歌謠跟口頭流傳的神話，遠(yuǎn)在文字出現(xiàn)之前就已大量產(chǎn)生。中國的文學(xué)正是發(fā)端于此。不過歌謠本是人們生活中隨興而發(fā)的(improvised)東西，上古時(shí)代也沒有保存和記載它們的手段，因之也就很快湮滅，不留痕跡。如今，我們只能從古籍書中推斷它們的存在。古書中記載了一些據(jù)稱年代非常久遠(yuǎn)的歌謠，但是大多出于后人的偽托(derivatives)，能夠斷定年代的歌謠要到《詩經(jīng)》里才能看見。從這點(diǎn)來看，古代神話對(duì)中國文學(xué)的影響更為重要。

　　參考譯文

　　Long before the emergence of the written words, ballads and myths, passed around by word of mouth, were widely popular. Chinese literature finds its origins in these traditions. However, ballads were what people improvised out of daily life, and due to lack of means to record and preserve them in ancient times, they quickly disappeared without leaving much of a trace. Today, we can only deduce their existence from ancient books, which recorded some time-honored ballads, though most of these are believed to be derivatives of later generations. Ballads in the Book of Songs are the earliest writings that can be dated. From this point of view, ancient mythology obviously has had a great influence on Chinese literature.