Now someone has written to ask me the secret of my composition.

We often hear boxers teach their apprentices to keep one hand, for fear that they will kill themselves and let them be masters. In fact, such a thing is not completely absent. And killing Yi [2] is a precedent. Feng Meng is far away, but this old saying did not disappear, and later "scholar addiction" was added. Although the imperial examination has been abolished for a long time, it is still necessary to strive for "uniqueness" and "first". It's very dangerous to be a teacher when you meet someone who is addicted to the number one scholar. After teaching, you will always be knocked down. However, when this new boxer comes to teach his disciples, he will take his husband and himself as lessons, and he will certainly keep one hand, or even three or four hands, so boxing is "worse than one generation."

Also, doctors have secret recipes, chefs have secret recipes, and pastry shops have secret recipes. In order to save food and clothing, I heard that this is only for children and women, not for daughters, so as not to spread to other people's homes. "Secret" is a very common thing in China, and even meetings of state affairs are always "secret", and no one knows it. However, there seems to be no secret in the composition. If there is, every writer must have passed it on to future generations, but there are very few ancestors. Naturally, the writer's children are used to reading books, papers and pens since childhood, and their eyes may be a little bigger, but they may not be able to do it. Although the names "father-son writer" and "husband-wife writer" are common in current publications, it seems that they can really tell some secrets from wills or love letters. In fact, they are disgusting and interesting, and they are used in composition.

So, is there really no secret in the composition? But this is not the case. I once said a few words about the secret of writing ancient prose [3], that is, to have a history that runs through, not written by the ancients; In other words, I did the whole article myself, not myself, and I didn't actually say anything; That is, "everything has a cause" and "no evidence." This will "almost avoid being too big." In short, it means "Today's weather, hahaha ...".

This is the content. As for rhetoric, there is also a secret: first, it must be vague; second, it must be difficult to understand. That way is: shorten sentences and use more difficult words. For example, it is not a good article to write a sentence about the Qin dynasty, "Qin Shihuang began to burn books", and it must be translated so that it is difficult to be clear at a glance. At this time, you need two ya and anthology [4]. In fact, as long as you don't tell others, you might as well look up Kangxi dictionary [5]. If you start to change it, it will become "the first emperor began to burn books", which is a bit "ancient", and it will make you angry if you change it to "the ceremony of burning books in the imperial court", although it is not easy to understand. But if you write such an article or even such a book, you can call it a "scholar". I thought for a long time and only made one sentence, so I only deserve to contribute to the magazine.

Our masters of ancient literature often play this skill. Mr. Ban Gu's Purple? Sound, the rest are leap "[7], and four long sentences are reduced to eight words; In Yang Xiong's "Stupid Judie" [8], the four common words "following the rules" have been translated into difficult words. "The Wizard of Oz" records that the teacher recited "flowers" [9], and there is a sentence: "My daughter-in-law is beautiful, and my book is useless, but my brother's jar is badly hurt. "Talking to yourself means that children and women turn flowers into hairpin. Although she is beautiful, she is afraid that her son will neglect his studies. The second couplet is even more puzzling. His brother broke the flowers and put them in a crock without a vase to smell them. His sister-in-law broke the flowers and pots with a stick, so as not to delay. This is a mockery of Mr Dong Bing. However, what he did was not contradictory to Bunyan. The only mistake is that he used neoclassicism instead of classicism. This so-called "mistake" makes the selection of books and the like maintain prestige in the minds of young and old.

Is it "good" to do it in a vague way? Answer: Not exactly. In fact, it just covers up ugliness. However, "shame is almost brave" [10], and the ugly behavior of concealment looks almost good. Modern girls wear hair and middle-aged women wear veils, which are all obscurantism. Anthropologists have three explanations for the origin of clothes: one is because both men and women know sexual shame and use it to cover up their own shame; I thought it was to stimulate it when I said it; There is also a saying that because old and weak men and women are weak and ugly, they cover up something to cover up their ugliness. Rhetorically, I agree with the latter. There are still many magnificent carols, elegies, declarations and telegrams. If we look up the dictionary, turn over the books, peel off the outside decorations and turn them into vernacular Chinese, and see what's left! ?

