came back,and heard of the incident of his wife giving the student a "feast,"and became hopping mad,and said, "You're such a money waster!"and used his hands to form a semicircle,and said, "Half a cake is enough!"

The legend of Cang Jie

2008-02-10T10:30:00.000-08:00

That's interesting. 文 is like "alphabets", and 字 is the compound words. It's easier for me to understand that a-Z is 文, and all the English words are 字. In Chinese, all the radicals and strokes are 文, and the characters are 字 (methinks). It's understood that that some 文 and 字 are the same.

黄帝时代，国家疆土扩大，各地老百姓的来往不断增加，其中包括互相做生意。开始时用在绳子上打结的方法来记帐：用每个结代表一件东西，例如一头牛、一头羊等等。满十就打一个大圈。
这个方法很麻烦，而且由于记帐的绳子会烂掉，被老鼠啃坏，就引起很多纠纷，天下的事情又开始乱纷纷起来。
于是黄帝命令一个叫苍颉的官员去制造文字。苍颉仔细地观察天上的太阳、月亮和云彩，地上的植物、裂缝和鸟兽的脚印，制造出了许多基本的文字符号，因为来源于“花纹”，所以就把这些基本符号称为“文”。他又根据这些基本符号的组合制造了许多复合的文字符号，因为是从“文”的基础上产生的，就好像是“文”生下来的孩子，所以就用房子下面的一个“子”来代表这些复合符号，就是“字”。
苍颉造出了文字之后，天下又太平了。

It was the Huang Di era,the country's territory expanded,communication with people from all over the place increased,and among those was doing business with others.they began to use ropes to calucate things; and used every knot to represent something,for example a cow and a sheep etc.If it reached ten then they would tie a big knot.This technique was frustrating,and plus the rope could fall apart,or knawed on by mice,and that lead to a lot of trouble,and the earth, once again, was becoming very chaotic.So Huang Di ordered an official by the name of Cang Jie to create "characters."Cang Jie carefully observed the sun, moon, and clouds,the earth's plants, dirt cracks, and animals' footprints,and created a lot of basic character symbols,because it came from "Hua Wen,"so he called these basic symbols "wen" (文).He also followed the basic characters' assembly to create plenty of compound symbols,because it came from "wen,"it was like a child being born from "wen,"so he used the "zi" (son 子) under "house" to represent these compound symbols,so it became "zi" (字).After Cang Jie created these characters,the earth was once again a peaceful place.

Good doctors

2008-02-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

What is 外科医生? Indy at first thought it was "foreign surgeon", and that cracked me up. I know that there's something called "internal medicine", but didn't know there's something called "external medicine". So when "internal medicine" was translated as 内科, and the practioners were translated as 内科医生; so there must be something opposite to 内科医生, hence 外科医生. Could this be right? Please enlighten me.

三个外科医生争夸自己的医术。第一个说：“我给一个男人接上了胳膊，他现在是全国闻名的棒球手。”第二个说：“我给一个人接好腿，他现在是世界著名的长跑运动员。”“你们的都不算什么奇迹。”第三个说，“我为一个人接上了笑容，他现在已经是国会议员了。

Three surgeons were bragging about their medical skills.The first one said, "I helped a man reattach his arm,and right now he's a famous baseball player."The second one said, "I reattached a person's leg,he's currently a famous sprinter.""Your feats aren't considered that good."The third one scoffed,"I helped give a person a smile,and right now he's a Congressman."

It's not my fault

2008-02-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

有个医术很差的大夫，从来没有治愈过一个病人，他的朋友指责他：“难道你不知道怎样治病吗？”“你错了，我的朋友。”这位医师回答道，“我非常了解我的技术，我完全按照医学教科书治疗病人，该受指责的人不是我而是病人，因为他们从来不按照我的书来发病。”

There was a doctor that had very horrible medical skills,and could never heal a sick person,his friend accused him, "So you're saying that you don't even know how to cure a disease?""You're wrong,my Dear Friend."The doctor replied,"I understand my techniques very well,and I follow the medical book completely,the ones who should be accused is not me but the patients,because they never follow my book to get sick."

There is no bus driver

2008-02-05T19:38:00.000-08:00

双层巴士司机嫌醉汉话多，便请他到上层找个座位坐下。不一会，醉汉就下来了。问其原因，醉汉说：“上面司机不在，不安全。”

The bus driver of a doubledeck bus thought that the drunkard talked too much,and told him to go to the upper deck and sit down.A moment after,the drunkard came back down.When asked the reason why,the drunkard said, "There's no driver on the upperdeck,it's not safe."

