No. 62 · Tang poem · old-style poem with lines of uneven length第 62 首 · 唐诗 · 古体诗（杂言）
chén陈zǐ子áng昂Chen Zi'ang · Tang唐
Song on Climbing the Youzhou Terrace
qián前bú不jiàn见gǔ古rén人
hòu后bú不jiàn见lái来zhě者
niàn念tiān天dì地zhī之yōu悠yōu悠
dú独chuàng怆rán然ér而tì涕xià下
Underlined words have notes: tap one. The Pinyin button below shows or hides all pinyin. 一 and 不 are marked with the tone you actually say.字下有虚线的，点开有注释。下方的“拼音”按钮可以显示或隐藏全部拼音。“一”“不”标的是实际读出来的变调。
This poem is usually dated to 696, under Empress Wu Zetian. That year the Khitan people rose in revolt, and Chen Zi'ang went north with an army led by Wu Youyi. He offered plans several times. Wu Youyi ignored them and even lowered his rank. Feeling low, Chen climbed the Youzhou Terrace, near today's Beijing, and wrote this poem. Legend links the place to King Zhao of Yan, who long ago built a Golden Terrace to welcome talented people. The poem was first recorded in a life of Chen written by his friend Lu Zangyong.
这首诗一般认为写于武则天万岁通天元年（696年）。那年契丹作乱，陈子昂跟随武攸宜带兵北上。他多次出主意，武攸宜不但不听，还把他降了职。他心情郁闷，登上幽州台（在今北京一带），写下这首诗。传说这里和战国时燕昭王筑黄金台招揽人才有关。这首诗最早记在他朋友卢藏用写的传记里。
Chen Zi'ang (661–702) came from Shehong in today's Sichuan. He had big dreams and often gave advice to the court, but it was rarely taken. He disliked the fancy, empty poetry of his time. He believed poems should carry real feeling and high ideals, and this idea shaped later Tang poetry a great deal.
陈子昂（661—702），字伯玉，梓州射洪（今四川射洪）人。他很有抱负，常常向朝廷提意见，却多次不被采纳。他反对当时只讲究辞藻华丽的诗风，主张诗要有真情实感和远大的志气，对后来的唐诗影响很大。
Picture a man standing on a high terrace. Around him is empty open land, and above him is the endless sky. He thinks back: the rulers of old who knew how to use good people are long gone. He thinks ahead: he will not live to see the wise rulers of the future. Time is like a long river, and he stands on one tiny point in the middle. The sky and earth are so big and so old, and a person is so small and so alone, that he cannot hold back his tears. The poem has only four lines, some long and some short, like one long sigh. It is not only about one man whose talent was wasted. It is also about the loneliness anyone can feel facing the whole universe, and that is why it has moved readers for more than a thousand years.
想象一个人站在高高的台上，四周是空空的原野，头顶是无边的天。他往前想，古代那些懂得用人的君主早就不在了；往后想，将来的明君他也等不到。时间像一条长河，他只站在中间小小的一点上。天地那么大、那么久，人却这么小、这么孤单，他忍不住哭了。这首诗只有四句，句子有长有短，像一声长长的叹息。它写的不只是一个人没被重用的委屈，也是每个人面对天地时都会有的孤独感，所以一千多年来打动了很多人。