韩少功 -《马桥词典》 第一篇《江》
马桥人的“江 ”，发音gang，泛指一切水道，包皮括小沟小溪，不限于浩浩荡荡的大水流。如同北方人的“海”，把湖泊池塘也包皮括在内，在南方人听来有些不可思议。重视大小，似乎是后来人的事。
People in Maqiao pronounce river as gang, which denotes all kinds of water ways, including babbling streams and great rivers. It’s like that the term “sea” in North China includes lakes and ponds, which amazes people in the south. It seemed that discerning size was the things which appeared afterwards.
英语中的river（江 ）与stream（溪），就是以大小来分的。而近在海峡对面的法国，fleuve指流入海的河流，riviere则表示内陆河流或流入另一条河流的支流，与大小无涉。可见四海之内名理多异，不是一一对应的。
The terms river and stream in English differs in size. In France across the English Channel，however, people use fleuve to denote rivers flowing towards the sea and riviere to denotes inland rivers or tributaries flowing into another river. This does not relate to size. We can see that differnet country has different naming logics and they are not equivalent.
马桥人后来也明白了大小，只是重视得似乎不太够，仅在声调上作一点区分。“江 ”发平声时指大河，发入声时则指小沟小溪，外人须听得时间足够长了，才不会搞错。我刚到马桥时，就发生过这样的误会，按照当地人的指点，兴冲冲寻江 而去。走到那里，才发现眼下哗啦啦的江 窄得可以一步飞越两岸。里面有一些幽暗的水草，有倏忽而逝的水蛇，根本不合适洗澡和游泳。
People in Maqiao seem to realize this afterwards. But they does not pay too much attention to it. They just make some difference in tones. The word gang, if pronounced in the first Chinese tone, means river. If it is pronounced in the fourth Chinese tone, it means streams. Outsiders need time to get used to this and not confuse them. When I first arrived at Maqiao, I made such a mistake. I searched for rivers with excitement according local people’s guide. But when I came there, I found that the river was so small that you can walk across it within one step. There were dark water grass under it and snakes which just wriggled away.
入声的江 不是平声的江 。沿着入声走一阵，一下走进了水的喧哗，一下走进水的宁静，一下又重入喧哗，身体也有忽散忽聚的感觉，不断地失而复得。碰到一个放牛的老人，他说莫看这条江 子小，以前的水很腻，烧得，可以拿来点油灯。
The word gang is pronounced in the fourth Chinese tone, not the first. I walked alone the stream for a while. Sometimes, I walked into noise. Sometimes, I walked into quiteness. Then, noise again. I felt that my body was also getting away and then getting together. I gained it and then lost it again and again. I came across an old man who was herding cows. He said the water used to be oily. It can be burnt, so people used it for oil light.