苍山八百里,崖断如杵臼。这是唐朝大诗人杜甫《九成宫》诗开头的两句。诗中的“杵臼”形容高山峻岭耸立在辽阔大地上雄伟巍峨的磅礴气势。杵臼是一种古老而又实用的研磨工具,人们至今可以看到舂米捣药的木桶、石臼、铜缸或研钵。诗人借用老百姓常用的杵臼形象来描绘大自然绵延起伏的群山风景,真可谓神来之笔,不落俗套。笔者在试译这两句唐诗时感觉这件事情并不好做,译串的结果也不怎么令人满意。后来,我发了一封电子邮件给我国著名的英语专家艾培(Eppy,即爱泼斯坦,Israel Epstein),向他请教理想的译法。我在信中细说了我遇到的难题,并用直译的方法解释了诗句的原意: Cangshan 800, the cliff is broken. This is the beginning of the poem of Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu’s “Jiucheng Gong” poem. The “杵臼” in poetry describes the majestic and majestic mountains and mountains standing on the vast land.杵臼 is an ancient and practical grinding tool. People can still see glutinous rice barrels, sarcophagi, copper vats or mortars. The poet used the image of the common people of the common people to describe the rolling landscapes of the mountains. It can be said that the writings of the gods are not unconventional. When I tried to translate these two Tang poems, I felt that this was not a good thing to do, and the result of the translation was not satisfactory. Later, I sent an e-mail to our country’s famous English expert Eppy (Epstein, Israel Epstein), to ask him the ideal translation. In the letter, I elaborated on the problems I encountered and explained the original meaning of the verses using literal translations: