Chapter 11 Nine step by step

The purpose of learning classical Chinese is to learn from not knowing.Starting from "can't", the beginning is clear-cut. The first time I listen to others or read a classical Chinese work by myself is the so-called "this is the first chapter of this book". There is no end to "meeting". Firstly, it is because classical Chinese classics are so vast that one cannot read them all;As far as we ordinary people are concerned, learning classical Chinese starts from the beginning, but it is only a short way forward.But it is this part of the road that needs to be walked properly to be able to move forward smoothly.How can one obtain the Fa?In a nutshell, step by step.

The gradual progress of learning classical Chinese can be explained from four aspects. 1. From shallow to deep Needless to say, this principle is correct and important. The difficulty lies in how to accurately assess the depth.There are too many classics and the situation is too complicated.For example, it seems to be true to say that the modern ones are shallower than the ancient ones, but the "Jinsilu" by Song Zhuxi and others is more difficult to explain and read; the narrative nature is shallower than the argumentative nature, which seems to be true, but " On the contrary, "Zuo Zhuan" is more difficult to explain and read than "Mencius".There are exceptions to almost any general statement.In another book, there may also be differences in depth between parts.Therefore, assuming that we have already selected certain works as reading materials for learning classical Chinese, it is always quite difficult, if not absolutely impossible, to accurately arrange these works into the word "one" from the shallower to the deeper.Feasible methods are: 1. Trust your feelings, try two or more reading materials at the same time, and read the one that is easy to swallow first.2. Pay attention to those with relatively large differences, such as "Xunzi" and "Han Feizi". You can be sure that the latter is relatively shallow, so you should read it first.Three, two kinds of works, you can't tell the depth at a glance, you have to be content with the same, such as "Warring States Policy" and "Historical Records", you can choose one to read first.

Two, from less to more This is the same as learning other things. You can't be greedy before you get familiar with it. After you are familiar with it, you can not only be greedy, but you must be greedy.The so-called amount mainly includes three aspects.One is quantity.In the beginning, whether you are speaking or reading, you must be down-to-earth, understand every word and sentence, remember it well, and read it well. This cannot be done quickly.Take it slowly in this way, and the firmness and familiarity will take root in the memory, and it will become the capital to move on.For example, if you start learning classical Chinese at the junior high school level, you can only learn one or two short articles a week. When you go to college, if you have a little foundation in classical Chinese and like to read, you will not have any difficulty reading Lu You's "Notes of Lao Xue'an" a week.The second is how much space.Learning classical Chinese almost always starts with reading short poems and essays, and to a certain extent, you can read an anthology of a certain writer.Going forward, you can read the complete works, until you read a large tome, such as.The third is the number of categories.In the beginning, I read poems and essays in general anthologies (including textbooks). When I have a solid foundation and a strong comprehension ability, I can wander in the sea of ​​classical Chinese classics, and learn all kinds of teachings and essays (until the "Six Patriarchs Altar Sutra" and "Yunji Qizhu", etc.), all kinds (until "Palindrome Leiju" and "Yinglian Conghua", etc.), you can read it, read it if you think it is meaningful, and throw it away if you don't.

3. From slow to fast Start learning, rusty, naturally not fast.Gradually become familiar with some things that need to be explained in the past, but now they are not needed, and the meaning of things that were unclear before, but now if you see an old friend, naturally you don't have to slow down.This is the "actual" must be so, needless to say.It should be noted that "reasonably" should be slow and fast.When learning a language, the main source of good learning is "proficiency", followed by "reasonableness".Proficiency comes from multiple experiences. A has read 50,000 words, and B has read 500,000 words. Assuming that the level of understanding is the same, B's attainments will be much higher than A's.There is a lot to read, and time is limited, so do it as quickly as possible. (About the fast method and limitations, I will add it later.)

4. From borrowing to self-reliance Start learning, just like a child learning to walk, you need someone to help you.Support is another force, and the purpose is to cultivate self-reliance, so that you can walk without support gradually.The same is true for learning classical Chinese, you must use other forces at the beginning.This so-called other force includes three aspects: teachers, annotations and dictionaries (to expand the scope, it can be called reference books).The effects of the three aspects are different.The teachers take good care of them, but the management time is short. For example, if the students who have reached the school are equivalent to a university level, the teachers can retreat to the position of advisors and let the young people explore by themselves.There is a difference between new notes and old notes. The new notes are more detailed and simple, and you can gradually leave or leave most of them after a certain degree; the old notes are simple and focus on difficult points, and you can only leave a small part if you have a solid foundation.As for reference books, because the content of classical Chinese works is very complicated, and some of them are esoteric, it is common to not fully understand after reading. Therefore, after leaving the teacher, especially those without annotations, you must always check them.When learning classical Chinese, using reference books is a very important habit and ability. With this ability, many difficulties can be solved smoothly.Therefore, the use of reference books, on the surface, is relying on other forces, but in essence it is more profoundly relying on self-reliance.

