| seclusive |
2006-12-31 22:46 |
V1：半途而废 Give up halfway
战国时期，魏国有个叫乐羊子的人。有一天，乐羊子在路上看到一块金子，他就捡起金子，带回了家并把它拿给妻子看。可他妻子一点儿也不高兴。这个贤惠的女人对他说：“我听人说‘壮士不饮盗泉之水；廉洁的人不食嗟来之食’。把别人遗失的贵重之物捡起来据为己有，你怎么看待这种行为呢？”
During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), there was a man called Yue Yangzi in State Wei. One day he saw a piece of gold on the road and picked it up. He took it home and gave it to his wife. But his wife was not happy. The virtuous woman said, "I hear that a man of morality doesn't drink a thief's water and a man of probity refuses to accept alms. What do you think of the action of picking up another's lost valuable and possessing it for one's own?"
乐羊子听了妻子的话，觉得很惭愧，就把那块金子又扔到原来的地方。
Yue Yangzi, feeling ashamed, sent the gold back to where he found it.
第二年，乐羊子离开家，到了一个很远的地方，去拜师求学。
The next year, Yue Yangzi felt that he should go out and visit scholars to enrich his knowledge. So he set off.
一年后，乐羊子突然回到家中，他的妻子很惊讶地问：“你怎么回来了？你才和那些学者学了一年呀。”乐羊子说：“我太想你了，所以回来看看。”
A year later, he came back home suddenly. "Why have you returned?" asked his wife in surprise, "You've only spent one year studying with scholars." "I come back because I missed you very much."
他的妻子听了以后，二话不说，拿起一把剪刀走到她的织布机前。她指着那块已经完成了一半的锦缎说：“这块锦缎用的是最好的丝。我一丝丝地累积来织成这锦缎。如果我现在把它剪断，就等于前功尽弃。你求学也是这样。如果现在停止，和剪断织布机上的锦缎有什么区别？”
Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom at which she had worked. Pointing at the half done brocade, she proclaimed : "This brocade is woven from the finest silk. I wove one strand after another to produce the brocade. Now if I cut it, all my previous work will be wasted. It's the same with your studies. You can acquire knowledge only through diligence. Now, you've stopped halfway. Isn't it the same as cutting the brocade on the loom?"
乐羊子被妻子的话所感动，于是立刻离开家，继续拜师求学。几年后，乐羊子终于完成学业，成为一个博学的人。
Yue Yangzi was moved by what she said. He again left home to visit scholars. Several years later he became a learned man.
注释：
捡 pick up
贤惠 virtuous
廉洁 probity
惭愧 ashamed
剪刀 scissor
锦缎 brocade
******************
V2：半途而废 To Quit Halfway Down the Road
战国时期，在河南有个叫乐羊子的人，他娶了一位非常贤德的妻子。
有一天，乐羊子在路上捡到一块金子，回家告诉了妻子。妻子说：「这块金子一定是有人不小心掉的，掉金子的人说不定正在很着急的找着，你应该把它放回去才对。」乐羊子觉的妻子说的很对，就把那块金子送回原来的地方。
后来，乐羊子到很远的地方去拜师求学。才过一年就回来了。回家时他的妻子正在织布，见他突然回来了，觉的很惊讶，就问道：「你的学业已经完成了吗？」
乐羊子摇摇头，说：「还没有呢！因为我很想念你，所以想回来看看你。」
妻子听了乐羊子的话并不觉的高兴，反而拿出一把剪刀，走到织布机前，把机上正在编织的布全部剪断，然后说：「这布的原料来自蚕的茧，是一丝一丝累积织成的，先成寸，才成尺，再成一匹布。现在我把它剪断，可以说是前功尽弃，必须从新织起。你外出求学，也要日积月累，认真的去研读，才能有所成就。像你现在这样中途停止，那这一年的宝贵时间，不是都白白浪费了吗？」
于是，乐羊子又外出求学，一去七年，直到学成才回来。后来他得到魏文侯的重用，做了一番事业。我们平时经常说的成语「半途而废」就是出自这个故事，它告诉我们做事必须有恒心，要有始有终。
乐羊子在外求学期间，他的妻子在家辛勤劳作，奉养婆婆。有一次，邻居家的鸡跑进他家园子，婆婆竟把鸡杀掉后煮了。乐羊子的妻子看着鸡肉不但不吃，反而哭了起来。婆婆感到很奇怪，问她哭什么，她说：「我为生活贫困而伤心。我不能给您弄来好吃的，您才要吃别人的鸡啊！」婆婆听了感到很羞愧，也不再吃那鸡，把它倒掉了。
劝告丈夫不贪不义之财，这样的妻子是益友；激励他完成学业，这样的妻子是严师；乐羊子的妻子能给婆婆讲明道理，帮助丈夫成为有德行的人，她真是个贤良孝顺的媳妇啊！
During the Warring States Period, there lived a man named Yue Yang-tz, who had a very virtuous wife. Once, when he took home a piece of gold that he had found, his wife made him take it back to the place where he had found it.
