The focus of this article is to clarify the rhythm of the couplets, in order to restore the true colors of the couplets, and to enable more readers to understand the couplets and fall in love with the

The focus of this article is to clarify the rhythm of the couplets, in order to restore the true colors of the couplets, and to enable more readers to understand the couplets and fall in love with them. Couplets are called antitheses in rhetoric. What is duality? Duality is the juxtaposition of similar concepts or opposing concepts, such as "reading and writing". "Reading" and "writing" form a duality. Parallelism can be self-pairing within a sentence, or it can be opposite between two sentences. For example, \\\"Read and write\\\" is a self-contrast in the sentence, \\\"Read and write, study and become talented\\\" are two opposite sentences. Generally speaking, antithesis refers to two sentences facing each other. The upper sentence is called a sentence, and the next sentence is called a couplet. The general rules for duality are noun to noun, verb to verb, adjective to adjective, and adverb to adverb. Take \\\"Read and write, study and become talented\\\" as an example: \\\"Read\\\", \\\"Write\\\", \\\"Seek\\\", \\\ "成\\\" are relative verbs, \\\"book\\\", \\\"word\\\", \\\"learn\\\", \\\"cai\\\" They are all relative nouns. Parallelism is a rhetorical device, its function is to form the beauty of neat symmetry. The characteristics of Chinese are particularly suitable for duality, because Chinese has many monosyllabic words. Even in polysyllabic words, the morphemes are quite independent and can easily form dualities. Since antithesis is a rhetorical device, it can be used in both prose and poetry. For example, in the second chapter of "Mencius", "Be born in sorrow and die in happiness", in "The Story of Yueyang Tower", "Floating light jumps over gold, but still shadow sinks into jade", and in Bei Dao's "Answer", "Despicableness is the pass for the despicable, and nobleness is the pass for the noble." "Epitaph", these parallels are adapted to the needs of rhetoric. However, duality and couplet cannot be confused. Be lenient in pairs and strict in couplets. The antithesis in the verses arises from the antithesis in the verses, and the antithesis in the verses not only has to comply with the requirements of the antithesis, but also has its own rules. This rule is:

1) The elegance of the sentence and the couplet are opposite;

2) The words of the sentence and the words of the couplet cannot be repeated.

Therefore, except for the above examples of "floating light leaping into gold, quiet shadow sinking into jade", the other two examples cannot fully meet the standards of rhythmic poetry antithesis. Let's take another example of Wang Wei's famous sentence "The solitary smoke is straight in the desert, and the sun is setting in the long river." The sentence and the couplet not only have the same number of words, the same structure, the same part of speech, but they are also equal and opposite. The previous sentence "The solitary smoke in the desert" is "flat, flat, flat, flat", isn't it just the opposite of the next sentence "The sun sets over the long river" is "flat, flat, flat"? This is in line with the standard of rhythmic poetry. The five-character poem "Steaming clouds and dreamy lakes shook the city of Yueyang", "Opening a pavilion in the garden, talking about mulberry trees and hemp over wine", "The tide is flat and the two sides are wide, the wind is blowing and the sail is hanging", the seven-character poem "The flowers are gradually enchanting the eyes, "Only in Asakusa can there be no horseshoes", "Spring silkworms will not be used up until they are dead, and wax torches will be turned into ashes before tears dry up" are all smooth, strict and neatly contrasted. Couplets evolved from rhythmic poetry, so they must also meet the above two standards. For example, we are all familiar with a couplet:

The reeds on the wall are top-heavy and shallow;

The bamboo shoots in the mountains have sharp mouths, thick skins and hollow bellies.

Here, the characters in the first couplet (sentence) and the second couplet (couple) do not overlap, but their levels are opposite:

Even, level, level, level, level, level, level, level, level, level, level, level. Flat, flat, flat;

Flat, flat, flat, flat.

