The notes and the whole poem of "Thoughts on Reading Books Part II" are as follows:

zuó yè jiāng biān chūn shuǐ shēng, mé ng ch ń ng j ù ji à n y and má o q and ng.

Last night, the river was full of spring water, and Meng Chong's huge ship was light.

xiàng lái wǎng fèi tuī yí lì ，cǐ rì zhōng liú zì zài xíng 。

I've been wasting my time, but I'm free today.

Translation:

Last night, the spring water by the river surged, and the big ship was as light as a feather. It used to take a lot of effort to push it, but today it can drift freely in the middle of the river.

Author: Song Zhu Xi

Appreciation of Poems

"Last night, the river was full of spring water, and the huge ship was light." From the poem, the poet didn't say a word about the spring rain, but it can be seen between the lines that the spring rain and tributaries merged into the river all night, which made the spring water of the river soar.

This sentence means that huge ships float on the water as lightly as feathers. On the surface, the poet did not directly describe the great potential of the water, but it was as light as wool from the huge ship, which reflected the wide river and the mighty river. These two sentences of the poet's perceptual knowledge also paved the way for the latter two poems.

"It's always been a waste of effort, but today it's a day of freedom." I remember that in the dry season, shallow water and big boats wasted a lot of effort and I couldn't push it. Now, the ship is moving freely in the middle of the river, with no effort at all. This is the rational sublimation of this poem.

This poem vividly illustrates the importance of external conditions. Huge ships are in water, and shallow water is easy to run aground and navigation is difficult. The water depth is buoyant, and the water is good for sailing. "Spring by the river" and "flowing freely" are mutually causal and vivid.

The poet uses boating as a metaphor to emphasize that it is necessary to work hard and make great efforts to study and learn. Only when you get home with kung fu can you control it freely and skillfully, which is also a brand-new realm when life accomplishment comes naturally.