第九回 · 廷試中狀元 First in the Palace Examination — Journey to the West

原文 Original text 繁體 Traditional Reader's edition

廷試中狀元 First in the Palace Examination

光guāng蕊ruǐ便biàn吩fēn咐fu家jiā僮tóng收shōu拾shí行xíng李lǐ，即jí拜bài辭cí母mǔ親qīn，趲zǎn程chéng前qián進jìn。到dào了le長cháng安ān，正zhèng值zhí大dà開kāi選xuǎn場chǎng，光guāng蕊ruǐ就jiù進jìn場chǎng。考kǎo畢bì，中zhòng選xuǎn。及jí廷tíng試shì三sān策cè，唐táng王wáng御yù筆bǐ親qīn賜cì狀zhuàng元yuán，跨kuà馬mǎ遊yóu街jiē三sān日rì。光guāng蕊ruǐ便biàn吩fēn咐fu家jiā僮tóng收shōu拾shí行xíng李lǐ，即jí拜bài辞cí母mǔ亲qīn，趱zǎn程chéng前qián进jìn。到dào了le长cháng安ān，正zhèng值zhí大dà开kāi选xuǎn场chǎng，光guāng蕊ruǐ就jiù进jìn场chǎng。考kǎo毕bì，中zhòng选xuǎn。及jí廷tíng试shì三sān策cè，唐táng王wáng御yù笔bǐ亲qīn赐cì状zhuàng元yuán，跨kuà马mǎ游yóu街jiē三sān日rì。

逐句解 Line by line

光guāng蕊ruǐ便biàn吩fēn咐fu家jiā僮tóng收shōu拾shí行xíng李lǐ，即jí拜bài辭cí母mǔ親qīn，趲zǎn程chéng前qián進jìn。光guāng蕊ruǐ便biàn吩fēn咐fu家jiā僮tóng收shōu拾shí行xíng李lǐ，即jí拜bài辞cí母mǔ亲qīn，趱zǎn程chéng前qián进jìn。

Guangrui then bade his serving-boy pack the baggage, took leave of his mother, and pressed on his way.

家僮 is the household serving-boy who travels with him. Keep an eye on him: this one does not survive the chapter. 趲程 is to push on by forced stages, covering ground faster than comfort allows.

到dào了le長cháng安ān，正zhèng值zhí大dà開kāi選xuǎn場chǎng，光guāng蕊ruǐ就jiù進jìn場chǎng。到dào了le长cháng安ān，正zhèng值zhí大dà开kāi选xuǎn场chǎng，光guāng蕊ruǐ就jiù进jìn场chǎng。

Reaching Cháng'ān just as the examination halls were thrown wide, Guangrui entered the hall.

The timing is a novelist's rather than a traveller's — he reaches the capital at the exact moment the halls are thrown open, and walks straight in. 長安 keeps 長 as cháng.

考kǎo畢bì，中zhòng選xuǎn。考kǎo毕bì，中zhòng选xuǎn。

He sat the papers and was selected.

Four characters for the hardest examination in the world. 中選, selected, takes 中 as zhòng — not the middle, but the hit: the arrow finding its target.

及jí廷tíng試shì三sān策cè，唐táng王wáng御yù筆bǐ親qīn賜cì狀zhuàng元yuán，跨kuà馬mǎ遊yóu街jiē三sān日rì。及jí廷tíng试shì三sān策cè，唐táng王wáng御yù笔bǐ亲qīn赐cì状zhuàng元yuán，跨kuà马mǎ游yóu街jiē三sān日rì。

At the palace examination on the three policy questions, the Tang sovereign with his own brush conferred on him the rank of zhuàngyuán, Top Graduate, and for three days he rode in procession through the streets.

廷試三策 is the palace examination, three policy essays answered in front of the throne. Come first and you are 狀元, zhuàng yuán, top of the empire — a title Chinese still hands to whoever tops any examination, and still the highest thing you can say about a schoolchild. 跨馬遊街 is the victory lap: three days on horseback through the streets, which is how everyone in Chang'an, including a young woman in a tower, gets to see him.

總評 Commentary

Four short segments carry a man up the entire ladder: 中選, selected at the metropolitan level; then 廷試, the palace examination on three policy essays with the sovereign presiding; then 狀元, first in the realm. The novel spends about as many words on it as a modern reader would spend on the phrase he graduated. The compression is the point. This is not the story; it is the ramp.

What the story actually needs is the last detail. 跨馬遊街, three days riding through the streets, was the real public honouring of a new Top Graduate — and it is also the device that moves him, mounted and conspicuous, past the one gate in Chang'an where a girl is standing in a tower with a ball in her hand.