近现代 近现代 · 文 Prose
绿
Green
我第二次到仙岩的时候，我惊诧于梅雨潭的绿了。
梅雨潭是一个瀑布潭。
仙岩有三个瀑布，梅雨瀑最低。
走到山边，便听见哗哗哗哗的声音。
Meiyu Pool is a pool of a waterfall.
Xianyan has three waterfalls, and the Meiyu waterfall is the lowest of them.
Walking to the foot of the mountain, I heard the sound of water: hua, hua, hua, hua.
Meaning
A short travel essay recording the author's second visit to Xianyan Mountain in Wenzhou. Instead of describing the waterfall itself, he singles out the colour of Meiyu Pool, its green, and makes that single colour the object of his wonder. The green is not merely a colour but a sign of life; and the passage ends on the note of being struck dumb by it, leaving the reader waiting for the full portrait to follow.
我第二次到仙岩的时候，我为梅雨潭的绿而惊诧了。梅雨潭是一个瀑布潭。仙岩有三个瀑布，梅雨瀑是最低的一个。走到山边，便听见哗哗哗哗的水声。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] Zhu Ziqing opens by confessing a single emotion. 'The second time I came to Xianyan, I was struck dumb by the green of Meiyu Pool.' The green is announced before it is described, so the whole piece is built on a promise rather than a picture.
[Structure] The passage moves by plain sequence: the occasion (a second visit), the object (a waterfall pool), the setting among three waterfalls, the approach (walking to the foot of the mountain), and finally the sound. Each step is a matter of fact and nothing more, yet the order is exactly the order of a walk: far to near, name to reality, sound to sight.
[Imagery] The four repeated syllables 'hua, hua, hua, hua' are the essay's only sound-effect and its most memorable device. We hear the waterfall before we see it, and the sound anticipates the abundance of water that makes the pool. Zhu takes a word from ordinary speech, sets it down four times, and lets it do the work that any adjective would only spoil.
[Evaluation] It is a plain opening by plain means, and the plainness is the point. 'Struck dumb' is an unliterary way of saying deeply moved; 'hua, hua, hua, hua' is a word a child could have invented. From such materials Zhu Ziqing composes the modern Chinese essay's most famous description of a colour.
【白话串讲】 朱自清写《绿》：“我第二次到仙岩的时候，我惊诧于梅雨潭的绿了”。“梅雨潭是一个瀑布潭”——“那瀑布从上面冲下，仿佛已被扯成大小的几绺”——“那醉人的绿呀，仿佛一张极大极大的荷叶铺着”——他写梅雨潭的绿。 【意象与手法】 写景散文「先声夺人」的开篇：首句立骨（惊诧于绿），交代位置（瀑布潭、梅雨瀑最低）与来路（走到山边），最后以拟声词「哗哗哗哗」写水声，由远及近、由声引景，观察的次序清晰，笔调亲切平实，如与读者对谈。 【情感与主旨】 写梅雨潭之绿的惊人之美：朱自清以「惊诧」二字立全篇之情，表达对自然之美的由衷惊叹与倾心赞美；其笔下的「绿」不仅是色彩，更是生命的象征，寄托了作者对美好事物的热爱与对自然的深情。 【名句点睛】 常考「我惊诧于梅雨潭的绿了」的开篇立骨——一个「惊诧」定调全篇，直抒胸臆，是全文情感与结构的起点；「哗哗哗哗」的拟声则以声引景，是「未见其形，先闻其声」的典范。
Background
Zhu Ziqing (1898-1948), courtesy name Peixuan, was born in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, graduated from the philosophy department of Peking University in 1920, and afterwards taught at schools and universities in the Yangtze delta. In February 1924 he made his second visit to Xianyan Mountain in Rui'an, Wenzhou, which produced 'Green', later collected in his prose volume Zongji. Xianyan is famous for its waterfalls, pools and caves; the Meiyu, or Plum Rain, waterfall, named for its spray like a drizzle, is the lowest of three and feeds the pool below it. The essay belongs to the decade when the modern vernacular prose was reaching maturity: after the May Fourth movement the short essay and the travel piece were the liveliest forms in Chinese letters, and Zhu was their leading practitioner, praised for precision of observation and praised too as a writer of 'beautiful pages in the plain speech'. 'Green' ranks with 'Moonlight over the Lotus Pond', 'Backward Glances' and 'Rush' in establishing his place in modern literary history.
