翁妪妇子相催行,官遣捕蝗赤日里。
蝗满田中不见田,穗头栉栉如排指。
凿坑篝火齐声驱,腹饱翅短飞不起。
囊提籝负输入官,换官仓粟能得几。
虽然捕得一斗蝗,又生百斗新蝗子。
只应食尽田中禾,饿杀农夫方始死。
翁妪妇子相催行,官遣捕蝗赤日里。
蝗满田中不见田,穗头栉栉如排指。
凿坑篝火齐声驱,腹饱翅短飞不起。
囊提籝负输入官,换官仓粟能得几。
虽然捕得一斗蝗,又生百斗新蝗子。
只应食尽田中禾,饿杀农夫方始死。
老翁、老妇、妇女和孩子互相催促着上路,
官府派遣他们在烈日下捕捉蝗虫。
蝗虫布满田地,连田地都看不见了,
谷穗密密麻麻,排列得像手指一样整齐。
挖坑、点燃篝火,齐声驱赶蝗虫,
蝗虫吃饱了肚子,翅膀短小,飞不起来了。
用袋子提、用竹筐背,把它们送到官府,
能换来官仓里的多少粮食呢?
虽然捕捉到了一斗蝗虫,
却又会生出上百斗新的蝗虫幼虫。
只怕要等到吃光了田里的禾苗,
饿死了农夫,这灾祸才会停止。
Old and young, men and women, urge each other on their way,
Dispatched by officials to catch locusts under the scorching sun.
The fields are so full of locusts the land is no longer seen,
The grain heads stand dense and even like rows of fingers.
They dig pits, light fires, and drive them with united cries,
Their bellies full, wings short, they can no longer take flight.
Carried in bags and baskets, they're delivered to the state,
But how much grain from the granary can this exchange procure?
Though a peck of locusts might be caught today,
A hundred pecks of new locust offspring will be born.
Only when all the grain in the fields is devoured,
And the famished farmers die, will their plague subside.
捕捉蝗灾揭示了自然周期与行政压力的博弈。
官府在烈日下驱迫百姓捕蝗,揭露苛政与民生艰难。
本诗为七言古诗,押平声韵。
东山书院编辑整理