原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
不曾眼見 Heard Of But Never Seen
眾官暗喜道：「懸絲診脈，我等耳聞，不曾眼見。再奏去來。」那近侍的又入宮奏道：「主公，那孫長老不見主公之面，他會懸絲診脈。」众官暗喜道：「悬丝诊脉，我等耳闻，不曾眼见。再奏去来。」那近侍的又入宫奏道：「主公，那孙长老不见主公之面，他会悬丝诊脉。」
逐句解 Line by line
眾官暗喜道：「懸絲診脈，我等耳聞，不曾眼見。
众官暗喜道：「悬丝诊脉，我等耳闻，不曾眼见。
The officers said with secret delight, "Taking the pulse by threads — we have heard of it with our ears, but never seen it with our eyes.
耳聞 against 不曾眼見: heard with the ear, never seen with the eye. Two organs, four characters each, and the balance is the whole of their scepticism.
再奏去來。」
再奏去来。」
"Let us report it again."
Four characters. 去來 pairs two words of motion to mean simply 'go'; the second carries no direction of its own.
那近侍的又入宮奏道：「主公，那孫長老不見主公之面，他會懸絲診脈。」
那近侍的又入宫奏道：「主公，那孙长老不见主公之面，他会悬丝诊脉。」
The attendant went into the palace again and reported, "Your Majesty — the Elder Sun need not see Your Majesty's face. He can take the pulse by hanging threads."
那 reads nà at both sites, and 長 is zhǎng in 孫長老.
Secret delight, the narrator says. The officers are not persuaded and they are not sceptical either — they want to watch. A famous technique that nobody in the room has ever witnessed is about to be performed on their sovereign, and their first response is curiosity.
The report that goes in has been quietly improved on the way. Pilgrim said he could work without seeing the face; the attendant tells the king that the Elder need not see it, which turns a capability into a reassurance.