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明 Ming · 文 Prose

卖柑者言·版本

The Words of the Orange Seller (Version)

刘基

Liu Ji

名篇Masterpiece 寓言Fable 讽刺Satire 议论Argument

杭有卖果者，善藏柑，涉寒暑不溃。
出之烨然，玉质而金色。
置于市，贾十倍，人争鬻之。

In Hangzhou there was a seller of fruit, skilled in keeping the oranges, which, through the cold and the heat, did not rot. He brought them out gleaming, of the jade substance and the golden color. Placed in the market, at the price of ten times, the people vied to buy them.

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Meaning

The opening of 'The Words of the Orange Seller,' the fable-style satirical prose of Liu Ji of the Ming. The opening writes the beauty of the oranges with the 'rising style': 'In Hangzhou there was a seller of fruit, skilled in keeping the oranges, which, through the cold and the heat, did not rot' writes the high skill of the keeping; 'he brought them out gleaming, of the jade substance and the golden color' writes the beauty of the appearance; 'placed in the market, at the price of ten times, the people vied to buy them' writes the prosperity of the sale. The more the reader believes in the beauty of the oranges, the more the truth of the 'dry like the wadding of the cotton' below will strike. Below, the buyer, having bought the oranges and cut them open, finds them 'dry like the wadding of the cotton,' and the seller, with a smile, answers: 'in the world the ones that deceive are not only I; the ministers who wear the tiger talismans and sit on the tiger skins, grand as the shields of the cities, are they indeed able to transmit the strategies of Sun and Wu...'—the satire of the officials and the generals of the 'the gold and the jade without, the wadding within,' the fable of the orange satirizing the whole officialdom of the late Yuan.

杭州有个卖水果的人，善于贮藏柑子，经过严寒酷暑也不腐烂。拿出来时光泽明亮，质地像玉一样温润，颜色像金子一样耀眼。把它放在市场上，价钱是普通柑子的十倍，人们还争相购买。

Appreciation

This is the fable-style satirical prose, and the excerpt is the typical 'rising-style' opening: the beauty of the oranges written to the full, storing the force for the exposure of the truth of the 'wadding' below. In composition, the layer on layer of the laying out and the ambush step by step—'skilled in keeping the oranges, which, through the cold and the heat, did not rot' writes the height of the skill, 'he brought them out gleaming, of the jade substance and the golden color' writes the beauty of the appearance, 'placed in the market, at the price of ten times, the people vied to buy them' writes the prosperity of the sale—three sentences and three turns, the business of the orange seller written as thriving, and the orange written as loved by all; and the more the reader believes in the beauty, the more striking the truth of the 'dry like the wadding' below. In diction, the 'gleaming' (yieran) of the 'brought them out gleaming' writes the shine of the orange with the onomatopoeic and the descriptive, the 'jade substance and the golden color' the parallel of the jade and the gold, the beauty of the appearance written to the full, and the 'ten times' and the 'vied' the price and the eagerness of the sale, the climax of the beauty.

【白话串讲】刘基写《卖柑者言》：杭州人卖柑子，“出之烨然，玉质而金色”——外表光鲜。剖开一看，“干若败絮”。卖柑者辩解说：那些“坐高堂、骑大马、醉醇醴而饫肥鲜”的高官，哪个不是“金玉其外，败絮其中”——他借柑子讽刺虚有其表的官场。【意象与手法】寓言体讽刺散文，节选是典型的“起兴式”开头：先极写柑子之美，为后文揭露其“败絮”之实蓄势。“善藏柑，涉寒暑不溃”写技艺之高，“出之烨然，玉质而金色”写外观之美，“置于市，贾十倍，人争鬻之”写销路之旺，三句三转把柑写得人见人爱；读者越是信其美，后文“干若败絮”的真相就越有冲击力，先扬后抑、欲抑先扬，让“表里不一”的荒诞在对比中自行显形。【情感与主旨】刘基以一枚柑子写尽官场百态，以卖果者之口说破“盗起而不知御，民困而不知救”的时弊，嬉笑怒骂而理直气壮，是讽刺文学的名篇。【名句点睛】常考“出之烨然，玉质而金色”写柑子外观之美，与“干若败絮”的剖开之实形成对比；“金玉其外，败絮其中”已成为家喻户晓的成语。

