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老氏讀易得間
老氏：即老子 Laozi。
讀易：研讀《易經》 to study 《I Jing》，《Book of Changes》
得間： ㄉㄜˊ ㄐㄧㄢˋ , dé jiàn
得：得到 to get, to find, to obtain
間：是「間隙、孔竅」的意思，引申為「竅門、訣竅」。
間 means "the gaps, orifices, openings or holes", and is extended to "the tips, tricks or know-how".
得間：找到訣竅，了解其義。
To discover the tricks and understand the meanings.
老氏讀易得間
When Laozi studied the 《I Jing》, ...
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As far as I know, classic Chinese is not used to "write" these languages as you think. Classic Chinese was just used as an "international" language among surrounding countries, like English nowadays. Take the Japanese Language for example.
In ancient times, the Japanese had their own language, but they didn't have a writing system. Of course, China was ...
9
As Fivesheep pointed out, “四海” means "the whole world". The word "四海一家" means "the whole world is one family". It is used to expressed that "we are family. we shall respect each other. we shall unite", something like this, to convey the politeness from the overseas Chinese people to the local people(in your case, the Australian people).
I believe this word ...
6
The following is an excerpt from wikipedia, Classical Chinese Grammar:
Grammar
Further information: Classical Chinese lexicon
Classical Chinese is distinguished from written vernacular Chinese in
its style, which appears extremely concise and compact to modern
Chinese speakers, and to some extent in the use of different lexical
items (...
5
If,
當 = should / must
自警 = self-discipline
What do you think their grammatical roles are?
5
四海如家 doesn't sound like an idiom. I think 四海为家 is what you are talking about.
In ancient china, people didn't have the idea of oceans named Pacific, Indian... They tended to believe china was surrounded by 4 seas, 东海, 南海, 西海, 北海(if you know the chinese myths you might have heard of 四海龙王).
In the idiom, 四海 means anywhere, or the whole world (Ancient chinese ...
5
“可以荐嘉客，奈何阻重深”。这句在说，这个水果是很给朋友们的一件很好的礼品，但无奈路途遥远，不方便。隐含着诗人当前所处的位置远离曾经工作和生活的地方而表现出一种悲伤的心情。“阻重深”，表示路途险阻，“重” chong 一般用在强制“很多的”的情况下，表示有很多的东西（通常都用在表示有困难）包围着我们，在这里强调很困难，比如“需要克服重重险阻，被围困的军队需要突破重重包围圈”。“奈何”表示口语中都是用“无奈”，表示没有办法或很难解决问题。
另外，在诗词和歌曲中，我们经常把一些并列式的词汇颠倒过来，比如“运命”平时都写成“命运”。
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Firstly, let us clarify one distinction:
"literary Chinese" (文言文), a register of the written language in common use across the East Asian Sinosphere before the early 20th century. Its opposite is "vernacular Chinese" (白話文)
"literary readings of Chinese characters" (文讀), a set of readings mapping Chinese characters from written form to spoken form. Its ...
4
之 is a common way to say ‘him/her/it’ in classical Chinese. It’s usually in the object position, not the subject one though: 殺之 ‘kills him’; 由之 ‘from it’. The use like modern Chinese 的 is different.
其 is actually a possessive pronoun, as in 其妻 ‘his wife’. More generally, it substitutes for ‘noun + 之’.
彼 can be used as a third-person pronoun in ...
4
Your understanding for 不了 and 了之, respectively, are accurate. The key to your question is the relationship between the two parts.
In classical Chinese, omission of conjunctions is a very common thing, which brings beauty and ambiguity at the same time. In most cases it's intentionally left blank for the reader to interpret. There is no single correct ...
4
From Tao Te Ching ("Canon of morality") attributed to Laozi. These words are excerpted from various parts. Various translation exists, and here I am just being literal.
上善若水。水善利萬物而不爭。(part 8)
The utmost goodness [or benevolence] is like the water. Water is good at being benevolent to everything, and does not compete with them.
守靜篤。(part 16)
It is concrete ...
4
there're 7 occurrences of "何如" in 呂氏春秋:
http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/zh?searchu=何如
translate "何如" as "how" is appropriate, in some of them.
１ 季冬紀﹒不侵 http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-qiu/bu-qin/zh?searchu=何如&searchmode=showall#result
孟嘗君之好士何如
何如 is how --> how is (何如) mr maang (孟嘗君) fond of (好) gentlemen? (士)
２ 審應覽﹒應言 http://ctext.org/lv-shi-chun-...
4
對揚王休﹒用作尊彝
this verse come from the inscription on 免尊
對 - 報答, to requite
揚 - 讚揚, to praise
王 - the king, or ruler
休 - 樹蔭 shade of a tree --> 庇蔭 to shield --> 美德 virtue
用作 - ~ use for
尊彝 - 彝 is ritual / sacrificial objects, "尊彝" together is a specialised term of ritual objects, roughly a bronze wine vessel needed two hand to hold ( a big goblet?), see ...
3
claiming this parable has chinese origin is doubtful. several themes in the text are very un-chinese, against the customs & culture:
1 "travelling through the country"
2 such travelling with a guide
3 seven
in other cultures, 7 might be a "magic" number, but it's not in chinese. we used 5, 10, 12, 3, or 4.
lastly, here's a link of its mormon origin:
...
