| a historian made a poem bewailing the event | shiguan you shi tan yue | 史官有詩歎曰 |
| Among historical poems there is one as follows: | yong shi you yi shi yun | 詠史有一詩云 |
| as for how...please listen to the explabation of the next session (chapter) | bu zhi ...qie ting xia hui fenjie | 不知...且聽下回分解 |
| backstage | nei | 內 |
| behold/ one only saw | dan jian | 但見 |
| but to know who it really was, you must listen to the explanation in the next session | zheng shi shen ren qie ting xia hui fenjie | 正是甚人且聽下回分解 |
| but just look | dan zhi jian | 但只見 |
| chou-role | chou | 丑 |
| continue | jie | 接 |
| continue singing | jiechang | 接唱 |
| crosses the stage | guo chang | 過場 |
| dan-role | dan | 旦 |
| Dear audience, as you may have heard | kanguan tingshuo | 看官聽說 |
| enter | shang | 上 |
| exeunt | tong xia | 仝下 |
| exit, exeunt | xia | 下 |
| First she recited two lines of a poem as follows: | shang yin shi er ju yun | 上唸詩二句云 |
| He offered a poem: | shangxian yi shi | 賞獻一詩 |
| here our story divides | hua fen liangtou | 話分兩頭 |
| I cannot mention all these persons here and now | yi shi zhi ren shuobujin | 一時之人說不盡 |
| I will not perform...but I will tell | bu biao...zai shuo | 不表...再說 |
| if not......that's the end of the story, but... | bu......bian ba, ... | 不......便罷, ... |
| if you do not know what happened next, please listen to the explanations in the next session | bu zhi hou shi ruhe qie ting xia hui fenjie | 不知後事如何且聽下回分解 |
| if you do really not know what happened next, please listen to the explanation in the following session (chapter) | bijing weizhi houlai he ru qie ting xiahui fenjie | 畢竟未知後來何如且聽下回分解 |
| if you, honorable audience, do not believe, please, listen to the example that I shall now sing for you | tangruo shi zhujun yao bu xin, nin ting wo yanchang yige bangyang | 倘若是諸君要不信﹐您聽我演唱一個榜樣 |
| in fact I have a few verse-lines in praise | wo dao you jiju zan ta | 我倒有幾句贊牠 |
| in the next round | xia yi hui | 下一回 |
| in the next session the story continues about | xia yi hui ...zai xu shang | 下一回......在敘上 |
| In this round | zhe yi hui | 這一回 |
| In this round I have offerede you respectfully the episode of XXXX | zhe yi hui XXXX wo feng jing | 這一回 XXXX 我奉敬 |
| indeed | zheng shi | 正是 |
| intro | yin | 引 |
| introduction | zhutou | 注頭 |
| It might be called: | ke wei shi | 可謂是 |
| It said: | dao shi | 道是 |
| it was destined | zhi jiao | 直教 |
| It was predestined | you fen jiao | 有分教 |
| It was really: | que shi | 却是 |
| it's slow in the telling, but happens in a flash | shuo shi chi, na shi kuai
shuo shi chi, na shi kuai | 說時遲﹐那時快 |
| jing-role | jing | 淨 |
| just listen | zhi ting | 只聽 |
| Later generations had a poem about it as follows: | hou you ren yi shi yun | 後有人一詩云 |
| Later generations had a poem about it which says: | hou you ren yi shi dao | 後有人一詩道 |
| Later generations recited a poem about it as follows: | hou you ren nian shi yishou yun | 後有人唸詩一首云 |
| let me tell in this session | yan yi hui | 言一回 |
| let us just tell | zhi shuo | 只說 |
| let us now tell only | dan shuo | 單說 |
| let us perform | biao yi biao | 表一表 |
| let us postpone the chapter about these events | zhezhang shiqing an yi bi | 這章事情按一筆 |
| let us postpone this and take our time to perform the story | anxia man biao | 按下漫表 |
| let us postpone X X, and let us now perform X X | anxia X X dan biao X X | 按下 XX 單表 XX |
| let us resume our story | que shuo | 卻說 |
| Let's not go into boring detail | hua xiu xufan | 話休絮煩 |
| let's perform first | zheli xian biao | 這裡先表 |
| let's slow down a bit | qie man | 且慢 |
| let's stop chatting | hua shao shuo | 話少說 |
| listeners | zhuwei | 諸位 |
