How to learn ancient Chinese well

First, the basic methods of learning classical Chinese

1. Read more books. Develop a sense of language by reading aloud.

2. carry more. Master the usage of real words and function words by reciting.

3. Do regular exercise. Master common classical Chinese vocabulary and special sentence patterns.

4. Always consult reference books. Dictionary of Common Words in Ancient Chinese and Translation Book of Classical Chinese are essential reference books.

Second, we need to master classical Chinese knowledge.

1. Be able to translate the text and understand the content of the article.

2. Focus on mastering some important notional words, function words, interchangeable words, ancient and modern synonyms, polysemy, flexible use of parts of speech and some special sentence patterns.

Third, interchangeable words.

In ancient Chinese, some words can be replaced by words with the same sound or similar sound (sometimes similar in shape). This language phenomenon is called "Tong Jia" (Tong Jia GM, borrowed from the cottage). "Tong Jia" means "it has its own word" but it was abandoned, and a different word with the same or similar pronunciation was temporarily borrowed. For example, it is better to say "speak" and "be happy"

Fourth, the word is polysemy.

A word often has different meanings in different sentences. When reading, we should determine the meaning of words in sentences according to the specific context.

For example:

(1) Do you know whether Hequ died in response (A) Yu Gong Yi Shan

(2) kill it in response to Chen She's "Chen She family".

(3) Everything, everything (should) "ventriloquism"

V. Words with different meanings in ancient and modern times

We call words with different meanings in ancient times and today as ancient and modern synonyms.

1. The meaning is enlarged, that is, the present meaning is greater than the ancient meaning. For example, the words "Jiang" and "He" used to refer to the Yangtze River and the Yellow River in ancient times, but now they refer to all rivers except the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.

2. Narrow the meaning, that is, the present meaning is less than the ancient meaning. For example, the word "relative" in "helping the needy" refers to one's own family members in ancient times. Except for marrying one's own family or its members, it cannot be used for one's own family members in modern Chinese.

3. Meaning transfer, that is, a word changes from expressing one thing to expressing another. For example, in ancient times, "offering sacrifices to jade and silk" meant offering sacrifices to livestock, but now it means giving up one's life or interests for justice.

4. Emotional color changes. For example, in ancient times, the word "despicable" was neutral, and "humble" meant low status. In Lu You's poems, "I'm too humble to forget worrying about my country" means this, and "contemptuous" means short knowledge. Now is an authentic derogatory term used to describe people's bad behavior.

Sixth, the flexible use of parts of speech

In ancient Chinese, some words, mainly content words, can be used flexibly according to certain language habits, and their functions can be temporarily changed in sentences, that is, the original part of speech can be changed. This phenomenon is the flexible use of parts of speech.

The flexible use of parts of speech in ancient Chinese mainly includes nouns as verbs, nouns as adverbials, causative usage of nouns, verbs and adjectives, verbs as nouns, adjectives as verbs or nouns, nouns and adjectives as verbs, numerals as verbs, causative usage of numerals and so on.

A. nouns are used flexibly as general verbs

Flexible use of nouns as general verbs is a common phenomenon in ancient Chinese, and the meaning after flexible use is still closely related to the meaning of this noun, but it is verbalized.

1. A wolf hole, in which (wolf) hole: make a hole.

2. The wolf is afraid to move forward, and is eyeing (Wolf): move forward, move forward.

Adjectives are used as verbs.

1. A horse walked a thousand miles, and he ate all the corn and stones at once (Ma Shuo): all of them, all of them.

2. Go further and be poor if you want (Peach Blossom Garden): Go through.

C. adjectives are used as nouns

1. Assistant Ministers Guo Youzhi, Fei Yi, Dong Yun, etc. They are all kind and upright ("models"): kind and upright people.

2. The creator here has endowed nature with all mysterious grace ("looking at the moon"), which means "scenery".

D. Verbs are used flexibly as nouns

Generally speaking, the main function of verbs is to act as predicates, but sometimes they also appear in the position of subject or object, indicating people or things related to verbs' actions and behaviors, which means that verbs are used flexibly as nouns.

