Chapter 12 Ten lines of reference

We are now talking about reading classical Chinese. Generally speaking, the purpose does not include learning to write.This is not entirely because learning to write is too difficult, but mainly because modern Chinese should be used as a communication tool.Of course, not being required to write does not mean that writing is prohibited. Some people like to read. After reading a lot, their capital gradually becomes stronger. In writing, such as a diary, or in some text such as letters that are only read by people with similar interests, such as letters, it is completely written in classical Chinese, which is naturally understandable.Practicing the use of classical Chinese in this way may also be beneficial to learning classical Chinese, because it will help to familiarize and consolidate.But after all, this is a matter for a few people to stay at home. Speaking or writing is often heard and read by many people. In order to convey the meaning smoothly, we must speak and write in modern Chinese.

Can writing articles in modern Chinese benefit from classical Chinese?Some people say that it is not only useless, but harmful.Take the middle school stage as an example. Some students do not have a high level of Chinese and are still unsteady in using modern Chinese. After reading some classical Chinese, they pick up a pen and mix it up and down, making it look like a donkey and a horse.Presumably this is a fact, but whether it should be attributed to learning classical Chinese still needs to be analyzed.From my personal point of view, the root cause of this phenomenon may be: 1. I have not learned modern Chinese well, and I cannot express ideas as I like; 2. I still don’t understand the relationship between Chinese and Chinese, and I even mistakenly believe that adding some classical Chinese can raise the value of modern Chinese. .But this phenomenon can also explain a truth, that is, if you want the past to serve the present, you must have a good understanding of the present and have a considerable understanding of the past.Because you haven't learned classical Chinese, you don't know its advantages and disadvantages, so you can't learn from it; modern Chinese is unintelligible and has no fixed shape, so you can't use it as your foundation to absorb nutrition from outside your body.It can be seen from this that the so-called reference in writing is a later stage in the process of learning classical Chinese.The later stage is not unimportant, because since we have to learn, there will always be a later stage; and if it has the effect of improving modern literature, we have no reason not to pay attention to it.When writing articles in modern Chinese and using classical Chinese as a reference, there are of course two ways to do it: one is positive, taking its advantages; the other is negative, avoiding its shortcomings.Take and avoid, you must first know what are the advantages and disadvantages.In particular, we should pay attention to how to take and how to avoid.When writing an article, it is of course possible to occasionally quote a sentence or two, such as sayings, poems, etc., to enhance the weight of the content, but these quotations still appear in the appearance of classical Chinese, and have not been "transformed" into modern texts, which is not what this article calls reference.Another kind of situation is that, when I am in a hurry, I grab some classical Chinese words and put them in the modern text, which is round and square.For reference, we should take the essence and leave the form; or occasionally use a few words, although this is to take form, it is logical in modern texts, and it can express the meaning more appropriately, like some works of Mr. Lu Xun, of course it is not impossible.In short, you should "integrate" things from classical Chinese into your own writing, rather than "mixing" them in your own articles.

Take its spirit and leave its shape, if it can be done, there will be no problem in blending with each other.The problem is to use a small number of words, how to "integrate" rather than "mix".Circumstances are so varied that it is difficult to be specific.To put it bluntly, you can use your ears as a ruler to measure it. Anything that sounds blunt and obviously does not feel like everyday speech (including talking about academic issues) is "mixed" but not "integrated", otherwise it has been "integrated" and Not "admixture".Naturally, this also requires the listener to have a general knowledge of modern Chinese.

As far as words are concerned, when writing modern Chinese, there are two ways to benefit from classical Chinese.One is direct input, like some old-fashioned writers, who have a strong capital in classical Chinese, can write freely, and sometimes classical Chinese words appear in the text, that's it.For beginners, the capital of classical Chinese is limited, so you can't learn it, and you don't need to learn it, because if you don't do it well, you will draw a tiger instead of a bad dog.The other way is indirect input, that is, after familiarizing with classical Chinese, when writing modern Chinese, the choice of words can be wider and more precise, because most of the words in modern Chinese have a relationship with classical Chinese words, familiar with the details of classical Chinese words, use Time is easy to measure and use, both ways.

Learning classical Chinese helps to choose words, although this is a fact, it is difficult to verify, and it is difficult to say anything specific about how to do it.So, what else is worth learning from?There is also another generation.This can be divided into three aspects: first, avoiding misuse, second, absorbing advantages, and third, drawing lessons. 1. Avoid Misuse As mentioned above, there is a relationship between classical Chinese and modern Chinese, so there are many things in modern Chinese, and there are still obvious traces of classical Chinese, the most prominent of which are idioms.This kind of thing is imported in a metaphor, and some people are not very familiar with its usage, so they may make mistakes when using it.Such as the following example is.