The above mentioned step by step, tends to clarify the general truth; for practice, what is more important is how to do it concretely.But when it comes to specifics, it is very difficult to select classical Chinese reading materials.There are several negative factors here: 1. It is difficult to accurately assess the depth of reading materials; 2. It is difficult for people to have the same interest and conditions for learning; 3. It is difficult to grasp the supply of reading materials; 4. It is specially compiled and printed for learning classical Chinese There are not many reading materials (especially those arranged in series).Therefore, it is very difficult and impractical to create a catalog of books according to the order of study as a reading schedule for several years.As a last resort, I have to speak in half general and half specific terms.This can be divided into three aspects: first, what to read, second, how to read, third, routine and flexibility.

1. What to read Obviously, this varies from person to person.People can vary greatly in age, status, degree, interest, etc., so it is inevitable that the method of adapting to changes will not work.Let’s talk about those who are studying in school. Take junior high school as an example. Of course, they should mainly study classical Chinese works in Chinese textbooks.However, there are not many classical Chinese textbooks in the textbooks, and extracurricular reading materials should be used as supplements, whether to adapt to the students' ability to "do what they can" or to speed up their progress.When choosing extracurricular reading materials, first, the level should be appropriate, but not too difficult; second, it should be interesting, so that students will take the initiative to learn without the supervision of teachers.Some such simple books have been published in the past, such as Mr. Lu Shuxiang's "Selected Readings of Notes", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House's "One Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty", Hu Yunyi's "One Hundred Poems of Tang and Song Dynasties" and so on.What to choose and how much to choose should be guided by the teacher.

Those who are not in school (and those who are in school can also be deduced by analogy), no matter whether they are beginners or have already reached a certain level, they can refer to the following opinions when choosing reading materials (the situation is complicated, and only a few examples are given). 1.In most cases, the present can be followed by the past.Regardless of the content or the text, ancient works are relatively far away from us, so they are more unfamiliar and difficult to understand and learn.For example, the biographical part of "Historical Records" is much more difficult than "Qing History Biography" for both biographical articles; "New Book" by Jia Yi is much more difficult than Huang Zongxi's "Ming Yi Dai Fang Lu" for both argumentative articles.In this case, if we want to read both ancient and modern, we should read the modern ones first, and then the ancient ones.

2.In most cases, you can remember the facts first and reason later.Things are concrete and can be conceived without thinking, while principles are abstract and can only be comprehended after deep thinking, so the former is easy and the latter is difficult.For example, both are works of the Warring States period, "Zhan Guo Ce" records events, and "Xunzi" reasoning, the former is easier to read than the latter.The same is true for the works of the same person. For example, Liu Zongyuan's "Planting Trees and Guo Tuo Biography" is a record, and "Feudalism" is an argument. The former is easier to read than the latter.Naturally, there are also differences in the difficulty of recording events or reasoning. For example, Lu You's "Entering Shu Ji" and Wang Shizhen's "Shu Road Station Journey" are similar in nature, but the former is more difficult to read than the latter; Tongde Lun and Salt and Iron Lun are reasoning works of similar nature, but the former is more difficult to read than the latter.Also, a book or an article often has both memorandum and reasoning elements, and the proportions of the two elements are various, so when choosing a book or an article, you have to consider the facts as they stand and adapt to the circumstances. 3.Santi first, then Cifu and Parallel style.From the perspective of the history of style evolution, prose style, Ci Fu, and parallel style are two streams.The two streams of water flow side by side, sometimes approaching or even overlapping (in the works of some writers), but then separate in an instant, each going its own way.Santi is a real doer who focuses on the application of words and deeds, so he dresses plainly, even slovenly.Ci Fu and parallel style are not the case, just like Zheng Ji, the daughter of Zhao, who focuses on showing off her beauty, so she has to wear heavy clothes.Therefore, from "Chu Ci" to Han Fu, to later generations' Qingci, Shouxu, etc., they are full of pearls and parallels. Although the content is not profound, it is not easy to read.In this way, if the two kinds of books or articles we want to read happen to be different in prose style, Ci Fu, and parallel style, such as "Ancient Classical Ci Lei Compilation" and "Zhaoming Wenxuan", Li Qingzhao's "Jinshilu Houxu" and Wang Bo's "Tengwang Pavilion" Preface, then you can read the former first.

