Xi's Translation of Yu Ting Ji

Xi Yu Ting Ji is one of Su Shi's prose works, and its prose form, content and artistic feeling are worthy of our attention.

The word "like rain" appeared earlier in history. "Biography of Spring and Autumn Valley Liang" says that "those who don't rain in summer and April also rain, and those who rain in June also like rain". This is the first time that the word "Xi Yu" has appeared. The word "happiness" is used to explain people's feelings and comments on the rain, so Erya said: "When the rain falls, everyone will be honored, which is called the unitary ritual spring", and "ritual spring", which means that the rain represents it, contains the meaning of loving the rain and is linked with the relationship between people. There is an article in Zhuangzi about a heavy rain in the Spring and Autumn Period. "Song Gong Jing, drought for three years. Bu Zhi, this is the man that Rain worships. Gong Xiatang nodded and said,' I pray for rain; Killing people today, no. Someone will take care of it. It rained thousands of miles before death. "This kind of rain can be said to be like rain, which has a great relationship with people's livelihood, so all previous literary works have chanted about it. After the Book of Songs, Cao Zhi, Xie Zhuang, Xie Tiao, Bao Zhao and others all wrote some poems about rain, and Du Fu also wrote poems about rain in the Tang Dynasty, such as Delighting in Rain on a Spring Night, Love Rain, and Love Rain in My Uncle's Mansion. There are also many people who chant "Happy Rain" in the form of Fu, such as Jin Fuxian, Fu Liang of Six Dynasties and Song Dynasty, Zhang Shuo of Tang Dynasty and Jia Deng's "Happy Rain". It is hard to say that they are famous, but they show the joy of bringing showers to the people and foretelling the future harvest. One of the most famous should be Du Fu's "Sneaking into the night with the wind, moistening things silently".

Strangely, in the history of literature, it is rare to write happiness in the form of prose. Therefore, Su Shi's essay Xi Yu Ting Ji is very prominent. Of course, it is not surprising if you write this theme yourself just because the predecessors didn't write it, and it is a contribution to the history of literature. Once later generations take over writing and surpass their predecessors' works, the former can only have a little value in the history of literature, not to mention the eternal value of art. Su Shi's Xi Yu Ting Ji is not like this, because it has high artistic value and many interesting places. Perhaps it is this that makes later writers flinch and willingly make Su Shi stand out from the crowd.

Xi Yu Ting Ji was written by Su Shi when he was a judge in Fengxiang House in the sixth year of Jiayou (106 1). The full text is not long, * * * 500 words, only four short paragraphs, but it writes strange colors.

At the beginning, the article pointed out the naming reason of "rain", which is closely related to the word "Xi". He quoted three major events in history as a foreshadowing, saying that the ancients had happy events, and they were often named after them to commemorate the happy events, or to indicate the happy events in the future. All three things are interesting. Because they are related to the politics of the country, there is more or less a relationship between heaven and man in them. First, according to legend, Zhou Chengwang's half-brother, Uncle Tang, got a different kind of grain and gave it to Wang Cheng. King Cheng transferred the grain to the Duke of Zhou. Duke Zhou then wrote an article "Golden Harvest". Second, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty got a Baoding in Fenshui in May 1 16 BC, so he changed the year number to the first year. Third, in the eleventh year of Lu Wengong, the Northern Emperor secretly attacked Lu, and Lu Wengong sent his uncle Sun to defend the enemy and captured the monarch Qiao Ru, so he named his son Qiao Ru. This last thing, for people today, is almost puzzling. Why use the enemy's name as the son's name? This is something worth studying. Anyway, this is what the author prepared for the pavilion with rain. With this mat, it makes sense to talk about things and rain. This is like a syllogism of major premise and minor premise in logic. With the major premise, the following words are easy to say and acceptable.

In his second year in Fengxiang House, Su Shi built official houses, did administrative work, dug ponds to drain water and beautify the environment. Unfortunately, it didn't rain for a whole month and drought appeared, so disaster would be the inevitable result. Looking at Yun Ni in the early morning, people's worries can be imagined. Here, it just shows the ingenuity of Su Shi's pen and ink. As we know, Su Shi once said that he was lonely and carefree when he was writing "Fu on the Back of the Red Wall", and just two friends came. First frost dewdrop, the bright moon is attractive, and you want to drink it empty. A good wife has just presented a long-cherished wine; There was nothing to drink, just as the guests took out fresh water with a smile. Everything is so coincidental and satisfying. It's the same here People are eager for rain, and the result is "rain on second base, rain on second base". This kind of sentence is easy, but it is not tasteless. It is very similar to the language in Oracle Bone Inscriptions, but it is the question and prediction in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. It is provided truthfully here and is fascinating to read. Is it enough? "People think it's not enough. Ding Mao's heavy rain will stop in three days!" According to the survey, Mao Yi is the second day of April, Jiazi is April 11th, and Ding Mao is April 14th. It rained three times in a row in half a month. The first two times were not enough, and the third time it rained for three consecutive days. It's raining hard, it's raining hard, it's raining hard Say good rain, like rain, this is really good rain, like rain! Du Fu's "sneaking into the night with the wind, moistening things silently" always makes people feel subtle and not atmospheric enough. Here, we should pay attention to the function of the sentence "people think it is insufficient" Only when this suppression and decline, and then the next three days of heavy rain, can clearly show the effect. Without this sentence, of course it can be established, but it is much softer to read.

