是個猴精 A Monkey Spirit They Cry
那眾官見了行者，又道：「是個猴精，猴精。」沙僧拱手道：「列位休得驚恐。我三人都是唐僧的徒弟。」那众官见了行者，又道：「是个猴精，猴精。」沙僧拱手道：「列位休得惊恐。我三人都是唐僧的徒弟。」
逐句解 Line by line
The officers looked at Pilgrim and said in their turn, "It is a monkey spirit, a monkey spirit."
The same doubled cry, with a new animal. 猴精, monkey spirit, is at least a real term rather than the invented pig-goblin — and it is also precisely what Wukong is, which the officials do not know and the reader does. Their panic is accurate three times running.
Sha Monk cupped his hands and said, "Gentlemen, do not be alarmed.
拱手 is the salute made by folding one hand over the other fist at chest height — the ordinary courteous greeting between men, and the correct thing to do here. Sha Monk is the only one of the three who thinks to try good manners rather than being told to. 列位, you ranked gentlemen, is the polite plural address.
We three are all disciples of the Tang Monk."
The plainest sentence in the scene and the only useful one anybody has produced. Sha Monk answers the question that was actually asked two minutes ago, which nobody else has got round to.
Three disciples, three attempts, and a clean gradient of competence. Bajie shouts about dinner, Pilgrim tells him off, and Sha Monk bows properly and states the facts.
The officials get worse at coping as the introductions proceed, which is the shape of the joke: each new face is more alarming than the last, and each of the three handles it better than the last.
It is worth noticing that Sha Monk's good manners do not help in the slightest. The next line is another cry of terror. The novel is not making the point that politeness works; it is making the point that these three cannot possibly walk into a room without causing this.