台风“菲特” The Typhoon Fitow

从雷峰塔下来，Descending from the Thunder Peak Pagoda,

走在青石板铺成的小桥上，Walking on the green stone slabs in form of a small bridge and

因为连续降雨，because of continuous/incessant rain, 

水涨到了桥边上，the waters rose to the side of the bridge.

湖水拍打着桥洞发出“咕咚、咕咚”的声响，The lake waters lashed/beat/hammered/ along the openings of the bridge with a "gudong", "gudong" sound.

我有点害怕，I was a bit afraid.

是不是白娘子又要“水漫金山”了，Is it not the White Lady is again flooding the Golden Mountain?

桥上有雪，There is snow on the bridge.

环卫工在上面铺上了草帘子来防滑，Environmental workers had strewn some straw mats to prevent slippage.

对面走来的工人跟我讲话“你要小心点。Some came by to warn me to be careful.

这是我在春节的时候，This was then in springtime,

去西湖的日记。my diary entry for my visit to the West Lake.

现在台风“菲特”登录杭州，Now, Typhoon Fitow is hitting Hangchow.

西湖真的是“水漫金山”了。West Lake had truly become the "Deluge of the Golden Mountain."

希望美丽的杭州早日从水灾中走出来。Hopefully, beautiful Hangchow will emerge early from this flooding disaster. 

I descended from the Leifeng Pagoda [It is better to translate the literal meaning since not everyone know Chinese, its culture and literature.  It would be more pictureque this way] and walked on a bridge which were laid with slates. The water rose to the sides of bridge for with the continuous rain. The lake waters nudged againsts the arches and produced a thumping "plump p;ump" noise. I was afraid as if the White Lady will to is flooding the Jinshan Temple again. There was snow on the bridge. Straw mats were puted placed over the deck by the sanitation workers. One said to me, "you have to be careful."


This is my diary when I was in West Lake. Now the Typhoon Fitow is in Hangzhou. the West Lake is really is the flooding Jinshan Temple. Hoping beautiful Hangzhou can will come out from the flood early.

Nice entry.  However, as you can see, there is a slight difference between the English version and the original.  This is why, you need to translate each line carefully.  Hope you learn from these subtle differences.  As a private entry, this is great.  If you want to reach a wider audience, you have to provide footnotes to those who don't understand or know Chinese literature and the terms you used.

1.  White Lady, a white snake who turned into a beautiful woman and married a man because he saved her life in the past.

2.  She was imprisoned in the Thunder Peak Pagoda for flooding the Golden Mountain Temple on top of a hill to save her husband from the clutches of an evil Buddhist monk.  The flood caused thousands of human lives.

3.  Historically, the there was a great fire that destroyed the Pagoda.  This was used in the legend to explain that her sister cum servant girl (the green snake) tried to save her.

4.  Finally she was released from the Pagoda when her son became the number #1 scholar and upon an imperial edict of pardon.

5.  For those interested in the details of the story, google "Madam White Snake"