4.Prose or poetry, which one is appropriate to read first cannot be summed up in a word.Because prose can be deep or shallow, and poetry can also be deep or shallow.Prose has the difficulty of prose, which may have deep meaning, such as "Mozi" from "Jingshang" to "Xiaoqu", Seng Zhao's "Zhao Lun"; poetry has the difficulty of poetry, and the artistic conception may be hidden, such as Li Shangyin's poems and poems. Words by Wu Wenying.The feasible way is just to discuss the matter as it stands, like junior high school Chinese textbooks, where prose and poetry are interleaved and selected, and then gradually deepened. 5.First general and then specific.The so-called general means: 1. There are many opportunities to see it; 2. The content belongs to the scope of common sense or is close to common sense; otherwise, it is specialized.The former include "Historical Records", Du Fu's poems, Han Yu's "Shi Shuo", Huang Zongxi's "Yuan Jun" and so on; Mrs. "Bi Zhen Tu" (On Calligraphy), Fan Zhen's "Shen Mie Lun" and so on.Obviously, the specialized content is unfamiliar and difficult, and the text is also far from the usual ones, so it is much more difficult to read. If you want to read it, you have to put it in the later stage (study of a certain specialty needs to be arranged separately).

6.Choose the book first and then the complete works.There are many ancient books that are recognized as excellent and important. In the past, there were anthologies and commentaries. In recent years, more and more ancient books have been selected and annotated.For ancient books, no matter how brilliant the author is, as long as they have a lot of content, there will always be big and small flaws, or some of them are better.Second, there are many contents and miscellaneous natures, among which some readers may not need or want to read (such as "Historical Records" "Tianguan Shu" and "Three Generations of Shibiao"), in order to popularize, there is also a need for anthologies .A kind of work, such as "Zuo Zhuan", "Historical Records", "Li Taibai Collection" and "Du Gongbu Collection", has an anthology, so you should read the anthology first, so that you can get the essence with less effort; Those who do specialized research do not need to read).Selected editions, there are single selections, such as Wang Boxiang's Selected Historical Records, Feng Zhi's Selected Poems of Du Fu, Liu Naichang's Selected Works of Su Shi, etc.; "Selected Poems of Past Dynasties" by Zhenhuai and others, "Selected Poems of Tang and Song Dynasties" by Long Yusheng, etc.If you have little time and can’t read a lot, or to get a bird’s-eye view of the outline first and get started more easily, you can read the combined edition first, then try it first and then buy it. If there is something unfinished, read the complete works again. 7.First the present note and then the ancient note.Annotating ancient books, compared with the ancients today, although the purpose is the same, the method is very different.Today's annotations are like teachers' lectures, detailed and simple (mostly in modern Chinese), and comprehensive.The ancients' annotations were different, they either emphasized exegesis or textual research, and only touched the bits and pieces that he thought were necessary but did not cover everything (in classical Chinese, of course).Therefore, modern annotations are easy but ancient annotations are difficult, and modern annotations are more useful than ancient annotations (for beginners).Here it is said that modern annotations are followed by ancient annotations, which includes two meanings: first, a kind of book, such as "Mencius", in ancient times there were annotations by Zhao Qi in the Han Dynasty, Zhuxi in the Song Dynasty, Jiao Xun in the Qing Dynasty, etc., and now there are annotations by Yang Bojun ("Mencius Translation Notes") "), then you should use the present note, or use the present note first; two or two books, similar in nature and similar in depth, one with the present note, such as in "Four Books" (Yang Bojun's Analects of Confucius), One has only ancient annotations, such as "The Doctrine of the Mean" in "Four Books", then you should read the edition with modern annotations first, and put down the ones without modern annotations, and talk about it in the future. 8.Organized and then unorganized.The so-called tidying up, there are various situations, here mainly refers to punctuation and annotation.Sentence punctuation and annotation are different from old to new. The new punctuation (the old is read only in sentences), and it is naturally easier to read in modern Chinese.However, there are not many annotations in ancient books. If we learn classical Chinese, if we learn classical Chinese, if the foundation is getting stronger, the interest is getting stronger, and the appetite is getting bigger and bigger. .Those that have not been sorted out are difficult to read, so of course we should try our best to put them in the later stage.Among the unorganized classics, some have sentence readings but no annotations, some have annotations but no sentence readings, and some have neither. They also have to be arranged in order, and the last reading has neither sentences nor annotations. 2. How to read The above is the step-by-step process of "reading".The "method" of reading also has a step-by-step problem, which can be divided into four aspects. 