216. Viewing the Remaining Snow on Zhongnan | Zu Yong
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
终南阴岭秀，积雪浮云端。
English translation
The shaded northern ridges of Zhongnan rise in clear beauty, their lingering snow seeming to float at the edge of the clouds.
The shaded ridge is the north-facing slope, where snow melts more slowly. Float does not mean that the snow itself is airborne; from a distance, the white summit meets the cloud layer.
Original Chinese text
林表明霁色，城中增暮寒。
English translation
Above the treetops appears the brightness that follows clearing snow; by evening, the cold in the city grows sharper.
Above the forest names the skyline over the trees, and clearing brightness is the light after snow or rain has stopped. The poem turns from the mountain's visible brilliance to what people in the city physically feel: the scene is clear, but the evening colder.
赏析 · Commentary
远望中的三层空间 · Three Layers in a Distant View
四句里有三层距离：最高处是云端与积雪，中间是林梢，最近处是诗人所在的城中。视线先向上，再沿山坡落下，最后回到人的身体。“暮寒”不是额外添加的感想，而是远山积雪对城中生活的实际影响。远景因此没有停在一幅画上。
The four lines contain three distances: snow and cloud at the highest level, treetops in the middle, and the city where the observer stands. The eye rises, descends along the mountain, and finally returns to the body. Evening cold is not an added reflection but the snow mountain's physical effect on urban life. The distant view therefore does not remain merely a picture.
四句在“寒”字收住 · Everything Settles on the Word Cold
前面三个分句都在写“看”：山岭秀，积雪高，雪后天色明。末句忽然改写感觉，城里更冷。这个转折让景物有了时间，日色从晴明走到傍晚；也有了观察者，他虽然直到最后才通过寒意出现，却一直站在城中仰望。
The first three clauses concern sight: a graceful ridge, high snow, clear light after the storm. The last line abruptly changes sense and tells us that the city has grown colder. The turn gives the view a time of day, moving from brightness toward evening, and it reveals the observer, who has been standing in the city looking upward all along.