声律启蒙：词语成双
Words in pairs
Read, find evidence, and explain in your own words.
Read
云对雨，雪对风，晚照对晴空。来鸿对去燕，宿鸟对鸣虫。
Cloud pairs with rain, snow with wind, sunset glow with a clear sky. Arriving wild geese pair with departing swallows; roosting birds with chirping insects.
Explore the text
节选自清代车万育《声律启蒙》上卷一东。它帮助读者练习对仗和声音的节奏。鸿指大雁，宿鸟是停宿的鸟，宿读住宿的宿；在千字文的辰宿里，同一个字却读秀的音。
From the first Dong-rhyme section of Che Wanyu’s Enlightenment in Sound and Rhythm, a Qing text. It practises parallel wording and rhythm. Hong refers to wild geese; su niao means roosting birds. Su has a different reading from the xiu in the Thousand Character Classic’s star groups.
对在这里是相配，不等于每组都是反义词。来和去方向相反，云和雨却是相关的天气。先看两边字数，再看事物类别，最后听一听声音是否顺口。
Dui means pair here; not every pair is an opposite. Coming and going are opposite directions, while cloud and rain are related weather ideas. Compare the lengths and kinds of things on each side, then listen to the rhythm.
Words to practise
云雨雪风鸟虫