《袁家渴记》是唐代文学家柳宗元创作的一篇山水游记的散文，是“永州八记”的第五篇。文章写景中夹以抒情，情景交融，曲折地表现了作者对贬谪永州、待罪南荒的欲言又止、欲罢无能的凄苦的心境和对无限广阔、无限自由的美好环境的追求，抒发了他对丑恶现实的愤懑之情。

《袁家渴记》 柳宗元

由冉溪西南，水行十里，山水之可取者五，莫若钴鉧潭。由溪口而西，陆行，可取者八九，莫若西山。由朝阳岩东南，水行，至芜江，可取者三，莫若袁家渴。皆永中幽丽奇处也。
楚、越之间方言，谓水之反流者为“渴”。音若“衣褐”之“褐”。渴，上与南馆高嶂合，下与百家濑合。其中重洲，小溪，澄潭，浅渚，间厕曲折。平者深黑，峻者沸白，舟行若穷，忽又无际。有小山出水中，山皆美石，上生青丛，冬夏常蔚然。其旁多岩洞，其下多白砾，其树多枫楠石楠楩槠樟柚。草则兰芷。又有异卉，类合欢而蔓生，轇轕水石。每风自四山而下，振动大木，掩苒众草，纷红骇绿，蓊葧香气；冲涛旋濑，退贮溪谷；摇扬葳蕤，与时推移。其大都如此。余无以穷其状。
永之人未尝游焉，余得之，不敢专也，出而传于世。其地世主袁氏，故以名焉。

Yuan Family Ghyll
Liu Zongyuan

Ten li southwest of the Ran by boat are five fine sights, of which Brazier Lake is the best. West of the mouth of the Ran by land are eight or nine fine sights, of which the Western Hill is the best. Southeast of Chaoyang Cliff by boat to the River Wu are three fine sights, of which Yuan Family Ghyll is the best. These quiet scenes are the beauty spots of Yongzhou.
According to the local dialect, there is a special word, ghyll, for water-that-runs-in-the-opposite-direction-from-the-main-stream. Yuan Family Ghyll flows into Nanguan and Gaozhang in its upper reaches, and further down into Hundred Families Creek. Here you find twin islets, brooks, clear pools and shallows; and the ghyll winds past flat, dark rocks and towering, foam-white crags. Just as your boat seems to reach the end, a new vista opens up. There are small islands in the water covered with magnificent boulders and green foliage which remains luxuriant summer and winter alike. The caves on either side are strewn with white pebbles. The trees are mostly maple, cedar, nanmu, yellow box, oak, camphor-laurel or pumelo. The chief flowers are orchid and irises. And a stranger plant resembling acacia, except that it is a creeper, grows on all the rocks in the stream. When a wind blows down from the surrounding mountains, the great trees are buffeted and the flowers toss their heads in a flurry of crimson and green, scattering pungent fragrance. Waves eddy and whirl, and fill every cleft in the rocks, while the bayonet-leafed iris and orchid quiver and bend. Such is the pageant of the seasons, passing my powers of description.
Since the people of Yongzhou did not know of this place, after finding it I could not keep it to myself, but spread its fame abroad. The land through which it runs has belonged for generations to a family called Yuan, hence the name—Yuan Family Ghyll.