It's an echo!

2008-02-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

Apparently Indigo got a big kick out of this one.

牙医检查病人的口腔：你的牙上有个大洞!有个大洞。病人：是有个洞，可你也不用说两遍呀。牙医：我只说了一遍。那是回音。

The dentist was examining a patient's cavity and exclaimed, "There's a ginormous black hole on one of your teeth! ZOMG!"A BLACK HOLE!!! ZOMG!"The patient replied, "There is a hole,but you don't need to say it twice.The dentist said, "I only said it once.That was an echo."

Lost rope

2008-02-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

有个人因偷东西而被逮捕示众，熟人问：“你犯了什么罪？”他说：“真晦气！昨天我在街上走过，见路边有条绳子，觉得丢了可惜，便拾起来。哪知就犯了罪！”熟人又问：“难道绳子一点也没系着什么吗？”他才尴尬地说：“哪知绳子那一头还牵着一头牛呢！”

A person was caught stealing and was being paraded around the streets,a friend asked, "What crime did you commit?"He said, "So unfortunate!Yesterday I was walking on the street,and saw some rope on the side of the road,and felt bad for it,so I took it.I didn't know that was a crime!"The friend asked again, "Was the rope attached to anything?""The rope was attached to a bull!" the person confessed, embarassed.

Pain Killer

2008-02-02T20:51:00.001-08:00

放学前，老师把学生叫到办公室，拿出一粒止痛片说：“你把它吃下去吧。”学生不解地说：“我身上哪儿也不疼呀！”“过会儿就疼了。我已经把你考试不及格的消息告诉你爸爸了。”

Before school was over,the teacher called a student over to his office,and took out a pain killer and said, "You should take this."The student said in confusion, "But I don't hurt anywhere!""It'll hurt later.I already told your father that you failed the test."

Is ink expensive?

2008-01-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

“爸爸，墨水很贵重吗？”“啊，不。你怎么会这样想呢？”“因为我洒了一点点墨水在地毯上，妈妈就像非常痛心似的。”

"Daddy,is ink expensive?" "Ah,no.Why would you think of such a thing?" "Because I accidentally spilled some ink on to the carpet,and Mommy looked very heartbroken."

Landing on the Sun

2008-01-29T18:57:00.000-08:00

爸爸说：“科学技术发展的很快，人类已经实现登上月球的愿望。”洋洋听了说：“将来我长大了，要登上太阳。”爸爸说：“太阳上非常热，人根本上不去。”洋洋笑了起来：“爸爸真傻，难道我不会晚上去吗？”

Daddy said, "Science and technology have developed really fast,the human race already landed on the moon."Yang Yang heard and said, "In the future, when I grow up,and land on the sun."Daddy said, "The sun is very hot,humans can't land on it no matter what."Yang Yang started laughing, "Daddy is so stupid,can't I even go there at night?"

Millionaire and Fisherman

2008-01-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

一个百万富翁在海滩度假时，看到一个渔夫懒洋洋地躺在那里晒太阳。富翁对渔夫说﹕“这样好的天气，你应该赶紧工作，别躺在这里浪费时间。”渔夫问﹕“赶紧工作是为了什么呢﹖”富翁说﹕“这样，以后你会很有钱，等你老了以后，就可以像我这样，到海滩度假，自由自在地晒晒太阳。” 渔夫说﹕“可是，我现在不是已经这样了吗﹖﹗”

While a millionaire was on vacation at the beach,he saw a fisherman lying lazily on the beach, basking in the sun.The millionaire stated to the fisherman, "With this fair weather,you should hurry and fish,and not be lying on the beach wasting your life."The fisherman inquired, "What am I hurrying to work for?" The millionaire replied matter-of-factly, "This way,and later on you can earn a lot of money,and when you're old,you can be like moi,and go to the beach for vacations,and bask in the sun without a care in the world."The fisherman then responded, "But,aren't I doing this right now?!"

The legend of Kua Fu

2008-01-24T21:20:00.000-08:00

Hi. Kids, dehyration kills! Don't get dehyrated if you want to embark on any long distance endurance sport, such as chasing the Sun. Seriously, you don't need to chase the Sun, just sit tight and let the Sun come to you.