1. I'm not very good at filming (The Oil Man). Shoot: It means to shoot an arrow.

2. Out of the ground, people who work hard ("Snake Catcher") go out and enter: here are nouns, meaning things produced and money earned.

E, nouns as adverbials

1. indicates where the action takes place. Lu Yu water, for example, will make ghosts go. (Song "Ghost Hunting") Tao: Nouns are adverbials, meaning on the road and on the way.

2. Tools, means or basis for expressing actions, such as: people with good intentions get on the boat ("Guizhou Donkey") boat: use the boat. Fan Ji transports (Yishan, Gong Yu) Fan Ji at the end of Bohai Sea: It means tools, which means transporting earth and stone with Fan Ji. When the time comes, the law will be beheaded (Chen She family): it shows that the behavior depends on it and it is in line with laws and regulations. Shi Qingzhi (Nuclear Ship) Shi Qing: Use Shi Qing.

3. to express the characteristics and state of the action, for example, when I was a child, a wolf left and a dog (wolf) sat in front of me. Dog: it is a figurative way to modify the verb "sit", which means to sit like a dog.

4. Time nouns are used as predications to express time, such as: the sun is pulling to publicize the eternal annual rings to the city people (Shang): used before verbs to mean "every day" and "every day".

F. causative usage

The predicate verb has the meaning of "how to make the object".

1. Lao Xing Wuji (Humble Room Inscription) Lao: Use of adjectives: make ... tired.

You must first suffer from your mind ("Chapter II: Suffering: adjectives use verbs, which makes ... feel distressed.

G, conative usage

The predicate verb means "What do you think of this object" or "What do you think of this object".

1. On Father as Guest (Shang) Guest: Intentional usage of nouns ... as a guest.

2. I don't know the joy of being a satrap ("Zuiweng Pavilion"). Music: Adjective conation is as fun as ...

Seven, common classical Chinese sentence patterns

A verdict.

A judgment sentence is a sentence in which the predicate judges the subject. In classical Chinese, nouns or noun phrases are generally used as predicates to express judgment. Common forms mainly include:

1, ..., ... and. ("zhe" means pause, "ye" means judgment)

Chen Shengsheng is also from Yangcheng. (The Chen She Family)

Two, ..., ... and. (Don't use "zhe" after the subject)

1. Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is also. (《lt； The Analects of Confucius

Today's translation: knowing means knowing, and not knowing means not knowing. This is "knowledge". "Yes" means "this" and refers to the previous subject.

② In the skin, the needle stone is within reach. ("Bian Que meets Cai Huangong")

This disease is on the skin and can be treated with acupuncture.

(3) Nanyang Liu Ziji, noble's also. (Peach Blossom Garden)

Liu Ziji of Nanyang is a noble celebrity.

3. Use "Nai", "Ze", "Namely", "Wei" and "Ze" to help judge.

(1) This is the grand view of Yueyang Tower. (The Story of Yueyang Tower)

This is the magnificent view of Yueyang Tower.

(2) was standing childe Fu Su. (The Chen She Family)

Zi Fu Su should be made emperor.

4. In classical Chinese, "yes" is also used to express judgment, which started late.

Moonlight is particularly indescribable. Flowers fall and willows fall, and mountains are high and water is long, which is a kind of interest. ("Two Visits to the West Lake")

elliptical sentence

Omitting a word or a component in a sentence is very common in classical Chinese. Mainly includes:

1. Omit the topic

(disease) in the skin, the needle stone is also within reach; In the stomach, fire is within reach; In the bone marrow, where life belongs, (medicine) is helpless. ("Bian Que meets Cai Huangong")

The disease is in the skin, and acupuncture can treat it; The disease is in the stomach and intestines, which can be treated with fire agent soup; The disease lies in the bone marrow, which is under the jurisdiction of the God in charge of life, and the doctor can do nothing.

2. Omit the predicate or verb

Choose the good and follow it, change the bad. (《lt； The Analects of Confucius > 10)

One bite, then (drum) and decline, three bites (drum) and exhausted. (Cao Gui Debate)

Omit an object

(1) cast (it) with bone. (wolf)

Throw the bone to (the wolf).

