第八十六回 · 潺潺水響 The Sound of Running Water — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

潺潺水響 The Sound of Running Water

好hǎo大dà聖shèng，收shōu了le棒bàng，束shù束shù裙qún，拽yè開kāi步bù，轉zhuǎn過guò山shān坡pō，忽hū聽tīng得dé潺chán潺chán水shuǐ響xiǎng。且qiě回huí頭tóu看kàn處chù，原yuán來lái是shì澗jiàn中zhōng水shuǐ響xiǎng，上shàng溜liù頭tóu沖chōng泄xiè下xià來lái。又yòu見jiàn澗jiàn那nà邊biān有yǒu座zuò門mén兒ér，門mén左zuǒ邊biān有yǒu一yí個gè出chū水shuǐ的de暗àn溝gōu。好hǎo大dà圣shèng，收shōu了le棒bàng，束shù束shù裙qún，拽yè开kāi步bù，转zhuǎn过guò山shān坡pō，忽hū听tīng得dé潺chán潺chán水shuǐ响xiǎng。且qiě回huí头tóu看kàn处chù，原yuán来lái是shì涧jiàn中zhōng水shuǐ响xiǎng，上shàng溜liù头tóu冲chōng泄xiè下xià来lái。又yòu见jiàn涧jiàn那nà边biān有yǒu座zuò门mén儿ér，门mén左zuǒ边biān有yǒu一yí个gè出chū水shuǐ的de暗àn沟gōu。

逐句解 Line by line

好hǎo大dà聖shèng，收shōu了le棒bàng，束shù束shù裙qún，拽yè開kāi步bù，轉zhuǎn過guò山shān坡pō，忽hū聽tīng得dé潺chán潺chán水shuǐ響xiǎng。好hǎo大dà圣shèng，收shōu了le棒bàng，束shù束shù裙qún，拽yè开kāi步bù，转zhuǎn过guò山shān坡pō，忽hū听tīng得dé潺chán潺chán水shuǐ响xiǎng。

A fine Great Sage: he put away his rod, hitched up his skirts, strode out, rounded the mountain slope, and all at once heard the babble of running water.

The scene shifts from grief to scouting in twenty-three characters, and the sound is what turns it. 潺潺 doubles a character to make the noise of a stream — the word is the sound. In 聽得, to hear, 得 is dé, the reading that follows a verb of perceiving.

且qiě回huí頭tóu看kàn處chù，原yuán來lái是shì澗jiàn中zhōng水shuǐ響xiǎng，上shàng溜liù頭tóu沖chōng泄xiè下xià來lái。且qiě回huí头tóu看kàn处chù，原yuán来lái是shì涧jiàn中zhōng水shuǐ响xiǎng，上shàng溜liù头tóu冲chōng泄xiè下xià来lái。

He turned his head to look, and it was the water in the ravine that was sounding, pouring down from the head of the current above.

上溜頭 is the upstream end of a run of water. Wukong is doing something very ordinary here — following a stream to see where it comes from — and it is about to be the most useful thing anybody does in the chapter.

又yòu見jiàn澗jiàn那nà邊biān有yǒu座zuò門mén兒ér，門mén左zuǒ邊biān有yǒu一yí個gè出chū水shuǐ的de暗àn溝gōu。又yòu见jiàn涧jiàn那nà边biān有yǒu座zuò门mén儿ér，门mén左zuǒ边biān有yǒu一yí个gè出chū水shuǐ的de暗àn沟gōu。

Then he saw that on the far side of the ravine there was a gate, and to the left of the gate an outfall drain running out of it.

There it is. 暗溝 is a covered drain, and finding one is finding a way in that is not a door. Water has to leave a cave the way it leaves a house, and Wukong has just worked out that the plumbing is a corridor.

總評 Commentary

This is detective work, not magic. Wukong hears water, follows it upstream, and reasons that a stream coming out of a hillside has to be coming out of something. The back door is found by paying attention to a noise.

The drain matters more than the gate beside it. A gate can be blocked, as the front one has been; a drain cannot, because the cave needs it. Wukong has found the one opening the fiends cannot afford to seal.