The cheerful atmosphere produced by this heavy rain is considerable: "officials celebrate with the imperial court, businessmen celebrate with the city, farmers mourn with the wilderness, those who are worried are happy, and those who are sick are recovering ...". This is a picture of the whole people enjoying the joy of the government and the people. Compared with Ouyang Xiu's Satrap and Joy of the People, it is really different, because Ouyang Xiu's music is not implemented, it is overhead and floating, but it is creating articles and feelings, and Su Shi is writing truthfully here. We seem to have joined Su Shi's love rain scene. Only in this way, it is natural and meaningful for Su Shi to name the newly completed pavilion "Happy Rain".

The name of the pavilion has its own origin. After making it clear, it means that this song will eventually be elegant and beautiful. However, Su Shi did a good article here, saying that he rummaged through everything surprisingly well, or that he dared to trace back to the source. In any case, the author shows amazing artistic skills here. The author turned the pen around and discussed "Happy Rain" from the opposite side by asking questions. The winding path leads to a secluded place. Let's think about it, maybe this is the only way to continue to write about this rain, but Su Shi found it, not necessarily by accident, maybe because of his real ability. The article said: "It won't rain for five days? Say: it doesn't rain for five days, and there is no wheat. ..... ten days without rain? Say: it doesn't rain for ten days, and the grain won't be harvested. " No wheat, no food, famine everywhere, thieves, people suffering. But in less than five days, less than ten days, the rain suddenly came and benefited our people. How can it be said that God is unkind to the whole people? With such a passage, the article is full and substantial, which is more gratifying than rain.

At this point, Su Shi began to write calligraphy, dancing and writing ink, which is also wonderful. "Make the sky rain beads, cold people may not think Yan; When it rains, I'm so hungry that I can't think of Xiaomi. If it rains for three consecutive days, who can help? People say that satrap does not exist; For the son of heaven, the son of heaven said otherwise; Creation belongs to creation, and creation does not take credit; Back in space, space is invisible and can't be named. I am named after my pavilion. " You see, he still boarded the pavilion, one step at a time, and made great contributions. Like painting cakes, he found a sentence in front of the satrap, the son of heaven, creation and space, so that all these people silently and humbly refused this honor. How beautiful it is, all the princes presented it, and then it was put on the theme. In that case, let's name it after. A virtual reality, a push, a push, will always be the original intention of Xiang Zhuang sword dance.

The author is obsessed with a word "rain" and a word "happiness". In less than 500 words, the word "rain" appeared 15 times, twice as a verb, and "hi" and "le" appeared six times. From beginning to end, it was a happy and rainy atmosphere.

In ancient China, since Mencius, founders and officials should have the idea of having fun with the people. There are many people who write such works, but not many really write well. Ouyang Xiu's Preface to Drunk Pavilion is one of them, and Su Shi's article is even better. Good is implemented, not empty.

This article also has some noteworthy remarks. First, there are many compound sentence. For example, in the first paragraph, in order to show that the ancients remembered famous things when they had happy events, the author gave three examples. Three examples are three parallelism sentences. With the help of this syntax, readers have a sense of thorough reasoning and enrichment in meaning. After the second period of heavy rain, the happy scene of the people and the "rain beads" and "rain jade" in the fourth paragraph are also parallel forms. When people are overjoyed and dancing, the words must be changed, and it is impossible to attract people's attention by simply relaxing the order of the words. Second, the ending rhymes. The ending of Xi Yu Ting Ji is very thoughtful. It not only takes care of the beginning, but also gives people a lot of associations, which deserves our attention. Su Shi's philosophical thought is the unity of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. In his poems, there are often sentences asking about nature to express his outlook on life and his broad-minded and cheerful feelings. Who should I thank after this heavy rain? Here, his imagination is from the satrap to the son of heaven, from the son of heaven to the sky, and from the sky to the creation, in which the rhyme of jade and millet, the rhyme of heaven and strength, the rhyme of merit and emptiness, and the rhyme of ghost and name are inexhaustible, all of which form a systematic feeling.