《绿》是现代散文大家朱自清（1898—1948）的写景名篇，写于1924年，收入散文集《踪迹》。朱自清，字佩弦，江苏扬州人，1920年毕业于北京大学哲学系，先后在江浙一带中学、大学任教；1924年2月他第二次游浙江温州瑞安的仙岩山，写下《绿》，与他此前在温州所见的梅雨潭瀑布密切相关。仙岩山在今温州瑞安境内，以瀑、潭、洞之胜闻名，梅雨瀑是山中三瀑（梅雨瀑、雷响瀑、龙须瀑）之一，因瀑水飞洒如梅雨而得名，其下即梅雨潭。朱自清第一次游仙岩时已为梅雨潭的绿所动，此次重游更觉其美，遂以「惊诧」起笔，写下这篇不足千字的短文。《绿》写作的年代，正是中国现代白话散文走向成熟的时期：五四之后，白话散文（小品文、游记、抒情散文）迅速发展，周作人、朱自清、俞平伯等皆为健将，朱自清尤以写景抒情见长，其文笔细腻、观察入微、语言洗练，被称为「白话美文的典范」。《绿》与《荷塘月色》《背影》《匆匆》等篇共同确立了朱自清在现代散文史上的地位，此文也是其「融情入景」写景艺术的代表作之一。此节选即《绿》的开篇，先交代游踪与「惊诧」之情，为后文铺写梅雨潭之绿（「女儿绿」的奇喻、对绿的倾倒与拥抱）作好铺垫。
Art
Three techniques are already visible here. First, the first sentence sets the bone and fixes the feeling: 'struck dumb' does all the work that a hundred descriptions of a colour would do, and the phrase 'the green of Meiyu Pool' narrows the entire essay to one colour. Note also the quiet tension of 'the second time' - familiarity on one side, fresh wonder on the other.
Second, the arrangement is a ladder of leads: the name of the pool, then its nature as a waterfall pool, then its rank among the three waterfalls, then the walker's own movement toward the mountain. Nothing is described until the reader has been walked into place; by the time we hear the water we are already at the mountain's edge.
Third, sound leads scenery. Zhu hears the waterfall before he sees it, which is the classical Chinese practice of winning the reader by sound before the form appears - the same move as Liu Zongyuan's 'I heard the sound of water, like jade pendants tinkling'. Transplanted into the vernacular it stays fresh and intimate rather than archaic.
Short, undorned and yet complete, this opening announces the essay's method: feeling set first, facts supplied as needed, and language kept close to speech.
《绿》的艺术特色，在此节选已露端倪，可从立骨、线索、声色三端言之。其一，首句立骨、情定全篇：「我第二次到仙岩的时候，我惊诧于梅雨潭的绿了」——开篇即点出文眼「惊诧」，一个「惊诧」把全篇的情感基调定为惊叹与倾倒；「第二次」三字暗写旧游重逢的熟稔，「惊诧」写重逢之下绿的美依旧（甚至更）使人震撼，一熟一惊，张力自生；「梅雨潭的绿」五字更把「绿」从色彩中提取出来，作为全篇唯一的描写对象，是「一字立骨」的现代白话版。其二，线索分明、层层引入：从「第二次到仙岩」的游踪，到「梅雨潭是一个瀑布潭」的来历交代，再到「仙岩有三个瀑布，梅雨瀑最低」的位置说明，最后「走到山边」的行动推进——由远及近、由名入实，观察的次序清晰如画，读者仿佛随作者一步步走向梅雨潭。其三，以声引景、声色相济：「走到山边，便听见哗哗哗哗的声音」——「哗哗哗哗」四个拟声字，写瀑布之声由远而近、盈耳而来，以听觉先行为视觉蓄势；未见其形、先闻其声，正是中国山水文学「先声夺人」的传统笔法（如《小石潭记》「闻水声，如鸣珮环」），朱自清化用于白话散文，亲切而传神。要之，节选虽短，而立骨、线索、声色诸法俱全，已见《绿》全文「以惊诧立情、以游踪叙事、以声色写景」的总体结构。
Allusions
The essay sits inside two long traditions. One is the Chinese tour of mountains and waters, from the commentaries on the Classic of Waterways by Li Daoyuan, through the Yongzhou Eight Records of Liu Zongyuan, to the late-Ming small pieces of Zhang Dai, in which literati have always treated landscapes as company. Zhu's innovation is to make one colour, green, the hero of that tradition instead of height, clarity or depth.
