冷冽的冬。

近處幾株老樹的葉子都掉光了。露出光禿的枝幹。遠遠山凹下的埡口那兒還住著幾戶人家。

大雪封天，雪絮飄飛，想起謝靈運的詩：「明月照積雪，朔風勁且哀。」劉鶚就很感嘆，說那個「哀」字下得好，說沒住過北方的人實在無法體驗出大雪冰封的滋味。

說真的，六十歲了，跟著旅行團去大陸、去日本、去北歐，見過下雪，踏過積雪，也見過北人滑雪溜冰，但還真是無法體會窮苦人家下雪的況味，尤其在古代。至於謝太傅內集，說什麼「撒鹽空中差可擬」，又說什麼「未若柳絮因風起。」告訴你，那是有錢有閒人家的子女在說些不食人間煙火的話兒呢。

Sand Painting （流沙畫）

It's cold and desolate winter.
The leaves have all fallen from the old trees in the foreground, exposing their bare branches. A few people live in the distant mountain pass.
The sky is full of snowflakes, bringing to mind a poem by Xie Lingyun: "The moon shines on the snow, and the north wind is strong and sorrowful." Liu E was impressed by this use of the word "sorrowful," and said that people who have never lived in the north cannot really understand what it's like when the world is covered with ice and snow.
I'm 60 years old, and I've been with tour groups to China, Japan, and northern Europe. I've seen snow, walked on the snow, and seen people skiing and ice-skating. On the other hand, I can't really imagine how impoverished people suffer, particularly in ancient times. As for Xie Taibo's words about "almost like salt sprinkled in the air," or "not exactly like willow fluff drifting in the wind," I think these are just some pretentious words from a spoiled, idle child.＠(http://www.dajiyuan.com)