炎帝的后代中有一个叫夸夫的人，他力气很大，走路像风一样快。
有一次他决定和太阳比赛，看谁走得更快。于是他向太阳追去，在将接近太阳的时候，他感到非常口渴，于是就奔到黄河边上，一下子把黄河里面的水都喝完了。但是他仍然感到口渴，又奔到渭水边上，把渭水里的水也喝完了。最后他想去北方的大湖找水喝。可是他还没有到达北方的大湖，就在半路上渴死了。

One of Yan Di's descandents was called Kua Fu,he was very strong,and he could walk as fast as the wind.One time he decided to have race with the sun,and wanted to see who could walk the fastest.so he chased after the sun,and once he neared the sun,he was very thirsty,so he ran to the Yellow River,and drank all the water.But he was still very thirsty,so he ran to another water source,and drank it dry.and lastly he went to the north to drink water.But he didn't even make it to the north,and along the way died of thirst.

The legend of Shen Nong

2008-01-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

I've been on business trips like crazy, so haven't spent as much time on this blog as I wanted. Indigo has been great to tolerate my nagging :-).

I found Shen Nong's reasoning is fancinating. If aninmals don't die as human's, then what animals eat must have some kind of medicinal effects. Is it a fact or a myth? You gotta ask some questions, kids.
1) Horses are so big and strong. Could human become that big and strong by eating grasss?
2) The epidemic went away was a fact. It could be the herbs killed all those viruses, but it could also be the result of the strongest survived.

远古的时候，有一个时期流行瘟疫，地上的人死掉了很多。

于是一个叫神农的人决心寻找治病的方法。他看到鸟兽并没有传染到人类的疾病，就想可能鸟兽吃的植物里面有治病的东西。于是他就亲自去品尝各种各样的植物，每种植物从根到叶子、再到花、果，不管甜、酸、苦、辣、咸，全部都尝过了，最后发现了一万六千种草药。

他把这些草药记录在一本叫《本草经》的书中，介绍给人们。终于阻止了瘟疫的流行。

A long time ago,there was a period where an epidemic occured,and a lot of people on earth died.So a person called Shen Nong determinedly set out for a cure.He saw other animals that seemed to be alright,and thought that maybe what the animals ate could cure the disease.So he went by himself to gather the plants and herbs,and every plant from roots to leaves and from flowers, fruits,and no matter be they sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, or salty,he tasted them all,until he had discovered 160,000 different kinds of herbs.He recorded all these herbs into a book called Herb Book, and presented it to people.And they finally cured the epidemic.

The legend of Yi

2008-01-17T21:33:00.000-08:00

The Yao is not the bball player "Yao" in Houston ;-)

So Chang E flew to Moon in order to save her husband Yi. But who is that wine maker Wu Gang dude on the Moon? I couldn't find where he came from and how he ended up on the Moon. Anyone knows the story, please send it to me, so I can tell my girl Indigo about it! Thanks in advance.

在尧治理天下的时候，有一个时候天空突然出现了十个太阳，把大地烤得裂了开来，树木、花草都枯死了。

于是有一个叫羿的英雄，他用箭把天上的太阳一个一个地射了下来，最后，只留一个太阳在空中，让它给大地光明和温暖。

后来羿娶了嫦娥为妻，再后来，嫦娥为救羿就飞到月亮上了。

During the time when Yao was ruling the land,there was a time when there were ten suns in the sky,and it burned so great that the earth fell apart,the plants and flowers withered away.So there was hero named Ying,and he used his arrows to knock off the suns in the sky,and in the end,there was only one sun left,and allowed it to give sunshine and warmth on to the land. Later on Yi married a woman named Chang E, and afterwards, Chang E flew up to the moon in order to save her husband.

The legend of Chi You

2008-01-17T21:24:00.000-08:00

Ok, Huang Di defeated Yan Di and took over his tribe. This dude Chi You wanted to challenge Huang Di, and got crashed and his tribe was blanded with Huang Di's tribe. Hmmm, why the Chinese don't call themselves of decendants of Chi-Yan-Huang?

蚩尤是南方一个部落的首领，据说那个部落的人身体像野兽，有四只眼睛，牙齿很长并且很硬，能够把沙子、石头当饭吃。

蚩尤想争夺黄帝的领袖地位，就向黄帝的部落发动了进攻，但是最后失败了，于是蚩尤的部落也合并进了黄帝的部落。

Chi You is the leader of a southern tribe,and it was rumored that the tribespeople had bodies like animals, who had four eyes,and with super long teeth that were very hard as well,and could eat sand and stones. Chi You wanted to take the place of Huang Di,and attacked Huang Di's tribe,but he was defeated,so Chi You's tribe was put together with Huang Di's tribe.

