《五美吟·西施》出自清代小说家曹雪芹所著小说《红楼梦》，是一首七言绝句，在小说中由林黛玉所作。前两句直写西施的不幸，后两句写西施和一般女子一样，红颜多薄命。这首诗是林黛玉以西施自况，发出了预感命运不幸的悲叹，悲哀自已红颜薄命。这首诗引用了东施效颦之典，化用王维《西施咏》和《洛阳女儿行》诗意，增强了全诗的悲叹基调。

《红楼梦》·《五美吟·西施》

一代倾城逐浪花，吴宫空自忆儿家。

效颦莫笑东村女，头白溪边尚浣纱。

Xi Shi（David Hawkes 译）

That kingdom-quelling beauty dissolved like the flower of foam.

In the foreign palace, Xi Shi, did you yearn for your old home?

Who laughs at your ugly neighbor with her frown-and-simper now,

Still steeping her yam at the brook-side, and the hair snow-white on her brow?

His-shih（B. S. Bonsall 译）

In one generation she overthrew a city, pursued extravagance.

When the palace of Wu was empty she bethought herself of her home.

As she imitates the wrinkles laugh not at the woman of the eastern village.

White-headed by the side of the mountain stream she still washes silk.

Xi Shi（杨宪益、戴乃迭 译）

Gone with the foam the beauty who felled cities,

Her longing for home in Wu's palace an empty dream,

Laugh not at the East Village girl who aped her ways,

White-haired, she still washed clothes beside the stream.

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