It might be two millennia¹ old, but Confucius's work is still as popular as ever.

尽管已经过去两千年了，但是孔子的著作仍然像以前一样受欢迎。

The Zhonghua Book Company, a leading Chinese publishing house, released its annual sales figures and one of its top bestsellers turns out to be the "Analects", a classic text composed over 2,000 years ago.

国内领先出版社中华书局近日公布其年度销售数据，两千多年前编著的经典作品《论语》成为该出版社最畅销的书籍之一。

The "Analects Annotated²" sold no less than 450,000 copies over the past year, twice as much as the previous year, according to the publisher.

据中华书局介绍，去年《论语译注》的总销量多达45万册，同比翻一番。

A collection of Confucius's sayings and ideas, the "Analects" is one of the central texts of Confucianism.

论语》收录孔子的言论和思想，是儒家学派的核心著作之一。

Not just the "Analects" but other Chinese classic texts are also doing well on the market.

除了《论语》，其他国学经典著作的市场销量也不错。

The phenomenon³ has surprised publishers, who have been impressed by readers' eagerness to read the original texts - composed in an ancient script not easily accessible to modern Chinese speakers - first-hand.

这一现象让出版商们感到吃惊，读者直接阅读原典的热情引起了出版商们的注意；原典以古文编著，对讲现代汉语的人来说并不容易理解。

Observers believe this reflects a desire to seek new interpretations⁴ of time-honored classics, unfettered by the words of authorities from the past.

观察人士认为，这反映了读者不拘泥于过去权威人士的话语，渴求对历史悠久的经典著作的新解读。