Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, XII

鲁迅 狂人日記 十二

This is a sentence-by-sentence translation of the twelfth 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.

不能想了。 I can't think.

四千年來時時吃人的地方， A place where people have been eaten constantly for four thousand years;

今天才明白， today I finally understand,

我也在其中混了多年； that I have been mixed up in it for many years;

大哥正管著家務， my brother was dealing with housework

妹子恰恰死了， just when my little sister died;

他未必不和在飯菜裡， it's not certain that he didn't mix her into the food,

暗暗給我們吃。 secretly feeding her to us.

我未必無意之中， It's not certain that, unwittingly,

不吃了我妹子的幾片肉， I did not eat a few pieces of my little sister's flesh;

現在也輪到我自己， and now it is my turn,

…… 有了四千年吃人履歷的我， Me, with a four thousand year history of eating people...

當初雖然不知道， although at the time I didn't know,

現在明白， I now understand;

難見真的人！ it is hard to face real humans!

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Useful links

• [The Complete Fiction of Lu Xun (Penguin Classics)](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140455485/easasistu-20" 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)