Green carries its own poetry: it is the colour of spring and of life. The famous similes that follow - the pool like a huge lotus leaf laid flat, the green 'of a daughter' - personify the colour and compare it to a woman's beauty, so that colour, body and feeling become one, a modern use of synaesthesia.
There is also the technical gain. 'Green' was written in the golden age of the vernacular essay; Zhu's sentences are conversational, and words like 'struck dumb' and 'hua, hua, hua, hua' belong to ordinary speech. That union of colloquial vocabulary and literary sensitivity is the actual achievement of the May Fourth revolution in prose.
此节选的文化意蕴，可从山水游记的传统、「绿」的意象谱系与现代散文的白话美学三方面看。其一，山水游记的传统——《绿》承中国山水散文的千年脉络：从郦道元《水经注》的山水注记，到柳宗元《永州八记》（「心乐之」「皆若空游无所依」）的融情入景，再到晚明小品（张岱《湖心亭看雪》）的性灵写真，中国文人历来以山水为知己；朱自清游仙岩而「惊诧于梅雨潭的绿」，正是这一「山水之癖」在现代的延续——不同的是，古人多写山之高、水之清、潭之幽，朱自清独取「绿」这一色彩意象为文眼，使传统游记获得了现代感性的新鲜。其二，「绿」的意象谱系——绿在中国文化中象征春天、生命与生机（「春风又绿江南岸」「绿杨烟外晓寒轻」），朱自清以「绿」立文，正是要写梅雨潭所蕴藏的生命的丰沛；下文他以「女儿绿」喻潭水（「那醉人的绿呀……仿佛一张极大极大的荷叶铺着」），以女性的柔美写绿的娇嫩，把色彩人格化，是通感与拟人的现代运用。其三，白话散文的美学——此文写于白话散文的黄金时代，朱自清以口语化的句法（「我第二次到仙岩的时候」）写景，亲切如话，把「惊诧」「哗哗哗哗」等口语词引入文学语言，使山水之美第一次以「白话的美文」呈现于读者面前，这是五四文学革命在散文领域的实绩，也是《绿》超越传统游记的现代意义。
Commentary
'Green' is universally ranked among the finest descriptive prose of modern China; with 'Moonlight over the Lotus Pond' and 'Backward Glances' it forms the trio by which Zhu Ziqing is remembered. Yu Dafu said his prose is full of that kind of poetry, and Li Guangtian called it painting and poem at once. The opening line, the confession of being struck dumb, is often cited as the model of letting feeling set the structure in modern prose.
The essay has long been a set text in secondary-school Chinese, where it is used to teach description of scenery and the grasping of a distinguishing feature. It has done something else as well: Meiyu Pool became a cultural landmark of Wenzhou, and readers still go in search of 'that intoxicating green'. In barely a thousand characters Zhu produced an image that has not faded in a century - a proof, if any were needed, that modern short prose can win by saying much less.
