Nothing gold can stay       

Robert Frost

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower，

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides leaf,

So Eden sank to grief.

So dawn goes down to day,

Nothing gold can stay.

【江枫】译：

美好的事物难久留

自然的初绿是黄金，                          

这种色彩最难保存。

早发的叶片是鲜花，                          

一小时后就起变化。

伊甸乐园沦落为愁城，

黎明衰退成为白昼，

美好的事物难久留。

【曹明伦】译：

难留寸金光阴

自然新绿是金，

青艳碧秀难存，

萌芽嫩叶是娇花，

终归过眼烟云，

继而绿芽成叶，

乐园沦为悲境，

清晨转眼变白昼，

难留寸金光阴。

译本赏析（仅供参考）：

For the translation of the title of the original text “Nothing gold can stay”, Jiang’s version is“美好的事物难久留”, he translates “gold” as“美好的事物”,which deepens the meaning of the original poem. And Cao’s version is“难留寸金光阴”, which turns metaphor into normal language and points out the implied meaning of original poem. In the first sentence, both translate directly and show a precious and new nature. In the translation of the second sentence, Jiang’s version of “hue” is“色彩”，and Cao’s version is “青艳碧秀”which makes the poem more aesthetic. In the third sentence, the word “flower” is translated respectively into “鲜花”by Jiang and“娇花”by Cao, which shows that an adjective is added before“花”and makes the translation natural and well-balanced. Jiang omits the fifth sentence of the original poem, so there was one line less than the original poem. The word “leaf” appears twice in the original poem, which refers to the different stages of the leaf. And Cao translates the first “leaf” into“绿芽”, which expresses the deep meaning of the original poem. In the translation of the phrase “goes down” from the seventh sentence, Jiang’s version is “衰退”and Cao’s version is“转眼变成”which is less appropriate than the former one.