Help with 梅堯臣's 《汝州》

[Hugh]

Could anyone give me some help with a rough translation of Mei Yaochen's poem Ruzhou? I'm just trying to annotate it really, but to be honest I have no idea what it's saying.

Here's my guess-work so far, but this may be totally wrong:

汝州

Ruzhou

主人少聽我，

My host barely listens to me –

為言風土殊。

our language customs are different.

美哉面有顙，

Beautiful! This face and forehead

生此頸若壺。

lead to a throat like a bottle.

噫號無冬夏，

??? ... there are no winters or summers;

歲禱無嗟籲。

in years of prayer one has not sighed sadly.

只憐郡池上，

One only regrets ... ???

不異山林居。

one sees no difference in living in the mountains or the woods.

Any ideas?

[guahuzi]

because of the prevalence of endemic goiter in 汝州。 Most of them who lived in 汝州 falled ill and their neck became very big like a kettle.

[Zuoting]

少 in the first sentence equals to 稍, which means 稍微 here, I dont know how to translate it into English.

为言 means “let me tell you……”

The structure of this poem is: the first couplet implies the intent, and the last couplet is a conclusion, the intermediate two is the 特殊的 “风土”.

美哉面有顙，

Beautiful! This face and forehead------------>It's beautiful to have a [high] forehead on your face,

生此頸若壺。

lead to a throat like a bottle.------------->born in this place, [people's] necks look like kettles instead.

噫號無冬夏，

??? ... there are no winters or summers; -------------->Groaning and moaning, there is no [difference between] winter and summer.

歲禱無嗟籲。

in years of prayer one has not sighed sadly.-----------> but there is [still] no complaining and sighing at yearly prays.

只憐郡池上，

One only regrets ... ???--------------->Only because nearby the prefecture lake,

不異山林居。

one sees no difference in living in the mountains or the woods.-------------> [the life is] no different from the the mountain and forest living.

[Hugh]

Thanks a lot guys, really helpful!