《绿》是现代散文史上公认的写景名篇，此节选的文学与教学价值都极为突出。就文学史而言，《绿》与《荷塘月色》《背影》并称朱自清散文三绝：荷塘月色写月下荷塘的静谧之美，背影写父子深情的含蓄之美，绿写梅雨潭潭水的色彩之美，三篇各极其致，共同确立了朱自清「白话美文」的地位——他的散文以观察入微、语言洗练、情景交融著称，郁达夫评其「能够贮满着那一种诗意」，李广田亦谓其文「如画如诗」；《绿》开篇「惊诧于梅雨潭的绿」的直抒胸臆，更成为现代散文「以情立骨」的经典示范。就教学史而言，《绿》长期入选中学语文教材，是训练学生「写景抒情」「抓住特征」的范文：从「惊诧」学立情，从「哗哗哗哗」学写声，从下文「女儿绿」的奇喻学修辞，一代代学生在《绿》中学会如何用文字捕捉色彩与光影。就文化传播而言，梅雨潭因《绿》而闻名，成为温州的文化地标，无数读者「按图索骥」前往仙岩寻访那「醉人的绿」，可见文学对地理景观的命名之力。要之，《绿》以不足千字的篇幅写出了梅雨潭之绿的永恒之美，其「惊诧」之声穿越百年，至今仍在读者心中回响，正是经典散文「以少胜多」的明证。
Prosody
Line by line
我第二次到仙岩的时候，我惊诧于梅雨潭的绿了。
When I came to Xianyan the second time, I was struck dumb by the green of Meiyu Pool.
我第二次来到仙岩的时候，我为梅雨潭那碧绿的颜色而惊叹不已。
The second time I visited Xianyan, I was astonished by the green of Plum Rain Pool.
此句是《绿》的开篇，也是全篇的文眼，一个「惊诧」定下全文的基调。「我第二次到仙岩的时候」——「第二次」三字看似平常，实则暗藏文章：旧地重游，本应是「曾经沧海难为水」的淡然，而梅雨潭的绿竟再次（甚至更强烈地）震撼了作者，一「再」一「惊」，熟稔与新鲜并存，张力自生；「我惊诧于梅雨潭的绿了」——「惊诧」是全文情感的总纲，朱自清不写「喜爱」「赞美」而写「惊诧」，取「出乎意料、为之倾倒」之意，把梅雨潭之绿写得石破天惊、夺人眼目；「于梅雨潭的绿」的「于」字是文言句式在白话中的化用，使「惊诧」有了明确的对象——不是惊于潭，不是惊于瀑，而独独惊于「绿」，色彩成为全篇唯一的审美对象；句末「了」字轻轻收束，语气肯定而余味悠长，如一声惊叹后的凝望。开篇立骨、直抒胸臆，是此文结构的第一块基石，也是中国现代散文「以情驭景」的经典开头。
The astonishment. The second time I visited Xianyan, I was astonished by the green of Plum Rain Pool. The second visit and the astonished green are the opening. To have been astonished by the green would be an astonishment; the the-second-time-i-visited-xianyan-i-was-astonished-by-the-green-of-plum-rain-pool is the astonishment.
梅雨潭是一个瀑布潭。仙岩有三个瀑布，梅雨瀑最低。
Meiyu Pool is a pool of a waterfall. Xianyan has three waterfalls, and the Meiyu waterfall is the lowest of them.
梅雨潭是一个由瀑布冲刷形成的深潭。仙岩山上有三个瀑布，梅雨瀑是最低的那一个。
Plum Rain Pool is a waterfall pool. Of Xianyan's three waterfalls, Plum Rain Fall is the lowest.
