【解读摘录】
🔹在这个时刻，曹丕意识到文学作品是根本的统治之业，是惟一值得信任的不会因改朝换代而腐烂的遗产。败家子可能毁掉你的家业，异族可能蹂躏你的土地；只有通过文学，你的成就即所谓的“盛事”，有望得到万无一失的传递，不会腐烂衰朽——难道，这些文本只是“糟粕”吗？
🔹《论文》以忧伤的语调提出了它的结论：生命在各种小小的纷扰和忙乱之中消耗殆尽，最后无声无息，没有谁会记起它们曾经的存在，没有什么关心和在意足以保证它们的不朽。
🔹在曹丕的《论文》中有一种强烈的情感，是它驱动着他的写作，使他的写作“一气”贯之，是它串起了情绪的突然转换和相互冲突的立场，这种强烈的情感部分来自对那些已过世的朋友的哀挽，部分来自对他本人能否不朽的担心。
🔹《论文》的伟大恰恰在于，那种君王的威严的声音受到反思的推动，最终被驱入对文学的力量的极度渴求之中。
🔹《论文》或许是曹丕的最佳之作，而它的力量来自深入曹丕骨髓的焦虑。
🔹他在文章里所作的联想使我们意识到，这里跳动着一颗非凡的心灵。

【英译全文】
文人相轻，自古而然。傅毅之于班固，伯仲之间耳，而固小之，与弟超书曰：“武仲以能属文为兰台令史，下笔不能自休。”夫人善于自见，而文非一体，鲜能备善，是以各以所长，相轻所短。里语曰：“家有弊帚，享之千金。”斯不自见之患也。
Literary men disparage one another it's always been that way. The relation between Fu Yi Oand Ban Gu was nothing less than the relation of a younger brother to an elder brother. Yet Ban Gu belittled him, writing in a letter to his younger brother Ban Chao: "Wu-zhong [Fu Yi] became Imperial Librarian through his facility in composition: whenever he used his writing brush, he couldn't stop himself."
People are good at [or fond of] making themselves known; but since literature ( 文 *) is not of one form ( 体 *) alone,few can be good at everything. Thus each person disparages that in which he is weak by the criterion of those things in which he is strong. There is a village saying: "The worn-out broom that belongs to my own household is worth a thousad in gold." Such is the ill consequence of a lack of self-awareness.

今之文人：鲁国孔融文举、广陵陈琳孔璋、山阳王粲仲宣、北海徐干伟长、陈留阮瑀元瑜、汝南应瑒德琏、东平刘桢公干，斯七子者，于学无所遗，于辞无所假，咸以自骋骥騄于千里，仰齐足而并驰。以此相服，亦良难矣！盖君子审己以度人，故能免于斯累，而作论文。
The literary men of this day are Kong Rong, called Wen-ju, of the state of Lu; Chen Lin, called Kong-zhang, of Guang-ling; Wang Can, called zhong-xuan, of Shang-yang; Xu Gan,called Wei-chang, of Bei-hai; Ruan Yu, called Yuan-yu, of Chen-liu; Ying Yang, called De-lian, of Ru-nan; and Liu Zhen, called Gong-gan, of Dong-ping. These seven masters have omitted nothing in their learning, have no borrowed colors in their diction ( 辞 *). Yet they have found it most difficult to all gallop together a thousand leagues, side by side with equal pace of their mighty steeds, and thus to pay one another due respect. A superior person ( 君—子 ) examines himself to measure others; and thus he is able to avoid such entanglements [e.g., envy and blindness to the worth of others]. Thus I have written a discourse on literature.

王粲长于辞赋，徐干时有齐气，然粲之匹也。如粲之《初征》《登楼》《槐赋》《征思》，干之《玄猿》《漏卮》《圆扇》《橘赋》，虽张、蔡不过也，然于他文，未能称是。琳、瑀之章表书记，今之隽也。
Wang Can excels in poetic expositions ( 赋 ); even though Xu Gan at times shows languid qi*, still he is Wang Can's match. Even Zhang Heng and Cai Yong do not surpass works like Wang Can's "Beginning of the Journey" "Climbing a Tower" "The Locust Tree" or "Thoughts on Travel"; or works like Xu Gan's "The Black Gibbon" "The Syphon" "The Circular Fan" or "The Orange Tree". Yet their other writings are no match for these. In regard to memorials, letters, and records, those of Chen Lin and Ruan Yu are preeminent in the present.

