第六十八回 · 面黃肌瘦 Yellow Faced And Wasted Thin — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

面黃肌瘦 Yellow Faced And Wasted Thin

長zhǎng老lǎo聽tīng說shuō，偷tōu睛jīng觀guān看kàn，見jiàn那nà皇huáng帝dì面miàn黃huáng肌jī瘦shòu，形xíng脫tuō神shén衰shuāi。長zhǎng老lǎo正zhèng欲yù啟qǐ問wèn，有yǒu光guāng祿lù寺sì官guān奏zòu請qǐng唐táng僧sēng奉fèng齋zhāi。长zhǎng老lǎo听tīng说shuō，偷tōu睛jīng观guān看kàn，见jiàn那nà皇huáng帝dì面miàn黄huáng肌jī瘦shòu，形xíng脱tuō神shén衰shuāi。长zhǎng老lǎo正zhèng欲yù启qǐ问wèn，有yǒu光guāng禄lù寺sì官guān奏zòu请qǐng唐táng僧sēng奉fèng斋zhāi。

逐句解 Line by line

長zhǎng老lǎo聽tīng說shuō，偷tōu睛jīng觀guān看kàn，見jiàn那nà皇huáng帝dì面miàn黃huáng肌jī瘦shòu，形xíng脫tuō神shén衰shuāi。长zhǎng老lǎo听tīng说shuō，偷tōu睛jīng观guān看kàn，见jiàn那nà皇huáng帝dì面miàn黄huáng肌jī瘦shòu，形xíng脱tuō神shén衰shuāi。

Hearing this, the elder stole a glance and saw that the emperor's face was yellow and his flesh wasted, his frame fallen away and his spirit spent.

觀 is guān, to look at. Read guàn the same character means a tower or a Daoist house, and this is the first of only two occurrences in the chapter. 偷睛 is to steal a look with the eye alone, without turning the head.

長zhǎng老lǎo正zhèng欲yù啟qǐ問wèn，有yǒu光guāng祿lù寺sì官guān奏zòu請qǐng唐táng僧sēng奉fèng齋zhāi。长zhǎng老lǎo正zhèng欲yù启qǐ问wèn，有yǒu光guāng禄lù寺sì官guān奏zòu请qǐng唐táng僧sēng奉fèng斋zhāi。

The elder was on the point of asking about it when an officer of the Court of Banqueting came to invite the Tang Monk to his meal.

正欲 marks an action caught at the moment of beginning. The interruption is the whole point of the clause.

總評 Commentary

Four phrases of four characters do the diagnosis: yellow face, wasted flesh, frame fallen away, spirit spent. It has the form of a medical observation, and the elder has made it without permission, out of the corner of his eye, while the king was talking.

Then he is interrupted before he can ask. The whole chapter has been arranging for this question and it never gets asked — dinner is served instead, and the diagnosis stays where it is, unspoken and already made.