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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