Jun and (it) come together. ("Longzhong Dui")

Come with him.

Omission preposition

The forest is short of water. (Peach Blossom Garden)

The peach blossom forest at the source of the stream is gone.

(3) Inverted sentences

We call sentences whose arrangement of sentence elements in classical Chinese is different from that in modern Chinese. Mainly includes:

1. Predicate preposition (after the subject)

What a pity that you don't like it! ("Yu Gong Yi Shan")

2. Preposition object

There are roughly three situations: (1) In a negative sentence, the pronoun is the object, and the object is placed before the verb; (2) In interrogative sentences, interrogative pronouns are used as objects and prepositions as objects; (3) Put the object before the verb with "zhi" or "yes".

The city people don't know it. ("Travel Notes of Man Jing")

(2) with whom? (The Story of Yueyang Tower)

(3) Why did Confucius call it "Wen"? (《lt； Ten Analects of Confucius

(4) What was the sin of the Song Dynasty? ("lose")

⑤ mercenary (idiom)

3. Postposition of prepositions and object phrases

(1) The poor speak to the rich (for learning) (the prepositional phrase "to the rich" is placed after the predicate "language")

(2) by the public, fight in the spoon (Cao Gui debate).

passive sentence

Like modern Chinese, the subject is not the sender of action, but the receiver of action. Such sentences are called passive sentences.

1. Use markers such as Wei, Wei, See, And and Bei to indicate passivity. For example, Plum Blossoms are Fragrant in Cold (two Travels of the West Lake) and For ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Conceptually, it means passivity without the help of passive verbs. The emperor felt his sincerity (Yu Gong Yi Shan)

Although there is no preposition or structure expressing passivity in this sentence, the subject "Emperor" is passive. This is an ideological passivity. The Emperor of Heaven was moved by the sincerity of Yugong.

Eight, the translation methods of classical Chinese

Basic methods: literal translation and free translation.

There are two basic methods of classical Chinese translation: literal translation and free translation. The so-called literal translation refers to the word-for-word translation of the original text with modern Chinese words, so that the content words and function words are as opposed as possible. The advantage of literal translation is the implementation of every word; Its disadvantage is that sometimes the translated sentences are difficult to understand and the language is not fluent enough. The so-called free translation means translating according to the meaning of the sentence, conforming to the original intention as much as possible, and taking care of the original intention as much as possible. Free translation has certain flexibility, which can add or subtract words, change the position of words and change sentence patterns. The advantage of free translation is that the text is coherent, and the translation conforms to the expression habits of modern languages and is fluent, fluent and easy to understand. Its disadvantage is that sometimes the original text cannot be realized word by word. These two translation methods should be mainly literal translation, supplemented by free translation.

2) Specific methods: leave, delete, supplement, modify, adjust and modify.

"Stay" means to keep. Words with the same meaning in ancient and modern times, as well as ancient names such as names of people, places, things, officials, countries, years and units of measurement, can remain unchanged when translated.

"Delete" means delete. Delete function words that do not need to be translated in classical Chinese. For example, "Pei Gong joined Fan Kuai"-Pei Gong's bodyguard Fan Kuai. "This is also" is an auxiliary word at the end, which is not translated.

"Supplement" means supplement. A, changing monosyllabic words into disyllabic words; B. fill in the omitted elements in the ellipsis sentence; Fill in the omitted sentences. Note: Fill in the omitted components or sentences with brackets.

"Change" means replacement. Replace ancient words with modern words. For example, replace "I, Yu, Yu" with "I" and "II, Ru" with "You".

"Adjustment" means adjustment. Adjust ancient Chinese inverted sentences to modern Chinese sentence patterns. When translating subject-predicate inversion sentences, prepositional object sentences, prepositional object postposition sentences and attributive postposition sentences, the word order should generally be adjusted to conform to modern Chinese expression habits.

"Change" means flexibility. On the basis of being faithful to the original text, translate related words on the spot. If "the waves are calm", it can be translated as "(the lake) is calm".