古詩：玄鳥 中英對照

Heaven commissioned the swallow ，

To descend and give birth to [the father of our] Shang .

[His descendants] dwelt in the land of Yin ， and became great .

[Then] long ago God appointed the martial Tang ，

To regulate the boundaries throughout the four quarters .

[In those] quarters he appointed the princes ，

And grandly possessed the nine regions [of the kingdom] .

The first sovereign of Shang ，

Received the appointment without any element of instability in it ，

And it is [now] held by the descendant of Wu-ding .

The descendant of Wu-ding ，

Is a martial king ， equal to every emergency .

Ten princes ， [who came] with their dragon-emblazoned banners ，

Bear the large dishes of millet .

The royal domain of a thousand Li ，

Is where the people rest ；

But there commence the boundaries that reach to the four seas .

From the four seas they come [to out sacrifices] ；

They come in multitudes ； ——

King has the He for its outer border .

That Yin should have received the apppointment [of Heaven] was entirely right ； ——

[Its sovereign] sustains all its dignities .

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天命玄鳥、降而生商、宅殷土芒芒。

古帝命武湯、正域彼四方。

方命厥後、奄有九有。

商之先後、受命不殆、在武丁孫子。

武丁孫子、武王靡不勝。

龍旗十乘、大饎是承。

邦畿千裡、維民所止、肇域彼四海。

四海來假、來假祁祁、景員維河。

殷受命鹹宜、百祿是何。