此两句是行文中的「交代」，以极简的笔墨写出梅雨潭的来历与位置，看似闲笔，实为下文蓄势。「梅雨潭是一个瀑布潭」——「瀑布潭」三字说明潭的成因：潭由瀑布冲刷而成，瀑与潭一体，为后文写瀑布之声、潭水之绿预作铺垫；「仙岩有三个瀑布，梅雨瀑最低」——「三个瀑布」写仙岩之胜，「最低」写梅雨瀑的位置特征，寥寥两笔画出仙岩的山水格局，也暗写作者观察之细（连三个瀑布的高低都了然于胸）。这两句的妙处在于：它是「交代」与「蓄势」的统一——从全篇结构看，此处先写潭的来历，为后文「走到山边，便听见哗哗哗哗的声音」的由远及近、「那醉人的绿呀」的正面铺写搭好台阶；从语言风格看，两句都是平淡如话的口语句式（「是一个」「有三个」），与首句的「惊诧」形成一热一冷的对照——开篇激情迸发，此处冷静交代，一放一收，节奏张弛有度，正见朱自清散文「于平淡处见功夫」的本色。
The falls. Plum Rain Pool is a waterfall pool. Of Xianyan's three waterfalls, Plum Rain Fall is the lowest. The waterfall pool and the lowest of three falls are the description. To have described the lowest fall would be a description; the plum-rain-pool-is-a-waterfall-pool-of-xianyan's-three-waterfalls-plum-rain-fall-is-the-lowest is the description.
走到山边，便听见哗哗哗哗的声音。
Walking to the foot of the mountain, I heard the sound of the water: hua, hua, hua, hua.
走到山边，就听见了哗哗哗哗的瀑布水声，那声音越来越近、越来越响，仿佛正催促着人加快脚步。
Walking to the edge of the hill, I heard the roar of the fall.
此句写走近梅雨潭的第一重感受——听觉，是「未见其形，先闻其声」的经典笔法。「走到山边」四字写行动之推进，由远及近，镜头缓缓前移；「便听见哗哗哗哗的声音」——「便」字写声音之不期而至、扑面而来，如瀑声骤起；「哗哗哗哗」四个拟声字连用，不加任何修饰，却把瀑布之声写得如在耳畔——叠音拟声，声情毕肖，比「水声很大」之类抽象形容远为生动。「哗哗哗哗」的妙处还在其「声色相济」：这声音既是瀑布的预告，也暗写水的丰沛与急湍——能发出如此连续而有力的哗哗声的，必是倾泻而下的急流，为下文梅雨潭「那醉人的绿」（由瀑布冲激而成的一潭碧玉）暗设因果。从结构看，此句以听觉为下文视觉（写绿）引路：先闻其声、再观其色，由声入色、层层深入，是中国山水文学「移步换景、声色相引」传统在现代散文中的圆熟运用。一句拟声，满篇皆活，朱自清炼字的功夫于此可见。
The roar. Walking to the edge of the hill, I heard the roar of the fall. The walking to the hill and the heard roar are the approach. To have heard the roar would be a hearing; the walking-to-the-edge-of-the-hill-i-heard-the-roar-of-the-fall is the hearing.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Both were written by Zhu Ziqing and are prized for delicate observation, adroit comparison and the fusion of feeling and scene. They differ in mood and colour. 'Moonlight over the Lotus Pond' is a solitary walk in moonlight that begins 'these last days I have been restless'; it is quiet and faintly sad. 'Green' is a return visit whose subject is the dense, saturated green of the pool - a surprise and a praise. One is cool and still, the other warm and concentrated; one a white moonlight, the other a green depth. What they share is the habit of rendering colour and light through striking metaphor and synaesthesia (the pond 'a famous tune played on a violin', the pool 'the green of a daughter'). Read together they show the range of Zhu's descriptive art, from the still beauty of Qinghua to the bright loveliness of the Jiangnan south.
