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繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
難得贏他，且尋宿處
Hard to Beat Him: Find a Lodging
八戒道：「師兄，那妖精的武藝如何？」行者道：「也看得過，叉法兒倒也齊整，與老孫也戰個手平。卻只是風惡了，難得贏他。」八戒道：「似這般怎生救得師父？」行者道：「救師父且等再處。不知這裡可有眼科先生，且教他把我眼醫治醫治。」八戒道：「你眼怎的來？」行者道：「我被那怪一口風噴將來，吹得我眼珠酸痛，這會子冷淚常流。」八戒道：「哥啊，這半山中，天色又晚，且莫說要甚麼眼科，連宿處也沒有了。」行者道：「要宿處不難，我料著那妖精還不敢傷我師父，我們且找上大路，尋個人家住下，過此一宵，明日天光，再來降妖罷。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」八戒道：「师兄，那妖精的武艺如何？」行者道：「也看得过，叉法儿倒也齐整，与老孙也战个手平。却只是风恶了，难得赢他。」八戒道：「似这般怎生救得师父？」行者道：「救师父且等再处。不知这里可有眼科先生，且教他把我眼医治医治。」八戒道：「你眼怎的来？」行者道：「我被那怪一口风喷将来，吹得我眼珠酸痛，这会子冷泪常流。」八戒道：「哥啊，这半山中，天色又晚，且莫说要甚么眼科，连宿处也没有了。」行者道：「要宿处不难，我料著那妖精还不敢伤我师父，我们且找上大路，寻个人家住下，过此一宵，明日天光，再来降妖罢。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」
逐句解 Line by line
八戒道：「師兄，那妖精的武藝如何？」
八戒道：「师兄，那妖精的武艺如何？」
Said Bajie, "Brother, what of the fiend's skill at arms?"
武藝, "skill at arms." Bajie asks the tactician's question and gets an honest answer, which is itself unusual between these two.
行者道：「也看得過，叉法兒倒也齊整，與老孫也戰個手平。卻只是風惡了，難得贏他。」
行者道：「也看得过，叉法儿倒也齐整，与老孙也战个手平。却只是风恶了，难得赢他。」
"He will pass," said the Pilgrim. "His trident-play is orderly enough, and he fought old Monkey to a standstill. It is only that his wind is so ill; that makes him hard to beat."
看得過 and 難得贏他 both take 得 as dé, the potential. 戰個手平 — "fought to an even hand," a draw. 倒也齊整: 倒 is the concessive dào, "for that matter."
八戒道：「似這般怎生救得師父？」
八戒道：「似这般怎生救得师父？」
"If it is like that," said Bajie, "how are we to rescue our master?"
似這般 takes 似 as sì, and 救得 the potential dé. Bajie asks the practical question; the Pilgrim answers about his eyes.
行者道：「救師父且等再處。不知這裡可有眼科先生，且教他把我眼醫治醫治。」
行者道：「救师父且等再处。不知这里可有眼科先生，且教他把我眼医治医治。」
"Rescuing our master can wait to be dealt with," said the Pilgrim. "What I want to know is whether there is an eye-doctor hereabouts, to set my eyes to rights for me."
再處 — 處 is chǔ, the verb "to dispose of, to settle" (compare 區處, ch18 and ch20), against the four chù of "place" elsewhere in this passage. 且教他 takes jiào, causative.
八戒道：「你眼怎的來？」行者道：「我被那怪一口風噴將來，吹得我眼珠酸痛，這會子冷淚常流。」
八戒道：「你眼怎的来？」行者道：「我被那怪一口风喷将来，吹得我眼珠酸痛，这会子冷泪常流。」
"What is the matter with your eyes?" said Bajie. Said the Pilgrim, "That fiend blew a mouthful of wind at me, and it left the balls of my eyes aching sourly; and now the cold tears run down."
噴將來: 將 is jiāng, the directional. 酸痛, "aching sourly," and 冷淚, "cold tears," are the two symptoms the old farmer will presently diagnose. 這會子 ends in the toneless suffix.
八戒道：「哥啊，這半山中，天色又晚，且莫說要甚麼眼科，連宿處也沒有了。」
八戒道：「哥啊，这半山中，天色又晚，且莫说要甚么眼科，连宿处也没有了。」
"Brother," said Bajie, "we are halfway up a mountain, the day is late, and it is idle to speak of eye-doctors when we have not so much as a lodging."
半山中 — 中 is locative zhōng. 連宿處也沒有: the 連…也… construction, "not even a lodging." Bajie has the better sense of the two here.
行者道：「要宿處不難，我料著那妖精還不敢傷我師父，
行者道：「要宿处不难，我料著那妖精还不敢伤我师父，
"A lodging is not hard to come by," said the Pilgrim. "I reckon that fiend will not dare to harm our master yet.
我料著: 著 is zhe. 還 is hái, "as yet." The Pilgrim's reasoning is sound and will be confirmed — the fiend keeps Sanzang uneaten precisely because he fears what would come of eating him.
我們且找上大路，尋個人家住下，過此一宵，明日天光，再來降妖罷。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」
我们且找上大路，寻个人家住下，过此一宵，明日天光，再来降妖罢。」八戒道：「正是，正是。」
Let us go up to the highroad, find some house to stop at, pass the night, and come back at daybreak tomorrow to subdue the demon." "Just so," said Bajie, "just so."
降妖 takes 降 as xiáng, "to subdue," not jiàng. 明日天光 is the vernacular for daybreak. The doubled 正是 in Bajie's mouth is assent, not the verse tag.
總評 Commentary
The second half of the long paragraph divided above. The Pilgrim's answer to Bajie's first question is one of the fairest assessments he ever gives an enemy: the trident-work is competent, the fight was even, and only the wind decides it. He does not boast, and he does not lie.
Then the subject changes, and it changes to his eyes. 救師父且等再處 — "rescuing the master can wait to be settled" — is a startling line to find in the mouth of the pilgrimage's chief protector, and the chapter will spend two hundred graphs on an eye-ointment before it returns to Sanzang at all. The Pilgrim has never before had an injury he could not shake off. The novel treats the blindness as the real event of the chapter, and the demon as its occasion.