Rhetorically speaking, this pairing is also very neat. \\\"Wall\\\" is a noun with location words, and the opposite \\\"between mountains\\\" is also a noun with location words. \\\"Base\\\" is a noun with location words, and the corresponding \\\"belly\\\" is also a noun with location words. \\\"head\\\" versus \\\"mouth\\\", \\\"feet\\\" versus \\\"skin\\\" are all nouns versus nouns. \\\"Heavy\\\" versus \\\"Point\\\", \\\"Light\\\" versus \\\"Thick\\\" are all adjectives versus adjectives. \\\"Heavy on the head\\\" Yes\\\"Light on the feet\\\", \\\"Sharp mouth\\\" Yes\\\"Thick skin\\\", are all correct in the sentence. In this way, one sentence is self-contrary and the two sentences are opposite, which makes it even more neat.

What needs to be explained here is that the level of the couplets can be slightly modified, that is, "one, three, five, no matter what, two, four, and six are clear", which means that when encountering odd numbers, the level and level can be relaxed. The first couplet has a level tone, and the second couplet can also have an opposite tone , the same goes for oblique sounds. But the number of double numbers must be strict. This is an opening for us so that we don't have to be too restricted. For example, in the above example, the first character is flat relative. Let’s take another famous couplet from the Yueyang Tower:

Lakes and mountains are all around us

廄廄平平平廄廄

Wanjia’s joys and sorrows are in our hearts

廄平平平廄平平

Except for the first and third characters, the others are all opposite to each other. This is also a neat couplet. It can be said that all famous couplets can basically meet the requirements we mentioned above. Careful readers can also find another phonological feature of the couplets from our examples, that is, "廄起平发", which means "the last word of the first couplet uses a straight tone, and the last word of the second couplet uses a flat tone." This is another line Laws cannot be broken easily. There is such an old couplet:

Blessings are like the long flowing water of the East China Sea

Life is as long as the ever-old pines in Nanshan

The last couplet of the first couplet uses the word "water" in a oblique tone, The last word of the second line, "pine", has a flat tone, clear front and back, and well-proportioned. If we change it:

The waters of Fu Rudong flow forever

The longevity of the pines in the southern mountains is not old

Doesn’t it read a bit awkward? Let’s try reversing the order:

Longevity is as long as the pines in the southern mountains

The sea water in the East is blessed and flowing

Is it smooth again? This is the wonderful use of Pingqi. Since our ancestors have set up ordinary rules for us, there must be something extraordinary about them. Seeing this, some people may wonder: What is Pingqi? How to distinguish between dull and oblique? Let’s talk about the four tones of Chinese. There are four tones in Chinese, which were discovered by literati in the Qi and Liang dynasties. Emperor Wu of Liang once asked a scholar named Zhu Yi: "You have been talking about the four tones all day long. What does that mean?" Zhu took the opportunity to flatter him: "It means 'the emperor is blessed'." Here, the sky is a flat tone, and the son is a flat tone. It is the rising tone, Wan is the coming tone, and Fu is the entering tone. "Ping Shang Lai Ru" constitutes the four tones of medieval Chinese, among which the three tones of "Shang Lai Ru" are combined into the oblique tone.

Among these four tones, the entry tone is the most confusing. Emperor Wu of Liang then asked: "Why doesn't 'Tianzi Shou Kao' have four tones?" Tian, ??Zi, Shou and Kao are Ping, Shang, Go and Shang, and there is no sound, which confused Emperor Wu of Liang. It can be seen that many people at that time also understood I don't know what the sound is.

So what is the sound? It is the kind where the throat is blocked during pronunciation, resulting in a short sound. In fact, in Cantonese and Chaozhou dialects, the entering tone is still intact. We know that when pronouncing the stop consonant in Mandarin, the throat must be blocked for a while, and then the air is blown out. When pronunciation of the character entering the tone is blocked, there is no aspirated blasting, which is called incomplete blasting. For example, when pronouncing the word stop in English, American English does not actually pronounce the p sound, but just closes the mouth. This is an incomplete explosion, which can also be said to be a kind of entrance tone.

In Mandarin, the entering tone has disappeared. Some of the characters that originally had different pronunciations and belonged to different rhymes are pronounced exactly the same today. For example, "Yi, Yi, Yi", in Pingshui rhyme, belong to the four qualities of Rusheng, the thirteenth position, and the fourteenth rhyme, but there is no difference in Mandarin reading.