Background

The piece is by Liu Ji (1311–1375), the founding minister and man of letters of the Ming. Liu Ji, courtesy name Bowen, a native of Qingtian, Zhejiang, a jinshi of the late Yuan, broadly learned in the classics and the history, versed in the astronomy and the art of the war, assisted Zhu Yuanzhang in the conquest of the world, rose to the Censor-in-Chief, was enfeoffed as the Earl of Chengyi, and, with Song Lian and Gao Qi, was called one of the 'three great masters of the poetry and the prose of the early Ming,' praised by the later ages as 'Zhuge Liang of the three parts of the world, Liu Bowen of the uniting of the empire.' This piece is generally held to have been written in the late Yuan (about the Zhizheng era), when the government of the Yuan was corrupt and the officialdom dark, and Liu Ji, in the tone of the orange seller, with the orange of the 'the gold and the jade without, the wadding within,' satirizes the civil and the military officials of the age—'the ones who wear the tiger talismans and sit on the tiger skins, grand as the shields of the cities, are they indeed able to transmit the strategies of Sun and Wu,' in truth the satire of the 'the appearance of the gold and the jade, the interior of the wadding' of the society of the late Yuan.

《卖柑者言》为明代开国功臣、文学家刘基（1311—1375）所作。刘基，字伯温，浙江青田人，元末进士，博通经史，精于天文兵法，辅佐朱元璋定天下，官至御史中丞，封诚意伯，与宋濂、高启并称「明初诗文三大家」，后人誉为「三分天下诸葛亮，一统江山刘伯温」。本文是一篇寓言式讽刺散文，一般认为作于元末（约至正年间），时值元政腐败、吏治黑暗，刘基以卖柑者的口吻，借「金玉其外，败絮其中」的柑子讽喻当世的文臣武将——「佩虎符、坐皋比者，洸洸乎干城之具也，果能授孙、吴之略耶」，实为对元末社会「外强中干」的辛辣批判。本篇所节选者为全文开篇：写杭州卖果者藏柑有术，柑子历经寒暑而不腐烂，外观烨然如玉如金，市价十倍而人争购买，为后文「剖之，如有烟扑口鼻，视其中，则干若败絮」的惊心反转作铺垫。刘基文风雄深雅健，长于说理，此文以寓言托讽、以小见大，是明代讽刺散文的先声，对后世鲁迅式杂文的战斗性也有启迪。

Art

The art is the 'rising-style' opening and the layer on layer of the laying out: the skill of the keeping, the beauty of the appearance, and the prosperity of the sale, three sentences and three turns, the beauty of the orange written to the full, storing the force for the exposure of the truth of the 'wadding' below—the more the reader believes in the beauty, the more striking the truth, the very craft of the satire.

本文为寓言体讽刺散文，节选部分是典型的「起兴式」开头：先极写柑子之美，为后文揭露其「败絮」之实蓄势。章法上层层铺垫、步步设伏——「善藏柑，涉寒暑不溃」写其技艺之高，「出之烨然，玉质而金色」写其外观之美，「置于市，贾十倍，人争鬻之」写其销路之旺，三句三转，把「卖柑者」的生意写得红红火火，把「柑」写得人见人爱；而读者越是信其美，后文「干若败絮」的真相就越有冲击力。这种「先扬后抑、欲抑先扬」的笔法，正是寓言之术的核心：它先制造表象的完美，再以一刀剖开真相，让「表里不一」的荒诞在对比中自行显形。语言上，本文用字极精：「烨然」写光泽之盛，「玉质而金色」以玉、金双喻写质地之贵，「贾十倍」写价格之暴，「争鬻之」写抢购之狂，四字短句连用，节奏明快，如市井叫卖之声。全段无一贬词，而讽意已在字里行间——正因为写得太美、太顺，读者才会在剖柑的瞬间恍然：原来「玉质金色」不过是骗人的画皮。刘基以极经济的笔墨完成铺垫，其谋篇之巧、设喻之毒，堪称寓言小品的典范。

