第七十一回 · 惟有酒 Nothing Beats Wine For That — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

惟有酒 Nothing Beats Wine For That

行xíng者zhě道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『斷duàn送sòng一yì生shēng惟wéi有yǒu酒jiǔ。』又yòu云yún：『破pò除chú萬wàn事shì無wú過guò酒jiǔ。』酒jiǔ之zhī為wéi用yòng多duō端duān，你nǐ只zhǐ以yǐ飲yǐn酒jiǔ為wéi上shàng。你nǐ將jiāng那nà貼tiē身shēn的de侍shì婢bì喚huàn一yí個gè進jìn來lái，指zhǐ與yǔ我wǒ看kàn，我wǒ就jiù變biàn作zuò他tā的de模mú樣yàng，在zài旁páng邊biān伏fú侍shì，卻què好hǎo下xià手shǒu。」行xíng者zhě道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『断duàn送sòng一yì生shēng惟wéi有yǒu酒jiǔ。』又yòu云yún：『破pò除chú万wàn事shì无wú过guò酒jiǔ。』酒jiǔ之zhī为wéi用yòng多duō端duān，你nǐ只zhǐ以yǐ饮yǐn酒jiǔ为wéi上shàng。你nǐ将jiāng那nà贴tiē身shēn的de侍shì婢bì唤huàn一yí个gè进jìn来lái，指zhǐ与yǔ我wǒ看kàn，我wǒ就jiù变biàn作zuò他tā的de模mú样yàng，在zài旁páng边biān伏fú侍shì，却què好hǎo下xià手shǒu。」

逐句解 Line by line

行xíng者zhě道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『斷duàn送sòng一yì生shēng惟wéi有yǒu酒jiǔ。』行xíng者zhě道dào：「古gǔ人rén云yún：『断duàn送sòng一yì生shēng惟wéi有yǒu酒jiǔ。』

Pilgrim said, "The ancients say, 'Nothing sees a life off like wine.'

He answers a tactical question with a proverb, which is very much his style. The line is a drinking commonplace of the period, the kind of thing quoted at table rather than looked up. 一 takes yì by ordinary tone change before the level tone of 生.

又yòu云yún：『破pò除chú萬wàn事shì無wú過guò酒jiǔ。』又yòu云yún：『破pò除chú万wàn事shì无wú过guò酒jiǔ。』

"And again, 'For clearing ten thousand troubles nothing beats wine.'

Two quotations, not one couplet — the text marks the second with its own 又云, a fresh saying rather than the second line of the first. The joke is that both of them end on the same character, 酒, which in a real couplet would be a fault and here is the entire point.

酒jiǔ之zhī為wéi用yòng多duō端duān，你nǐ只zhǐ以yǐ飲yǐn酒jiǔ為wéi上shàng。酒jiǔ之zhī为wéi用yòng多duō端duān，你nǐ只zhǐ以yǐ饮yǐn酒jiǔ为wéi上shàng。

"Wine has many uses. You need only put drinking first.

The plan, and it is one line long. 為 is wéi twice here, the plain copula — to serve as, to take as — not the for-the-sake-of reading the automatic default returns.

你nǐ將jiāng那nà貼tiē身shēn的de侍shì婢bì喚huàn一yí個gè進jìn來lái，指zhǐ與yǔ我wǒ看kàn，你nǐ将jiāng那nà贴tiē身shēn的de侍shì婢bì唤huàn一yí个gè进jìn来lái，指zhǐ与yǔ我wǒ看kàn，

"Call in one of the maids who wait on you in person, and point her out to me,

貼身 is close-to-the-body — a personal attendant rather than general household staff, near enough to a lady-in-waiting. 將 is jiāng, the disposal marker, and 那 is nà.

我wǒ就jiù變biàn作zuò他tā的de模mú樣yàng，在zài旁páng邊biān伏fú侍shì，卻què好hǎo下xià手shǒu。」我wǒ就jiù变biàn作zuò他tā的de模mú样yàng，在zài旁páng边biān伏fú侍shì，却què好hǎo下xià手shǒu。」

"and I will turn myself into her likeness, wait at your side, and so find my opening."

模 is mú in 模樣, appearance — the reading is fixed by the pair and not by the character, which is why the automatic default gets it wrong here and right almost everywhere else. 下手 is to make one's move, with a hint of striking.

總評 Commentary

Asked for a plan, Pilgrim quotes two drinking proverbs. They are the sort of lines a Ming reader would have known the way we know a slogan off a beer mat, and the text is careful to present them as two separate sayings — 古人云 for the first, 又云 for the second. Both end on the same word. Set them side by side and they look like a matched couplet, which is exactly the effect being aimed at.

Then the plan itself, which is short enough to be alarming: get everyone drunk, and while that is happening he will copy a maid and stand next to her. Wine appears twelve times in this chapter, four of them in these thirty-five characters. It is less a stratagem than a working method.

下手 at the end is doing more than the English lets on. It means to set about something, and it also means to strike, and the sentence does not say which. What has actually been agreed is that the queen will keep the fiend drinking while a disguised monkey waits beside her holding a rod.