Understanding of a sentence in an ancient poem

The interpretation (that is, understanding or translation) of ancient poetry is one of the difficulties in the teaching of ancient poetry. An accidental classroom teaching event told me that "contact" is one of the effective ways to break through this difficulty.

Three years ago, when I was teaching Stomatology (the second volume of junior high school Chinese textbook, fifth edition, Jiangsu Education Press, May 2003), I discussed the translation of the sentence "All the guests are full, and all of them look at their necks and sigh silently, which is wonderful". A girl said, "None of the guests in the audience craned their necks, squinted and smiled slightly. I asked him why he was laughing, and he said, "Are these guests doing broadcast gymnastics? "This question actually stumped me. Yes, the surprised movements of the guests can't be so consistent. How to correctly understand? After thinking for a moment, I asked, "Do the guests have anything in common? The students immediately replied, "I think it's great." "Yes, the guests have similarities and differences. How do we understand this sentence? "Inspired by me, the students generally think that this sentence should be understood as:" None of the guests in the audience felt wonderful, some craned their necks, some squinted, some smiled, and some secretly admired. "This incident made me and my students deeply realize that to interpret the words and expressions of ancient poetry, we should not only rely on relevant reference books and reference books (reference books can only provide reference), but also contact the content of the work, social reality, our own experience and careful deliberation, so as to truly enter the text and truly understand its content.

First, the interpretation of the content of contact works.

If the context of the article is cut off, it is difficult to grasp the original intention of the work.

For example, we understand the word "upstream" in Jiaxu (the third volume of junior high school Chinese textbook published by Su Jiao Edition), and the annotation on the textbook is "downstream". But in connection with the central meaning and expression style of the whole poem, I think it seems more accurate to understand it as "going up the DC waterway". Jiaxu is a love poem, which expresses the hero's admiration, yearning and longing for the right person. According to the notes of the textbook, the poem "traces back to it, and the road is long." Swim back from it, in the middle of the water "means:" Up the river, the road is rugged and long. Down the river, as if she were in the middle of the water. " This gives people the impression that the protagonist is hesitant, hesitant, has no desire to meet each other, and lacks the courage to pursue a better and happier life. I think the key here is how to understand the word "swim". Etymology interprets the "upstream" as "a section of the river" (first edition published by the Commercial Press, page 1835+098 1, revised in February). The Dictionary of Classical Chinese for Middle School Students (Fujian People's Publishing House, first edition, 1985, 10, p. 430) is also based on this statement. Mr. Wang Li thinks that "swimming and flowing refer to the channel of direct current" (ancient Chinese, 455 pages, edited by Wang Li, edited by Zhonghua Book Company, 1962, 1 1, first edition). When you think about it, these two statements are actually not contradictory. The former does not exclude "DC" and the latter does not exclude "a section", which can be understood as "a section of DC in the river" Then, since "upstream" is interpreted as "going up along the winding river", "upstream" can of course be understood as "going up along the DC River". This understanding is both practical and poetic. No matter how crooked the whole river is, there is always one or several straight sections. Judging from the meaning expressed in this poem, it is reasonable for the protagonist to cross the obstacle to a straight place, and the illusion of "Iraqi" appears in front of him. At the same time, it also implies that as long as you are not afraid of difficulties and obstacles and don't give up the pursuit of good things, good things will appear in front of you one day. In terms of expression style, this poem adopts the method of chapter by chapter. There are three chapters in the whole poem, and only a few words are changed in each chapter, which well shows the endless feelings of repeated singing and sadness. From this point of view, the word "trace" in "trace" and "trace" is understood as "upstream", which is also in line with the writing of the whole poem. Therefore, the poem "goes back to it, and the road is long." Follow it upstream, it's in the middle of the water. It can be understood that up the river, the road is winding and rugged. Continue to swim up the river, the road suddenly becomes straight, and she seems to be in the middle of the water.

For another example, when I was teaching Three Gorges (the first volume of junior high school Chinese textbook of Jiangsu Education Publishing House), many students translated the sentence "No sunrise at midnight" into "No sun at noon, no moon at midnight." This is just the opposite of the original intention of the article. Ask them why they understand this, and they also plausibly say that this is the explanation in the reference book. In fact, there is no word "Cai" in the reference book, and the word "unless" in that sentence means "except" (if it is matched with "Cai", it means "only"). Let the students read the text carefully again, and then suddenly realize that this sentence is highlighted as "the mountains on both sides of the Taiwan Strait", which should be understood as: "If it is not noon, you can't see the sun, if it is not midnight, you can't see the moon" (as noted in the new curriculum textbook of Jiangsu Education Edition), or "You can't see the moon except noon", or ".

Second, the interpretation of social reality.

If the interpretation of ancient poetry is divorced from the background of the times and social reality, it is often impossible to correctly grasp its content and meaning, and sometimes it will lead to jokes. For example, The Debate of Cao Gui (the sixth volume of junior high school Chinese textbook published by Soviet Education Press) interprets the word "yes" in "watching when climbing" as "the crossbar in front of the ancient car for passengers to use as handrails". The attached Chinese textbook "Teacher's Lesson Preparation Manual" translates "Looking at Poetry" as: "Before boarding the bus, cross the bar and watch the Qi army retreat." This is really puzzling. Judging from the actual situation at that time, Cao Gui was neither young nor a balance beam athlete. How could he be agile enough to jump on the "crossbar for handrails in front of the car" and "watch the Qi army retreat"? What's more, the crossbar in front of the car is used for passenger handrails, and it can't be as rich and strong as the balance beam today. Moreover, the front of ancient chariots is fixed on animals (mainly horses), and these animals can't be as motionless as wood. It's incredible that people are standing there staring at the distance. Wouldn't it be better to stand higher and see farther? Therefore, the word "scholar" in Deng Shi and should be understood as "holding the crossbar in front of the car", and this sentence should be read as "and", which means "(he) boarded the chariot and held the crossbar in front of the car to watch the Qi army retreat".