第七十七回 · 熯天通紅 Torches Red Against The Sky — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

熯天通紅 Torches Red Against The Sky

復fù亂luàn搶qiǎng搶qiǎng的de燈dēng籠lóng火huǒ把bǎ，熯hàn天tiān通tōng紅hóng，就jiù如rú白bái日rì，卻què明míng明míng的de照zhào見jiàn他tā四sì眾zhòng爬pá牆qiáng哩li。老lǎo魔mó趕gǎn近jìn，喝hè聲shēng：「那nǎ裡lǐ走zǒu？」复fù乱luàn抢qiǎng抢qiǎng的de灯dēng笼lóng火huǒ把bǎ，熯hàn天tiān通tōng红hóng，就jiù如rú白bái日rì，却què明míng明míng的de照zhào见jiàn他tā四sì众zhòng爬pá墙qiáng哩li。老lǎo魔mó赶gǎn近jìn，喝hè声shēng：「那nǎ里lǐ走zǒu？」

逐句解 Line by line

復fù亂luàn搶qiǎng搶qiǎng的de燈dēng籠lóng火huǒ把bǎ，熯hàn天tiān通tōng紅hóng，就jiù如rú白bái日rì，卻què明míng明míng的de照zhào見jiàn他tā四sì眾zhòng爬pá牆qiáng哩li。复fù乱luàn抢qiǎng抢qiǎng的de灯dēng笼lóng火huǒ把bǎ，熯hàn天tiān通tōng红hóng，就jiù如rú白bái日rì，却què明míng明míng的de照zhào见jiàn他tā四sì众zhòng爬pá墙qiáng哩li。

Then with lanterns and torches snatched up in a jostling rush, scorching the sky red all over till it was like broad day, they saw the four of them plain as plain, climbing the wall.

熯 is to scorch or bake with heat, so 熯天通紅 is the sky itself cooked red — a strong word for torchlight, and the same heat vocabulary the chapter has used of the cauldron. The demons make their own daylight and it shows them everything.

老lǎo魔mó趕gǎn近jìn，喝hè聲shēng：「那nǎ裡lǐ走zǒu？」老lǎo魔mó赶gǎn近jìn，喝hè声shēng：「那nǎ里lǐ走zǒu？」

The old fiend came up close and shouted, "Where do you think you are going?"

喝 is hè, a shout, not hē, to drink. 那 is nǎ, the questioning reading. 那裡走 is not really a question at all — it is what you bark at someone already caught, and English has the same move in and where do you think you're going.

總評 Commentary

The image is exact and it is the chapter's best. The demons light so many torches that they turn night into day, and the first thing the new daylight shows them is four monks halfway up a wall.

Everything that put them there is now visible at once. The horse, the passport, the luggage, the argument about how it would look to climb a wall — and here they are on the wall, lit up like a stage.

The old fiend's shout is the set phrase, and it carries no real question. He can see exactly where they are going. He says it the way anyone says it, at someone who is not going anywhere.