Another time, he went away to study, but feeling it was too difficult, returned home after only a year. When he told his wife why he had come home, she immediately took a pair of scissors and cut the cloth which she had just been weaving from the loom. Then she said to him, "This cloth is made from thread after thread, woven together. I have tolied over it day and night." Yue Yang-tz then asked, "Didn't you just waste a lot of time, then, by cutting it off like that? It's really a pity." To which his wife replied, "Yes! This is just like your studying! Sucess comes only from working hard over a long period of time; if you quit halfway down the road, your studies will be just like this cloth."
This idiom can refer to any situation in which a person starts something, and stops before completing what he has started.
V3：半途而废（Ban Tu Er Fei） fail to complete
“半途而废”这则成语的意思是比喻做事中途停止，不能坚持底。 这个成语来源于 《 礼记 . 中庸 》 ，君子遵道而行，半涂（即途）而废，吾弗能已矣。
东汉时，河南郡有一位贤慧的女子，人们都不知她叫什么名字，只知道是乐羊子的子。
一天，乐羊子在路上拾到一块金子，回家后把它交给妻子。妻子说：“我听说有志向人不喝盗泉的水，因为它的名字令人厌恶；也不吃别人施舍而呼唤过来吃的食物，宁饿死。更何况拾取别人失去的乐西。这样会玷污品行。”乐羊子听了妻子的话，非常惭，就把那块金子扔到野外，然后到远方去寻师求学。
一年后，乐羊子归来。妻子跪着问他为何回家，乐羊子说：“出门时间长了想家，没其他缘故。”妻子听罢，操起一把刀走到织布机前说：“这机上织的绢帛产自蚕茧，成织机。一根丝一根丝地积累起来，才有一寸长；一寸寸地积累下去，才有一丈乃至一。今天如果我将它割断，就会前功尽弃，从前的时间也就白白浪费掉。”
妻子接着又说：“读书也是这样，你积累学问，应该每天获得新的知识，从而使自已品行日益完美。如果半途而归，和割断织丝有什么两样呢？”
乐羊子被妻子说的话深深感动，于是又去完成学业，一连七年没有回过家。
In today’s program, we learn a new phrase, meaning “fail to complete”. The Chinese reads: Ban Tu Er Fei, which literally means: halfway, give up. We use it to describe those who do things by halves. But where does this idiom come from?
During the Warring States period, about 2,400 years ago, a man called Yue Yangzi lived on the south bank of the Yangtze River with his kind, considerate wife. One day, Yue Yangzi found a piece of gold on the way home and gave it to his wife. But when she saw it, and to his great surprise and disappointment, she was angry, and said to him: “An ambitious person will not drink the water of Thief Lake, for this would destroy his determination. Honest people will not accept charity, for it is humiliating. Surely, keeping something you found on the road will harm your reputation.” On hearing this, Yue Yangzi felt ashamed of himself. He returned to the place where he had found the gold and put it back, then bid farewell to his wife and went away to study and seek wisdom.
After only one year, Le Yingzi came back home. His wife asked him: “How could you come back only after one year’s study?” He answered: “After a while, I began to miss you terribly, so I am back to see you.” His wife then picked up a pair of scissors, walked over to her loom, and said: “Look at this silk cloth, of the finest silk. The silk is drawn out of the cocoons. The silk is spun into thread, and the cloth is woven, thread by thread, and, very slowly, it grows, from a thin strip, to inches, and eventually into a magnificent length of shimmering cloth. But if it is cut now, all the work put into it would be wasted. The same applies to your studies.”
Yue Yangzi was very moved by his wife’s words, and went off again to his books. This time, it was seven years before he returned home, and he had become a famous scholar. Later, the king of the State of Wei appointed him to a high position, and Yue Yangzi made many great achievements.
From what his wife said to him, people drew the idiom Ban Tu Er Fei, to stop halfway. Now it is used to describe someone who does things by halves. We all know people like that, and now you have the perfect idiom to use: Ban Tu Er Fei. The tone pattern is fourth, second, second, fourth. |
|
传在战国时代宋国，有一个农民，日出而作，日入而息．遇到好年景，也不过刚刚吃饱穿暖；一遇灾荒，可就要忍饥挨饿了．他想改善生活，但他太懒，胆子又特小，干什么都是又懒又怕，总想碰到送上门来的意外之财。 