The disappearance of the entering tone also leads to the difference between ancient and modern tones. Some of the ancient Ru tone characters have become the current Shang and Li tone characters, and they still belong to Oblique tone, so we can ignore it; but some of the Ru tone characters have become Ping tone characters (Yinping or Yangping) in Mandarin, which is worthy of our attention. Attention. This is the case with the word "blessing" in the previous sentence "May the Emperor be blessed". For example, according to the pronunciation of the four characters "actively and responsibly" in Mandarin, only "negative" is the negative tone, "ji" is the yin level, and "ji" and "kui" are both the yang level. However, in the old four tones, the "positive", "ji" and "responsibility" All three words are entered in the tone.

We have made a statistics of common characters that change from entering to flat tones. You can think about the rules:

One stroke: one

Two strokes: seventy or eighty

Three paintings: Wu Jie spoon studying at night

Four paintings: The servant said Shiji

Fifth paintings: Pounce and lose the stone festival white juice Zaza

Six paintings: Bamboo, garrison, attack, mixed, kill and seize the tongue, make an appointment with Shaoze, stay in the house, and eat Xi

Seven paintings: Bald-footed soldiers, corner barges, farewell, burnt Bo Di, sucking the robbery box

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Eight Paintings: Shuzhu Zhuobao's Chinese Studies Really Accused the Buddha, Qu Bacula, La Xia, Abducted and Threatened Jeddie, Selected Paidi Analytical Brushing

Nine Paintings: Awakening (Enlightenment) Urgent Punishment

Ten paintings: Read one by one, Weeping Candles and Mats, Enemy's Disease, Accumulating Backbones, Catching Skin, Philosophers, Pinch and Drink, Grid Core Thieves Duck

Cantonese, Hokkien and Chaoshan dialects retain the entry tone, we need to identify it Of course, there is no difficulty in these entering tones, as long as you pronounce them in dialect. When reading ancient poems or couplets in Mandarin, what should you do if you encounter these words? I think that in order to maintain the harmony of tones, we might as well read the characters with the entering tone that have become the flat tone as the falling tone. The falling tone is lower, and if the reading is shorter, it sounds a bit like the entering tone. In fact, some people are used to pronouncing this type of characters with the falling tone, such as "一, 丨, radi", and many people pronounce them with the falling tone. In fact, we all have had this kind of flexible experience. I remember when I was studying Du Mu's "Mountain Journey" in elementary school, the teacher taught us to read the word "Xie" (XIE) in the first sentence of "The stone path on the cold mountain is slanted" in order to match the words "home" and "home" below. Flower” rhymes with.

In ancient times, a large number of characters with a rising tone were pronounced with a falling tone in Mandarin. Both the rising tone and the falling tone are oblique tones, which are basically the third and fourth tones in Mandarin. We can distinguish them clearly. But there is another tone change that we must pay attention to: some ancient flat-tone characters are now pronounced as oblique-tone characters. Such as "Farewell to the Clouds" (Xia Wanchun)

I have been a tourist for three years, and today I am in Nanguan again.

Infinite rivers and mountains of tears, who said the world is broad!

It is known that the road to the spring is close, so it is difficult to leave my hometown.

On the day when Yipo returns, the spiritual flag can be seen in the sky.

The rhyme "kan" in the fourth sentence is the character for Ping tone. When we read it, it is best to pronounce it as Yin Ping to make it smoother.

Another example is "Guan Mao Mao"

The Tian family has few free months, but in May people are twice as busy. At night, the south wind blows, and the wheat is covered with yellow.

The women carry baskets for food, and the children carry pots and oars. When I went to the salary field, Ding Zhuang was in Nangang.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . Hearing his words of care makes those who hear them feel sad.

My family’s farmland has been exhausted, so I’ll just throw it away to satisfy my hunger. What merit do I have now? I never did farming or mulberry farming.

The official salary is three hundred stones, and there is more than enough food every year. I feel ashamed thinking about this, and I will never forget it.

