The Story of Shizhong Mountain
Original text
About the author:
Su Shi (1037~1101), also known as Zizhan and Dongpo Jushi, A native of Meishan in the Northern Song Dynasty. He is a famous writer and one of the eight great writers of prose in Tang and Song Dynasties. He is knowledgeable and versatile, and has high attainments in calligraphy, painting, poetry, and prose. His calligraphy, together with Cai Xiang, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fu, is known as the "Four Calligraphers of the Song Dynasty"; he is good at painting bamboo, wood and strange rocks, and he is also outstanding in painting theory and calligraphy theory. He is the literary leader after Ouyang Xiu in the Northern Song Dynasty. His prose is as famous as Ouyang Xiu; his poetry is as famous as Huang Tingjian; his poetry is majestic and bold in style. Instead of the elegance of his poetry, he is called "Su Xin" together with Xin Qiji in the Southern Song Dynasty, and he is the most bold and bold. Send a lyricist.
"Shui Jing" says: "There is a stone bell mountain at the mouth of Pengli." Li Yuan thought that he was facing a deep pool, the breeze was blowing, the water and rocks were fighting against each other, and the sound was like a loud bell. This is true, but people often doubt it. Now if a bell and chime are placed in the water, even though there is a strong wind and waves, it cannot make any sound, but it is worse than a stone! In the Tang Dynasty, Li Bo began to visit his remains. He found two stones on the pool, clasped them and listened to them. The south sound was like Hu, and the north sound was clear and clear. I think I got it. However, I doubt it. The sound of a stone can be heard everywhere, but this one is only called a bell. Why?
Ding Chou in the sixth month of the seventh year of Yuanfeng, Yu Ziqi'an came to you on a boat trip, and the eldest son, Maijiang, went to Dexingwei of Nao and sent him to Hukou, because he could watch the so-called stone bell. The monk asked the boy to hold an ax and pick one or two of them among the rocks to buckle them. Yu Gu laughed and didn't believe it. At dusk, when the moon shines, I take a small boat with Mai alone to the foot of the cliff. The boulders stand thousands of feet sideways, like wild beasts and strange ghosts, eager to attack people. The falcons sitting on the mountain will startle when they hear the sound of people, and they will roar in the sky. There is also an old man coughing and laughing in the valley, who may say: "This "It's like a stork and a crane." Yu Fang was eager to return the favor, and he made loud noises on the water, like bells and drums. The boat people were terrified. If you look at it slowly, you will find that there are stone caves at the bottom of the mountain. I don't know how shallow or deep they are. Microwaves enter them, and they are light and surging. This is why. The boat returned between the two mountains and was about to enter the port. There was a large rock flowing in the middle, which could seat a hundred people. There were many orifices in the air, which were in harmony with the Feng Shui. Because of his laughter, he said to Mai, "You know what you know? Those who are squeaking are like King Jing of Zhou Dynasty who has no shot; those who are boring and boring mandarins are like the song of Wei Zhuangzi. The people of ancient times are not deceived!"
Is it okay to make assumptions about the existence of something without seeing it or hearing it? What Li Yuan saw and heard is almost the same as that of Yu, so it is unknown; the scholar-bureaucrats were unwilling to use their boats to anchor under the cliff at night, so they could not know; while the fishermen and sailors seemed to know but could not speak. This is why it is not passed down in this world. But the humble people seek it by testing the weight of the axe, thinking that they have achieved it. After I remembered it, Gai sighed at Li Yuan's simplicity and laughed at Li Bo's ugliness.
Translation
The "Shui Jing" says: "There is a Stone Bell Mountain at the mouth of Poyang Lake." Li Daoyuan believed that there is a deep pool at the foot of this mountain, and when the breeze stirs up waves, the water and stone They hit each other and make a sound like a big bell. People often doubt this statement. Now put the bell and chime in the water. Even strong wind and waves can't make it make any sound, let alone the stone. In the Tang Dynasty, Li Bo searched for its relics and found two rocks on the edge of the pool. He knocked on them and listened to their sounds. The rocks on the south made a thick and fuzzy sound, while the rocks on the north made a crisp and loud sound. After the beating of the drumsticks stopped, the sound continued to spread, and the lingering sound slowly disappeared. He himself thought he had found the reason why Shizhongshan was named. However, I am more skeptical about this statement. Rocks that can make a clanging sound when knocked. There are bells everywhere, but only this mountain is named after a bell. Why is this?
