The story we are going to tell you today is a great Chinese classic called Journey to the West, affectionately known as Monkey King. It's actually based on a journey that took place in 629 by a monk who went from China to India to bring back the Buddhist Scriptures.

今天我要给你们讲的故事是一个伟大的中国经典，名字叫做《西游记》，我们也亲切地称为《美猴王》。故事实际上是基于公元629年一个和尚从中国到印度取回佛经的历程改编的。

About a thousand years later, a novelist by the name of Cheng'en took this legend and created a two-thousand-page novel. But you know, he couldn't just write about this dedicated, pure-hearted monk, he needed to put some excitement in the story. And so he created an alter ego for him, known as the impetuous, wild Monkey King, who wanted everything for himself.

大约一千年后，有一个叫吴承恩的小说家根据这个传奇故事创作了一部两千页的小说。不过你们知道，他不可能只描述这个尽心尽力且虔诚纯洁的和尚，他需要给小说增添一些刺激。于是吴承恩就创造了一个自己的影子，也就是大家熟悉的那个冲动莽撞、无法无天的美猴王，一切都是我行我素。