Allusions

The satirical tradition of the piece may be traced to the pre-Qin fables: the Zhuangzi satirizes the confusion of the name and the reality with the 'three in the morning and four in the evening,' the Han Feizi ridicules the losing of the root and the end with the 'buying the casket and returning the pearl,' and the Strategies of the Warring States warns against the superfluous with the 'drawing the snake and adding the feet,' all lodging the deep principle in the daily matters; Liu Ji inherits this vein and, with a single orange, satirizes the whole officialdom, developing the wit of the pre-Qin fables into the dagger of the criticism of the ills of the times. The description of the 'jade substance and the golden color' of the piece secretly matches the Chinese tradition of the 'judging the man by the appearance,' the beauty of the surface against the truth of the interior, the very material of the satire.

《卖柑者言》的讽喻传统，可上溯先秦寓言：庄子以「朝三暮四」讽名实之乱，韩非以「买椟还珠」讥舍本逐末，《战国策》以「画蛇添足」戒多此一举，皆以日常物事托言深理；刘基承此一脉，而以一枚柑子讽喻整个官场，把先秦寓言的机智发展为针砭时弊的匕首。文中「玉质而金色」的描写，暗合中国「以貌取人」的世俗心理与「金玉其外」的文化意象——自《诗经》「如金如锡，如圭如璧」以来，金玉便象征尊贵美好，刘基正是利用这一文化联想，让柑子的「金玉外表」成为一切虚有其表之物的象征。而「卖果者」的形象，则化用《周礼》「司市」之制与市井贩夫的传统角色，使寓言有了现实的烟火气。更值得注意的是「贾十倍」的「贾」字，通「价」，古义毕现；「鬻」为卖，此处「人争鬻之」义为争相购买——「鬻」本兼买卖二义，一字而见市井喧闹。从文化内涵看，此文的深层所指是「名实之辨」：外表的光鲜与内里的败絮，正是名与实脱节的隐喻，这一母题贯穿中国思想（《庄子》「名者实之宾也」），而刘基将其落实为对官场「佩虎符而不知兵、坐皋比而不通经」的痛斥，使古老的寓言在元末乱世获得了最尖锐的现实锋芒。

Commentary

Since its appearance, the piece has always been a famous chapter of the satirical literature. The Ming Wang Shizhen commented on Liu Ji's prose as 'the air high and the wonder, the words grand and the argument,' and this piece is the footnote of the two characters of the 'wonder and the argument': a single orange writing all the conditions of the officialdom, the mouth of the fruit seller speaking out the ills of the times of the 'the bandits rise and none knows to prevent, the people are in distress and none knows to save,' laughing and cursing and the reason justified. In the literary history, the piece inherits the pre-Qin tradition of the fable and the satire and opens the vein of the satirical prose of the Ming and the Qing, and the idiom of the 'the gold and the jade without, the wadding within' has become the common phrase of the Chinese for the beauty of the surface and the rottenness of the interior.

