原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
活活羞殺人 Do Not Ask It Shames Me
獃子放下鈀，搥胸跌腳道：「師父，莫要問，說起來就活活羞殺人。」長老道：「為甚麼羞來？」呆子放下钯，搥胸跌脚道：「师父，莫要问，说起来就活活羞杀人。」长老道：「为甚么羞来？」
逐句解 Line by line
獃子放下鈀，搥胸跌腳道：「師父，莫要問，說起來就活活羞殺人。」
呆子放下钯，搥胸跌脚道：「师父，莫要问，说起来就活活羞杀人。」
The blockhead put down his rake, beat his breast and stamped his feet. "Master, do not ask. Telling it would shame a man to death."
搥胸跌腳 — beating the breast and stamping — is the standard theatrical display of distress, and Bajie performs it fully. 羞殺人, shame a person to death, uses 殺 as a pure intensifier, the way English uses to death.
長老道：「為甚麼羞來？」
长老道：「为甚么羞来？」
The elder said, "What is there to be ashamed of?"
為 is wèi here, for what reason — not the wéi of becoming. He asks the question Bajie has been waiting to be asked.
Do not ask is an invitation. He has put the rake down, beaten his chest and announced that the story is too shameful to tell, all before anyone has pressed him.
And his master obliges immediately. The complaint that follows is entirely true, which will make no difference at all.