1.Beginners need to "understand" and "familiarity", and of the two, "familiarity" should be emphasized.Language, the use of words, phrases, and sentences to express meaning, and how to express what kind of meaning depends entirely on conventions. Therefore, if you want to know it, you must be familiar with this convention.The same is true for learning modern Chinese, and the same is true for learning classical Chinese. If you are not familiar with a considerable number of words and sentences, you will not be able to determine what it means when you encounter something you have not read.As the saying goes, if you are familiar with three hundred Tang poems, you will be able to chant poems without knowing it.Some people think that this is old-fashioned and unscientific, and it is better to rely more on the rules and understand everything, so they put most of their energy on detailed explanation and analysis.The result is that one listens a lot, thinks a lot and reads little, and the habit of classical Chinese cannot be imprinted in the mind, and the ability to understand classical Chinese will not improve relatively quickly.How to learn it?Take beginners as an example, listen to a lecture or study by yourself, such as Su Shi's "Red Cliff Fu", after you understand the words and sentences correctly, you must read them carefully.The method is as follows: 1. Understand the meaning of words and sentences and their connections before and after in the volume, speed, and cadence of the voice.In the past, some people ridiculed Mr. Private School for reading slowly, shaking his head, and closing his eyes to groan, as if it was ridiculously old-fashioned. In fact, this may be a manifestation of concentration, and it is necessary to read if you want to get more.2. The degree of speed depends on whether you can accurately understand the meaning of the words and sentences and their connections before and after.3. Read it like this three or four times or two or three times, put it down, and after two or three days or three to five days, take it out and read it two or three times again.Repeat this at least three or four times (you can read more if you like, until you can recite it), and then put it down when you are quite familiar.This is true for this article, and it is also true for other articles.One article is familiar, two articles are familiar, many articles are familiar, the basic skills are getting deeper and deeper, and the progress can be smooth sailing. 2. "Jing" and "Bo" should be properly coordinated.The previous paragraph cited the reading of "Red Cliff Fu" as an example.Taking walking as a metaphor, essence is down-to-earth, one step at a time.But there is another important requirement for walking, which is to arrive at the destination early, so it is always not enough to walk slowly, and at the same time, it must be fast, that is, to read more, or to say that it is expo.How do the two cooperate? Let me talk about the essence first.From one end of the beginner to the other end, some works must be read intensively (that is, at the later stage, at least thoroughly understood), either because it is basic or because the reader has special needs.The so-called basic, the traditional evaluation is generally credible, just like the biography of "Spring and Autumn", "Zuo Zhuan" is more basic than "Gu Liang Biography", and it is also a work of the Six Dynasties, and it is more basic than Wang Jia's "Supplementary Notes".The so-called special needs, if the reader is studying economic history, he must read the history book "Shihuo Zhi" intensively.It's just that the time for intensive reading can be changed. It must be slow in the early stage, and it can be gradually accelerated in the future.What about the Expo?Moving forward from beginners, it can roughly change like this: 1. From less to more.For example, the classical Chinese textbooks in the Chinese textbooks for the first grade of junior high school are only about 1,000 words a semester, and it will not be difficult to read thousands of words or even tens of thousands of words after class; after ten or eight years, if you persevere, you will not be able to read several kinds of books in half a year. What is the difficulty.Second, from shallow to deep.For beginners, the ability to understand classical Chinese is poor, and you can only read easy ones; at a higher level, if you read a lot, you will encounter both depth and depth, and sometimes you have to focus on deep reading.Three, from fine to coarse.Beginners to read extra-curricular readings, you have to find out the root of every word, otherwise you will see the flowers in a fog, as if you have some feelings but nothing in reality; you can do it after you have considerable attainments (especially when you read some unimportant works, such as out-of-the-way notes) class) at a glance.So fast, it is inevitable that some places are not fully understood.Four, from alcohol to miscellaneous.For beginners, the process is slow, and the limited time must be used wisely, so the reading materials must be carefully selected; It is not difficult to dabble once.In short, as I said before, learning classical Chinese mainly depends on familiarity, and exposition is a necessary condition for familiarity. 3.To learn to use reference books.What is included in the reference book and how to find it, the appendix of this book will also introduce it.Here I just want to explain that learning classical Chinese cannot always rely on teachers and annotations, because teachers are often not around, and there are many classical Chinese works without annotations, or even though annotations are not detailed enough.Reference books, as long as they can be found, are always around. They are not only rich in content, but also have accurate interpretations. Therefore, from the beginning of learning, you should be diligent, cultivate the habit of searching, and accumulate the knowledge of searching.The use of reference books should also be done step by step.At first, I looked up ordinary dictionaries to make up for the lack of teachers' explanations and annotations.Afterwards, the role of explanations and annotations gradually decreased, and the role of searching for reference books gradually increased, until the teacher and annotations were completely separated, and a variety of commonly used reference books (even class books, political books, etc.) could be searched to solve problems encountered in reading. Most difficult questions.A part of the reference book is in the nature of catalogues. From the perspective of exposition, it is of special importance, because it is like a tour guide. It can not only ensure that tourists do not get lost, but also guide tourists to see all the precious scenery, so it is even more important. Use it often. 