《卖柑者言》自问世以来，一直是讽刺文学中的名篇。明代王世贞评刘基文「气高而奇，词雄而辩」，此文正是「奇辩」二字的注脚：以一枚柑子写尽官场百态，以卖果者之口说破「盗起而不知御，民困而不知救」的时弊，嬉笑怒骂而理直气壮。从文学史看，此文上承先秦寓言与汉赋的讽谏传统，下启明清小品与近世杂文的批判精神——鲁迅杂文之「砭锢弊常取类型」，与此文「借柑讽世」的取类之法一脉相通。从思想史看，「金玉其外，败絮其中」一语已成为汉语中家喻户晓的成语，用来形容一切表里不一的人与事，其概括力之强，使一篇短文升华为一个民族的语言财富。从时代价值看，刘基作此文于元末乱世，锋芒直指当道，体现中国士人「文以载道」的担当；而它今日仍被广泛引用，说明「表里如一」的吁求在任何时代都不会过时。作为经典课文，此文是学习寓言文体、体会讽刺艺术与辨析文言词义（如「贾」「鬻」「涉」）的绝佳文本，其「以小见大」的构思，历来是读写训练中反复研习的范本。

Prosody

Form Fable-style satirical prose (loose essay)寓言体讽刺散文（散体杂文）

Rhyme Unrhymed; the rhythm is formed by the stringing of the short sentences and the four-character structures. The opening 'In Hangzhou there was a seller of fruit, skilled in keeping the oranges, which, through the cold and the heat, did not rot'本文为散体，不押韵，以短句连缀与四字结构形成明快的节奏。开篇「杭有卖果者，善藏柑，涉寒暑不溃」长短相间，如说书人口吻；「出之烨然，玉质而金色」四字、六字句相承，音节整饬，如连珠之响；「置于市，贾十倍，人争鬻之」以「市、倍、之」收束，句句短促，节奏渐急，市井的喧闹与抢购的狂热如在目前。

Tone pattern The 'skilled in keeping' is calm, the 'gleaming, of the jade substance and the golden color' is bright, and the 'the price of ten times, the people vied to buy them' is eager—the whole from the keeping to the appearance to the sale, the climax of the beauty carried by the rhythm句式以三字、四字短句为主，偶用六字句（玉质而金色），长短相间、骈散相济。叙事处语气从容，如拉家常；描写处语气夸饰，如市井叫卖；「贾十倍」三字短促，强调价格之暴，「人争鬻之」四字收束，写出抢购之态。全段无一感叹之词，而以陈述句铺陈假象，越是平静客观，越见后文讽刺之冷峻。

Reading note The short sentences and the four-character structures carry the beauty of the orange, the rising of the satire.作为寓言散文的开篇，此节最见刘基的节奏经营：全段六十余字，几乎全由短句构成，读来如竹筒倒豆、脆快利落，正合市井故事的讲述口吻。其节奏的妙处在「层层提速」：首句「杭有卖果者，善藏柑，涉寒暑不溃」，三顿三转，语速平缓，如序幕徐开；「出之烨然，玉质而金色」，四字、六字相承，音节整齐，如聚光灯打向柑子，描写渐次聚焦；「置于市，贾十倍，人争鬻之」，三句俱短，一「倍」一「争」，语速骤然加快，如市声鼎沸，抢购的狂热喷薄而出。声情与辞情的高度一致，使读者先被这明快的节奏带入热闹的市井，再被「剖之」一刀的惊愕击中——节奏的提速正是骗局升温的听觉化。刘基以短句写市声、以节奏蓄势，证明讽刺的力量不仅在于说理之锐，也在于行文之巧；此节虽短，已是「以声传情、以节蓄势」的范例。

Line by line

杭有卖果者，善藏柑，涉寒暑不溃。

In Hangzhou there was a seller of fruit, skilled in keeping the oranges, which, through the cold and the heat, did not rot. (The first layer: the high skill of the keeping, the oranges through the cold and the heat not rotting, the beginning of the rising of the beauty.)

杭州有个卖水果的人，善于贮藏柑子，经过严寒酷暑也不腐烂。

In Hangzhou there was a fruit seller, skilled in storing his oranges, so that they lasted through winter and summer without rotting.

