自敘第五十（節）
原文 112 字洪者，丹陽句容人也。其先葛天氏，蓋古之有天下者也，後降為列國，因以為姓焉。洪稟性鈍滯，少有疾病，年十有三，而慈父見背。夙失庭訓，飢寒困瘁，躬執耒耜，以救饑寒。賣薪以給紙筆，伐薪以供晝夜。常乏紙，每所寫，反覆有字，人鮮能讀也。
I, Hong, am a man of Goorong in Danyang [present-day Jurong, Jiangsu].My ancestor was Getian Shi, said to have ruled All-Under-Heaven in antiquity;
his descendants were enfeoffed in various states and took [Ge] as their surname.By nature I am dull and slow, and in my youth I had many illnesses.At the age of thirteen I lost my kindly father.
Having early lost paternal instruction, I suffered hunger, cold, hardship and exhaustion.I myself took up plow and harrow to relieve hunger and cold;I sold firewood to supply paper and brush;
I cut firewood to supply day and night.I often lacked paper — so on every sheet I wrote, there were characters on both sides, and few people could read it.