原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
莫聽師兄 Do Not Listen To Your Brother
行者道：「老孫偏怎看見？」八戒、沙僧道：「師父，莫聽師兄搗鬼。這般遙望，城池尚不明白，如何就見是甚字號？」行者道：「老孙偏怎看见？」八戒、沙僧道：「师父，莫听师兄捣鬼。这般遥望，城池尚不明白，如何就见是甚字号？」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「老孫偏怎看見？」
行者道：「老孙偏怎看见？」
Pilgrim said, "Then how is it that old Sun can see them well enough?"
偏 carries a contrary edge that English needs a whole clause for: not 'how do I see them' but 'how is it that I, of all people, do'.
八戒、沙僧道：「師父，莫聽師兄搗鬼。
八戒、沙僧道：「师父，莫听师兄捣鬼。
Eight Rules and Sha Monk said, "Master, pay no heed to our elder brother's mischief-making.
搗鬼 is to play tricks or work a sleight — they are accusing him of inventing the whole thing, not of misreading it.
這般遙望，城池尚不明白，如何就見是甚字號？」
这般遥望，城池尚不明白，如何就见是甚字号？」
"At such a distance the city itself is not yet plain; how should he make out what characters are written there?"
字號 is writing taken as a sign or a name: what the banner says, rather than the shapes on it.
The two junior disciples side with their master by the shortest route available. They do not dispute what Pilgrim saw; they declare in advance that he cannot have seen it. 搗鬼 accuses him of making it up.
Their reasoning is sound and their conclusion is wrong, which is the standing condition of Eight Rules in this book. At that distance nobody could read the banner — nobody, that is, whose eyes are ordinary. They have forgotten what their elder brother is, and they are about to be reminded.