第六十八回 · 掣出嘴來 He Drew Out His Snout — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

掣出嘴來 He Drew Out His Snout

八bā戒jiè聞wén言yán，掣chè出chū嘴zuǐ來lái，把bǎ那nà些xiē隨suí看kàn的de人rén諕xià倒dǎo了le數shù十shí個gè。他tā上shàng前qián道dào：「師shī父fù說shuō的de是shì，我wǒ們men且qiě到dào裡lǐ邊biān藏cáng下xià，免miǎn得de這zhè夥huǒ鳥niǎo人rén噪zào嚷rǎng。」遂suì進jìn館guǎn去qù。那nà些xiē人rén方fāng漸jiàn漸jiàn而ér退tuì。八bā戒jiè闻wén言yán，掣chè出chū嘴zuǐ来lái，把bǎ那nà些xiē随suí看kàn的de人rén諕xià倒dǎo了le数shù十shí个gè。他tā上shàng前qián道dào：「师shī父fù说shuō的de是shì，我wǒ们men且qiě到dào里lǐ边biān藏cáng下xià，免miǎn得de这zhè伙huǒ鸟niǎo人rén噪zào嚷rǎng。」遂suì进jìn馆guǎn去qù。那nà些xiē人rén方fāng渐jiàn渐jiàn而ér退tuì。

逐句解 Line by line

八bā戒jiè聞wén言yán，掣chè出chū嘴zuǐ來lái，把bǎ那nà些xiē隨suí看kàn的de人rén諕xià倒dǎo了le數shù十shí個gè。八bā戒jiè闻wén言yán，掣chè出chū嘴zuǐ来lái，把bǎ那nà些xiē随suí看kàn的de人rén諕xià倒dǎo了le数shù十shí个gè。

Eight Rules, hearing this, pulled his snout out again, and of the crowd that had trailed after them to gape, some dozens were frightened clean off their feet.

諕 reads xià, to frighten. The machine offers háo, which belongs to crying out and fits none of this character's uses in the book. 倒 is dǎo again, the verb — to fall over — not the adverb dào.

他tā上shàng前qián道dào：「師shī父fù說shuō的de是shì，我wǒ們men且qiě到dào裡lǐ邊biān藏cáng下xià，免miǎn得de這zhè夥huǒ鳥niǎo人rén噪zào嚷rǎng。」他tā上shàng前qián道dào：「师shī父fù说shuō的de是shì，我wǒ们men且qiě到dào里lǐ边biān藏cáng下xià，免miǎn得de这zhè伙huǒ鸟niǎo人rén噪zào嚷rǎng。」

He came forward and said, "The master is right. Let us get inside and stow ourselves away, and be spared the din of this pack of wretches."

藏 is cáng, to hide: the other reading of the character that names the master. 鳥人 is coarse abuse, and it is the first thing Eight Rules says after being pelted.

遂suì進jìn館guǎn去qù。遂suì进jìn馆guǎn去qù。

So they went into the hall.

Four characters. 遂 is the literary 'thereupon', and it compresses the whole business of getting indoors into a single connective so that the crowd's dispersal can have the next sentence to itself.

那nà些xiē人rén方fāng漸jiàn漸jiàn而ér退tuì。那nà些xiē人rén方fāng渐jiàn渐jiàn而ér退tuì。

Only then did the crowd fall gradually back.

方 means 'only then', making the retreat conditional on the pilgrims having gone in first. 漸漸 keeps it slow: they back away without stopping looking.

總評 Commentary

This is the joke the passage was built for. Eight Rules was told to hide his snout and did. He now takes it out again, and the crowd that came to laugh at his face is knocked flat by it. Obedience and revenge use the same feature.

Whether he means it is left open, and deliberately so. He says nothing about the crowd until after they have scattered, and then proposes going indoors to avoid them — advice made unnecessary by the act of giving it.

The crowd falls back only 漸漸, gradually, which is the right word. They are not dispersed. They are backing away while still watching.