1. Encouragement to study
Tang Dynasty: Yan Zhenqing
It is the time for men to study when the lights are on at three and the chickens are on at five.
Black-haired people don’t know how to study diligently early, and white-haired people regret studying late.
Explanation: The best time for boys to study is between midnight and the time when the rooster crows.
Young people don’t know how to get up early and study diligently. When you are old, it will be too late to regret not studying enough.
2. Two poems with reflections on reading the book·Part 1
Song Dynasty: Zhu Xi
Half an acre of square pond is open, the skylight and cloud shadows are lingering .
Ask him how clear it is? Come for living water from a source.
Interpretation: The half-acre square pond opens like a mirror, crystal clear, with skylight and cloud shadows shining and floating on the water.
Why is the water in the pond so clear? It is because there is an inexhaustible source that continuously delivers living water to it.
3. Poems to Encourage Learning/Occasionally
Song Dynasty: Zhu Xi
It is easy for a young man to learn, but it is difficult for an old man to succeed. One inch of time should not be taken lightly.
I haven’t realized the dream of spring grass in the pond, but the phoenix leaves in front of the steps have already sounded in autumn.
Interpretation: The days of youth are very easy to pass away, but it is difficult to achieve success in learning, so every inch of time cannot be easily let go.
Before I woke up from the dream of spring grass growing in the pond, the leaves of the sycamore tree in front of the steps were already rustling in the autumn wind.
4. Reading
Song Dynasty: Lu You
I returned to Zhining without a five-acre garden, and my original intention of reading was in Yuan and Yuan Dynasties.
Although my eyesight in front of the lamp is not the same as before, I still have to learn 20,000 words.
Interpretation: The ambition to return home and live in seclusion would still be the same even without the five acres of farmland. The original intention of studying was for the common people.
Reading under the lamp, my eyes were no longer what they used to be, but I still finished reading twenty thousand small words.