Please translate the following item from Chinese to English for me:
http://www.hermitsoft.com/chinese.jpg

It's pretty short and there are 4 things I need translated. Please
label your answer so I know which is which.

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Request for Question Clarification by fons-ga on 10 Aug 2003 01:26 PDT

Hi,

I asked a Chinese language graduate here in Shanghai if she would like
to have a look at your Chinese text, but she thought it was rather
complicated to translate. Nothing you would do in ten minutes, but
rather specialized work that would take much longer. Anyway: I talked
her price down from 150 US to 100 US dollar. When the translation is
worth that much, I might be able to let her do the work.

Regards,

Fons

I have thoroughly examined the verse which you've provided, and I am
certain that this particular piece concerns four (of several) rules by
which commoners should live by.

but i need a translation

Although the scripture is written in classical Chinese (Wen Yan), I do
not see how some 40-odd characters could warrant even a 50 USD price
tag. Heck, I'd be willing to send you a thorough, well-documented
translation free of charge, considering the entire piece took me less
than ten minutes to completely translate.

I have saved onto my hard disk a complete translation of your text in
MSWord format. This includes the original text transcribed in both GB
Tradtional and GB Simplified, Mandarin PinYin for their respective
characters, an accurate (to the best of my ability) translation
presented in modern English, and a brief dissemination and explication
of relevant idioms and other parts of figurative speech inherent in
this particular piece of writing. Please contact me at
ruitao@comcast.net and I will send the file to you.

thanks to etymology for the translation.

it's perfect!