第八十一回 · 撞鐘打鼓 Sent To Strike The Drums — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

撞鐘打鼓 Sent To Strike The Drums

我wǒ們men晚wǎn夜yè間jiān著zhuó兩liǎng個gè小xiǎo和hé尚shàng去qù撞zhuàng鐘zhōng打dǎ鼓gǔ，只zhǐ聽tīng得dé鐘zhōng鼓gǔ響xiǎng罷bà，再zài不bú見jiàn人rén回huí。至zhì次cì日rì找zhǎo尋xún，只zhǐ見jiàn僧sēng帽mào、僧sēng鞋xié丟diū在zài後hòu邊biān園yuán裡lǐ，骸hái骨gǔ尚shàng存cún，將jiāng人rén吃chī了le。我wǒ们men晚wǎn夜yè间jiān着zhuó两liǎng个gè小xiǎo和hé尚shàng去qù撞zhuàng钟zhōng打dǎ鼓gǔ，只zhǐ听tīng得dé钟zhōng鼓gǔ响xiǎng罢bà，再zài不bú见jiàn人rén回huí。至zhì次cì日rì找zhǎo寻xún，只zhǐ见jiàn僧sēng帽mào、僧sēng鞋xié丢diū在zài后hòu边biān园yuán里lǐ，骸hái骨gǔ尚shàng存cún，将jiāng人rén吃chī了le。

逐句解 Line by line

我wǒ們men晚wǎn夜yè間jiān著zhuó兩liǎng個gè小xiǎo和hé尚shàng去qù撞zhuàng鐘zhōng打dǎ鼓gǔ，只zhǐ聽tīng得dé鐘zhōng鼓gǔ響xiǎng罷bà，再zài不bú見jiàn人rén回huí。我wǒ们men晚wǎn夜yè间jiān着zhuó两liǎng个gè小xiǎo和hé尚shàng去qù撞zhuàng钟zhōng打dǎ鼓gǔ，只zhǐ听tīng得dé钟zhōng鼓gǔ响xiǎng罢bà，再zài不bú见jiàn人rén回huí。

"In the evenings we send two young monks out to strike the bell and beat the drum, and we hear the bell and drum sound and stop, and then never see the men come back.

著 is zhuó here — the sending band, to dispatch someone on an errand, distinct from the sustained zhe that this character takes elsewhere in the chapter. 罷 is the full verb bà, to finish: the drums finish sounding.

至zhì次cì日rì找zhǎo尋xún，只zhǐ見jiàn僧sēng帽mào、僧sēng鞋xié丟diū在zài後hòu邊biān園yuán裡lǐ，骸hái骨gǔ尚shàng存cún，將jiāng人rén吃chī了le。至zhì次cì日rì找zhǎo寻xún，只zhǐ见jiàn僧sēng帽mào、僧sēng鞋xié丢diū在zài后hòu边biān园yuán里lǐ，骸hái骨gǔ尚shàng存cún，将jiāng人rén吃chī了le。

Next day we search, and find only monks' caps and monks' shoes flung down in the garden at the back, the bones still there, the men eaten."

將 is the disposal marker, taking the object forward to the verb. 骸骨尚存, the bones still there, is the flattest possible way of saying it and much the most effective.

總評 Commentary

The horror arrives in plain administrative language: we send two, we hear the drums stop, they do not come back, we find the caps in the morning.

And the drums are the ones from the night poem in the opening scene. That set piece put watch-drums into the chapter as pure atmosphere, and here they turn out to be the mechanism — the sound of the drums stopping is the sound of a monk being killed.

The caps and shoes flung down are the detail that does the work. Not bodies but discarded clothing, of the kind that identifies a person, and bones. The novel does not describe the killing and does not need to.