Liu Ji's Translation of Classical Chinese

One spring, starting from the stone pier, was the warmth of winter and Xia Han. Immersed in a small canal, it does not dry up in winter and summer, but overflows to the southwest. Lying in the sand, there are four small ponds next to it, Lu in the east, zhū in the foothills as a big pond, Ruoye Stream in the east and a lake in the northeast. When it was originally a canal, it was not more than a foot deep, but it was clear and transparent. Looking down, the pines, bamboos, flowers and trees on the cliff are all underwater. Therefore, Minister Qing Bai Ye Gong Heng came here to swim and sat by the water all day, which is called the source of living water. Among them, there are stone crabs, as big as money, and small (fish) fish, which are black in color and live in caves, and water rats often come to eat them. Its grass is covered with water pine and calamus. There is a bird as big as a bird, black and red, singing on it, and its voice is as smooth as a bamboo chicken. There are two ridge steps, standing on the stone from under the bamboo, bathing, drinking and singing.

There is spring water here, which begins to flow out from the cracks in the stone, flowing carefully, warm in winter and cool in summer; It flows into a small canal and does not dry up in winter and summer. When the small canal is full, it flows southwest, next to the sand, forming four small ponds, flowing eastward until the foot of the mountain, and the water gathers into a big pond, which flows eastward into Ruoye River and northeast into Jinghu Lake. When the small canal was first formed, it was less than a foot deep and clear enough to shine on people. Pines, bamboos and flowers on the thin cliff overlooking the spring are all underwater. Therefore, the minister (official name) Bai Chang came to play and sat by the water all day, and named this spring as a living water source. The spring water produces stone crabs the size of copper coins. There is also a small mackerel, pure black in color, which lives in caves and is often eaten by water rats. Most of the grass in the water is water pine and calamus. There is a bird about the size of myna, with a red beak and black hair. It often sings on the water, similar to bamboo chicken, but smoother than bamboo chicken. There are two Lingmu, who often come out of the bamboo forest, take a bath on the stone, drink water and fly away singing.