Is it in your brain or your stomach?

2008-01-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

The Chinese medicine was so "advanced", it stipulates that your stomach holds the most important life "ingrients". Your thought process and your thinking is all done inside the stomach. You don't think with your brain, you think with your heart, and you plot or scheme with your stomach. After all, the stomach holds everything you eat. They had no idea what a brain was :-).

So when you hear the Chinese say that so-and-so doesn't have anything in his stomach, it doesn't mean that he is hungry, it means he can't write well or articulate his thoughts.

一个秀才准备去考试，成天唉声叹气。他的太太说﹕“看你这样害怕考试，真像我们女人害怕生孩子一样。”秀才说﹕“你不知道，这比生孩子难多了。你生孩子前肚子里已经有孩子了。可是我肚子里根本没有文章。”

A scholar was preparing to take a test,and was sighing all day long.His wife stated, "Looks like you're very nervous about the test,just like us women afraid of having children."The scholar replied, "You don't know the half of it,this is more complicated than having children.when you're having a child your stomach already has the child.but my stomach doesn't even have an essay."

The legend of HuangDi and YanDi

2008-01-15T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well, if Huang Di defeated Yan Di and absorbed his tribe, shouldn't the Chinese themselves "decendants of Huang Yan" instead of "decendants of Yan Huang"?

黄帝和炎帝是兄弟，他们的父亲叫少典，母亲叫有蟜氏。黄帝在姬水边上长大，所以姓姬。炎帝在姜水边上长大，所以姓姜。两个人之间经常发生战争。

最后的决战发生在涿鹿的大原野上。双方的军队打了几个月，打得天昏地暗。结果，黄帝战胜了炎帝。于是两个部落合并，成为形成中华民族的主流。

所以现在的中国人常自称 “炎黄子孙”。

Huang Di and Yan Di were brothers,and their father was called Shao Dian,the mother Jiao ShiHuang Di grew up by the River of Ji,so his last name is Ji.Yan Di grew up by the River of Jiang,so his last name is Jiang.They fought a lot of battles.their last fight occurred in the vast grasslands of Zhuo Lu.Both sides fought for several months,they fought so hard the sky turned dark.In the end,Huang Di beat Yan Di.so both of them amalgimated,and formed a Chinese Nation.so this is why the Chinese are referred to as "Yan Huang's descendants."

The legend of Nv Wa

2008-01-12T23:55:00.000-08:00

This is a Chinese version of how creatures on earth were created. The creator was Nv Wa! Interesting!? But how did she come into being?

女娲是大地的女儿，她的上半部像人，下半部像蛇。她在大地上一个人游玩，时间长了，感到很孤独，就用泥土造出了人类的祖先，以及各种动物。人类渐渐繁殖增加，大地-上变得热闹起来了，女娲看了很高兴。

可是，有一天，天空突然破了，大地也裂了开来，于是整个世界上都是从天-上落下来的烈火和地下冒出来的洪水。人类的生活变得很痛苦。女娲看到人类的痛苦，感到十分难过，于是决定去修补天空和大地。她把彩色的石头溶化了，用来修补天空，用泥土去填平地下的裂缝。她又砍下了海洋里的神龟的四条腿去支撑天空。这样，世界又恢复了平静，人类又开始过安定的生活。

Nu Wa is the Earth's daughter, Her top half was that of a woman, and her bottom half was that of a snake. She was playing by herself on the earth but as time passed, Nu Wa was feeling very bored and alone, so she made the humans' ancestors out of mud, as well as all sorts of different animals. The human race slowly began to multiply, and the earth was becoming very noisy indeed, and Nu Wa was very happy about this. However, one day, the sky suddenly burst open, and the earth also cracked open, so the whole universe was filled with raging fire that fell from the sky and floods from the earth. The human race became filled with sorrow and anguish. Nu Wa saw the human races' pain, and felt really sad, so she resolved to fix the sky and earth. So she melted various color rocks, and used them to patch up the sky, and used mud to fill up all the earth's fissures. She also chopped off the turtle deity's four legs (with her magical ninja sword) and used them to hold up the sky. With this, she universe returned to normal, and the human race lead very peaceful lives. (that is, until the badass-marshmallow-eating-dinosaurs came from Jupiter...)

Is 热闹 noise? Or is it "full of excitement"? Methinks it's better to translate it as "full of excitement".

