In order to complete his work, Sima Qian consulted a large amount of historical materials every day. After 16 years of hard work, he finally wrote the first biographical general history in Chinese history, "Shi Ji".
After 19 years of unremitting efforts, Sima Guang completed the book "Zi Zhi Tong Jian".
The Han Dynasty Yuefu's "Long Song Xing" has this poem: "When hundreds of rivers reach the sea from the east to the sea, when will they return to the west? The young will not work hard, and the old will be sad."
Jin Dynasty Tao Yuanming also wrote a poem about cherishing time: "The prime years will never come again, and it will be difficult to get back to the morning. We should encourage you in time. Time waits for no one."
In the poem "White Deer Cave" by Wang Zhenbai in the late Tang Dynasty, there is even more "One inch of time" The wonderful metaphor of "an inch of gold".
Lu Xun who cherished time
Lu Xun, our great thinker and writer, cherished time very much. He has a wise saying: "Time is life, and wasting other people's time for no reason is actually tantamount to seeking money and killing people."
Lu Xun really cherished his time as much as his life. He used the time that others spent drinking coffee and chatting in vain on work and study. Lu Xun also used various forms to encourage himself to cherish time, study and work hard. When he was in Beijing, there was a couplet hanging in his bedroom and study room, which collected two lines of poems from Qu Yuan, the great ancient Chinese poet. The first couplet was "Look at the peaks but don't rush" (seeing the sun setting without feeling anxious) , the second line is "Afraid that the pelican will sing first" (I am afraid that another year will come and the cuckoo will crow early again). There is also a photo of Mr. Fujino, the Japanese teacher that Lu Xun admired most, hanging on the wall of the study room. Lu Xun wrote in "Morning Blossoms Plucked at Dusk": "Whenever I am tired at night and want to be lazy, I look up and catch a glimpse of his dark and thin face in the light, as if he is about to say something in a measured tone, and I suddenly feel guilty. , and gained more courage, so he lit a cigarette and continued to write some words that were deeply hated by 'gentlemen' and others. "Lu Xun used the couplets and photos of spending time together to urge himself to hurry up. It is precisely because of this spirit of cherishing time and cherishing life that Lu Xun extensively covered many fields of natural and social sciences during his 56-year-old life journey. He translated more than 10 million words in his life, leaving a valuable legacy to future generations. cultural heritage.
Cut a wall to borrow light
Kuang Heng was diligent and studious, but there was no candle lighting at home. There were candles in the neighbor's house, but the light couldn't shine into his home, so Kuang Heng cut a hole in the wall to attract the light from the neighbor's house, so that the light could shine on the books for reading. There was a wealthy man named Wen Bu Shi from a wealthy family in his hometown. He was a rich man and had many books at home. Kuang Heng went to his house to work as a hired worker without any reward. The master felt very strange and asked him why he was like this. He said, "I hope I can get your book and read it through." After hearing this, the master sighed deeply and lent him the book to read. So Kuang Heng became a great scholar.
Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking was born in Oxford, England, on January 8, 1942. This is a special day. Galileo, the founder of modern science, died in 300 years. the same day before. He was terminally ill when he was young, but he persevered and overcame the pain and became a world-renowned scientist. After graduating from Oxford University, Hawking went to Cambridge University for graduate school. At this time, he was diagnosed with "Lou Gehrig's neck" and soon became completely paralyzed. In 1985, Hawking underwent tracheal surgery due to pneumonia. After that, he was completely unable to speak. , relying on a small intercom and language synthesizer installed on a wheelchair to talk to people; reading a book must rely on a machine that turns the pages of a book. When reading a document, you need to ask someone to spread out each page on a large table, and then he drives it The wheelchair reads page by page like a silkworm eating mulberry leaves...
But Hawking will not give up his desire to learn because of the torture of a small illness. It is precisely in this kind of difficulty that ordinary people can hardly believe. Hawking became a world-recognized giant in gravitational physics science at the University of Cambridge. His black hole evaporation theory and quantum cosmology not only shocked the world of natural science, but also had a profound impact on philosophy and philosophy. Religion also has a profound impact. Hawking also published "A Brief History of Time" in April 1988, which has sold 5.5 million copies in 33 languages. Today, in the West, people who claim to be educated will be dismissed if they have not read this book. People look down on it.
