种树郭橐驼传

[Etienne]

Hello, I'm currently translating 种树郭橐驼传 but I've some troubles with a few sentences :

 

则其天者全而其性得矣 here the 者 has no sense right ?

 

不抑耗其实而已 I think 已 is supposed to be a verb here, but I don't understand it's sense in that sentence, 停止 ? Mmmmh 

 

其培之也，若不过焉则不及 in this sentence I don't understand the 其培之也 and also the purpose of 焉, is like 于之 ?

 

吾小人辍飧饔以劳吏者，且不得暇 I'm quite confused with this one especially because I don't understand the 以 and the 者

 

传其事以为官戒 as far as I've understood the 传 is pronounced zhuan4 here. Despite understanding the sentence I just don't get the 传

 

Thank you for your help, the full text is available here : https://baike.baidu.com/item/种树郭橐驼传

[Publius]

It's pretty much all in the annotations.

 

则其天者全而其性得矣

32. 则其天者全而其性得矣：那么树木的生长规律可以保全而它的本性得到了。则：那么，连词。者：助词，无义。

 

不抑耗其实而已

In the note to the first half of the parallelism:

33. 不害其长：不妨碍它的生长。而已：罢了，句末语气词连用。

而已 is still frequently used in modern Chinese, e.g. 人生不過如此而已。 More examples here: https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/1958198230403798660.html

 

其培之也，若不过焉则不及

38. 若不过焉则不及：如果不是过多就是不够。若……则……，如果……那么（就），连接假设复句的固定结构。焉：句中语气词，无义。

You shouldn't have difficulty with 其培之也 if you understand a previous sentence 凡植木之性，其本欲舒，其培欲平，其土欲故，其筑欲密。

培 means 'to earth up' -- (Horticulture) (tr, adverb) to cover (part of a plant, esp the stem) with soil in order to protect from frost, light, etc.

 

吾小人辍飧饔以劳吏者，且不得暇

63. 吾小人：我们小百姓。辍飧（sūn）饔（yōng）：不吃饭。辍，停止。飧，晚饭。饔，早饭。以：来，连词。劳吏者：慰劳当差的。且：尚且。暇：空暇。

者 is the same usage as in 夫A者，B也。 In other words, a topic marker.

 

传其事以为官戒

71. 传：作传。以为：以（之）为，把它作为。戒：鉴戒。

詞類活用/Conversion (esp. verbification) is extremely common in Classical Chinese. You might want to brush up on classical grammar a bit: https://baike.baidu.com/item/词类活用 & https://baike.baidu.com/item/为动用法

 

[Etienne]

Thank you for your answer, I wanted to be sure that everything in the annotations is correct. I don't know why I couldn't understand 其培之也, but thank you. I'm browsing your link, but sadly my chinese is not well enough in order to understand everything, but I appreciate the help !