Of course it's good not to understand. Not bad. Where is it? Fortunately, I don't understand. But I'm worried that if it's too good to be ugly, it's better to be "incomprehensible": I know a little, and after some efforts, I know more. We have always had a "difficult" worship temper. No one will be surprised to eat three bowls of rice every meal. Some people eat eighteen bowls every meal and solemnly write them down in their notes. No one can look at the needle with their hands, and they can set up tents to sell money with their feet pierced with needles; A picture, plain and unremarkable, was put in a box, dug a hole and turned into a peep show. People are eager to see it in Zhang Zhu's mouth. In addition, the same thing, obtained through hard work, is more valuable than that obtained without hard work. For example, go to a temple to burn incense. Going to the mountains is more valuable than going to the flat. It takes three steps and one worship to get to the temple, which is carried by a sedan chair all the way. Even in the same temple, the degree of preciousness in the hearts of visitors is very different. The writing is difficult to understand, and the three-step approach makes readers worship and achieves a little goal.

Writing here has become the secret of writing not only ancient prose, but also deceptive ancient prose. But I don't think there is much difference in writing vernacular Chinese, because you can also clip some obscure words and add obscure words to show the magic towel. If you want to reverse the tone, it is "line drawing".

There is no secret in "sketching". If there is, it is just the opposite of the smoke screen method: if there is truth, whitewash it, be less melodramatic and don't show off. November tenth.

Beihei

[1] This article was first published in 19331February 15, Volume II,No. 12, Tam.

[2] See "Mencius Li Lou" in Feng Meng's killing of foreigners: "Whoever learns to shoot foreigners, try your best; I think you are the only one in the world, so I killed you. " According to Feng Meng, it is also called Feng Meng. [3] refers to 1930' s Secret of Classicism and Being a Good Person, which was later included in Two Hearts Collection.

[4] "Erya" is the earliest book to explain the meaning of words in China, probably written from the Spring and Autumn Period to the early Western Han Dynasty, with 19 articles in the book. Selected Works is a collection of articles from the pre-Qin period to the Qi and Liang Dynasties compiled by Liang Zhao Wang Xiao Tong in the Southern Dynasties, with a total of 60 volumes.

(5) Kangxi Dictionary was compiled by Zhang Yushu during the Kangxi period of Qing Dynasty, with 42 volumes and 47,000 words. 17 16 years (55th year of Kangxi). [6] Ban Ma refers to Ban Gu and Sima Qian. They are all historians and writers of the Han Dynasty. [7] "Purple? Sound, Yu Fen leap bit "language see hanshu follwed biography, refers to follwed" usurp the throne ". According to Yan Shigu's note in the Tang Dynasty: "Ying Shao said: purple, medium color; ? , evil voice also.

To tell the truth, I said: a rude word can't be a king's life, just like a leap in years. [8] Yang Xiong (53- 18), Yang Xiongren, born in Chengdu (now Sichuan), was a writer and linguist in the Western Han Dynasty. His works were compiled by the Ming Dynasty, including the five-volume Yang Zi Ji, Stupid Judie, and the language can be found in Preface to the Eyes. According to Gui Li's note in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: "Stupid, dynamic; De, Dao also; Picked up the token, but it was still hidden. If a gentleman acts, he must follow the rules. "According to" picking and charging "for" inspection ".

[9] The Wizard of Oz is a novel written by Li Baichuan in the Qing Dynasty. The story of the scholar chanting "flowers" here shows that the sixth chapter of the book "comments on poetry and fu and loses Confucian heart"

[10] See the phrase "shame is almost brave" in The Doctrine of the Mean.