高老莊 Gao Village Named
氣得他丟了包袱，撇了傘，兩隻手雨點似來抓行者。行者把一隻手扶著行李，一隻手抵住那人，憑他怎麼支吾，只是不能抓著。行者愈加不放，急得爆燥如雷。三藏道：「悟空，那裡不有人來了？你再問那人就是，只管扯住他怎的？放他去罷。」行者笑道：「師父不知，若是問了別人沒趣，須是問他，才有買賣。」那人被行者扯住不放，只得說出道：「此處乃是烏斯藏國界之地，喚做高老莊。一莊人家有大半姓高，故此喚做高老莊。你放了我去罷。」行者又道：「你這樣行裝，不是個走近路的。你實與我說，你要往那裡去，端的所幹何事，我才放你。」气得他丢了包袱，撇了伞，两只手雨点似来抓行者。行者把一只手扶著行李，一只手抵住那人，凭他怎么支吾，只是不能抓著。行者愈加不放，急得爆燥如雷。三藏道：「悟空，那里不有人来了？你再问那人就是，只管扯住他怎的？放他去罢。」行者笑道：「师父不知，若是问了别人没趣，须是问他，才有买卖。」那人被行者扯住不放，只得说出道：「此处乃是乌斯藏国界之地，唤做高老庄。一庄人家有大半姓高，故此唤做高老庄。你放了我去罢。」行者又道：「你这样行装，不是个走近路的。你实与我说，你要往那里去，端的所干何事，我才放你。」
逐句解 Line by line
So enraged was he that he threw down his pack, flung away his umbrella, and came at the Pilgrim with both hands, clawing like a shower of rain.
氣得: the resultative de. 雨點似 — "like raindrops," with 似 as sì; the simile is for the frequency of the blows, not their force.
The Pilgrim propped the baggage with one hand and held the man off with the other; scuffle as he might, he could lay hold of nothing.
Two 著 in one segment, and they differ. 扶著行李 is a state maintained — zhe; 不能抓著 is a goal not attained — zháo. Positional rulings are required. 支吾, to fend off with words or hands.
The tighter the Pilgrim held, the more the man raged, crackling with fury like a thunderclap.
爆燥 writes 暴躁, "hot-tempered"; the graph 爆 supplies the crackle that 如雷 completes.
Sanzang said, "Wukong, is that not another man coming over there? Ask that one instead. Why keep hold of this one?
那裡不有人來了: here 那裡 is locative nà — "over there" — and the negative is rhetorical: is not someone coming? Sanzang, characteristically, would rather trouble a stranger than watch his disciple bully one.
Let him go." The Pilgrim laughed. "Master, you do not understand. If I ask another and get nothing by it, I must ask this one anyway. He is where the trade lies."
沒趣, to come away with nothing, to be snubbed. 才有買賣 — "only then is there business to be done" — is the Pilgrim's idiom throughout this chapter, and it is a merchant's idiom, not a monk's.
Held fast and not let go, the man was forced at last to speak. "This place is within the borders of the kingdom of Ü-Tsang, and it is called Gao Village.
烏斯藏 transcribes Tibetan dbus-gtsang, Ü-Tsang, the central provinces of Tibet; 藏 is zàng, as in 西藏, not the verbal cáng. Geographically the pilgrims have travelled some way; textually they have gone from the Tang border to Tibet in one chapter.
More than half the households of the village are surnamed Gao, and that is why it is so called. Now let me go."
The etymology is offered flatly and twice — 喚做高老莊 in both segments. 高老莊 means simply "the village of old Gao," and the novel will make the surname carry the weight of the whole episode.
The Pilgrim said again, "You are dressed for more than a short walk. Tell me truly:
行裝: travelling dress. The Pilgrim reads the man's clothes as evidence, as he read them at first sight — the pack, the umbrella, the bound trousers.
where are you bound, and what is the business you are really about? Then I will let you go."
端的: 的 is dì in this fixed vernacular adverb, "truly, in fact." 所幹何事 — what business are you upon? The interrogative 那裡 is nǎ.
Sanzang's intervention and the Pilgrim's reply set out, in miniature, the difference between them. The monk sees an alternative informant and a needless cruelty; the monkey sees that this particular man, wearing this particular pack, is going somewhere on an errand, and that the errand is the story. 才有買賣 — "that is where the business is" — is a shrewd judgement dressed as a joke, and it is correct.
The naming of the place is done with the novel's usual economy: a kingdom (烏斯藏), a village (高老莊), and a surname that accounts for the village. What is withheld is the household. Gao Cai has not yet said whose servant he is, and the Pilgrim, who has noticed the travelling clothes, presses for exactly that.