壬戌之秋，七月既望，蘇子與客泛舟遊於赤壁之下。清風徐來，水波不興。舉酒屬客，誦明月之詩，歌窈窕之章。少焉，月出於東山之上，徘徊於鬥牛之間。白露橫江，水光接天。縱一葦之所如，凌萬頃之茫然。浩浩乎如馮虛御風，而不知其所止；飄飄乎如遺世獨立，羽化而登仙。

On the 16th day of lunar July, 1082, my friends and I were floating our boat beneath the Cliff of Chih-bi, where a gentle breeze barely blew and the water rippled. I proposed a toast to the guests while reciting the lines "The beauty of moonlight" from the poem "Moon Rising" and chanting the verse "Gracious Lady." Soon, the moon rose from the eastern slope of the mountains, lingering between the asteroids of Nan-dou and Niu-su, and the dew-like moonbeams seemed to stretch to the infinite horizon and had a reflection on the surfade. We let our boat float like a leaf in the wind, traversing the vastness of the universe and drifting in the middle of nowhere like birds flying to a fairyland.

於是飲酒樂甚，扣舷而歌之。歌曰："桂棹兮蘭槳，擊空明兮溯流光。渺渺兮於懷，望美人兮天一方。"客有吹洞蕭者，倚歌而和之，其聲嗚嗚然：如怨如慕，如泣如訴；餘音裊裊，不絕如縷；舞幽壑之潛蛟，泣孤舟之嫠婦。

I drank and sang a song while knocking on the gunwale to keep time. "I rowed the oars made of bay tree, striking the water, leaving moonlight reflection behind," the lyrics said. "My mind became distracted and wandered away to the thoughts of someone else." One of the guests accompanied my song by playing his flute, and the whining sound of the flute registered something plaintive and thoughtful, like sobbing out his heart down deep. The echo lingered like unbroken threads, which would be able to awaken hidden dragons in the canyon or make a widow wail in a solitary boat.

蘇子愀然，正襟危坐，而問客曰："何為其然也？"客曰："月明星稀，烏鵲南飛，此非曹孟德之詩乎？西望夏口，東望武昌。山川相繆，鬱乎蒼蒼；此非孟德之困於周郎者乎？方其破荊州，下江陵，順流而東也，舳艫千里，旌旗蔽空，釃酒臨江，橫槊賦詩；固一世之雄也，而今安在哉？況吾與子，漁樵於江渚之上，侶魚蝦而友糜鹿，駕一葉之扁舟，舉匏樽以相屬；寄蜉蝣與天地，渺滄海之一粟。哀吾生之須臾，羨長江之無窮；挾飛仙以遨遊，抱明月而長終；知不可乎驟得，托遺響於悲風。"

I was saddened watching the scene. So I straightened my clothes and sat properly, and I asked him seriously, "Why did you act like that? Whats all about?" He said, "The moon brightened, the stars scattered, and magpies flew southerly." Are these the lines from Cao Caos poem? From here, located west is Xia Kou, and located east is Wu Chang; mountains and rivers are closely intertwined, embowered with the verdure of trees. Isnt this the place where Zhou Yu entrapped and besieged Cao and his troops? You can imagine what a heroic figure of the age like Cao would have been like when he seized Jing Zhou and then occupied Jiang Lin, leading his armada downstream to the east, sinuously stretching hundreds of kilometers on the river, with a canopy of flags that almost sheltered the sky, quaffing glasses of wine on the bank, holding a spear, and reciting the poem he wrote. Nevertheless, where is he now? We can only fish in the river, chop logs on the sandbank, and have fish, shrimp, and reindeer as our companions; ride a leaf-like boat; and toast to each other. Our existence in this universe is as brief as ephemera and as tiny as a grain of corn in the wide sea. So I lament that human life is so ephemeral in contrast to this everlasting Yangtze River. I wish we could fly through space with a fairy for as long as the moon has. But I know my wish will not come true all at once, so I tried to convey my mournful mood to the autumnal wind through the flute.

蘇子曰："客亦知夫水與月乎？逝者如斯，而未嘗往也；盈虛者如彼，而卒莫消長也。蓋將自其變者而觀之，而天地曾不能一瞬；自其不變者而觀之，則物於我皆無盡也。而又何羨乎？且夫天地之間，物各有主。苟非吾之所有，雖一毫而莫取。惟江上之清風，與山間之明月，耳得之而為聲，目遇之而成色。取之無禁，用之不竭。是造物者之無盡藏也，而吾與子之所共適。"

I commented, "Do you realize how the river and the moon work?" The river will never return, nor will it ever disappear. Despite waxing and waning every month, the moon herself will not decrease or increase. For from the aspect of things changed, all things, including us, would not last longer than a glimpse in the immense universe, but from the aspect of things unchanged, all in the universe will last forever; so why should those things be the envy of us? Not least, everything in the world has its own master; if anything does not belong to us, no matter how small it is, we should not take it into our possession. Only the breeze blowing on the river and the moonlight shining among the mountains allow us to enjoy them without restriction or exhaustion; we can listen to what we hear and see what we see. They are truly the most precious things that nature has ever created." May you and I enjoy them together."

客喜而笑，洗盞更酌，肴核既盡，杯盤狼藉。相與枕藉乎舟中，不知東方之既白。

My words delighted him and made him smile. Then we washed the cups and brought a second round of wine up. We fell asleep side by side after finishing all of the dishes, leaving messy plates and cups behind, unaware that the morning would soon break.