4.It should be supplemented by rational knowledge.The so-called rational knowledge refers to the knowledge mentioned in books that generally introduce the common sense of ancient Chinese, including classical Chinese vocabulary, the usage of classical Chinese function words, the characteristics of classical Chinese syntax, and the comparison with modern Chinese, etc.Beginners to learn classical Chinese, not many words and sentences in classical Chinese, half-knowledge, gain is perceptual.Perceptual piecemeal knowledge is gradually increasing, and I will summarize it intentionally or unintentionally. For example, the meaning of "go" is generally "li", not "go", and "is" is often a pronoun instead of a copula, etc., and so on. The coming knowledge is rational knowledge.Rational knowledge is systematic and can make perceptual knowledge clearer and more solid.Therefore, when learning classical Chinese is making progress, it is good to find a book that introduces common sense of ancient Chinese.But this benefit is auxiliary and should not be overwhelming.So I say this because: 1. As far as language learning is concerned, familiarity is the main basis of communication, not memorization of principles; 2. Knowledge of ancient Chinese is effective only after having a considerable amount of perceptual knowledge; 3. A specific word The exact meaning of is often beyond the reach of general knowledge.Some people, out of good intentions, want to catch big fish with a small net. When teaching classical Chinese, they focus on grammatical analysis from the very beginning. "Wu who deceives" is the inverted syntax of "Wu deceive whom", and so on.It seems that there is nothing wrong with talking like this, but in fact, the gains may not be able to compensate for the losses.Because: 1. There is a problem with the statement itself, "drum" is a noun, how do you know this?Obviously, this is measured with the ruler of modern Chinese. If it is measured with the ruler of ancient Chinese, it is likely to be both a name and a verb. "Who deceives me" is often said in ancient Chinese instead of "whom I deceive". Since it is the norm, is it appropriate to count it as "flipping"?Pretending ancient Chinese in the guise of modern Chinese can easily become an assumption that is divorced from reality, and it is inappropriate.2. Even if all this knowledge is memorized, when encountering some new words and sentences, such as "Qiren Sangu", "Who am I and return", can we use the old framework to understand it accurately?Obviously not.3. It is uneconomical for beginners to memorize these things by heart. It will take up some time and attention, but the usefulness is very small.Therefore, according to the principle of gradual and orderly progress, it is advisable to put the rational knowledge of ancient Chinese in an auxiliary position and learn it later. 3. Routine and flexible The step-by-step arrangement mentioned above is a routine under normal circumstances.When learning classical Chinese, you must follow the routine, can't you be flexible?Obviously it can't be done mechanically.In the old days, the vast majority of people read the Four Books and Five Classics first, which started from the deep rather than the shallow; some people learned classical Chinese by reading "Tianyuhua" first, which started from Zalan rather than from the shallow. Start with intensive reading; some people read "Gangjian Yizhilu" with little literacy, and then read it, starting with the bulk instead of zero chapters.It can be seen that the fact is that all roads lead to Chang'an.The key lies in whether you can work hard and persevere; if you can, the result is "familiarity", and you can learn it naturally.So, is it possible to do without routine?No, because we are living in modern times, and the content and conditions of learning are quite different from those of the old age. We cannot and do not have to copy the methods of the ancients.But there is still some value for reference, that is to say, limited flexibility is allowed under the norm.For example, as a beginner, during the step-by-step itinerary, I occasionally came across Wang Liqi's "Yan's Family Precepts Collection" (published by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House). Read one by one; even occasionally come across unannotated (Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House has a new typesetting version), flip through it, and you can read it one by one if you feel interested.When the foundation is not strong, it will naturally be difficult to read in this way. Some words and sentences seem to be understood but not sincere, or even completely understood.But it’s okay, because the result is: 1. After reading too much, people who seem to understand but don’t understand, understand, and don’t understand at all, seem to understand; 2. Many people have this kind of experience. I can't comprehend it thoroughly, but when I look back and read the shallower ones, I feel that it is easy.All in all, it is very helpful for improvement.In order to improve faster, routine and flexibility should complement each other.The reason why the routine can be established is that it can guarantee steady progress; if you can move forward relatively quickly if you are flexible, why not do it?