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狂人日記

A Madman’s Diary

by Lu Xun

A diary reveals a familiar village transformed by suspicion.

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Original language: ChineseLevel: Advanced712 characters · ≈ 3 minSource: Wikisource

Sample: three-line reading

Each word has its meaning in this sentence underneath, and each sentence has a full translation. Read the original and glance down only when you need to.

某君昆仲a certain pair of brothers今now隱其名conceal their names皆both余my / I昔日in former days在中學校時when at middle school良友good friends分隔多年separated for many years消息news漸gradually闕ceased / became cut off
Two brothers, whose names I will not give now, were good friends of mine in middle school; after many years apart, news of them slowly stopped.
日前a few days ago偶happened to聞heard其一one of them大病was seriously ill適just as / at the time of歸returning to故鄉hometown迂made a detour道by way of / along the road往訪went to visit則but / yet僅only晤met一人one person言said病者the sick one其his弟younger brother也(final particle, asserting the statement)
A few days ago I happened to hear that one of them was very sick; as I was going back to my hometown, I went out of my way to visit, but I met only one person, who said the sick one was his younger brother.
勞to trouble (someone); here, a polite expression of thanks for another's effort君you (polite)遠道a long way; from afar來to come視to visit; to call on然however; but已already早early; some time ago愈to recover; to be cured赴to go to; to proceed to某地some place; a certain place候補to wait for an official vacancy/appointment矣a classical sentence-final particle indicating completion or a changed state
He thanked me for coming so far to see him, but said he had already gotten well and had gone to a place to wait for a post.
因thereupon; then大笑laughed loudly出示showed; brought out日記diary二two冊volumes謂saying that可見one can see; they show當日in those days; at that time病狀condition of his illness不妨might as well; no harm in獻present; offer諸them to舊友an old friend
Then he laughed loudly and showed me two books of diary, saying they showed how his sickness had been then, and that I might as well show them to an old friend.

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About the book

A classical Chinese preface introduces two volumes of a diary, and the entries then follow a narrator who finds the moonlight, villagers, and even children suspicious, as if everyone intends to harm him. The reading feels disjointed and tense, as the familiar village slowly turns into a world full of menace.

About the author

Lu Xun (25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, was a Chinese writer and a leading figure of modern Chinese literature, working as a novelist, critic, essayist, poet, and translator known for his sharp, satirical style. In 1918 he published Diary of a Madman, the first novel in vernacular Chinese, helping pioneer the New Culture Movement.

How the glosses are made

Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.

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Yes. The library holds the opening section of the public-domain original, taken from Wikisource.

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This one is marked “Advanced”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.

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