沙和尚
Sandy of the Flowing Sand River
Name: ________________ Date: ________
师徒三人又走了很久，来到一条大河边。河边有一块石碑，上面写着三个大字：流沙河。下面还有几行小字，意思是：这条河有八百里宽，水特别软，就连一根鹅毛放上去，也会沉到河底。唐僧看着一眼看不到头的河水，心里很着急。
正在这时，河里忽然翻起一个大浪，跳出一个妖怪来。他长着红色的头发，两只眼睛像灯一样亮，脖子上挂着九个骷髅，手里拿着一根长棍，向唐僧冲了过来。悟空赶紧抱起师父，跑到高处，八戒拿起钉耙迎了上去。
两个人在河边斗了二十多个回合，还是谁也赢不了谁。悟空忍不住了，跳过去就是一棒。那妖怪一看不好，转身跳进河里，不见了。八戒生气地说：“哥哥，你急什么？我再跟他斗几个回合，就能抓住他了！”
悟空笑道：“我在水里的本领不太行。你以前管过天河，会水，你下去把他骗上来，我在河边打他。”八戒跳进水里，又和妖怪打了起来。两人打了一会儿，八戒假装输了，往岸上跑，妖怪就追了上来。悟空一看，马上冲过去，举棒就打。那妖怪又钻回了水里。从这以后，不管八戒怎么叫，他就是不肯上来了。
悟空没办法，只好去南海找观音。观音说：“那妖怪是我让他在这里等取经人的。你们为什么不告诉他，你们是取经的人？”她叫来徒弟惠岸，交给他一个红葫芦，让他跟悟空一起去流沙河。
惠岸站在河边，大声喊：“悟净！悟净！取经人已经来了，你怎么还不出来？”那妖怪一听，马上从水里出来，跪在唐僧面前，拜他为师。
原来，他本来是天上的卷帘大将，在蟠桃会上不小心打破了一个玻璃杯，被玉帝赶到了这里。他在河里饿得没办法，就吃过路的人。以前有九个去取经的和尚经过这里，都被他吃了。别人的头都沉到了河底，只有这九个和尚的头浮在水上，怎么也沉不下去。他觉得奇怪，就把它们穿起来，挂在了脖子上。有人说，这九个和尚其实都是唐僧自己，是他前面九辈子的样子。
他说：“观音菩萨已经给我起了名字，叫沙悟净。”唐僧说：“你现在是和尚了，我就叫你沙和尚吧。”他又向悟空和八戒拜了拜，叫他们师兄。惠岸说：“菩萨说了，把你的九个骷髅和这个葫芦放在一起，就能做成一条船，送唐僧过河。”他们把九个骷髅用绳子连在一起，把红葫芦放在中间，放进河里，它们一下子就变成了一条小船。唐僧坐在船上，八戒和沙和尚在两边扶着，悟空在空中保护，白龙马也跟在后面，很快就平平安安地过了河。刚一上岸，那条小船就变成了九阵风，不见了。
师父、三个徒弟，再加上一匹白龙马，取经的队伍终于到齐了。可是在去西天的路上，还有八十一次大难在等着他们。
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 忽然 | hūrán | suddenly; all of a sudden |
| 亮 | liàng | bright; shiny; to shine; to light up |
| 挂 | guà | to hang; to put up |
| 抱 | bào | to hold in one's arms; to hug; to embrace |
| 输 | shū | to enter; to input (as in 输入) |
| 举 | jǔ | to hold (an event) (as in 举办) |
| 宽 | kuān | wide; broad; width |
| 软 | ruǎn | soft; flexible |
| 根 | gēn | root (math.) |
| 沉 | chén | heavy |
| 冲 | chōng | to rush; to charge |
| 本领 | bénlǐng | skill; ability |
English (for the teacher)
Master and his two disciples walked on for a long time and came to a great river. A stone tablet stood on the bank, carved with three big characters: Flowing Sand River. Beneath were a few lines of small writing, saying the river was eight hundred li wide, and its water so soft that even a goose feather laid on it would sink to the bottom. The Tang Monk looked out at the endless water and grew anxious.
Just then a great wave rose up in the river, and out leapt a monster. He had a head of red hair, two eyes as bright as lamps and nine skulls hanging around his neck, and with a long staff in his hand he rushed at the Tang Monk. Wukong quickly picked up his master and ran to higher ground, while Bajie went to meet the monster with his rake.
The two of them fought on the bank for more than twenty rounds, and still neither could win. Wukong couldn't hold back any longer. He leapt in and swung his rod. Seeing things go badly, the monster turned and dived into the river, and was gone. Bajie said crossly: "Brother, what's the hurry? A few more rounds and I'd have caught him!"
Wukong laughed: "I'm not much good in the water. You used to command the River of Heaven and you can swim, so go down and lure him up, and I'll hit him from the bank." Bajie jumped into the water and started fighting the monster again. After they had fought a while, Bajie pretended to be beaten and ran for the bank, and the monster chased after him. As soon as Wukong saw him, he rushed over and raised his rod to strike. The monster ducked back into the water again. After that, no matter how Bajie called, he simply wouldn't come up.
Wukong had no choice but to go to the South Sea to see Guanyin. Guanyin said: "I told that monster to wait there for the pilgrim. Why didn't you tell him that you're the pilgrims?" She called her disciple Huian, gave him a red gourd and told him to go to the Flowing Sand River with Wukong.
Huian stood on the bank and called out loudly: "Wujing! Wujing! The pilgrim is here. Why haven't you come out?" As soon as the monster heard this, he came out of the water, knelt before the Tang Monk and took him as his master.
He had once been the Curtain-Lifting General in heaven. At the Peach Banquet he accidentally broke a glass cup, and the Jade Emperor banished him here. Starving in the river, he ate the people who passed by. Long ago, nine monks on their way to fetch the scriptures had come this way, and he had eaten them all. Everyone else's heads sank to the riverbed, but these nine monks' skulls floated on the water and would not sink however he tried. He thought it strange, so he strung them together and hung them around his neck. Some say those nine monks were really the Tang Monk himself, in his nine earlier lives.
He said: "Guanyin has already given me a name: Sha Wujing." The Tang Monk said: "You're a monk now, so I'll call you Sha Heshang, Sandy the monk." Then he bowed to Wukong and Bajie and called them his elder brothers in the faith. Huian said: "Guanyin says that if you put your nine skulls together with this gourd, they'll make a boat to carry the Tang Monk across." They tied the nine skulls together with a rope, put the red gourd in the middle and set it in the river, and at once it became a little boat. The Tang Monk sat in the boat, Bajie and Sandy steadied it on either side, Wukong guarded them from the air, the White Dragon Horse followed behind, and very soon they were safely across the river. The moment they stepped ashore, the little boat turned into nine gusts of wind and vanished.
A master, three disciples and a white dragon horse: the pilgrims were all together at last. But on the road to the West, eighty-one trials lay waiting for them.