杨果 Yang Guo
杨果（1195—1269），祁州蒲阴（今河北安国）人，字正卿，号西庵，是金代哀宗正大元年（1224年）的进士。他在金代做过县令一类低职官员。金亡国后，他继续在元为官，晚年退休回乡。他生性聪敏智慧，为人幽默戏谑，文章出众，更擅长写曲。他的曲作流传至今的有散曲11首，套曲5套。
Yang Guo（1195-1269），known also as Zhengqing and Xi’an by his self-given names，was born in Puyin，Qizhou（what is now Anguo，Hebei Province）．He was selected Jinshi in 1224 in the Jin Dynasty and was thereafter given such lower positions as county magistrate．He continued his office when Jin was replaced by Yuan．He returned to his hometown upon retirement．A man of quick wit and joyous humor，he was reputed to be a good writer，particularly a composer of qu．His surviving works are 11 pieces of sanqu and 5 series of taoqu.
小桃红·采莲女
○杨果
满城烟水月微茫①，人倚兰舟唱②。常记相逢若耶上③，隔三湘④，碧云望断空惆怅⑤。美人笑道⑥，莲花相似，情短藕丝长⑦。
【注释】
1 烟水：水面雾气升腾的景象。微茫：模模糊糊看不清楚。本句是说，在一个雾气或是寒霜弥漫的夜晚，整个城镇都被水汽笼罩，天空的月亮也看不太清楚了。
2 本句是说，河面的小船上有人在唱歌。兰舟：木制小船，这里指采莲女的采莲船。倚：倚靠。
3 本句是采莲女唱歌的内容。女子唱道，经常回忆起在若耶溪相逢的情形。若耶：溪水名，也写作“若邪（yé）”，在今浙江省绍兴市南若耶山下，相传是古代越国美女西施浣纱的地方。其实，青年男女初次相会绝不可能都在若耶溪，但人们喜欢用西施的美丽身影来表达对初次相见的美好记忆。
4 三湘：有两种比较流行的说法，一说认为是湖南境内的三条河流，即漓湘、蒸湘和潇湘的合称；另一说认为是湖南境内的三个地方，即湘乡、湘潭和湘阴的合称。无论怎样解释，这句意思都是说，歌者与心上人相隔遥远。
5 “碧云”一句借用了宋代范仲淹的名作《苏幕遮》中的词句和意境。《苏幕遮》开首为“碧云天，黄叶地”，写秋高气爽、蓝天白云、满地黄叶的秋景，其词意是要表达离家在外的人对家乡的无限思念。本曲此句正是借用《苏幕遮》中所含的离愁别绪来表达采莲女对心上人的无限思念之情。惆怅：无法释怀、无法解脱的苦闷心情。
6 本曲基调是相思之愁，这里突然一个“美人笑道”，别出心裁。但这“笑”并非是快乐，而是为了引出下面“相思”与“藕丝”的有趣比喻。
7 莲藕地下茎多孔、肥大，折断时有无数细丝相连，因而人们常用“藕断丝连”来比喻情人分手后情感难以割舍的情形。“丝”与“思”、“短”与“断”都是谐音双关语。“情短藕丝长”即是说，人走，情断，但相思不绝。
TUNE：RED PEACH BLOSSOMS
The Lotus Gatherer
The dimming moon o’er mist-veiled town and water looms.
The beauty in orchid boat sings her dream.
I oft remember our meeting on silk-washing stream.
Now severed by three rivers long，
In vain through clouds into the azure sky I gaze.
Smiling，the beauty says，
“Our hearts are like the lotus blooms：
Their root may snap，their fibers join like my song.”
【赏析】
杨果用〔小桃红〕曲调写了不少曲，多数是描写男女爱情的，这首曲即是如此。在烟水迷茫的月色中，小船轻轻划过水面，采莲女在船上唱着忧伤的歌。歌词内容是什么呢？是采莲女对爱情的回忆，对幸福的渴望。她曾经在溪水上与心爱的人相逢。然而现实是残酷的，斯人已去，不知现在何方，所以曲中说“隔三湘”。读者大可不必拘泥于“三湘”是“三条河流”还是“三个地方”，反正是与情人相隔遥远，想看看不见，想去去不了。采莲女唯一能做的就是向着天空遥望。然而，望断天涯也无法让心情平静。想到这里，女子忽然觉得自己很好笑，因为她日日采摘莲藕，那莲藕肥硕白嫩，个个喜人，可是一旦折断，却丝丝连连，无法彻底分开。这不正是自己的写照吗？情人已走，远在天边，难以相聚。可是自己的心却依然牵挂，时时回味，难以忘怀。“丝”与“思”同音谐意。自己天天采莲，难怪要相思不断了。这真是一个巧妙的偶合，也是一个绝妙的比喻。
这首曲的内容平平淡淡，它之所以让人特别喜欢，主要是体现在最后一句上。人们的相思恰与莲藕相似，所以才有“藕断丝连”的成语，而本曲又恰恰是采莲女的歌，这比喻用在这里难道不是再贴切不过的吗？
Interpretation
Like Yang Guo’s other verses under the same tune，this piece is about love．In the misty moonlight，a boat is adrift on the stream water and a lotus-seeds-collecting girl is singing a sad song，a song about her man and how they used to meet in their boats on the stream．But gone is the man，leaving no message about where he would go，and thus leaving her alone on the same spot recollecting their encounter and unrealistically expecting their reunion．In the verse，the phrase“隔三湘”（three streams beyond）is not to be taken literally; in the girl’s mind the distance between her and the man must be so long that she will never be able to cover．Her misfortune reminds her of the lotus root which，when broken into two sections，has fine fibers to still hold the two together，a situation that she believes she is presently in，that is，although she and her man are far away from each other，there is something that is still connecting them．And we know，of course，it is her longing for him that has attached her to him．And she cannot but start to sneer at herself，because it sounds so silly to constantly think of someone you may never again to see or have anything to do with．In the Chinese language，since“（藕）丝”（fiber [of the lotus root]）and“思”（one’s longing for somebody）are homophones，“丝”in the verse is a metaphor for such longing.
Content of the work is simple; it is loved chiefly for the use of“藕断丝连”，a well-known Chinese idiom meaning that the relationship of some people（e.g．lovers）will never end although they are rendered apart．The idiom about lotus is so natural in the work because it is used to represent the experience and idea of the girl who yearly reaps lotus seeds and roots as her crops.