开篇三句，看似平铺直叙的市井记事，实则处处为后文伏笔。「杭有卖果者」以地名起笔，把故事放在真实的市井空间，增强寓言的可信度；「善藏柑」点出人物的绝活，一个「善」字，为下文「出之烨然」张本；「涉寒暑不溃」极言其技艺之精——柑子本难久藏，而此人竟能使其经历寒暑而不腐烂，字面上写保鲜之术，暗示的却是「造假」之巧：不是柑子真能久存，而是贩者善于掩饰、善于装点。这三句写得越平淡、越可信，后文剖柑见「败絮」的震惊就越强烈。刘基让读者先随市井逻辑相信「善藏」，再以一刀剖开真相，寓言的「欲抑先扬」之法，在这里已经悄然启动。而「涉寒暑不溃」的「涉」字（经历），也暗含柑子「历久弥新」的假象——时间本应使之腐烂，贩者却使其光鲜如初，这本身就是对「表里不一」的暗示。

The keep. In Hangzhou there was a fruit seller, skilled in storing his oranges, so that they lasted through winter and summer without rotting. The skilled storage and the never-rotting are the setup. To have set up the seller's skill would be a setup; the in-Hangzhou-there-was-a-fruit-seller-skilled-in-storing-his-oranges-so-that-they-lasted-through-winter-and-summer-without-rotting is the setup.

出之烨然，玉质而金色。

He brought them out gleaming, of the jade substance and the golden color. (The second layer: the beauty of the appearance, the 'gleaming' and the 'jade substance and the golden color,' the beauty written to the full.)

拿出来时光泽明亮，质地像玉一样温润，颜色像金子一样耀眼。

When brought out they were glossy bright, jade in texture and gold in color.

这是对柑子外观的集中描写，也是全文「扬」的顶点。「烨然」写光泽焕发，「玉质」写质地温润，「金色」写颜色耀眼，三层比喻层层加码，把一枚柑子写得珠光宝气、人见人爱。其妙在于「美得过分」：柑子本是乡野之物，被写得如金似玉，恰恰露出矫饰的痕迹——正因为内里已「干若败絮」，外表才需要如此精心装点；写得越美，骗局越大。同时「玉」「金」二字，又是中国人心目中贵重的象征，刘基借此暗示：这枚柑子不是以品质取胜，而是以「身份」唬人，正如官场中那些「佩虎符、坐皋比」的人物，虚有其表而以威仪吓人。玉质而金色，是表象的极致；败絮其中，是本质的极致，两者之间的巨大反差，正是全篇讽刺力量的来源。读者在此处越信其美，后文剖开时的幻灭就越彻底——寓言的蓄势与引爆，全在这一段铺陈中完成。

The gloss. When brought out they were glossy bright, jade in texture and gold in color. The jade and gold are the overdone beauty. To have overdone the beauty would be a buildup; the when-brought-out-they-were-glossy-bright-jade-in-texture-and-gold-in-color is the buildup.

置于市，贾十倍，人争鬻之。

Placed in the market, at the price of ten times, the people vied to buy them. (The third layer: the prosperity of the sale, the price of ten times and the vying of the people, the climax of the beauty, storing the force for the exposure below.)

把它放在市场上，价钱是普通柑子的十倍，人们还争相购买。

Set on the market, priced ten times higher, yet people scrambled to buy them.

三句写市场反应，把骗局推向高潮。「置于市」写正式上市，「贾十倍」写价格暴涨——一个「十倍」，见出物以稀为贵的哄抬，也见出卖柑者奇货可居的算计；「人争鬻之」写抢购之狂，「争」字画出人们唯恐买不到的拥挤，「鬻」字此处作「购买」解（本兼买卖二义），市井喧闹之声如在耳畔。表面写销路之旺，实则讽刺世人的盲目：人们只认「玉质金色」的外表，便不惜十倍之价竞相购买，无人追问内里是否名实相副。这正是刘基要为后文揭示的「时弊」之缩影——元末官场正是如此：虚名鼎盛而真才凋零，人争趋之而祸患已伏。此三句以极短的篇幅写出「美—贵—争」的连锁反应，为「剖之」的惊心一击蓄满势能，章法之紧凑，令人叹服。

The market. Set on the market, priced ten times higher, yet people scrambled to buy them. The tenfold price and the scrambling buyers are the folly. To have described the scrambling buyers would be a satire; the set-on-the-market-priced-ten-times-higher-yet-people-scrambled-to-buy-them is the satire.