应瑒和而不壮，刘桢壮而不密。孔融体气高妙，有过人者，然不能持论，理不胜辞，以至乎杂以嘲戏。及其所善，扬、班俦也。
Ying Chang is agreeable but lacks vigor. Liu Zhen is vigorous but holds nothing concealed [ 密 ; i.e., in reserve]. Kong Rong's form ( 体 *) and qi* are lofty and subtle, with something in them that surpasses all the others; but he cannot sustain an argument, and the principle ( 理* ) in his work is not up to the diction ( 辞 ), to the point that he mixes his writing with playfulness and spoofing. At his best he rivals Yang Xiong and Ban Gu.

常人贵远贱近，向声背实，又患闇于自见，谓己为贤。夫文本同而末异，盖奏议宜雅，书论宜理，铭诔尚实，诗赋欲丽。此四科不同，故能之者偏也；唯通才能备其体。
Ordinary people value what is far away and feel contempt for what is close at hand. They favor repute ( 声 ) and turn their backs on substance ( 实 *). Moreover, they stuffer the ill consequences of ignorance in self-awareness, claiming to be men of great worth. Literature ( 文 *) is the same at the root ( 本*), but differs in its branches ( 末, a "branch tip", the later stages of a process). Generally speaking, memorials and disquisitions should have dignity ( 雅 *); letters and memorials should be based on natural principle ( 理 );inscriptions and eulogy value the facts ( 实 *); poetry and poetic exposition ( 赋 ) aspire to beauty ( 丽 *). Each of these four categories is different, so that a writer's ability will favor some over others. Only a comprehensive talent ( 通 *—才 *) can achieve the full complement ( 备 ) of these forms ( 体 *).

文以气为主，气之清浊有体，不可力强而致。譬诸音乐，曲度虽均，节奏同检，至于引气不齐，巧拙有素，虽在父兄，不能以移子弟。
In literature qi* is the dominant factor. Qi* has its normative forms ( 体 *)-clear and murky. It is not be brought by force. Compare it to music: though melodies be equal and though the rhythms follow the rules, when it comes to an inequality in drawing on a reserve of qi*, we have grounds to distinguish skill and clumsiness. Although it may reside in a father, he cannot transfer it to his son; nor can an elder brother transfer it to the younger.

盖文章，经国之大业，不朽之盛事。年寿有时而尽，荣乐止乎其身，二者必至之常期，未若文章之无穷。
I would say that literary works ( 文 *— 章 *) are the supreme achievement in the business of state, a splendor that does not decay. A time will come when a person's life ends; glory and pleasure go no further than this body. To carry both to eternity, there is nothing to compare with the unending permanence of the literary work.

是以古之作者，寄身于翰墨，见意于篇籍，不假良史之辞，不托飞驰之势，而声名自传于后。
So writers of ancient times entrusted their persons to ink and the brush, and let their thoughts be seen in their compositions; depending neither on a good historian nor on momentum from a powerful patron, their reputations were handed down to posterity on their own force.

故西伯幽而演易，周旦显而制礼，不以隐约而弗务，不以康乐而加思。夫然则，古人贱尺璧而重寸阴，惧乎时之过已。而人多不强力；贫贱则慑于饥寒，富贵则流于逸乐，遂营目前之务，而遗千载之功。日月逝于上，体貌衰于下，忽然与万物迁化，斯志士之大痛也！融等已逝，唯干著论，成一家言。
The Earl of the West [later made King Wen of the Zhou], when imprisoned, amplified the Book of Changes; the Duke of Zhou, though in his glory, prescribed the Rites. The former did not ignore this [the importance of literary work] in spite of hardship; the latter was not distracted by health and pleasure. From this we can see how the ancients thought nothing of large jade disks [marks of wealth], but valued each moment, fearful lest their time pass them by. Yet people usually do not exert themselves: in poverty and low station they fear the hunger and cold; amid wealth and honor they drift with the distractions of pleasure. They busy themselves with the demands of what lies right before their eyes, and neglect an accomplishment lasting a thousand years. Overhead, the days and months pass away from us; here below, face and body waste away. Suddenly we will move off into transformation with all the other things of the world-this is the greatest pain for a person with high aspirations ( 志 *). Kong Rong and the others have already passed away, and only the discoursed composed by Xu Gan are the fully realized work of an individual writer.