A home recipe can be found at
http://patty.vox.com/library/post/homemade-limoncello-when-life-gives-you-lemons.html
It could be modified by using various citrous rinds or their mixture to a different color, taste and sweetness. Any colorless liquor works besides vodka, e.g. white rum, gin, etc. Limoncello is traditionally served in chilled liqueur glasses. A sip in a hot summer evening is delightful, enjoyable and calming. Start making it as a spring project to get ready for summer.
To spice up the recipe, add a few whole chili peppers to steep with the vinegar-syrup-mustard mixture. Serve with sesame seeds.
My heart leaps up when I behold
A Rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the man;
And I wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
陈耀国译 Trans. YK Chan:
我心雀跃 (英) 威廉.韋兹活斯
天显彩虹
心雀跃。
自从脫胎
到成人，
甚及衰老
違寕死！
孩童父及渠好汉；
馀日皆
悌大自然。
城阙辅三秦，风烟望五津。
与君离别意，同是宦游人。
海内存知已，天涯若比邻。
无为在歧路，儿女共沾巾。
Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国譯:
Farewell to Deputy Prefect Du on His Way to Take up His Appointment in Shu
by Wang Bo (649-676)
Through this city wall the Three Qins get their support;
In view is the scenery of the five river ports.
Though parting in a farewell mood,
We share a career in bureaucratic pursuit.
Having us as soul mates within the four seas,
Under heaven’s neighborhood bounds it seems.
At the junction where the road divides,
No wiping tears like lovers cry.
Reference:
Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
And the sun looked over the mountain’s rim:
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.
Tr. YK Chan 陳耀國譯:
早別 (英) 罗伯特.博朗寧
轉角突達海
日望山端來
金徑彼直通
眾世我需貢
NOTE: “Parting At Morning” and its companion piece “Meeting At Night” were published together simply as “Night and Morning”. For those who wish to translate “Meeting At Night”, here it is:
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
—
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Then the two hearts beating each to each!
金樽清酒斗十千 玉盘珍馐直万钱
欲渡黄河冰塞川 将登太行雪满山
闲来垂钓碧溪上 忽复乘舟梦日边
行路难 行路难 多歧路 今安在
长风破浪会有时 直挂云帆济沧海
translated by YK Chan ( 5 Oct 2009):
Trekking Pains Li Bai
Wine in a golden cup costs an arm and a leg;
food served in a jade platter makes you bankrupt quick.
Laying my cup down with chopsticks in hand, I still fancy the eats not;
my sword drawn: I look around in vain and at tort.
To cross Yellow River giant icebergs block;
the track up Mount Taiheng fully blizzard clogged.
Rather, better be an angler at leisure upon emerald brooks,
or a dreamer boating where the sun looks.
Trekking is pain and ache, ache and pain;
from mistaken routes where is my way?
A time would come for riding with the wind on the waves,
with sails hung high crossing the broad straights.
Translated by KC Lee (4 October 2009):
The Rough Road
Laid out on the table are bottles of the rarest vintage and my most favorite dishes presented in the finest china.
Yet in frustration I abandoned my glass and laid down my utensils.
Instead, I drew my sword. But all I could manage was to stare emptily into the distance.
Even if I want to cross the Yellow River , it is clogged with ice. As for my plan to traverse TaiHang Shan, it is thwarted by fierce snow storms.
But then I recalled the stories of Lu fishing leisurely by the creek, and Yi dreaming himself sailing past the Sun and the Moon. Before they were eventually recognized by the Emperor and accomplished great deeds for the country.
No doubt the road into my future is rough and uncertain. Yet I may still have my own day. Riding the tall winds to cut across the far oceans.
春花秋月何时了，往事知多少。小楼昨夜又东风，故国不堪回首月明中。
雕阑玉砌应犹在，只是朱颜改。问君能有几多愁，恰似一江春水向东流。
Translation by YK Chan:
Happy Together: In the tune of “Beautiful Lady Yu”
Li Yu (937-978)
Would spring blossom and autumn moon ever stop to recur,
as numerous old stories in me already made a stir?
When balmy air breezed at night into this humble chamber again,
under moonlight I couldn’t bear to recall my fatherland.
The opulent palace at Jinling shalt still stay,
where pretty maids with rouged faces and all but fade.
How much grief can I hold at bay,
when it rolls like the vernal Yangzi on its easterly way?
Reading broadly into a person (original essay) by Feng Jicai
Translated by YK Chan
世界是一个大舞台，每个人都是一本书。读人，比读其他文字写就的书更难。我认认真真地读，读了大半辈子，至今还没有读懂这本“人之书”。
On the worldwide stage every person appears as a book. To read a person is more difficult than to read a written book. I have been seriously reading this “Book of Man” over half of my life, and still haven’t understood it.
有的人，在阳光明媚的日子里愿意把伞借给你，而下雨的时候，他却打着伞悄悄地先走了。——你读他时，千万别埋怨他。因为他自己不愿意被雨淋着 (且是人家的雨伞)，也不愿意分担别人的困难，你能说什么呢？还是自己常备一把伞吧。
When there is bright sunshine someone would lend you his umbrella. However, when it rains he would leave stealthily under his umbrella.–When you are reading him, don’t ever complain about him. Since he isn’t willing to get wet and it’s his umbrella after all, how can you question his reluctance to share other people’s problems? It’s better to have your own umbrella.
有的人，在你有权势的时候，围着你团团转，而你离职了，或无权无势了，他却躲得远远的。——
When you are in power or influential someone would hover all over you. However, when you leave your job or do not have clout anymore, he would make himself scarce.–
你读他时，千万要理解他。因为他过去是为了某种需要而赞美你，现在你没有那种功力了，也就没有必要再为你吟唱什么赞美诗了。在此，你就需要静下心来，先想一下自己过去是否太轻信别人呢？
When you are reading him, try your best to understand him. He praised you in the past because he needed something from you. Since you don’t serve that function now, he does not have to glorify you anymore. From now on you have to keep your cool and ponder if you are too trusting of people. Continue reading
明月几时有，把酒问青天。不知天上宫阙，
今夕是何年。我欲乘风归去, 又恐琼楼玉宇，
高处不胜寒，起舞弄清影，何似在人间。
转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠。不应有恨，
何事长向别时圆。人有悲欢离合，
月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全。
但愿人长久，千里共婵娟!
Shui diao ge tou (Prelude to Water Music)–Su Shi
Translated by YK Chan 10 September 2008
When will there be a bright shining moon?
With a wine glass in hand I ask heaven.
In the palace high up and above,
I know not which year it is tonight.
I wish to ride the wind to return there,
but fear in such fine jade buildings
I can’t stand the chilly altitude.
Dancing along with my vivid shadow,
it’s nothing like home on earth.
Moonlight wraparound on the crimson pavilion,
lowly it shines at the ornate windows and
glares on the sleepless. Ought not to bear grudges,
for what a full moon shines always at parting?
Men grieve or rejoice, separate or reunite;
the moon dims or shines, waxes or wanes.
Such affairs hardly fulfil since the dawn of time.
Nevertheless, well wishes to us forever,
sharing the same elegant moonlight from afar!
