一部妇孺皆知的《红楼梦》可谓凝聚了曹雪芹一生的心血。小说以贾宝玉、林黛玉的爱情悲剧为主线，驾构出了贾、王、史、薛四大家族的兴衰史。鲜活的人物、凄美的爱情，是一部读不完、说不尽的千古奇书。

《红楼梦》以其包罗万象的内容，博大精深的思想，精湛完美的艺术，丰富生动的语言，不仅稳占中国小说的榜首，而且成为中国文学的典范和骄傲，并屹立于世界文学之林。

The Story of the Stone (c. 1760), also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber, is one of the greatest novels of Chinese literature. The fourth part, The Debt of Tears, was almost certainly left as a fragmentary manuscript by Cao Xueqin and was carefully edited and completed by Gao E in 1791. It continues the saga of the changing fortunes of the Jia dynasty, focusing on the ill-fated love, the debt of karma, between Bao-yu and his delicate orphaned cousin, Dai-yu, who ’repays him with the tears shed during the whole of a mortal lifetime’. Their story is set against worldly events of everyday life, but beyond this, the novel shows how a higher spiritual power controls lives- especially Bao-yu’s, whose destiny is caught up with his precious jade pendant, a stone of mysterious origins.

John Minford’s sensitive translation is accompanied by a preface discussing Gao’s role in the completion of the unfinished novel. This volume also includes appendices, a list of characters and genealogical tables.

NOTE ON SPELLING

PREFACE

CHAPTER 81

CHAPTER 82

CHAPTER 83

CHAPTER 84

CHAPTER 85

CHAPTER 86

CHAPTER 87

CHAPTER 88

CHAPTER 89

CHAPTER 90

CHAPTER 91

CHAPTER 92

CHAPTER 93

CHAPTER 94

CHAPTER 95

CHAPTER 96

CHAPTER 97

CHAPTER 98

APPENDIX I Prefaces to the first Cbeng-Gao edition Joint Foreword to the subsequent Cbeng-Gao edition

APPENDIX II The Octopartite Composition or ’bags wenzbang’

APPENDIX III Tbe Qin or Chinese Lute, and Knowing the Sound

APPENDIX IV Iron Threshold Temple and Water-moon Priory

CHARACTERS IN VOLUME 4

GENEALOGICAL TABLES