原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
還打前門 Out By The Front Door
行者道：「後門裡走，可是個長進的？還打前門上去。」八戒道：「我的腳綑麻了，跑不動。」行者道：「快跟我來。」行者道：「后门里走，可是个长进的？还打前门上去。」八戒道：「我的脚捆麻了，跑不动。」行者道：「快跟我来。」
逐句解 Line by line
行者道：「後門裡走，可是個長進的？
行者道：「后门里走，可是个长进的？
Wukong said: "Go out by the back door? Is that any way to get on?
長進 takes zhǎng — to grow, to make progress. The question is about self-respect, not about doors.
還打前門上去。」
还打前门上去。」
We go out by the front."
還 reads hái — rather, on the contrary.
八戒道：「我的腳綑麻了，跑不動。」
八戒道：「我的脚捆麻了，跑不动。」
Bajie said: "My feet are numb from the ropes. I cannot run."
綑麻了 — bound until dead to feeling.
行者道：「快跟我來。」
行者道：「快跟我来。」
Wukong said: "Come along after me, quickly."
快跟我來 — four characters, and no discussion invited.
The argument about the door is the moral centre of the scene and it takes eleven characters. Bajie wants to slip away; Wukong wants to walk out through the enemy. The word he uses is one of growth and improvement — is that any way to get on — which turns a tactical question into a question about what sort of creature you intend to be.
It is also, of course, entirely characteristic. Wukong has never in his life left anywhere quietly. But the novel is not simply indulging him: the pilgrimage is a training, the demons will have to be faced eventually, and going out by the back door postpones a fight rather than avoiding one.
Bajie's objection is a good one and it is ignored. His feet genuinely are numb; he genuinely cannot run. Wukong's answer is four characters telling him to keep up. The two of them are about to fight their way through three or four sets of gates on those feet.