3
鼓 = (beat) Drum
吹 = blow (trumpet)
"Beating the drum and blowing the trumpet around the person"
Similar terms: 前后部鼓吹，两部鼓吹
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The passage is punctuated slightly wrong, it should be 葵丘之會，諸侯束牲、載書而不歃血: At the assembly at Kuiqiu, the feudal lords bound the sacrifice and placed their written pledges on it, but did not make blood oaths (i.e. they did not kill animals as part of the ceremony of allegiance).
The assembly at Kuiqiu marked the ascendance of Qi Huan gong 齊桓公, the first of ...
3
One way is: 书面语 . See http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B9%A6%E9%9D%A2%E8%AF%AD for more information
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You must know that the character 豫 means being caution， being extremely careful;
兮 is modal particle， like 啊.
So,the whole sentence means (他)犹豫小心，就如同冬天过河一样，不敢贸然下水似的. Being extremely caution so that he dare not cross the river in winter.
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"重"，应该读chóng 即阳平(2声)
"江南有丹橘，经冬犹绿林。"
江南一带生长着一种奇异的丹橘，经历严冬橘林依然枝叶苍翠，郁郁青青。
"岂伊地气暖，自有岁寒心。"
难道这是因为那里地气和暖使然？原来是这种橘树自有凌寒傲霜的本性。
"可以荐嘉客，奈何阻重深。"
款待贵宾与亲朋，这丹橘作为上好的水果当之无愧，怎奈一路上山高水深，运送它交通不便。
"徒言树桃李，此木岂无阴？"
世人都喜欢栽种桃李，其实这丹橘的果实不但可以款待宾客，而且四季长青，终年绿荫葱茏，哪一点不如桃李呢？
本诗以橘喻人，诗人借赞颂丹橘，经冬犹绿，是因为有耐寒的本性来比喻自己也有贤人一样的高尚品质，但不被人识，只能抑郁不平。全诗平淡自然，语言温雅醇厚，设喻贴切，抒发胸臆圆转自如，愤怒哀伤不露痕迹，...
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Here 啁 is a phonetic loan for 嘲, 'to mock', as in 嘲笑, so the phrase 或啁之曰could be translated "Someone mocked him, saying..." Using one character for another because they are pronounced similarly is common in older works. You could compare it to the situation in earlier English works where the same word is often spelled different ways, even in the same ...
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As read in reference from Wikipedia (文言文), classic Chinese (文言文) was the oral Chinese back to the 先秦 era (era before Qing Dynasty, i.e. before 221BC).
Even as early as in Han Dynasty (汉朝, 202BC-220) to Tang Dynasty (唐朝, 618-907) period, the oral Chinese had already been shifting apart from classic Chinese (written) and the new Chinese (白话文) had already been ...
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Here's what Paul Rouzer has to say on 以 in his New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese:
1.5 以: This is one of the most frequently used characters in literary Chinese, and it has a very wide application. It was originally a verb meaning “to take,” “to use.” Eventually, it started to be used in combination with other verbs (what English language scholars ...
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I think it's 伸手不打笑脸人 or 举手不打笑脸人.
意思是当你举起手要打有错的对方时，对方已经在向你赔着笑脸认错了，这时候你就不忍心，也不好意思再去打人家了。
谓不欺侮老实善良的人。或谓要宽恕已知理亏而以礼待人的人。也说“举手不打笑脸人”。
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The meaning I would present is
With the principles of nature, the fundamentals were produced. Everything else are then produced from the fundamentals.
The explanation of the principle and the fundamentals differs from people to people, it depends on your belief, the major you study and other backgrounds.
I, as a physics student, would regard the ...
2
The wiki link you provided can explain this very well. For historic reasons, the Chinese writing system influenced almost all of East Asia. So many countries and nations used Chinese characters or borrowed a subset of Chinese characters. That's another story.
If you want the answer to this question, you should check the History books. In short, countries ...
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The structure is <贪[人之有]者> <残>.
"贪 人之有 者" can be translated as "he who is lust for other people's possessions".
But I am sorry I don't know the exact meaning of 残 here. Maybe it means "harm", "impair" or "to be bad".
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之 = third person pronoun (it/him/her)
以 = with or indicating an indirect object
Verb 之以 Noun = VERB him with NOUN
In context, 淫之以色，啗之以利，养之以味，娱之以乐 means (a very rough translation) "(sexually) seduce him with sexy (women), lure him with benefit, accustom him with delicious food and amuse him with (obscene) music". It is included in a strategy saying that ...
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庸 means 酬谢 (reward) here.
(10) 酬其功劳 [reward]
(11) 又如:庸勋(酬劳有功的人)
And,
6.酬其功劳。
《书·益稷》：“明庶以功，车服以庸。”
孔颖达疏：“赐车服以旌别其人功能事用。”
《左传·僖公二十四年》：“庸勳、亲亲、暱近、尊贤，德之大者也。”
《孟子·尽心上》：“杀之而不怨，利之而不庸，民日迁善而不知为之者。”
So 利之而不庸 means benefit them (the civilians), and they won't reward (someone).
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to search words / clauses (combinations of 2-9 characters) in classical / literary chinese, it's straightforward; if you know the methods, and able to visit the recommended sites {some of them are blocked in that "area" :( }
in short:
1 using traditional chinese is a must, no simplified chinese
2 knowledge of variant (異體字)
3 search by google
4 ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
