永州之野產異蛇：黑質而白章，觸草木盡死；以嚙人，無御之者。然得而臘之以為餌，可以已大風、攣踠、瘺癘，去死肌，殺三蟲。其始太醫以王命聚之，歲賦其二。募有能捕之者，當其租入。永之人爭奔走焉。

Outside Yongzhou, there were weird snakes: black skin with white stripes. When they crawled, all the grass and weeds they touched would shrivel and die. When they bit humans, no one could resist their lethal venom. However, if they were caught, killed, cured, and dehydrated, they could be used as an efficacy enhancer added to the medication to treat leprosy, paralysis, disablement, pandemics, the removal of dead flesh, and parasites. At the beginning, royal doctors conscripted the snake skins twice a year under orders from emperors; later, the order changed to hire snake-catchers and exempt their taxes in exchange for the skins they contributed. So the people of Yongzhou scrambled to engage in such work.

有蔣氏者，專其利三世矣。問之，則曰："吾祖死于是，吾父死于是，今吾嗣為之十二年，幾死者數矣。"言之貌若甚戚者。余悲之，且曰："若毒之乎？余將告于蒞事者，更若役，復若賦，則何如？"

A guy named Jiang lived on the tax-exemption job of snake-catching, which had been passed down from his father and grandfather. I asked for his comments. He said, "Both my grandfather and my father died of snake bites. As having been the successor of them for twelve years, I almost died of the same way many times." The sad look evinced on his face when he recalled. I sympathized with him and asked him, "If you dislike such a job, I will tell the officers in charge to find you a new job, and you resume paying the tax.  How about that?"

蔣氏大戚，汪然出涕，曰："君將哀而生之乎？則吾斯役之不幸，未若復吾賦不幸之甚也。向吾不為斯役，則久已病矣。自吾氏三世居是鄉，積于今六十歲矣。而鄉鄰之生日蹙，殫其地之出，竭其廬之入。號呼而轉徙，饑渴而頓踣。觸風雨，犯寒暑，呼噓毒癘，往往而死者，相藉也。

My words made Jiang even more saddened, and his eyes were watering. He continued to recount his misfortune: "Are you pitying me and going to let me survive?  But the misfortune I am encountering now is far less disastrous than the one for which I should resume paying tax. If the government had started to levy taxes on me, my life would have been much more unfortunate. Since my grandfather, three generations of my family have lived in this place for sixty years. My neighbors lives were stuck in extremely reduced circumstances day after day. The government took all of their harvests out of the fields and further conscripted all their belongings from their houses. They all started to roam in wail and despair, trudging and stumbling upon roads with hunger and thirst, fighting against the strom and the tempest, and braving all kinds of inclemencies, breathing the miasma. They died one after another en route, and then dead bodies piled up on the roads. 

曩與吾祖居者，今其室十無一焉。與吾父居者，今其室十無二三焉。與吾居十二年者，今其室十無四五焉。非死即徙爾，而吾以捕蛇獨存。悍吏之來吾鄉，叫囂乎東西，隳突乎南北；嘩然而駭者，雖雞狗不得寧焉。吾恂恂而起，視其缶，而吾蛇尚存，則弛然而臥。謹食之，時而獻焉。退而甘食其土之有，以盡吾齒。蓋一歲之犯死者二焉，其余則熙熙而樂，豈若吾鄉鄰之旦旦有是哉。今雖死乎此，比吾鄉鄰之死則已后矣，又安敢毒耶？"   

"The next-door neighbors used to live with my grandfather; now only one tenth of them are left; with my father, two or three tenths are left; with me, four or five tenths are left. Those neighbors had only one choice between death and departure. But I could live and continue staying here merely because of my snake-catching job. When those oppressive officials came, they were shouting and swearing everywhere, crashing and smashing everything, making people, even chickens and dogs, extremely uneasy and fearful. During the tumult, I got up slowly with exceptional caution, checking the clay pot and making sure the snakes were still there, then lying down again with ease. I fed the snakes cautiously and submitted them in due course, then I could come back to eat the harvest I sowed with ease till the end of my days. I estimate that I had to take great risk twice a year in catching the snakes, but I could enjoy my life the rest of the year, unlike my neighbors, who were living in fear of death every day. Even if someday I were to die of a snake bite, I would have outlived my neighbors. So how could I dare harbor hatred for my job?"      

余聞而愈悲，孔子曰："苛政猛于虎也！"吾嘗疑乎是，今以蔣氏觀之，猶信。嗚呼！孰知賦斂之毒，有甚于是蛇者乎！故為之說，以俟夫觀人風者得焉。

I felt even sadder after the woeful recounts were finished. Confuscius says, "Tyranny is more vicious than a tiger! I used to doubt the words, but now I believe they are true based on PM Jiangs experience. Alas!  Who would have ever known that exorbitant taxes and levies are more venomous than poisonous snakes? Therefore, I write this piece of essay here, waiting for those watchdog officials to read it.