(1) Such new treatments should be made public. (2) Our tree planting team returned triumphantly at 5:00 pm. (3) The principal culprit confessed to the crime. (4) I thought I could get my wish, but it turned out that Huang Liang had a dream. (5) Everyone is proactive and works day after day. (6) Learning mathematics should be done step by step, and triple jumps are not allowed. (7) Use your brains, break new ground, and don't always stand still. (8) You can start learning one step at a time, but it cannot always be like this. (9) Although you are old and frail, you must go beyond the grand pass.

(10) This cannot be treated as a broom and thrown away. (11) Some goods have been out of stock for a long time, but no one cares about them. (12) I am Lao Ji Fu Ting, I can't do much. Example (1), "Zhu" is a chorus of "Zhi Yu", saying "public to Yu" is equivalent to saying "public to Yu", which is of course wrong.Example (2), "triumph" means coming back with a victory song, and adding "return" below is equivalent to saying "come back" twice, which is inappropriate.Example (3), "Wen Dai" should be "accounting for", which is the allusion of the eighth year of Zhuang Gong in "Zuo Zhuan". Example 4), "Huangliang" should be "Huangliang" , this is an allusion from the Tang Dynasty novel Shen Jiji: a scholar surnamed Lu fell asleep on the pillow of Lu Xianweng in a Handan inn, enjoying all the glory, and when he woke up, "the master steamed the millet uncooked." ", not "Liang". Example (5), "Day and night" means to use the day to continue the night, that is, the night can't be finished, and the day continues to work, which is naturally unreasonable; it should be "night and day". Example (6), " "Step by step" should be "step by step", and "department" and "class" are small units under the general organization, but "step" is not. Example (7), "self-styled" should be "self-styled", which is used "Zhuangzi Qiushui" has an allusion that the Yuzi of Shouling went to Handan to study and failed, and "lost his old practice". It uses the allusion of "Master steps by step, master follows the trend" in "Zhuangzi·Tian Zifang", which means to learn as usual, not to take a step at a time. Example (9), "Mandao" means to say casually, not to say , here refers to the long road, which is a misinterpretation of the meaning of the word. Example (10), Cao Pi’s "Dian Lun·Papers" has the words "the family has disadvantages (poor) brooms, and enjoys a thousand pieces of gold", and the general use of "poor brooms" has this meaning , which means that you value it. Here we use "展展", Example (11), "Wenjin" means asking, taking or buying, and here it should be said that no one cares. Example (12), Cao Cao's "Stepping out of Xiamen Xing" said: " The old man suddenly falls, and his ambition is a thousand miles away. "Here is a negative meaning, which is wrong. If we are familiar with classical Chinese and understand the origin and character of words like this, we will not make mistakes when using them.

Second, the advantages of absorption Compared with the avoidance of misuse mentioned above, the situation of absorbing advantages is more complicated and abstract.But it is more important, because when writing modern Chinese, it is mainly in this aspect that we learn from classical Chinese.We all know that classical Chinese has many advantages in terms of choosing words and sentences, organizing texts, remembering people and events, and describing scenes expressively. Can these advantages be absorbed into modern texts so that the effect is remarkable without leaving any traces?Of course it's not easy.But as long as you put your heart into it, experience more, and practice diligently, it is still possible to gradually approach it.Attentively, one should start from recognizing the advantages of classical Chinese, move towards intentionally seeking similarity in shape in one's own writing, and gradually transition to unintentional similarity in spirit.Resemblance in shape and spirit are more difficult to say; the following will focus on the advantages of classical Chinese, and they are just examples for reference by those who learn classical Chinese and want to use them more.

1.concise.When we read classical Chinese works, we will feel that classical Chinese has an obvious feature. The sentences and length are relatively short, so it looks clean, full and compact.Part of the reason for the shortness is that the number of words is relatively small: classical Chinese uses more monosyllable words, but in modern Chinese, many monosyllable words have become polysyllabic words.But mainly due to short sentences and short length.Naturally, the length is a matter of form, and the form should serve the content; if it needs to be long to express a certain content, of course it is understandable.However, it must be admitted that there are often such situations, which could have been shorter, or even expressed more clearly if it was shorter, but some people are used to using long sentences and writing long stories.In a situation like this, one should learn classical Chinese as much as possible, and remove unnecessary words and awkward expressions, so as to be short, concise, and neat.

