沈括 著

【原文】

《夢溪筆談·卷24雜志（一）2》

鄜延境內(nèi)有石油，舊說高奴縣出“脂水”，即此也。生于水際，沙石與泉水相雜，惘惘而出，土人以雉尾裛[1]之，乃采 ? 入缶中，頗似淳漆，然之如麻，但煙甚濃，所沾幄幕皆黑。予疑其煙可用，試掃其煤以為墨，黑光如漆，松墨不及也，遂大為之，其識文為“延川石液”者是也。此物后必大行于世，自予始為之。蓋石油至多，生于地中無窮，不若松木有時而竭。今齊、魯間松林盡矣，漸至太行、京西、江南，松山大半皆童矣。造煤人蓋知石煙之利也。石炭煙亦大，墨人衣。予戲為《延州》詩云：“二郎山下雪紛紛，旋卓穹廬學塞人?；M素衣冬未老，石煙多似洛陽塵?！?/p>

【注釋】

[1] 裛 yì：古同“浥”，沾濕。

【今譯】

鄜延路一帶有石油，過去所說的高奴縣出“脂水”就是這種東西。石油出產(chǎn)在水邊，在沙石與泉水相雜的地方，慢慢地溢出，當?shù)厝擞靡半u尾部的羽毛把油沾上來，收集在瓦罐里。這種油看上去挺象淳漆，燃燒起來象麻桿，但冒出來的煙很濃，把帳篷都熏黑了。我猜想這種煙可以利用，就試著掃了一些煙灰來做墨，結果寫出來的字又黑又亮。象漆一般，即使松墨也比不上它。于是，就大量制作，并給它定名叫“延州石液”。這種東西以后一定會在社會上廣泛流傳，但是我最初制作使用它。石油非常多，地下的蘊藏無窮無盡，不比松木那樣有時會用完?，F(xiàn)在齊、魯一帶的松木已經(jīng)砍光，慢慢地連太行山區(qū)、京西、江南一帶的松山也大部分砍伐得成為禿山了。造墨的人必定不知道用石油 煙的好處。煤的煙也大，將人們的衣服熏黑。我戲作了一首《延州》詩說：“二郎山下雪紛紛，旋卓穹廬學塞人?；M素衣冬未老，石煙多似洛陽塵?！?/p>

【英譯】

Mengxi Bitan Chapter 24 Zazhi (Part I) 2

There is petroleum in Fuyan region, which ?was called “oily water” that was produced in Gaonu County in the past. The ?petroleum emerges among the sand and pebbles beside water. Being mixed with ?springs, it often wells up slowly from underground. Local people use the tail ?feathers of a pheasant to absorb the oily water and then collect it in ?earthen jars. The petroleum looks like pure paint and burns like hemp stalks. ? Its smoke is very dark and curtains will be darkened. I believe that the soot ?can be used, so I collect some of it and make an ink stick which is as dark and ?bright as black paint. The quality of this kind of ink stick is even better ?than the one made of pine soot. This type of ink stick is manufactured in ?large quantities and “Yanzhou Stone Liquid” is the label carved on its surface. ?I am the first manufacturer of this kind of ink stick and I know that it will ?certainly become popular, because there is plenty of petroleum in the world ?which can spring up from the underground inexhaustibly. On the contrary pine ?trees will be exhausted one day. Nowadays all the pine trees in Qi and Lu ?regions have already been cut down. Meanwhile mountains covered with pine ?trees in Taihang, Jingxi and Jiangnan regions have become half bare. People ? making ink sticks probably still do not know the advantages of the smoke from ?burning petroleum. Smoke from the burning coal is also very dark and can ?blacken people’s clothes. I once wrote a poem called “Yanzhou” in a jocular manner, ?which went as follows:

“It is snowing heavily under Erlang ?Mountain,

People set up tents like those nomadic tribes.

The winter is not ?over though the light-colored clothes have all been blackened,

The smoke of burning petroleum looks like the dust in Luoyang.”

Article by Tao Steven Zheng（鄭濤）