第八十五回 · 更無家業 My Death Would Grieve More — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

更無家業 My Death Would Grieve More

樵qiáo子zi聞wén言yán，眼yǎn中zhōng墮duò淚lèi道dào：「長zhǎng老lǎo，你nǐ死sǐ也yě只zhǐ如rú此cǐ，我wǒ死sǐ又yòu更gèng傷shāng情qíng。我wǒ自zì幼yòu失shī父fù，與yǔ母mǔ鰥guān居jū，更gèng無wú家jiā業yè，止zhǐ靠kào著zhe打dǎ柴chái為wéi生shēng。樵qiáo子zi闻wén言yán，眼yǎn中zhōng堕duò泪lèi道dào：「长zhǎng老lǎo，你nǐ死sǐ也yě只zhǐ如rú此cǐ，我wǒ死sǐ又yòu更gèng伤shāng情qíng。我wǒ自zì幼yòu失shī父fù，与yǔ母mǔ鳏guān居jū，更gèng无wú家jiā业yè，止zhǐ靠kào着zhe打dǎ柴chái为wéi生shēng。

逐句解 Line by line

樵qiáo子zi聞wén言yán，眼yǎn中zhōng墮duò淚lèi道dào：「長zhǎng老lǎo，你nǐ死sǐ也yě只zhǐ如rú此cǐ，我wǒ死sǐ又yòu更gèng傷shāng情qíng。樵qiáo子zi闻wén言yán，眼yǎn中zhōng堕duò泪lèi道dào：「长zhǎng老lǎo，你nǐ死sǐ也yě只zhǐ如rú此cǐ，我wǒ死sǐ又yòu更gèng伤shāng情qíng。

Hearing this, the woodcutter let the tears fall from his eyes. "Elder, your death would only come to that. Mine would grieve the heart still more.

更 is gèng, still more. He has listened to an emperor, a set of ministers and a city of the dead, and he answers that his own case is sadder — which sounds like competition and is about to be unanswerable.

我wǒ自zì幼yòu失shī父fù，與yǔ母mǔ鰥guān居jū，更gèng無wú家jiā業yè，止zhǐ靠kào著zhe打dǎ柴chái為wéi生shēng。我wǒ自zì幼yòu失shī父fù，与yǔ母mǔ鳏guān居jū，更gèng无wú家jiā业yè，止zhǐ靠kào着zhe打dǎ柴chái为wéi生shēng。

I lost my father when I was small and have lived alone with my mother since, with no family property at all, depending on nothing but cutting firewood for a living.

著 is zhe, depending and going on depending. 為 is wéi, to serve as — cutting wood serves as his living. 鰥 properly describes a man left without a wife, and using it of a widowed mother is loose, ordinary speech.

總評 Commentary

He does not dispute a word of the theology. He simply produces a fact, and the fact is an old woman on a mountain with nobody else.

The novel has arranged the whole scene for this exchange: the man with a cosmic errand and the man with a mother, tied to facing trees, each explaining why his death is the one that matters.