On Dingchou day in the sixth month of the lunar calendar in the seventh year of Yuanfeng, I took a boat from Qi'an to Linru. It happened that my eldest son Su Mai was going to be a county captain in Dexing County, Raozhou, so I sent him to Hukou. , so you can see this mountain called "Stone Bell". The monk in the temple asked the boy to take an ax and hit one or two places in the middle of the messy stone wall to make a ringing sound. I still laughed and didn't believe it. At night, with the moonlight shining brightly, Meyer and I took a boat alone to the bottom of the cliff. A large stone wall stands diagonally next to it, thousands of feet high, like ferocious beasts and strange ghosts, sinisterly trying to pounce on people. The falcons that live on the mountain are frightened and fly up when they hear the sound of people. There were roars high in the sky; there were also sounds like an old man coughing and laughing in the valley. Some people said: "This is the stork." I was frightened and wanted to go back. Suddenly, a huge sound came from the water, and the sound was like drums and bells. The boatman was very frightened.
I observed carefully and found that there were stone caves and cracks at the bottom of the mountain. I don’t know their depth. The slight water waves entered inside, swaying and impacting, creating this sound. The boat rowed back to the middle of the two mountains, and was about to enter the port. There was a large stone blocking the center of the current. It could accommodate hundreds of people. It was empty in the middle, with many holes. The wind and waves blew it in and out, making a sound like a rock. The sound echoed the previous crackling sound, as if music was being played. So I smiled and said to Maier: "Do you understand? The one that makes the clanging sound is the Wushe bell of King Jing of Zhou Dynasty, and the one that makes the sound of the boring and boring mandarin is the singing bell of Wei Zhuangzi. The ancients did not deceive us. Ah!”
Is it possible to subjectively infer whether something happened without seeing it with one’s own eyes or hearing it with one’s ears? What Li Daoyuan saw and heard was probably the same as what I saw and heard, but the description was not detailed enough; generally, people who are officials and study are not willing to take a small boat to dock under the cliff at night, so no one can understand the truth; and the fisherman The boatman, although he knew it, could not say it with his mouth or write it with his pen. This is the reason why this mountain (the real reason for its name) has not been passed down in the world. But simple people actually use axes to find the reason for naming the bell, and they think they have got the truth about it. Therefore, I recorded the above situation, sighing at the simplicity of Li Daoyuan's narrative, and laughing at Li Bo's shallow knowledge.
Content and Purpose
This article records the author’s process of investigating the reasons for the name of Shizhong Mountain. The narrative and discussion in the article are all based on exploring the origin of the name of Shizhong Mountain. He came up with the point of view of "It's okay to just infer the existence of things without seeing and hearing them", and then wrote down his writing intention with a sigh and a smile like "sighing at Li Yuan's simplicity and laughing at Li Bo's ugliness".
The full text is divided into three parts. The first paragraph expresses doubts about the two explanations for the naming of Shizhong Mountain. The second section explains the mystery and explores the real reason why Shizhong Mountain was named through on-the-spot investigation. Belongs to the narrative part. The third paragraph draws the conclusion that if something has not been seen or heard with one’s own eyes, one cannot infer its existence based on subjective conjecture. It belongs to the discussion part.
Writing Technique
The structure of "Shizhongshan Ji" is different from the general travel prose, which records the travel first and then discusses it. Instead, it discusses first, and the discussion leads to the narrative. Finally, it concludes with discussion. The author develops the full text in three steps: "doubt-observation-conclusion". The whole text echoes from beginning to end, with strict logic and seamless integration. The first sentence of this article mentions Li Daoyuan's statement and raises others' doubts about it. This doubt is not unfounded, but is based on experiments conducted by Zhong Qing. This paved the way for the two sound sources that the author saw in the second paragraph of the article - the stone cave and the stream in the middle of the big stone - and thus sighed that "the ancients are not deceived." At the end of the article, I once again lamented that although what Li Yuan said was correct, it was too simple for the world to truly understand. As for Li Bo's method of clasping the stone to deduce the reason for the name of Zhongshan, the author expressed "I am particularly suspicious" in the first paragraph. In the second paragraph, the temple monk made a boy hold an ax and clasp the stone. The author did not use this method of verification. Still "laughing but not believing". After the on-site investigation and the truth were obtained, in the third paragraph, the author went back to the previous article and "laughed at Li Bo's ugliness". The full text proceeds from thoughts and feelings, with narration and discussion. Narration, description, discussion, and lyricism are interlocked and integrated. It is an eternal masterpiece that explains why things happen.
