Translation: I can usually play the elegant guqin.

This sentence comes from Liu Yuxi's "Humble Room Inscription" in the Tang Dynasty. The original text is as follows:

If the mountain is not high, it will be famous if there are immortals. If the water is not deep, if there is a dragon, it will be spiritual. This is a humble house, but I am virtuous. The moss marks are green on the upper steps, and the grass color is green on the curtains. There are scholars who talk and laugh, but there are no idle people when coming and going. You can tune the plain Qin and read the Golden Sutra. There are no messy ears of silk and bamboo, and there is no laborious shape of case documents. Zhugelu in Nanyang, Yunting in Western Shuzi. Confucius said: What is so shameful?

Translation:

A mountain does not lie in its height. If you have gods, you will be famous. Water does not depend on its depth, but when there is a dragon, it appears to have aura. This is a simple house, but I (the person who lives in it) have good moral character (so it doesn’t feel simple). The moss marks that have grown up to the steps are green in color; the green grass is reflected in the curtains.

The people who come here to talk and laugh are all knowledgeable scholars. The people who interact with people who have no knowledge can usually play the elegant guqin and read the Buddhist scriptures written in gold. There is no sound of music to disturb the ears, and no official documents to make the body tired. There is Zhuge Liang's thatched cottage in Nanyang, and there is a pavilion like Yangtze Cloud in Western Shu. Confucius said: "What's so shabby about this?"

Appreciation of the work:

"The Inscription on a Humble Room" is an inscription that expresses one's ambitions. The article expresses the author's attitude toward life that he does not conform to the secular world, is clean and self-sufficient, and does not seek fame and wealth. It expresses the author's noble and arrogant sentiments and reveals the author's reclusive taste of living in poverty and enjoying life. It is simple, concise and fresh like a refined poem, full of philosophy and sentiment.

"There are scholars who talk and laugh, but there are no white people in interactions" writes about the people in the room, focusing on the interactions with friends, so as to show the nobility of the author's identity and elegance of temperament. "You can tune the plain Qin and read the Golden Scripture. There is no clutter of silk and bamboo, and there is no labor of writing documents." The four sentences describing the affairs in the room show the elegance of living in a humble room, which shows that the author is not humble in his actions. "

Tune the plain qin and read the golden scriptures", showing the elegance of life in a humble house; "No clutter of silk and bamboo, no labor of writing documents", showing the comfort of life in a humble house. The image of an elegant scholar with a detached body and a calm mind is about to emerge. The author writes that the people in the room are at peace and quiet, which highlights his diligence in cultivating virtue; while writing about his diligence in cultivating virtue reveals the reason why the humble house is not shabby and has become famous far and wide.

From a sentence pattern point of view, the first two sentences are single lines in prose, and the last two sentences are parallel to each other, alternating between parallel and prose, which is quite rhythmic. From the writing point of view, one or two sentences are written from the positive side, and three or four sentences are written from the negative side. The positive and negative are combined, and "can tune the plain piano" and "no messy ears of silk and bamboo", "read the golden scripture" and "no trouble of writing documents" "Shape" also forms echoes and contrasts, which shows the ingenuity of literary thought.

The "Humble Chamber Inscription" is less than a hundred words, very short in length and very large in layout. The humble house is set off by a low mountain and shallow water, and is on par with Zhuge Lu and Ziyunting. Living in it, there are sages from ancient times and today's scholars, so the humble house is not "hideous". The full text has a broad imagination and profound implications, and has the potential to be hidden thousands of miles away.