2.The vocabulary is rich and the expression methods are varied.This feature is also easy to detect. For example, if you count the number of words used in an article of the same 1,000 characters (repetitive ones are not counted), classical Chinese must be much more than modern Chinese; to express similar meanings, the available forms of classical Chinese are also more than modern. Wen Duo.More, the result is not only flexible, but often more accurate, so it is worth imitating. 3.From the point of view of rhetoric, the skill of refining characters is deep.In this regard, there are many stories circulating in the history of literature, such as "the monk knocks on the door under the moon", "the spring breeze turns green on the south bank of the river", "the red apricot branches are full of spring", and so on. However, it is advisable to earnestly seek good things and not to write hastily.

4.Writing emotions and scenes is better than creating environments.There are many well-known sentences in classical Chinese, such as "Late spring in March, grass grows in the south of the Yangtze River, mixed peanut trees, and flocks of orioles fly around", "Sunset clouds and lone ducks fly together, and the autumn waters are the same color as the sky"; "The great river flows day and night, the heart of the guests is sad", "the imperial city in the cloud has two phoenix towers, and the spring trees in the rain are ten thousand families"; The waning moon"; the song's "flowers fall into the water and the water is red, with all kinds of worries, and no words to complain about the east wind", "what is the sky on a good day and a beautiful day, who's house is a place to enjoy the pleasure": all of them can be dyed with a few words to paint a beautiful state.Modern Chinese, either due to lack of attention, or due to loose and lengthy syntax, does not have much of this ability.Can we use classical Chinese as a reference and create something in this respect?It is up to the writers to work hard. 5.tactful.This is also a common feature in classical Chinese.It is manifested in many ways, from modesty to taboo and so on.Many of them are the dross of feudal society. For example, the letter must say "capital crimes and capital crimes".But there are also some, such as "The Analects of Confucius Advanced": "It is not said that you can do it, but you are willing to learn." "Zuo Zhuan" Xi Gong thirty-three years: "If you avoid it from the king's favor, you will worship the king for three years." Volume sixty-five: "There are 800,000 navy troops in Zhizhi, and Fang and the general will hunt in Wu." The meaning is very straightforward and the words are very euphemistic, which seems more clever and decent than straightforward words.Now, the need for such rhetoric is probably rare, but in appropriate occasions, when direct speaking seems crude and reckless, it is still beneficial to learn this method of classical Chinese. 6.Pay attention to neat syntax.Classical Chinese works focus on rhetoric, and there are many methods.Some are trivial and can be omitted; I only want to talk about two aspects here, neat syntax and harmonious voice.The so-called neat syntax refers to the repetition of sentences with the same number of words (a few are just similar).Can be divided into three situations.One is wandering, such as "there is a garden in the west of the temple, with a lot of rare fruits, birds in spring and cicadas in autumn, singing continuously. There is a meditation room in the middle, with a built-in Gion Abode. Although the shape is small, it is difficult to add ingenuity." ("" "Luoyang Jialan Ji") The second is the antithesis, such as "Yuanjinfu is smooth, and Yixing is flying. The sound is cool and the breeze is blowing, and the song is condensed but the white clouds are suppressed. The green bamboo in the Sui Garden is the bottle of Pengze; The brush that illuminates Linchuan." ("Preface to the Tengwang Pavilion") The third is parallelism, such as "The jade that your majesty sent to Kunshan today is the easy-going treasure, the pearl of the moon, the sword of Tai'a, the horse of slenderness, and the emerald. The flag of the phoenix, the drum of the tree spirit...the luminous wall is not for the imperial court, the rhinoceros and elephant are not for fun, the daughters of Zheng and Wei are not for the harem, and the Junliang 駃騠 are not for the outer stables, Jiangnan Jinxi is not for Use it, and the Western Shu Danqing is not for you." ("Admonishment and Chasing Guest Book") Using neat sentence expressions to express ideas, we will feel that the content is more realistic and open-minded after reading, and the form has the beauty of going back and forth (there are some factors of phonological beauty).Naturally, it is difficult for modern literature to imitate cats and tigers, but if it is used in an appropriate place, it will definitely play a rhetorical role. 7.The sound is harmonious.This is more manifested in the parallel style, especially in poetry.The method is to adjust leveling, use duality and rhyme.When we write modern prose, we generally use prose, which seems to have nothing to do with harmony of voice.In fact, it is not the case, especially the balance, which is not unimportant in prose.For example, if two parallel sentences end in a flat tone or a flat tone, it is better to use a flat tone or a flat tone to end in a flat tone; Zeze, it is better to use flat or flat.Of course, I hope that the prose can have a harmonious voice, and the requirements seem to be higher and more detailed.But this situation can also be seen from another side. The ability to distinguish harmonious sounds and the hobby of liking harmonious sounds are inherent in human beings. As long as you pay more attention when writing and develop the habit of rhetoric, even if you can't cadence your sentences, you can do it better. Still not difficult. 