第七十六回 · 許多惡氣 Something Wrong With The City — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

許多惡氣 Something Wrong With The City

西xī進jìn有yǒu四sì百bǎi里lǐ餘yú程chéng，忽hū見jiàn城chéng池chí相xiāng近jìn。大dà聖shèng舉jǔ鐵tiě棒bàng，離lí轎jiào僅jǐn有yǒu一yì里lǐ之zhī遙yáo，見jiàn城chéng池chí，把bǎ他tā嚇xià了le一yì跌diē，掙zhēng挫cuò不bù起qǐ。你nǐ道dào他tā只zhǐ這zhè般bān大dà膽dǎn，如rú何hé見jiàn此cǐ著zháo諕xià？原yuán來lái望wàng見jiàn那nà城chéng中zhōng有yǒu許xǔ多duō惡è氣qì。西xī进jìn有yǒu四sì百bǎi里lǐ余yú程chéng，忽hū见jiàn城chéng池chí相xiāng近jìn。大dà圣shèng举jǔ铁tiě棒bàng，离lí轿jiào仅jǐn有yǒu一yì里lǐ之zhī遥yáo，见jiàn城chéng池chí，把bǎ他tā吓xià了le一yì跌diē，挣zhēng挫cuò不bù起qǐ。你nǐ道dào他tā只zhǐ这zhè般bān大dà胆dǎn，如rú何hé见jiàn此cǐ着zháo諕xià？原yuán来lái望wàng见jiàn那nà城chéng中zhōng有yǒu许xǔ多duō恶è气qì。

逐句解 Line by line

西xī進jìn有yǒu四sì百bǎi里lǐ餘yú程chéng，忽hū見jiàn城chéng池chí相xiāng近jìn。西xī进jìn有yǒu四sì百bǎi里lǐ余yú程chéng，忽hū见jiàn城chéng池chí相xiāng近jìn。

Four hundred li and more they went west, and of a sudden a walled city came in sight ahead.

相 reads xiāng in 相近, to come near one another. Four hundred lǐ is over 230 kilometres — a fortnight's walking and more.

大dà聖shèng舉jǔ鐵tiě棒bàng，離lí轎jiào僅jǐn有yǒu一yì里lǐ之zhī遙yáo，見jiàn城chéng池chí，把bǎ他tā嚇xià了le一yì跌diē，掙zhēng挫cuò不bù起qǐ。大dà圣shèng举jǔ铁tiě棒bàng，离lí轿jiào仅jǐn有yǒu一yì里lǐ之zhī遥yáo，见jiàn城chéng池chí，把bǎ他tā吓xià了le一yì跌diē，挣zhēng挫cuò不bù起qǐ。

The Great Sage, cudgel in hand, was no more than a li from the chair when he saw the city, and it frightened him into a fall from which he could not pick himself up.

掙 reads zhēng, to strain — 掙挫 is to struggle and get nowhere.

你nǐ道dào他tā只zhǐ這zhè般bān大dà膽dǎn，如rú何hé見jiàn此cǐ著zháo諕xià？你nǐ道dào他tā只zhǐ这zhè般bān大dà胆dǎn，如rú何hé见jiàn此cǐ着zháo諕xià？

You will ask how one so bold could take fright at the sight of it.

著 reads zháo — the ending that marks something undergone — and 諕 reads xià, to be startled. Together they mean to be struck with fear.

原yuán來lái望wàng見jiàn那nà城chéng中zhōng有yǒu許xǔ多duō惡è氣qì。原yuán来lái望wàng见jiàn那nà城chéng中zhōng有yǒu许xǔ多duō恶è气qì。

The truth was that he could see a great deal of evil vapour hanging over the city.

惡氣 — a foul emanation. Wukong can see it and nobody else in the party can.

總評 Commentary

The fall is the thing to notice. Wukong has spent this chapter inside a monster's stomach, hauled a demon king out of the sky and taken an elephant by the nose without flinching, and the sight of a city knocks him off his feet. The novel has been careful to establish how hard he is to frighten so that this moment lands.

What he sees is a vapour, and the word for it means something like a foul emanation. Wukong's eyes were cooked in Laozi's furnace and can see through disguise; the others cannot. So he is standing on a road looking at what everybody else takes for a perfectly ordinary walled city, and finding it unbearable.

The narrator's aside — you will ask how one so bold could take fright — is the storyteller turning to his audience. It is a device for holding a pause, and what it holds the pause for is the poem that follows.