The rhyme "forget" in the last sentence is in flat tone. When we read it, we should also pronounce it in flat tone so as not to feel awkward. As for "kan" at the beginning of the sixth sentence, although it also has a flat tone, it doesn't matter if it is read as a falling tone according to the current pronunciation.

There seems to be too much talk about entering the voice. We want to clarify the fact here that there is no doubt that the couplets must be balanced. The problem is that most people ignore this. Many couplets quoted in newspapers are not fair, which is misleading. As long as we analyze those famous couplets, including the couplets of modern celebrities such as Mao Zedong and others, we will find that they are all very particular about levelness.

Let’s go back and talk about the couplet test questions. This year, there are couplet questions in the Guangdong high school and college entrance examinations at the same time. At the same time, there are more couplet questions in brother provinces and cities. This is a new proposition trend that should attract the attention of middle school Chinese teachers. Relatively speaking, the questions in the Guangdong College Entrance Examination are simpler than those in the High School Entrance Examination, making it easier for students to get started. We will not discuss them here. The question in the high school entrance examination is also given in the first couplet, requiring students to answer the second couplet: resourceful, Kong Mingqiao borrows arrows. The first couplet seems ordinary, but in fact it has set up obstacles. The biggest obstacle is the word "qiao". The previous word "resourceful" modifies Kong Ming, while the word "qiao" modifies "borrowing arrows". "borrowing arrows" is a verb-object structure. Adding an adjective in front of the verb-object structure is more difficult for students. One student responded to "Talented, Cao Zhi takes seven steps" and was affirmed by the teacher after appearing on the stage.

In fact, he cannot get points for this answer. Putting aside the "talent" in the front, how can the "seven steps" in the back be compared to the "skillful borrowing of arrows"? It was obvious that neither the teacher nor the student saw the meaning of the word "Qiao". It would be neater if we follow the students' ideas and change it to "Think deeply and write a quick poem." This involves the use of language. The questioner gave three reference answers, which are:

①Skilled and bold, Wukong bravely fights demons

②Righteousness covers the sky, Guan Yu privately releases Cao

③Sentimentality, Daiyu mourns for flowers

In the middle couplet, "righteousness covers the sky" cannot be compared with "resourcefulness". The former is a subject-predicate structure, and the latter is a parallel structure. The structures are different, so why are they paired? The other two couplets can be paired, but there is no connection between the upper and lower couplets. The couplets formed in this way actually have no meaning and are close to word games. Couplets should be concise, concise and profound in meaning. This couplet question in Guangdong is far-fetched and seems to embarrass the students. Let’s take a look at the couplet title of Nanjing:

Nanjing, the ancient capital, is a famous historical city. The old events of the Southern Dynasties, the legacy of the Ming Dynasty, and the storms of the Republic of China have all left deep imprints on this city and imbued it with a strong sense of charm. The stretch of Xuanwu Lake, the ethereal Jiming Temple, the sound of oars and lights on the Qinhuai River, and the bustling Confucius Temple all make people forget to leave. Many place names can also form neat and interesting pairs. For example:

Stone City is opposite Yanziji Chaotian Palace is opposite Yuejiang Tower Phoenix Terrace is opposite Qilin Gate

Please choose from the three place names of "Wuxiang Temple", "Zhuangyuan Tower" and "Baima Lake" Among them, choose the most appropriate ones and fill in the horizontal lines below.

Answer: Wulongtan is right, Mochou Lake is right,

The Presidential Palace is right.

This kind of question can not only be done by most students, but also cultivate students’ interest in learning couplets. How great! Our couplet teaching can start from here. First, we must make it easy for students to accept it in order to generate interest. In the teaching of couplets, the author follows the principle of "the content goes from easy to difficult, the number of words goes from few to many, and the meter first means meaning and then sounds." For example, if a student lives in "Baishalong", I will use "Baishalong" as the question. The students were able to make sentences with place names. Some of them answered "Golden Leaf Garden" and some answered "Huangnigou". Then I set the topic with "The moon shines on the white sand beach", and the students came up with good pairs such as "Spring Returns to the Golden Leaf Garden" and "Sunrise over the Red Bay". It can be seen that as long as the guidance is correct and given time, students can learn the couplets well.