第六十八回 · 遊手好閑 Idlers With Nothing To Do — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

遊手好閑 Idlers With Nothing To Do

那nà些xiē人rén有yǒu知zhī事shì的de，看kàn看kàn兒er就jiù回huí去qù了le。有yǒu那nà遊yóu手shǒu好hào閑xián的de，並bìng那nà頑wán童tóng們men，烘hōng烘hōng笑xiào笑xiào，都dōu上shàng前qián拋pāo瓦wǎ丟diū磚zhuān，與yǔ八bā戒jiè作zuò戲xì。唐táng僧sēng捏niē著zhe一yì把bǎ汗hàn，只zhǐ教jiào：「莫mò要yào生shēng事shì。」那nà獃dāi子zi不bù敢gǎn擡tái頭tóu。那nà些xiē人rén有yǒu知zhī事shì的de，看kàn看kàn儿er就jiù回huí去qù了le。有yǒu那nà游yóu手shǒu好hào闲xián的de，并bìng那nà顽wán童tóng们men，烘hōng烘hōng笑xiào笑xiào，都dōu上shàng前qián抛pāo瓦wǎ丢diū砖zhuān，与yǔ八bā戒jiè作zuò戏xì。唐táng僧sēng捏niē着zhe一yì把bǎ汗hàn，只zhǐ教jiào：「莫mò要yào生shēng事shì。」那nà呆dāi子zi不bù敢gǎn擡tái头tóu。

逐句解 Line by line

那nà些xiē人rén有yǒu知zhī事shì的de，看kàn看kàn兒er就jiù回huí去qù了le。那nà些xiē人rén有yǒu知zhī事shì的de，看kàn看kàn儿er就jiù回huí去qù了le。

Those in the crowd who knew how to behave took a look and went off home.

兒 is the weak little er that softens a word, not the ér of a child: 看看兒 is to have a bit of a look. Both readings run through the sealed chapters and are sorted the same way.

有yǒu那nà遊yóu手shǒu好hào閑xián的de，並bìng那nà頑wán童tóng們men，烘hōng烘hōng笑xiào笑xiào，都dōu上shàng前qián拋pāo瓦wǎ丟diū磚zhuān，與yǔ八bā戒jiè作zuò戲xì。有yǒu那nà游yóu手shǒu好hào闲xián的de，并bìng那nà顽wán童tóng们men，烘hōng烘hōng笑xiào笑xiào，都dōu上shàng前qián抛pāo瓦wǎ丢diū砖zhuān，与yǔ八bā戒jiè作zuò戏xì。

But the idlers with nothing to do, and the unruly children along with them, roared and laughed and pressed forward, pelting tiles and flinging bricks and making sport of Eight Rules.

好 is hào here — the verb, to be fond of something. 遊手好閑 is a set phrase: hands that wander and a love of idleness, which is still what Chinese reaches for to describe a layabout. Of this chapter's nineteen occurrences of the character, this is the only one that is a verb; every other is the ordinary hǎo, good.

唐táng僧sēng捏niē著zhe一yì把bǎ汗hàn，只zhǐ教jiào：「莫mò要yào生shēng事shì。」唐táng僧sēng捏niē着zhe一yì把bǎ汗hàn，只zhǐ教jiào：「莫mò要yào生shēng事shì。」

The Tang Monk broke out in a sweat of alarm, and could only say, "Make no trouble."

捏著一把汗 — gripping a handful of sweat — is the idiom for watching something go wrong and being unable to stop it, and it is alive in the language today. 著 is again the weak zhe of an action in progress.

那nà獃dāi子zi不bù敢gǎn擡tái頭tóu。那nà呆dāi子zi不bù敢gǎn擡tái头tóu。

The Idiot did not dare lift his head.

獃子, the Idiot, is the narrator's standing name for Eight Rules and turns up thirteen times in this chapter. Three phrases of lowered heads occur in the whole chapter — 低著頭走, 不敢仰視 and this one — and all three fall in these two passages.

總評 Commentary

The crowd sorts itself by manners rather than rank. Anyone with a sense of propriety looks and goes home; what stays behind is the residue, the idle and the young, who have nothing to lose by staying.

Nobody throws stones. They throw tiles and bricks, which is worse in one way and better in another — those are what lies about a street, picked up on impulse rather than carried there. And the word for what they are doing is 作戲, play-acting. To the throwers it is a game, which is the whole trouble.

Eight Rules, who hid his face on instruction a moment ago, now takes the pelting without lifting his head. He is the most easily provoked of the three and he does not rise to it — a small piece of characterisation the narrator does not pause to praise.