The legend of Pan Gu

2008-01-12T23:44:00.000-08:00

Ok, this is not a joke. It's a Chinese version of how the world was created.

These days youngsters don't pay a great deal of respect of the legend. In her translation, Indigo actually questioned the validity of the legend and kind of made fun of some parts of the legendary story. Sigh!

最初，宇宙是一团混沌的气体，像一个巨大的鸡蛋。这个鸡蛋的中心孕育着一个天神，他的名字叫盘古。

盘古在鸡蛋-中昏昏沉沉地睡了一万八千年，终于有一天醒了过来。他看见周围是漆黑的一片，感到十分烦闷，就挥动手中的斧子，打破了鸡蛋。于是鸡蛋中轻的物质慢慢上升，变成了蓝色的天空，鸡蛋中重的物质就慢慢沉下去，成为一片大地。

为了不让天和地重新合并，盘古用他的双手托住了天空。天空渐渐升高，盘古的身体也随着长高。又过了一万八千年，盘古的身体长到了九万里高。

他感到天和地再也不会合并了，并且自己也很累了，于是倒下来死去了。他的呼吸变成了风和云，他的声音变成了雷，他的左眼变成了太阳，右眼变成了月亮，身体变成了山，毛发变成了森林、花草，血液变成了河流，牙齿和骨头变成了石头和矿物，汗水变成了雨水和露水。盘古的死换来了一个美丽的世界。

In the beginning, the universe was just a swirling pile of gases, (P.U.!) and was like a very big egg. Inside this egg lived a god, called Pan Gu. Pan Gu slept deeply in the egg for 18,000 years, and finally woke up one day. He looked 'round at his surroundings only to find pitch-black blackness, and felt very bored and irratated indeed, so he waved his ax wildly around his head shouting the Mongol war-cry, and sliced the egg open. (where he got the ax is beyond me) And so the gases in the egg slowly rose up in the inky air, and turned in to the blue sky we now know today, and the more opaque-y-ish substances slowly sank down, and became a piece 'a land. and because he didn't want the earth and sky to merge together again, Pan Gu held up the sky with both hands. (now answer me this: how the hell is he suppose to hold up something that's entirely made out of gases?!?!) The sky slowly crept upwards, and Pan Gu's body stretched upwards as well. Another 18,000 years past, (how time flies!) Pan Gu's body was now 90,000 meters long. and he felt that the earth and the sky would never merge together now, but he also felt very tired, and fell down dead. His breath became the wind and the clouds, his voice became thunder, his left eye was now the sun, his right eye the moon, his body turned into mountains, his hair forests and flowers, his blood became rivers, his teeth and bones became rocks and minerals, and his sweat turned into rain and dew. And so, because Pan Gu died, we have a beautiful world. (so you're saying that if someone dies then the world would be a better place? sweeeeet...)

Waiting for the new semester

2007-12-26T00:31:00.000-08:00

Indigo is taking a break, so her Chinese lessons will resume after the new year.

Happy New Year to you all!

I will ask my son to wash the dishes

2007-12-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

太太要先生帮她洗碗，先生不好意思回绝。于是对十岁的儿子说﹕“孩子，你来洗碗。现在让你练习洗碗，以后可以帮你太太的忙。”儿子回答﹕“不必，以后我可以叫我儿子洗。”

Da Wife wanted Da Hubby to help her wash da dishes,Da Hubby was embarrassed to rebuff.So he told his ten year-old son, "Son,you come wash da dishes.right now you must practice da art of washing dishes,and later on help your wife."The son replied, "No need,later on I can tell my son to wash them."

I shall be successful

2007-12-22T14:04:00.002-08:00

外科医生对手术台上的病人说:“这是我的第一百次手术。” “真的﹗” 病人十分高兴:“那我可以放心了﹗” “说得好﹗” 医生很受鼓舞﹕“总有一天我会成功的﹗﹗”

The surgeon informed the paitient on the operation table, "This is the hundreth time I've performed a surgery.""Really!" the patient exclaimed, overjoyed, "Now I can relax!" "Spoken like a true man!" the surgeon was becoming very animated indeed, "One day, I will succeed!"

