Ode to the Soldiers Guarding the North-western Frontier
The snow-crowned mountain darkens under the clouded sky in Qinghai.
In the distance Jade Gate Pass can be seen from the solitary castle.
The suits of armour of the garrison troops have been worn out through many battles in the desert.
The military will never withdraw from the fort before destroying the enemy.

• The predicted rain came down at last after supper following the roaring thunder which is rare at this season. Tomorrow is the first day of Frost’s Descent, the beginning of the 18th solar term. As the old saying goes, the Frost’s Descent marks a great change of weather.

All want to be fully satisfied but are unaware
of the calamity afterwards.

志得意滿人皆願，不知凶險藏其間。

Don’t you know how many people have fallen from the
pinnacle of their success, which happens from time to time beside me？

多少功成身遂殞，朝夕猝發於身邊。

I should always remember our chief with
gratitude for being exempt from attending the athletic meeting suffering the
cold and hot day.

蒙恩免暴寒，時時當感念。My past complaints about him have vanished
like smoke and I will do anything assigned.

煙消前之怨，日後任驅遣。

I postponed finishing my diary yesterday until now because it had been too late at night when I returned to the flat and moreover I felt a little tired.
Towards the end of work hours, our vice-principal informed us to be off today for the coming heavy rain caused by a typhoon. The higher authorities are considerate in this respect. Then I can avoid being bedraggled.
My traveling expenses were reimbursed higher than expected.
The brightness of the road lamps near the high buildings on my way has restored recently, under which we can read books. But in the past period they were very dim or even gave out no light at all.

The country road becomes a lane flanked by the
curtain-like autumn crops. All the villages far and near have been concealed.

秋稼成帳路如巷，逺近村落皆遁藏。Suddenly I smelled the fragrance of the
coriander on my way. Several peasant women were occupied at the vegetable plots
nearby.

行人忽聞芫荽香，三五農婦菜畦忙。

A takeaway delivering guy in Shangqiu couldn’t bear to see an old street peddler waiting any longer, buying
up her unsold green vegetables.

商丘外卖小哥买下老人所有青菜 不忍心让老人苦等

“This old peddler sold vegetables here
almost every day and never returned home before selling them out. If she failed
to sell all her vegetables, she would wait there or ride her trike about the
street. It was a hotter day yesterday. Up to one o’clock pm, she was still
waiting there to sell the left green vegetables. ”Ms Wang recounted, “then I was videoing. Seeing
the takeout delivering lad purchasing all the left vegetables, I was so moved
to video it. ”“这个老人几乎天天在这边卖菜，每次都是卖完才回去。如果卖不完她就一直在那等，或者骑着车子在街上转。昨天天气比较热，老人还有一些青菜没有卖完，都下午一点了，她就一直在那。”王女士介绍道，“当时我刚好正在拍视频，看到外卖小哥把菜都买了，觉得很感动，就拍下来了。”

Your departure brings separation between us.

行行重行行，與君生别離。
Then we’re over ten thousand li
apart.

相去萬餘里，各在天一涯。
How can we know when to meet again under such
circumstances？

道路阻且長，會面安可知？

The northern horse likes the north wind; the
southern bird tends to nest on the branch facing south.

胡馬依北風，越鳥巢南枝。

A fine night with a bright moon shining in the clear blackish blue sky. As the Mid-autumn Festival draws near, the moon gets brighter day by day. It is true that the brighter the moon becomes, the fewer the stars can be seen. On such a lovely night, who can look up at the moon with enthusiasm and miss his relatives and old acquaintances who are far away？Friendship and affection among family members have been weakening. When our material life gets rich, our spiritual and emotional world has been ignored and deserted. That’s why we often feel boredom in lieu of happiness.

Since that day I happily found that an English
film is shown on the Channel of English Tutoring at 10 pm daily, I have been
keeping seeing the original films by the playing time every night. Two nights
ago, I appreciated the horrible film The Fall of the House of Usher adapted
from a story written by Edgar Allen Poe with the same name. The dilapidated old
mansion with numberless dim labyrinthine rooms and its eccentric dwellers create
an atmosphere of fear. In the two days that followed, I searched for the
fiction on the net and read it through. In the meantime, I made a humiliating
discovery that most of the spoken English I heard is beyond my comprehension.

Chu Zhe persuades the Empress Dowager Zhao

觸讋説趙太后

As soon as the Queen Dowager Zhao took power,
the Qin State
hastily launched an attack on the Zhao
State.

趙太后新用事，秦急攻之。

She asked help from the Qi State and was
given an answer that Prince Changan must be sent to the Qi State as hostage in
exchange for dispatched reinforcements.

趙氏求救于齊，齊曰：“必以長安君为質，兵乃出。”She did not agree to the idea in spite of the expostulations of
her ministers.

太后不肯，大臣强諫。Her Majesty warned her companions clearly that if anyone dared persuade
her again to let the Qi State hold Prince Changan hostage, she would spit in
his face.

太后明謂左右：“有復言令長安君為質者，老婦必唾其面。”