内容正文:
Unit 2 Morals and Virtues
(见学生用书P30)
One day, when Zeng Shen's wife was going to the market, their son cried and clamoured to go with her.
“Go back now!” she wheedled him. “When I get home, we'll kill the pig for you.”
Upon her return, she found Zeng Shen was about to kill the pig. She hastily①stopped him.
“I didn't really mean it,” she protested. “I just said that to keep the boy quiet.”
“How can you deceive② a child like that?” asked Zeng Shen. “Children know nothing to begin with, but they copy their parents and learn from them. When you cheat the boy, you are teaching him to lie. If a mother deceives her child, he will not trust her, and that is no way to bring him up.”
So he killed the pig after all.
—Han Feizi
曾子之妻之市,其子随之而泣。其母曰:“女还,顾反为女杀彘。” 妻适市来,曾子欲捕彘杀之。妻止之曰:“特与婴儿戏耳。” 曾子曰:“婴儿非与戏也。婴儿非有知也,待父母而学者也,听父母之教。今子欺之,是教子欺也。母欺子,子而不信其母,所非以成教也。” 遂烹彘也。 ——《韩非子》
这个故事告诉我们,要有诚实守信的人生态度,不可欺骗别人。
There was once a rich man in the state of Song. After a downpour of rain his wall began to crumble③.
“If you don't mend that wall,” warned his son, “a thief will get in.”
An old neighbor gave the same advice.
That night, indeed, a great deal of money was stolen.Then the rich man commended his son's intelligence, but suspected his old neighbor of being the thief.
宋有富人,天雨墙坏。 其子曰:“不筑,必将有盗。” 其邻人之父亦云。 暮而果大亡其财。 其家甚智其子,而疑邻人之父。
它告诫人们,如果不尊重事实,只用亲疏和感情作为判断是非的标准,就会主观臆测,得出错误的结论。
Virtue
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright!
The bridal of the earth and sky;
The dew④ shall weep thy fall tonight,
For thou must die.
Sweet rose, whose hue⑤ angry and brave,
Bids the rash gazer⑥ wipe his eye,
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And thou must die.
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted⑦ lie,
My music shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.
Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
Like season'd timber⑧, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
Then chiefly lives.
甜美的白昼,如此凉爽、安宁、明亮!
天地间完美的匹配——
今宵的露珠儿将为你的消逝而落泪;
因为你必须离去。
美丽的玫瑰,色泽红润艳丽,
令匆匆而过的人拭目而视,
你的根永远扎在坟墓里,
而你必须消逝。
美妙的春天,充满了