《荷塘月色》与《绿》同出朱自清之手，同为其写景散文的代表作，一写北京清华园的月下荷塘，一写温州仙岩的梅雨潭水，皆以细腻的观察、精妙的比喻与情景交融的笔法著称。差异在情调与色调：荷塘月色写「这几天心里颇不宁静」的月夜独游，荷与月构成清幽素淡之境，情调是静穆而略带怅惘的；绿写「惊诧于梅雨潭的绿」的重游，潭水之绿构成浓郁鲜丽之境，情调是惊喜而倾心赞美的——一冷一热、一静一动、一月下之白一潭中之绿，恰成对照。二文的相通之处，在以通感与奇喻写色彩光影（荷塘之「梵婀玲上奏着的名曲」、梅雨潭之「女儿绿」），以情景交融的笔法托物寄情。合观二文，可见朱自清写景艺术的两副笔墨，也见其散文从清华的静美到江南的明丽的情调流变。
春 Spring 朱自清 · 同作者抒情名篇，一写春之生机一写绿之醉人，共见其「融情入景」的笔法 Two lyric essays by the same author: one on the vitality of spring, one on the intoxicating green; both show his way of blending feeling into scene.Both are masterpieces of descriptive and lyrical writing. 'Spring' opens 'I waited, and I waited; the east wind came, and spring drew near', and takes in grass, flowers, wind, rain and people - a panorama of revival. 'Green' takes a single colour and dwells on it - a focus rather than a sweep. Both are governed by joy: 'Spring' by the eagerness of waiting and the gladness of things opening their eyes; 'Green' by the shock of being struck dumb and the surrender to 'that intoxicating green'. Both animate what they describe (the grass has crept quietly out of the earth; the pool is like a huge, huge lotus leaf laid flat), and both write in a language plain almost to the point of childlike. The difference is scale: 'Spring' spreads, 'Green' concentrates; together they give the full shape of Zhu's art, the small thing that contains the great.
朱自清《春》「盼望着，盼望着，东风来了，春天的脚步近了」与《绿》同为写景抒情名篇：春写春天到来时万物复苏的生机（草、花、风、雨、人），绿写梅雨潭潭水的醉人之色，一写季节之全景，一写景物之一色。二文的相通之处，在以喜悦之情统摄景物：春以「盼望着」的急切与「欣欣然张开了眼」的欢欣写春意，绿以「惊诧」的震撼与「那醉人的绿呀」的倾倒写潭水，皆情溢于景；又以拟人、比喻、通感写活景物（春之「小草偷偷地从土里钻出来」、绿之「仿佛一张极大极大的荷叶铺着」），语言皆亲切如话、明丽如画。差异在：春是全景式的铺写，笔致舒展、明快活泼；绿是聚焦式的渲染，笔致集中、浓丽深邃。二文并读，恰见朱自清写景散文「以小见大、以色传神」的完整面貌。
济南的冬天 Winter in Jinan 老舍 · 同为现代写景散文名篇，一写江南潭绿一写北国冬暖，共见白话写景的成熟 Two modern classics of scenic description: one the green pool of Jiangnan, one the warm winter of the north; both mark the maturity of writing in the vernacular.Lao She's 'Winter in Jinan' opens 'if it were only sunshine, that too would be no wonder' and describes a city warm as a cradle; Zhu's 'Green' describes the green pool of Meiyu. Both are prized for friendly colloquial speech, accurate observation and a strong sense of place, and in both feeling rules description: Zhu is 'struck dumb' by the green, Lao She calls his city kindly, warm and clear - so that the scenery is humanised. Each also uses plain white description quickened by a happy metaphor (the green of a daughter; the little cradle). The difference is temper: Zhu's is fine and finished like a gongbi painting, Lao She's is humorous and free like xieyi. Read together they show how fully the vernacular scenic essay had matured in the 1920s and 1930s.
老舍《济南的冬天》「设若单单是有阳光，那也算不了出奇」与《绿》同为现代白话写景散文的名篇，一写温州梅雨潭之绿，一写济南冬天之暖，皆以亲切的口语、精准的观察与浓郁的地方色彩著称。二文的相通之处，在以「情」统「景」：朱自清以「惊诧」写梅雨潭之绿的醉人，老舍以「慈善的」「温晴的」写济南冬天的可爱，皆把自己的热爱灌注于景物之中，使景物人格化、情感化；又以平实的白描与巧妙的比喻写景（绿之「女儿绿」、济南之「小摇篮」），语言皆明白如话而韵味悠长。差异在：朱自清文笔细腻工致，如工笔画；老舍文笔幽默洒脱，如写意画。二文并读，可见白话写景散文在二十世纪二三十年代的全面成熟，也见南北山水在中国现代散文家笔下各自的审美风貌。