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1. Introduction to the author:
Su Shi (1037-1101), courtesy name Zizhan, also known as Dongpo Jushi, was a native of Meishan in the Northern Song Dynasty. He is a famous writer and one of the eight great writers of prose in Tang and Song Dynasties. He is knowledgeable and versatile, and has high attainments in calligraphy, painting, poetry, and prose. His calligraphy, together with Cai Xiang, Huang Tingjian and Mi Fu, is known as the "Four Calligraphers of the Song Dynasty"; he is good at painting bamboo, wood and strange rocks, and he is also outstanding in painting theory and calligraphy theory. He is the literary leader after Ouyang Xiu in the Northern Song Dynasty. His prose is as famous as Ouyang Xiu; his poetry is as famous as Huang Tingjian; his poetry is majestic and bold in style. Instead of the elegance of his poetry, he is called "Su Xin" together with Xin Qiji in the Southern Song Dynasty, and he is the most bold and bold. Send a lyricist.
2. Supplementary and organized basic knowledge of classical Chinese
① Flexible use of parts of speech: A makes movement, for example: "Although the wind and waves are strong, they can't roar." Make it sing. B noun as verb: Example 1. "And this is only named after a bell." Name, naming. Example 2. "The sound stops and the sound rises". 枹, beat with a drumstick. C adjectives serve as nouns: Example: "湞stops ringing and rising", ringing, sound. D nouns serve as adverbials: Example: "See with your eyes and hear with your ears." Eyes, use eyes, ears, use ears.
②Old and modern idioms: "Thinking you are right", in fact, the truth of the matter.
③Usage of Yan: A demonstrative pronoun, there, here. Example: Absent-minded. B interrogative pronouns, where, how. Example: 1 How can we place earth and rocks? 2 If you don't enter the tiger's den, you won't catch the tiger's cubs. C and Ci, where is it. Example: I don’t know how deep or shallow the microwave is. D modal particles, ah, ah. Example: 1 So I sighed. 2 It’s like enjoying yourself. E The ending of an adjective or adverb looks like... Example: Qian Yan.
3. Literary common sense:
Chronology: (1) Chronology of the stems and branches, the stems are the heavenly stems, and the ten are: A, B, C, D, E, and Ji , Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui; the branches are the earthly branches, and the twelve are: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai. One stem and one branch are combined with each other to mark the year, every sixty years. (2) Emperor's year chronology: when the emperor ascends the throne, he must change the year and call it the first year. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had an era name, and later years were mostly used to mark the year. For example, in Kaiyuan, Tianbao is the reign name of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty. (3) The chronology of princes and princes. This chronology was mostly used in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. For example, the sixteenth year of King Zhao Huiwen, the thirty-seventh year of Lu Xiaogong, etc. are recorded in ordinal numbers such as Yuan, Er, and San. (4) Star-year chronology: Xing refers to the Sui star (Jupiter), and Sui refers to Tai Sui. It is also divided into Sui Xing chronology and Tai Sui chronology. The age-star chronology is based on the position of the age star among the twelve stars. The names of the twelve stars from west to east are: Xingji, Xuanzhu, Suzi, Jianglou, Daliang, Shichen, Quail Head, Quail Fire, Quail Tail, Longevity Star, Huo Huo and Ximu. Every 12 years. Tai Sui's chronological direction is opposite to that of Suixing's chronology, and its name is more complicated.
IV. Information about Shizhong Mountain
Shizhong Mountain is located on the south bank of the Yangtze River at the outlet of Poyang Lake. It belongs to Shuangzhong Town, Hukou County. It is made of limestone. It is called Shangshizhong Mountain in the south of the town and in the north of the town. It's called Shizhong Mountain, and its relative height is only over 50 meters. There have always been three opinions on the reason why it was named. (1) Feng Shui sounds like a bell. It is believed that the cracks and caves under the mountain make the sound of ringing bells due to the "Feng Shui interplay". Li Daoyuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty and Su Dongpo of the Northern Song Dynasty held this view. (2) The sound of the stone is like a bell. Because this mountain is made of limestone and contains stalactites, stone pillars, stalagmites, etc., it can also sound when struck with a mallet. Li Bo in the Tang Dynasty held this view. (3) The mountain is shaped like a bell. "Shizhong Mountain Chronicles" records: "Both the upper Zhongya and the lower Zhongya have caves under them, which can accommodate hundreds of people. They are inexhaustibly deep and shaped like an overturned bell." Yu Yue of the Qing Dynasty held this view. He said in " "Spring in the Hall Notes" records: Every winter when the water falls, there will be a cave door at the foot of the mountain. Entering it, you will find exquisite details, and the milkstones are as scattered as the ceiling... The cave is spacious, and the left and right side passages can accommodate thousands of people. ...The word "Alchemy Room" is engraved on the wall, and there are many small poems, all of which are delightful. As the saying goes: "I have been lying drunk for three thousand years, and I am so happy that no one in the world knows about it." "I have rested for a thousand years and no one knows about it. The peach blossoms bloom in spring at the gate of the cave." There is no date and name, and I don't know who made it. The whole mountain is empty, like a bell covering the earth. Hence the name of the bell.