红楼梦Chapter22_小升初阅读_小升初-查字典英语网

红楼梦Chapter22

　　Upon listening to these words， Pao-chai drew near， and perceived at a glance， that it consisted of a stanza of four lines， with seven characters in each; but though there was no novelty or remarkable feature about it， she felt constrained to outwardly give utterance to words of praise. Its hard to guess! she simply added， while she pretended to be plunged in thought， for the fact is that as soon as she had cast her eye upon it， she had at once solved it. Pao-yue， Tai-yue， Hsiang-yuen， and Tan-chun， had all four also hit upon the answer， and each had secretly put it in writing; and Chia Huan， Chia Lan and the others were at the same time sent for， and every one of them set to work to exert the energies of his mind， and， when they arrived at a guess， they noted it down on paper; after which every individual member of the family made a choice of some object， and composed a riddle， which was transcribed in a large round hand， and affixed on the lantern. This done， the eunuch took his departure， and when evening drew near， he came out and delivered the commands of the imperial consort. The conundrum， he said， written by Her Highness， the other day， has been solved by every one， with the exception of Miss Secunda and master Tertius， who made a wrong guess. Those composed by you， young ladies， have likewise all been guessed; but Her Majesty does not know whether her solutions are right or not. While speaking， he again produced the riddles， which had been written by them， among which were those which had been solved， as well as those which had not been solved; and the eunuch， in like manner， took the presents， conferred by the imperial consort， and handed them over to those who had guessed right. To each person was assigned a bamboo vase， inscribed with verses， which had been manufactured for palace use， as well as articles of bamboo for tea; with the exception of Ying-chun and Chia Huan， who were the only two persons who did not receive any. But as Ying-chun looked upon the whole thing as a joke and a trifle， she did not trouble her mind on that score， but Chia Huan at once felt very disconsolate.