煮豆燃豆萁

豆在釜中泣

本是同根生

相煎何太急

曹植 – 七步诗

今天马斯克在他的新浪微博账号引用了曹植的《七步诗》，并在前面加了个Humankind。他的推特也同步更新了。微博全网都在猜测他的用意。有的猜他是被世界粮食计划署（WFP) 逼捐，所以以诗回应；有的猜是因为美国民主党欲草拟亿万富豪所得税，因此马斯克有感而发。不管他想表达什么，我想要译一下这首诗。

为了方便英文读者，先大概介绍一下这首诗的故事。曹植是东汉末年的诗人，他有一长兄曹丕。《七步诗》是曹植的代表作之一。诗歌中，以同根而生的萁和豆来比喻同父共母的兄弟，也就是曹丕和他自己，用燃萁煎豆来比喻同胞兄长残害弟弟, 形象地反映了统治阶级内部不同个体间的残酷斗争。诗的后两句“本是同根生，相煎何太急”成了人们劝戒兄弟不要自相残杀的经典名句。

下面是我的译文:

Beanstalks burning under the pot

beans in pot boiled to the core

stemming from the same root

why the mutual torment

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Elon Musk’s Chinese Weibo quoted Chinese poet Cao Zhi’s “The Seven Steps Verse”, with “Humankind” added to the beginning. His twitter was synchronized. The entire Weibo network is speculating about his intentions of the quotation. Some guessed that he was forced to donate by the World Food Program (WFP), so he responded with a poem; some speculated that it was because the U.S. Democrats were proposing new income tax on billionaires, and Musk quoted to express his stance. Whatever Musk’s intentions, I just want to translate this poem for readers’ convenience.

To start with, I want to quickly mention the story behind this poem. Cao Zhi was a poet towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He has an older brother Cao Pi. “The Seven Steps Verse” is one of Cao Zhi’s masterpieces. In the poem, “beans” and “beanstalks” stand for the Cao Zhi and his older brother Cao Pi, compared to the fact they are brothers born to the same parents. “Burning the beanstalks” to “boil the beans” suggests the older brother Cao Pi’s persecution and brutality on his younger brother Cao Zhi, and vividly demonstrates the brutal sibling rivalry within the ruling class. The last two lines of the poem, “Ben shi tong gen sheng, xiang jian he tai ji” has become a classic line that people use to persuade brothers not to hurt each other.

Here is my translation of the poem:

Beanstalks burning under the pot

beans in pot boiled to the core

stemming from the same root

why the mutual torment