The prologue of Water Margin

First, the water margin opening words:

Reading a book in a secluded place, how many are elegant and Confucian. Small profits in name only do not worry, cutting ice and snow, laughing and watching Wu Gou. Comment on the first queen emperor, divided into true and false, accounting for Zhongzhou, seven males around the Spring and Autumn Period. Ups and downs are like crisp willows, and life experiences are like virtual boats. I have seen countless fame, countless pictures and countless escapes. In an instant, under the new moon, Changchuan and Jianghu mulberry fields became ancient roads. Scared that the fish is close to the wood, the poor ape chooses the wood, lest it hurt the crooked wood in the bow. Why not clap the cup in your hand and listen to the new sound curvature?

Second, translation:

Look at how many Confucian scholars live in seclusion in the depths of the book forest. They don't deserve the fame and fortune in the world, and they also treat the wars of ancient and modern times as a joke, where they sing poems and write extraordinary poems. In their eyes, it is difficult to tell the true and false of the former empress and emperor, and the Central Plains is fighting for deer, which is different from the hegemony of the princes in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period! The country is as fragile as a fragile willow, and the people who live in it are no different from those who wander on empty boats! In the natural world, there are many famous people, many figures and many escapes. Things have changed, and I don't know which side of the long river the new moon fell on in an instant. Don't be surprised to see those who look for fish from the edge of the wood, don't laugh at the poor apes who choose wood, and don't avoid crooked trees like injured birds. Put it all down-including the glass in your hand, and listen to my "new sound curvature"!

Third, a little discussion:

Jin Sheng sighed: "Shi Naian has no old grievances to express, but he is warm and carefree, so he can't help but stretch out his pen and paper, find a topic and write many of his own witticisms!" !

The opening words of Water Margin are desolate and distant, with strong Jianghu flavor, which not only loses the atmosphere of the opening words of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but also contains the bitterness of the first poem of A Dream of Red Mansions. The function of Journey to the West with a poem as an introduction has also been achieved, that is, it is appropriate to be brought in by the martial arts novels closely combined with the background of the times, especially the content related to the rise and fall of emperors and rivers and mountains.