原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
上吐下瀉 Vomiting Above And Purging Below
那東西腥腥臊臊，脾虛的人，一聞就吐；再服巴豆、大黃，弄得人上吐下瀉，可是耍子？」那东西腥腥臊臊，脾虚的人，一闻就吐；再服巴豆、大黄，弄得人上吐下泻，可是耍子？」
逐句解 Line by line
那東西腥腥臊臊，脾虛的人，一聞就吐；
那东西腥腥臊臊，脾虚的人，一闻就吐；
"The stuff reeks and stinks. A man with a weak spleen will vomit at one whiff of it;
A weak stomach turns at the smell alone.
再服巴豆、大黃，弄得人上吐下瀉，可是耍子？」
再服巴豆、大黄，弄得人上吐下泻，可是耍子？」
"and then dose him with croton and rhubarb on top of that, so that he is throwing up above and running below — is that a joke?"
上吐下瀉 — up above and down below — is the fixed phrase for purging at both ends, and it is medically exactly what this prescription is designed to do. Sha the monk has predicted the treatment correctly and mistaken it for a disaster. 弄得 takes the light de before its result.
The objection climbs rather than repeats. First the smell alone turns a weak stomach; then the croton and rhubarb go in on top and the man is purging at both ends.
What makes it work is that Sha the monk is right. That is precisely what the prescription is designed to do, and the chapter will shortly report it happening in detail. He has predicted the treatment correctly and mistaken it for an accident.