shēng生zhā查zǐ子·yuán元xī夕

Sheng Zha Zi is the name of the tune. Yuán xī means the night of the Lantern Festival. In the Song dynasty this festival was very lively: lanterns hung everywhere in the city, and young people could go out to see them and meet each other. In this lyric, someone remembers a meeting on last year's festival night, but this year that person is gone. The date is unknown. Some say it was written by the Southern Song woman poet Zhu Shuzhen, but most scholars think it is by Ouyang Xiu.

“生查子”是词牌名，“查”在这里读 zhā。“元夕”就是元宵节的晚上。宋代的元宵节非常热闹，城里到处挂满花灯，年轻人也可以出门赏灯、相会。这首词写一个人在元宵夜想起去年的约会，今年却再也见不到那个人了。写作时间不详。这首词也有人说是南宋女词人朱淑真写的，但多数学者认为是欧阳修的作品。

Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072) was a Northern Song writer and statesman who called himself the Old Drunkard. He was one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song. His essays were serious, but his lyrics were often tender, about partings and longing. This one is as simple as everyday speech, and very moving.

欧阳修（1007—1072），北宋文学家、政治家，号醉翁，是“唐宋八大家”之一。他写文章很严肃，写词却常常很温柔，喜欢写离别和相思。这首词语言就像说话一样，简单又动人。

This lyric has two halves, like two photos side by side. The first half is last year: lanterns bright as day, the moon over the willow tips, two people meeting quietly after dusk, lively and sweet. The second half is this year: the same festival night, the same moon, the same bright lanterns, but the person is gone. Nothing in the scene has changed, only the people, so the tears will not stop and soak the sleeves. The two halves use almost the same words with only a few changed, one happy and one sad, and the contrast is very strong. "The moon rose to the willow tips; we met after dusk" became the most famous lines ever written about a date.

这首词分成两半，像两张照片放在一起。上半是去年：花灯亮得像白天，月亮挂在柳树梢上，两个人在黄昏后悄悄见面，又热闹又甜蜜。下半是今年：还是元宵夜，月亮还是那个月亮，花灯也还是那样亮，可那个人却不见了。景物一点没变，人却变了，所以眼泪止不住，打湿了衣袖。前后两半的句子几乎一样，只换了几个字，一喜一悲，对比特别强烈。“月上柳梢头，人约黄昏后”后来成了写约会最有名的句子。