小編導讀：《核舟記》是明朝魏學洢所寫的說明文言文，出自清朝人張潮《虞初新志》。通過對小小核舟的描述，集中體現了我國古代微型雕刻的高超技藝和中國古代勞動人民的智慧。核舟，指的是桃核刻成的小舟。本文使用從中間到兩頭，從正面到背面的空間順序和總-分-總的敘述順序介紹了"核舟"的形象，熱情贊揚了中國明代的漢族民間工藝匠人的雕刻藝術和才能。

魏學洢 《核舟記》

明有奇巧人曰王叔遠，能以徑寸之木，為宮室、器皿、人物，以至鳥獸、木石，罔不因勢象形，各具情態。嘗貽余核舟一，蓋大蘇泛赤壁云。

舟首尾長約八分有奇，高可二黍許。中軒敞者為艙，箬篷覆之。旁開小窗，左右各四，共八扇。啟窗而觀，雕欄相望焉。閉之，則右刻"山高月小，水落石出"，左刻"清風徐來，水波不興"，石青糝之。

船頭坐三人，中峨冠而多髯者為東坡，佛印居右，魯直居左。蘇、黃共閱一手卷。東坡右手執卷端，左手撫魯直背。魯直左手執卷末，右手指卷，如有所語。東坡現右足，魯直現左足，各微側，其兩膝相比者，各隱卷底衣褶中。佛印絕類彌勒，袒胸露乳，矯首昂視，神情與蘇黃不屬。臥右膝，詘右臂支船，而豎其左膝，左臂掛念珠倚之，珠可歷歷數也。

舟尾橫臥一楫。楫左右舟子各一人。居右者椎髻仰面，左手倚一衡木，右手攀右趾，若嘯呼狀。居左者右手執蒲葵扇，左手撫爐，爐上有壺，其人視端容寂，若聽茶聲然。

其船背稍夷，則題名其上，文曰："天啟壬戌秋日，虞山王毅叔遠甫刻"，細若蚊足，鉤畫了了，其色墨。又用篆章一文曰"初平山人"，其色丹。

通計一舟，為人五；為窗八；為箬篷，為楫，為爐，為壺，為手卷，為念珠各一；對聯、題名并篆文，為字共三十有四。而計其長曾不盈寸。蓋簡桃核修狹者為之。

魏子詳矚既畢，詫曰：嘻，技亦靈怪矣哉！《莊》《列》所載，稱驚鬼猶神者良多，然誰有游削于不寸之質，而須麋了然者。假有人焉，舉我言以復于我，亦必疑其誑，乃今親睹之。繇斯以觀，棘刺之端，未必不可為母猴也。嘻，技亦靈怪矣哉！

The Peach-Stone Boat
Wei Xueyi

In the Ming Dynasty a marvellous craftsman, Wang Shuyuan by name, was capable of carving on a piece of wood, one cun in diameter, palaces, vessels, persons, even birds, beasts, forest and stones, all following the configuration of the wood to bring out the different shapes, each having its distinctive features. He gave me a boat cut on a nutshell as a gift, which presented the scene of Su Dongpo’s boating at the Red Cliff.

The boat is eight-odd fen in length from prow to stern and is about the height of two grains. The wider and higher part in the middle is the hold covered with a bamboo awning. Each side of the boat is furnished with four small windows, eight for both. Through an opened window one can see two decorated railings facing each other. When the windows are closed, one reads on the right: "The mountain is high and the moon looks small; the water subsides and the stones stand out.", while on the left the couplet reads: "A fresh breeze is gently blowing and the waves are utterly calm." All the words are coloured in azurite.

The prow is occupied by three men. The one in the middle, wearing a tall headgear and bristling with moustache, is Su Dongpo, while the one on the right is Foyin the monk, and the one on the left is Huang Luzhi the poet. Su and Huang are perusing a scroll. The former is holding one end of it with the right hand, while stroking the latter on the back with the left. Huang in turn is holding the other end of the scroll with the left hand, pointing at it with the right, and seems to be muttering some comments. Su is showing his right leg, Huang his left. Both are slightly inclined, with their knees touching and hidden in their robes’ folds, under the scroll. The monk is the very image of a Buddha, revealing his breast and nipples and looking up to the sky with his cocked head. His hairs and manner have nothing to do with Su and Huang, as he is seen stretching horizontally his right leg, and supported with his right arm on the gunwale, while bending his left leg with the knee turned upward. On his left arm hangs down to the knee a string of beads, which are distinct enough to be counted one by one.

Across the stern ties an oar, manned by one boatman on each side. The one on the right with a cone-shaped chignon and an upturned face is leaning on a horizontal beam with the left hand, and touching a right toe with the right, looking as if he were crying or shouting. The other on the left is holding a fan with his right hand, while laying his left hand on a stove, on which is put a kettle. He is looking straight at it staidly, as if he were attentive to the boiling water.

The bottom of the boat is rather even, cut with the inscription: "Carved in the autumn of the year Renxu during the Tianqi period by Wang Shuyuan of Yushan". The words are as thin as mosquito legs, yet the strokes are inked and clear enough. In addition, there is a seal cut in the Zhuan calligraphic style with the author’s cognomen: "the Mountain Recluse Chuping", coloured in Red.

To sum up, the nutshell contains one boat, five persons, eight windows, an awning, an oar, a stove, a kettle, a scroll and a string of beads, apart from couplets, inscriptions and a seal cut in the Zhuan calligraphic style, totaling thirty four ideograms. Yet the length of it is no more than one cun. All this is done by using a selected slender and tiny nutshell.

Having scrutinized it carefully, I exclaimed with great wonder: Hey, what a miraculous feat of art! Zhuangzi and Liezi certainly describe a great many tours de force which are as amazing as if they were the workings of gods and ghosts. But who has ever been able to operate his chisel within a substance less than one square cun in area and make the things so carved distinct to the smallest details? If there should be someone repeating to me what I have said, I would also suspect him of telling a lie. But now I have seen the work with my own eyes. Judging from this, it is by no means beyond the bounds of possibility to make a she monkey out of the end of a thorn. Hey, what a marvellous skill!

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