Play music to the cow

2007-12-22T14:04:00.001-08:00

从前，有个音乐家，叫公明仪，有一天他正在弹琴，看见旁边有头牛在吃草。他想，我来弹几支曲子让它听听吧。他先弹了一支高深的乐曲。可是那牛毫不理会，仍然自顾吃草。公明仪想，牛怎能欣赏这种高深的乐曲呢？于是，他又重新弹了一支曲子。这支曲子弹得一会儿像蚊子叫，一会儿像牛犊叫。这头牛才摇起尾巴，竖起耳朵，留心地听起来。

Once upon a time,there was a musician,by the name of Gong Ming Yi,and one day he was playing music,when he spotted a cow grazing nearby.He thought,I'll play some music for him to listen to.He first played a very advanced piece of music,But the cow was oblivious to the music,and kept on grazing.Gong Ming Yi thought,why doesn't the cow enjoy this advanced piece of music?So,he played a new piece of music.at one point, the music sounded like a mosquito's buzzing noise,and later on sounded like a calf's mew.The cow just swished its tail uncaringly,flicked its ear,and started to listen intently.

Father, son and grandson

2007-12-22T14:02:00.000-08:00

某将军的孙子在部队又立新功，将军对一事无成的儿子训斥道﹕“你和你的儿子比较，不觉得脸红吗﹖”将军的儿子道﹕“和儿子比较，十分光荣，和您比较，无上光荣。”“你说什么﹖”“和儿子比较，他的爸爸不如我的爸爸。和您比较，您的儿子不如我的儿子。”

A general's grandson just received a new achievement medal,the general told his good-for-nothing son, "Comparing you and your son, don't you feel embarrassed?" General's son replied, "If I'm compared to my son,I'm very honored,but if we're compared to you,I'd have a limitless amount of honor.""What'd you say?" "If compared to my son,his dad wouldn't compare to my dad.if compared with you,your son wouldn't be as honorable as my son."

Chinese Learning

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The End

Summer time

衣贵洁，不贵华

Summary of Chapter 30

第三十章三国终归晋

Summary and recording of Chapter 29

第二十九章智困司马懿

Summary and recording of Chapter 28

第二十八章空城计退敌

Summary of Chapter 27, recording of Chapter 26 and 27

第二十七章马谡失街亭

Summaries of Chapter 25 and 26

第二十六章七擒南蛮王

第二十五章托孤白帝城

该死的温柔?

Summary of Chapter 24

第二十四章陆逊烧连营

Summaries of Chapter 22 and Chapter 23

第二十三章 张飞遭暗害

第二十二章 兵败走麦城

Summaries of Chapter 20 and 21

第二十一章奇谋夺荆州

第二十章计夺天荡山

Indy's streaming audio for Chapter 18 and 19

Summary of Chapter 19 第十九章关羽单刀会

Chapter 17 Summary

Chapter 18 Summary

第十九章关羽单刀会

第十八章挑灯战马超

It's been hectic

第十七章张飞擒严颜

Summary: 三气周瑜

第十六章 三气周公瑾

Summary: 刘备做新郎

Funny lines

第十五章 刘备做新郎

Summary: 赤壁败曹操

第十四章 赤壁败曹操

Indigo not going to Chinese school any more

Summary: 孔明借东风

第十三章 孔明借东风

Generating MP3 files and free hosting

第十二章 草船巧借箭

草船和稻草人

第十一章 蒋干盗书信

Here's summer.

第十章 孙刘共抗曹

曹军 名将 五十 余 员

情节

第九章 大战长坂坡

第八章 三请诸葛亮

Life is short?

第七章 官渡败袁绍

Some "gems"

第六章 千里走单骑

第五章 煮酒论英雄

鸿门宴

The Hero of Boiling Wine

第四章 巧施连环计

第三章 三英战吕布

Two-handed salute/greeting/farewell

第二章 曹操献宝刀

Style?

第一章 桃园三结义

Names, Places, Titles and Weapons

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Quit smoking

New set of ears

Counting sheep

Lose weight

A flea or not

Carrots for good sight

Born in the year of ox

Indy is taking a break for a week

a little riddle

Master of Stinginess

The legend of Cang Jie

Good doctors

第二十三章张飞遭暗害

第二十二章兵败走麦城

第十六章三气周公瑾

第十五章刘备做新郎

第十四章赤壁败曹操

第十三章孔明借东风

第十二章草船巧借箭

第十一章蒋干盗书信

第十章孙刘共抗曹

曹军名将五十余员

第九章大战长坂坡

第八章三请诸葛亮

第七章官渡败袁绍

第六章千里走单骑

第五章煮酒论英雄

第四章巧施连环计

第三章三英战吕布

第二章曹操献宝刀

第一章桃园三结义