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Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, XII

鲁迅 狂人日記 十二

An open mouthThis 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!

[← Part XI](/china/baihua/lu-xun-diary-madman-11/" rel="prev "Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, XI") · [Contents](/china/baihua/lu-xun-diary-madman/" rel="contents "Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation") · [Part XIII →](/china/baihua/lu-xun-diary-madman-13/" rel="next "Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, XIII")

If you notice a mistake or disagree with the translation, please comment below to make this a better resource.

Series: Diary of a Madman

  1. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, Pt. I
  2. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, Pt II
  3. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, III
  4. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, IV
  5. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, V
  6. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, VI
  7. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, VII
  8. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, VIII
  9. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, IX
  10. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, X
  11. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, XI
  12. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, XII (this article)
  13. Lu Xun Diary of a Madman translation, XIII

Contact me: mhg@eastasiastudent.net

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