Study

Word focus

烨然 Gleaming. The word of the shine: 'he brought them out gleaming'—the shine of the orange brought out, the brilliance of the appearance, the first of the beauty written with the descriptive. 「出之烨然」之「烨然」，写柑子光泽之盛，是全文为「金玉其外」造势的关键词。「烨」本义为火光、光亮，从「火」部，此处以火光喻光泽，写柑皮油亮夺目；「然」为形容词词尾，相当于「……的样子」，构成「烨然」这一状态词。其妙在「亮得可疑」：柑子经寒暑而不溃，本已反常，出之更「烨然」夺目，光泽越盛，越显其经过人工的妆饰——天然之果自有温润之色，何来火炽之光？刘基以「烨然」二字，暗写柑子的「人造美」，为后文「败絮」的反转埋下伏笔。从用字看，「烨」字生新，不落俗套，比「灿然」「焕然」更有火气与动感；与下文「干若败絮」的「干」字相对，一炽一枯，光鲜与空洞的对照触目惊心。一字而见作者炼字之工，亦见讽刺之毒。

鬻 To buy (or to sell). The word of the sale: 'the people vied to buy them'—the vying of the people to buy, the prosperity of the sale, the climax of the beauty of the orange, the rising of the satire. 「人争鬻之」之「鬻」，是文言中买卖二义兼存的典型字，此处作「购买」解。段玉裁《说文解字注》谓「鬻」兼「卖」与「买」二义，实为「粥」之假借，引申为买卖之通称；文中「卖果者」之「卖」与「人争鬻之」之「鬻」，一卖一买，同字异义，正是「鬻」字二义并存的例证，也是文言词义辨析的经典考点。其深意在于「争」与「鬻」的配合：一个「争」字，画出世人对柑子的趋之若鹜；一个「鬻」（买），写价格十倍而抢购如潮。若用「市」「购」「买」等俗字，则意虽同而神采尽失；「鬻」字古雅，带着市井叫卖的烟火气，恰与「贾十倍」的市侩气息相合。刘基于一字之择，既见文言的典雅，又传讽世的辛辣，可谓「字字有来历，句句有锋芒」。

涉 Through (to pass through). The word of the keeping: 'which, through the cold and the heat, did not rot'—the passing through the cold and the heat of the seasons without rotting, the high skill of the keeping, the first of the rising. 「涉寒暑不溃」之「涉」，义为「经历、经过」，本指徒步涉水（《诗经》「深则厉，浅则揭」），引申为历经、涉足，此处写柑子经历严寒酷暑而不腐烂，是「善藏」的注脚。「涉」字用得极准：寒暑本如水火，柑子「涉」之如涉水行舟，一个「涉」字，既见时间之久、考验之严，又见藏者技艺之巧——能涉寒暑而不溃，若非神技，便是障眼。其弦外之音更耐寻味：柑子「涉寒暑不溃」是违背自然之理的反常，正如官场中那些「历久弥新」的显贵，其实不过是善于掩饰；「涉」字暗含「久经考验而纹丝不动」的假象，与后文「剖之」的真相形成对照。从训诂看，「涉」由「水」从「步」，会意兼形声，本义与「渡水」相关，引申之迹清晰可循，是文言词义引申规律的生动教材；而刘基取「涉」不用「经」「历」，正因其带着「水」的意象，与柑之「不溃」（不腐烂、不散架）暗相呼应，炼字之精，耐人咀嚼。