Zhuangzi · 秋水第十七
Read the witness. Inspect a construction. Follow the evidence.
Original source spelling · punctuation belongs to the digital witness · pronunciation tools follow your language focus.
A route through this passage
43 Han characters · 25 distinct forms · 7 units separated by the witness’s punctuation
- Establish the frame. Read the surrounding chapter. Who speaks, what is being discussed, and which earlier words supply the context?
- Test one unit.
北海若曰：
Mark a possible predicate and its participants. Record what you have supplied rather than found explicitly in the text. - Reconstruct the argument. Connect the units in your own words. Where does a description, question, contrast, or consequence depend on your interpretation?
Investigate 6 written forms in this passage
Matched by spelling. These are candidate reading procedures, not assigned grammatical analyses.
「井鼃不可以語於海者，Keep different negatives apart ↗「井鼃不可以語於海者，Identify means, basis, and purpose ↗「井鼃不可以語於海者，Locate a relation ↗「井鼃不可以語於海者，Name the one, thing, or situation ↗Watch recurrence: 於 × 6 不 × 3 可 × 3 以 × 3 語 × 3 者 × 3. Repetition of a graph need not mean repetition of a sense.
Computed from this exact witness · Contextual interpretation awaits editorial review. The guide is a set of reading prompts, not a translation. Sources & methods
Make this passage yours.
Use the reading guide above, build your interpretation, then test what you can recover. Your notes and schedule stay on this device.
1 · Explain it in your own words
2 · Recover the wording
Select a source unit, then hide the passage and reconstruct it. This checks textual recall, not understanding.
3 · Explain, then revisit
Without the source in front of you, explain the passage’s main point and one choice you made in reading it. Then reopen the text and check the evidence.
Rate your understanding yourself. These reminders use a simple schedule; they do not certify mastery.
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Shared wording
Computed exact phrases in the pinned witnesses. These links do not assign a sense or assert borrowing.
論語 · 雍也篇第六不可以語：「中人以上，可以語上也；中人以下，不可以語上也。」
論語 · 泰伯篇第八士不可以曾子曰：「士不可以不弘毅，任重而道遠。仁以為己任，不亦重乎？死而後已，不亦遠乎？」
荀子 · 議兵篇第十五士不可以，魏氏之武卒不可以遇秦之銳士，秦之銳士不可以當桓、文之節制，桓、文之節制不可以敵湯、武之仁義，有遇之者，若以焦熬投石焉。
Follow a connection
Shared teaching construction · an editorial learning connection, not evidence of common authorship or origin.
Select a character to find its other occurrences in these texts.
Edition, source, and reuse
- Work
- 莊子 · Zhuangzi
- Attribution
- Traditionally associated with Zhuang Zhou; the received collection includes multiple voices and layers.
- Digital witness
- Kanseki Repository · KR5c0126 · base edition CHANT
- Contributors
- Kanseki Repository (Kanripo) contributors; upstream base-edition labels retained in each original file.
- Source position
- KR5c0126_017.txt, lines 52–58. ZHUANG 17.1.4 Guo Qingfan 563; Wang Shumin 5i4; Fang Yong 433; Chen Guying 411
- Version
abb9cd323dfd9520894b56b3b8ba2ec0ea50554f- Reuse
- CC BY-SA 4.0. Text extraction and teaching additions share this licence.
- Text policy
- Source spelling and punctuation retained. Encoding headers, page markers, paragraph markers, whitespace, and leading section numbers are removed from the reading view. No silent script conversion or textual correction.
- Teaching
- zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes. English renderings are excerpt-level reading aids, not a full published translation. Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed.
Source-file SHA-256: 6926f8662b7270c81a9436331d483d2b5f7faa31e0179ab61e4722989ac6605b. A source comment that cites a translator is an upstream reference, not the attribution of a translation imported here.