Li Shizhen
In the decades since Li Shizhen wrote "Compendium of Materia Medica", www.sxnet.com.cn/ he has read more than 800 classics. When studying ancient books, I found that the opinions of various schools were inconsistent and contradictory, so I went deep into the reality in many ways and "picked the medicine" myself. At the same time, I consulted many doctors, pharmacists, woodcutters, fishermen, etc. with practical experience, and finally identified and researched it. He has collected more than a thousand kinds of medicines recorded in the past dynasties and made new scientific conclusions for them.
Zhu Kezhen
my country's famous scientist Zhu Kezhen (using scientist Zhu Kezhen as a factual argument) always walks to work every day in order to study meteorology and detours to parks to observe the activities of animals and plants. . Whether it’s the dog days of summer or the three-nine days, it’s always like this. (A few words point out Zhu Kezhen’s perseverance in studying meteorology) This played a great role in his research work.
Shakespeare
The story of Shakespeare, the master of drama, is always talked about by our descendants. He was poor since he was a child, but he was hardworking and diligent. He was not afraid of the oppression of the world and reality. , persistently used his realistic pen to write immortal drama masterpieces such as "Hamlet" and "Romeo and Juliet". Later generations praised his plays as "not belonging to one era, but to all centuries." We understand the value of diligence from the story of the master of drama Shakespeare. Like Shakespeare's story of success, the stories of many celebrities who have influenced the course of world civilization can always bring a lot of thinking and inspiration to our descendants.
Schubert, the King of Songs, is talented, his irrepressible musical talent and persistent music creation have made him famous as the King of Songs; Qi Baishi, the master of traditional Chinese painting, has been hardworking and diligent since childhood, and has persevered in the study and creation of painting. He eventually became a master of traditional Chinese painting; medical scientist Hua Tuo was determined to study medicine since he was a child. He constantly thought about and practiced medical problems and eventually became a famous medical expert.
Sima Qian started writing "Historical Records" when he was 42 years old and completed it when he was 60 years old, which took 18 years. If the collection of historical materials, field interviews and other work after he was 20 years old were added together, this "Historical Records" took him a full 40 years.
The families of Che Yin, Sun Kang, and Kuang Heng of the Jin Dynasty were all very poor and could not even afford oil for lighting lamps. On summer evenings, Che Yin made a small bag with gauze, caught some fireflies and put it in it, and read with the light emitted by the fireflies; Sun Kang sat in the snow on a cold winter night, using the reflection of the snow to read hard; Kuang Heng I cut a small hole in the wall and "stole" some light from my neighbor's house to read. The idioms "The firefly reflects the snow" and "The wall is cut to steal the light" tell these stories.
Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, practiced calligraphy hard since he was a child. Every time he finished writing, he would go to the pond in front of his house to wash his brush. Over time, the pool of clear water turned into a pool of ink. Later, people called this pond "Mochi". Through diligent study and practice, Wang Xizhi finally became a famous calligrapher and was known as the "Sage of Calligraphy".
Sima Guang was a historian of the Song Dynasty and presided over the compilation of "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", which lasted 19 years. He made a pillow out of logs and named it "Warning Pillow" to warn himself not to sleep too much. When he sleeps on this log, if he turns slightly, the "warning pillow" will roll over and wake him up. Then, he immediately sat up and continued writing furiously.
Principal arguments
If you are talented, diligence can play its role; if your intelligence is mediocre, diligence can make up for its shortcomings.
Don’t be ashamed to ask:
In the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius was respected as a "sage" by people. He had two thousand disciples, and everyone asked him for advice. His "The Analects of Confucius" has been handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. Confucius was knowledgeable, but he still humbly asked others for advice. Once, he went to the Ancestral Temple to worship his ancestors. As soon as he entered the Ancestral Temple, he felt novel and asked other people this and that. Someone laughed and said: "Confucius is so knowledgeable, why do you still ask?" After hearing this, Confucius said: "Everything must be asked, what's wrong with that?" His disciples asked him: "After Kong Yu died, why did he call him Kong?" Wenzi?" Confucius said: "Only those who are smart, eager to learn, and not ashamed to ask questions are worthy of being called 'Wen'.
"The disciples thought: "Teacher often asks for advice from others, and he doesn't feel ashamed!"
Being open-minded and eager to learn, willing to learn from everyone, including those with lower status than oneself, is called "not ashamed to ask" ”