Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, IX

鲁迅 狂人日記 九

This is a sentence-by-sentence translation of the ninth chapter of 狂人日記 (Diary of a Madman) by 鲁迅 (Lu Xun). As always, the translation here aims to be fairly literal at the expense of sounding idiomatic in English.

自己想吃人， Wanting to eat people,

又怕被別人吃了， yet fearing being eaten by others,

都用著疑心極深的眼光， all with a deeply suspicious gaze,

面面相覷。 eyeing each other up.

…… 去了這心思， Having got rid of these thoughts,

放心做事走路吃飯睡覺， they could relax and work, walk, eat and sleep;

何等舒服。 how comfortable it would be.

這只是一條門檻， That's just one threshold to cross ,

一個關頭 。 in one moment.

他們可是父子兄弟夫婦朋友師生仇敵和各不相識的人， Yet fathers, sons, brothers, husbands, wives, friends, teachers, pupils, enemies and strangers,

都結成一夥， have all formed this conspiracy,

互相勸勉， advising each other,

互相牽掣， and discouraging each other:

死也不肯跨過這一步。 even to death they are not willing to take that step.

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Useful links

• [The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun (Penguin Classics)](http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0140455485/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=easasistu-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=0140455485" rel="nofollow “The Real Story of Ah-Q and Other Tales of China: The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun (Penguin Classics)")
• Lu Xun ‘A Madman’s Diary’ translation (marxists.org)
• Simplified Chinese text of 狂人日记 (xys.org)