| look at him (audience appeal) | ni kan | 你看 |
| martial sheng-role | wu sheng | 武生 |
| meanwhile let us tell | qie shuo | 且說 |
| meanwhile let’s wait performing...let’s rather perform | qie bu biao, zai biao... | 且不表 在表 |
| mixed rhythm | shuban | 數板 |
| mixed rhythm | san ban | 散板 |
| mo-role | mo | 末 |
| narrator speaking | pangbai | 旁白 |
| No hurry! | mo mang | 莫忙 |
| no need for empty conversation | xianyan suiyu bu yao (duo) jiang | 閑言碎語不要 (多)講 |
| no stock phrases in this item | | |
| now our saga returns to the true story and we shall tell it clearly | shu gui zhengzhuan shuo fenming | 書歸正傳說分明 |
| of this no more | bu zai hua xia | 不在話下 |
| on this side | zhexiang | 這廂 |
| once again let me perform | zai biaobiao | 再表表 |
| our forefathers had an admonition expressing this well | guren you jiju geyan, shuode hao | 古人有幾句格言說的好 |
| our forefathers had some lines... | qianren you jiju... | 前人有幾句... |
| our performance is about | biaode shi | 表得是 |
| Overcome with emotion he dedicated a poem: | you gan er fu shi yi shou | 有感而賦詩一首 |
| please, wait and let me, the storyteller, give a brief explanation | dai shuoshude lue biao jiju | 待說書的略表幾句 |
| poem | shipian | 詩篇 |
| pose | jie | 介 |
| reciting | nian | 念 |
| She made a small lyric and recited it as follows: | Zuo xiao ci zi shu yun | 作小詞自述云 |
| She recited a lyric saying: | Kou zhan yi ci dao | 口占一詞道 |
| sheng-role | sheng | 生 |
| singing | chang | 唱 |
| singing in choir | hechang | 合唱 |
| somebody might ask | you ren yao wen | 有人要問 |
| soon half a month had passed | xunsu guangyin banyue duo | 迅速光陰半月多 |
| speaking | bai | 白 |
| speaking in chorus | tong bai | 仝白 |
| spoken part | hua bai | 話白 |
| stop talking | zhu kou | 住口 |
| storyteller | shuohuade | 說話的 |
| storyteller | shuoshude | 說書的 |
| storyteller, why did X X not...? | shuohuade, X X yin he bu ... | 說話的﹐ XX 因何不 |
| tell the details | dao qi xiang | 道其詳 |
| That was truly: | zhenge shi | 真個是 |
| the end | quan wan | 全完 |
| the next session X X X X follows right after | dao xia hui X X X X jin jieshang | 到下回XXXX緊接上 |
| The poem as follows: | shi yun | 詩云 |
| the poem says | shi yue | 詩曰 |
| the song poem says | ci yue | 詞曰 |
| The story says | hua shuo | 話說 |
| the story we are performing | hua biao | 話表 |
| Then he made a song saying: | sui zuo ge yue | 遂作歌曰 |
| Then she made a poem as follows: | sui cheng shi yun | 遂成詩云 |
| There is a poem as follows: | you shi yun | 有詩云 |
| there is a poem in proof of this | you shi wei zheng | 有詩為証 |
| there is an old ballad describing it | you (yi)pian gu feng (yipian) dan dao | 有(一)篇古風(一篇)單道 |
| there is an old ballad in proof of this | you pian gu feng wei zheng | 有篇古風為証 |
| There is one historical poem about it as follows: | you yong shi shi yi shou yun | 有詠史詩一首云 |
| Thereafter still another song saying: | hou zai ge yue | 後再歌曰 |
| this was the first part about X X | zhe shi X X yige duan | 這是 X X 一個段 |
| truly, so it was | zhen nai shi | 真乃是 |
| Truly: | zhen shi | 真是 |
| voice from backstage | nei sheng | 內聲 |
| walks along the side of the stage | zou bian | 走邊 |
| we shall not speak more of this | ...bu ti | ...不題 |
| What will happen after this? Please, listen to the next story. | wang xia zenmeyang, er ben nin zai ting | 往下怎麼樣﹐二本您再聽 |
| when there is a story to tell it is long; when there is no story to tell it is short | you hua ji chang, wu hua ji duan | 有話即長﹐ 無話即短 |
| when we have sung this far, that is reckoned as one performance | changdao cichu suan yi duanr | 唱到此處算一段兒 |
| x x melody | x x diao | X X 調 |
| x x rhythm | x x ban | X X 板 |
| Xipi mixed rhythm | Xipi san ban | 西皮散板 |
| you may ask ... | ruo wen | 若問 |