8.A variety of styles flourish.Writing articles, different people have different styles.The same is true of modern Chinese, but not as prominently as in classical Chinese.Style is the expression of a writer's talent, knowledge, personality, interests, etc. in words, and it seems impossible to learn, but it is not.Su Dongpo's articles are known for their boldness and fluency. Some people say that this is due to it, and others say that it is due to the "Avatamsaka Sutra". If this is the case, it is to learn from other people's styles to form their own style.The learning style can also learn from others' strong points, not one family.It is naturally more difficult to learn the style of a certain writer and incorporate it into one's own writing.But pay more attention, take your time, it is easy to absorb bit by bit.For example, we have already familiarized ourselves with the main classics of the pre-Qin period, and realized that the style is simple and elegant, and "Xunzi" is rigorous, etc., and then we can write in our own articles based on the closeness of our nature and the kindness of our heart. Here, first imitate intentionally, and then gradually become a habit, and you will unconsciously get its spiritual principles.The writers of the old era in our country are like Lin, each with his own style. If you experience more and learn more, the result will become your own honey like bees scatter, and the harvest is limitless. There are still many ways to go to learn classical Chinese and learn its advantages positively. As long as you explore carefully, it is not difficult to deduce it from the above examples. 3. Take it as a lesson Everything created by humans has good and bad, and classical Chinese works are no exception.The situation of good and bad is quite complicated. As far as the vast number of classics are concerned, some are very good, some are very bad, some are big and small, some are rarely desirable, some are flawed and good, and some can be up or down; The same is true for a book or an article.If there are advantages, we must accommodate them; if there are disadvantages, we must cast aside them.But the method of abandoning is negative, so it is better to go further, understand the reason of the disadvantage, use it as a negative teacher, and use it as a warning, so as not to repeat the same mistakes in modern literature. The shortcomings of classical Chinese works, which are common and obvious, can be divided into two categories: one kind is biased towards content, which is meaningless; the other kind is biased towards expression, which is not plain and natural. Let me talk about the content first.Classical Chinese works were written by people of the old age, and it is natural for people of the old age to be influenced by the old age. We should not be too demanding on this.But to write with a pen, no matter how old you are, you must have faith, some insight, and be able to speak reasonably.Some works are not like this, but the content is very poor, and they only play tricks on words.This can be divided into three situations.One is to strive for elegance and extravagance, as criticized by Li Er in the Sui Dynasty: "There are so many articles that do not appear in the shape of moon dew; the accumulated cases are full of boxes, but they are only in the shape of wind and clouds." From the Han Dynasty to the early Tang Dynasty, many Fu and parallel prose are like this.One is bluffing, with a lot of "woohoo" and "shengyizai". On the surface, it seems to be expressed with emotion, impassioned, and serious, but after careful scrutiny, it is completely reciting old tunes and has no new ideas.This is the case with Lu Zuqian's "Donglai Boyi" and some historical theories of others.One is groaning without illness, with no sense of reality in the heart, and while being full, arty, and pretending to talk about sorrow and wipe tears, people with discerning eyes can tell it is acting.This is the case with some male writers who wrote "The Widow's Fu" and "Boudoir Thoughts". Let's talk about expression.Writing articles is to express feelings, so it is good to be able to "express".However, some people are not satisfied with this, but want to be extraordinary literally, and the result is neither plain nor natural.This can also be divided into three cases.One is to strive for antiquity.Scholars in the old days were almost always more interested in the past than in the present. The old people are good, and the articles are also good.For example, the seven sons before and after the Ming Dynasty were even more powerful, advocating that Wen Bi Qin and Han.In fact, the so-called learning from the Qin and Han Dynasties is just to use more ancient characters and more strange sentence patterns.One is to pay attention to momentum in words and sentences. For example, some chapters written by some masters since the Tang and Song Dynasties read like clanging syllables. When you recite the flavor carefully, you always feel that you have used too much force in form, not convincing people with content, but frightening with tone. People are not as calm as reading simple and natural articles.One is to try our best to be artificial, to avoid familiarity and to be born, in order to win by surprise.This is the case with the articles of the Jingling School in the late Ming Dynasty. When you get them in your hand, you want to read them, but you can’t follow the flow. It is the stereotyped essays since the Yuan and Ming Dynasties that have made the most of their shortcomings. They have been inherited and combined in an imperial format, and they have made statements on behalf of the sages.Fortunately, there are very few people who read this style of writing now, and the fallacies will not be spread as they are; but centipedes are dead but not stiff, and there is still the danger of resurrecting the dead. Warning is still necessary.