“马童面之”并非“马童仔细观看项羽”——“马童面之”之“面之”诸说评议

"Ma Tong facing him" doesn't mean "Ma Tong surveying him carefully" ——A comment on different explanation for "Ma Tong facing him"

对《史记·项羽本纪》“马童面之”的“面之”来历有不同解释,传统说法中,有解释为“背对项羽”的,也有解释为“面对项羽”的,肖振宇先生则坚决否定了传统说法,提出“仔细观看项羽”的新解,并认为“根据字义、文义和语言规律”,此论新则新矣,可是根据对词语意义、上下文义辨析以及语言使用规律分析,笔者觉得此说有悖于词语意义和语言使用规律,传统解释才更合理。

Traditionally, there are two main views about the meaning of ＇ MaTong facing him＇ in the Historic Records - Biography of XiangYu. One is ＇ with the back towards XiangYu＇, the other is ＂with the face towards XiangYu＇. However, Prof Xiao Zhenyu completely disagrees with the former views. He prefers to the explanation of ＇ surveying him carefully＇ and thinks that is reasonable on the basis of word meaning, context and the linguistic logic. Compared with the former, his opinion is new and different, but in my view, his explanation is contrary to the word meaning and the linguistic logic, therefore, the traditional views would be better.