《对酒》（清）秋瑾

自娱自乐

对酒

秋瑾

不惜千金买宝刀，

貂裘换酒也堪豪。

一腔热血勤珍重，

洒去犹能化碧涛。

Duijiu

By Qiujin

Don’t care about gold thousand taels for a nice knife,

It's alright for me to swap a mink coat with some wine.

With a body of thy hot blood, thou must love thy llife,

Yet for the grandest ideals I can sacrifice all of mine.

青衫来客

自娱兄新作，要吃午饭，下午开会，晚上来赏！

青衫来客

It is a beautiful translation, indeed. perfect rhyming, good understanding of the original and legant  wording. However, what I can not agree with you is the translation of 宝刀。In my humble oppion, either blade or sword can be used instead of knife.

青衫来客

Oh, one thing which I forgot just now. KEEP ACCOUNTS!  I will be rich tomorrow.

海外逸士

better:  thousand taels of gold.
knife makes me think of  "to cut the steak with a knife".
"sacrifice mine"  is  enough.

自娱自乐

原帖由 海外逸士 于 2009-9-2 6:10:00 发表
better:  thousand taels of gold.
knife makes me think of  "to cut the steak with a knife".
"sacrifice mine"  is  enough.

Yep, you are right, but it would be a tad too long if I used 'thousand taels of gold'
As for 'sacrifice mine', yes, I also thought about it, but then it would be a bit too short.
LooK!
Don't care about thousand taels of gold for a nice knife,
Yet for the grandest ideals I can sacrifice mine.
:D
Ok, about 'knife', knife = blade, so it doesn't really make too much difference in meaning. Please bear in mind 'knife' is the general term for any type of cutting tool or weapon.

自娱自乐

Well, you have a valid point there, however, who knows what type of cutting stuff or blade she bought? hehehhe

自娱自乐

Knife
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A knife is any cutting edge or blade, handheld or otherwise, with or without a handle. Knives were used at least two-and-a-half million years ago, as evidenced by the Oldowan tools.[1][2] Originally made of rock, flint, and obsidian; knives have evolved in construction as technology has with blades being made from bronze, copper, iron, steel, ceramics, and titanium. Every culture has a unique version of the knife. A knife may be either a fixed-blade or a folding version with blade patterns and styles as varied as their makers and countries of origin. Due to its role as mankind's first tool, certain cultures have attached spiritual and religious significance to the knife.

青衫来客

I have repaid you already.

海外逸士

I don't get the use of any word from the dictionary, but from the daily use in life or from books.  what about dagger or scimitar?