红楼梦Chapter22_小升初阅读_小升初-查字典英语网

红楼梦Chapter22

　　Pao-yue had， in his own mind， been under the impression that he had attained perception， but when he was unawares and all of a sudden subjected to this question by Tai-yue， he soon found it beyond his power to give any ready answer. And when Pao-chai furthermore came out with a religious disquisition， by way of illustration， and this on subjects， in all of which he had hitherto not seen them display any ability， he communed within himself： If with their knowledge， which is indeed in advance of that of mine， they havent， as yet， attained perception， what need is there for me now to bring upon myself labour and vexation?

　　Who has， pray， he hastily inquired smilingly， after arriving at the end of his reflections， indulged in Buddhistic mysteries? what I did amounts to nothing more than nonsensical trash， written， at the spur of the moment， and nothing else.

　　At the close of this remark all four came to be again on the same terms as of old; but suddenly a servant announced that the Empress (Yuean Chun) had despatched a messenger to bring over a lantern-conundrum with the directions that they should all go and guess it， and that after they had found it out， they should each also devise one and send it in. At these words， the four of them left the room with hasty step， and adjourned into dowager lady Chias drawing room， where they discovered a young eunuch， holding a four-cornered， flat-topped lantern， of white gauze， which had been specially fabricated for lantern riddles. On the front side， there was already a conundrum， and the whole company were vying with each other in looking at it and making wild guesses; when the young eunuch went on to transmit his orders， saying： Young ladies， you should not speak out when you are guessing; but each one of you should secretly write down the solutions for me to wrap them up， and take them all in together to await her Majestys personal inspection as to whether they be correct or not.