2 Checking a patient’s pulse is a medical method used by oriental physicians to diagnose his or her health problems. The physician would check the pulse by slightly pressing his fingers on the blood vessels in the patient’s wrist area. A complete prognosis also involves the examination of the patient’s facial color and his or her “spirit,” expressed by facial expressions (especially around the eyes).
Vocabulary and Expressions
NOUNS
công nương daughter of a mandarin
danh y famed physician
nghề chài lưới fishing
ngọc gem
quả cầu ball
sáo flute
tâm bệnh depression
thân phận condition
thầy thuốc physician
tinh thần spirit
tư dinh residence
tướng mạo countenance
ADJECTIVES
ai oán plaintive
bị ám ảnh obsessed
bổng treble, high
chạnh lòng touched
cô quạnh solitary
dặt dìu presto and largo
êm đềm tranquil
huyền hoặc fantastic
phấn chấn cheerful
quyền quý noble
réo rắc melodious
tầm thường mediocre
thất vọng disappointed
tội nghiệp pitiful
trầm bass, low
trong suốt transparent
tương tư lovesick
vỡ mộng disillusioned
xấu trai not handsome
VERBS
bắt mạch to feel the pulse
chữa lành to cure
đề nghị to suggest
diện kiến to meet in person
đoái hoài to condescend to take notice
e to be afraid
khám bệnh to examine a patient
mường tượng to imagine
ngưng bặt to stop abruptly
thêu thùa to embroider
thơ thẩn to wander
ADVERBS
bất giác suddenly
khắc khoải anxiously
lung linh sparklingly
may ra hopefully
quả nhiên indeed
rất đỗi extremely
tình thật honestly
trầm ngâm pensively
IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
chiều lại qua chiều evening after evening
ngày ngày day in, day out
sinh lòng luyến ái to fall in love
văn võ song toàn all-round, well-rounded
xưa thật là xưa long, long ago
Discussion Questions
1 The story shows that My Nuong’s love for Truong Chi was based on her imagination (a handsome flute player) as well as on a reality (the sound of his flute). Discuss the interaction between reality and imagination that brings about love.
2 Can a powerful, albeit imaginative, love like My Nuong’s be easily extinguished by an unembellished truth, like that of Truong Chi’s ugliness? Elaborate on your answer.
3 What does the disappearance of both the teacup and the flute player’s silhouette symbolize, in your opinion?
The Woman with a Cursed Life
Clinging Adversity
People can come to religion for various reasons, but some find solace and escape from the injustice they face in their everyday lives. Others find that adversity seems to follow them no matter where they go. Such seems to be the fate of one particular married woman who has left her husband over a regrettable misunderstanding to seek haven in the house of Buddha. Ironically, she keeps running into misunderstandings and thus ends her life on a lamentable note.
Long ago, there was a young lady named Thi Kinh, who had a kind nature and a beauty that was pleasant to the eyes. She was pious, always thoughtfully cared for her parents, and proved able to manage a household. When she came of age, her parents betrothed her to a student named Thien Si. Her young husband was a gentle person, who studied diligently day and night for his exam. Thi Kinh thriftily helped care for him while he studied. Their married life was happy and peaceful. At night he would sit at his desk reading while she sat next to him embroidering and sewing. After he finished his studies, the couple would have good conversations with each other.
After much reading one evening, Thien Si fell half-asleep. He lay his head on his desk and napped for a bit. As Thi Kinh watched her husband sleeping, she suddenly saw a long strand of ingrown hair on his chin, a real eyesore. Thi Kinh mumbled to herself, “Oh, this ingrown hair does not make him look good one bit! I need to pluck it for him.” She took a penknife from her sewing basket and held it next to her husband’s face. She was about to cut the hair, when unexpectedly Thien Si woke up and became terrified that his wife was holding a knife to his throat.
He grabbed her hand and yelled, “Hey! Were you trying to kill me in my sleep or what?”
Thi Kinh was no less terrified. She made an effort to explain herself, but Thien Si stubbornly did not believe her. Her mother-in-law heard the commotion from inside their room and ran out to see what was happening. Thien Si and Thi Kinh each told her their side of the story. Naturally, the mother had to believe her son. After the woman viciously scolded and criticized her daughter-in-law, she sent Thi Kinh back home to her own parents.
Thi Kinh, heartbroken at this injustice, left her marital home. She then shaved her head, disguised herself as a male, and took shelter in a Buddhist temple, to be far away from worldly matters. The elderly monk, not suspecting that she was a woman, accepted her into the temple and gave her a religious name “Kinh Tam.” Day and night from then on, Kinh Tam chanted prayers and immersed herself in Buddha’s teachings.
Among the group of Buddhist followers who diligently went to the temple was a girl named Thi Mau. Although