Ceng Zi got dressed and was ready for farming. Lu Jun sent someone to the city and said, "Please mend your clothes with this." Ceng Zi has not been affected. Repeatedly, but not by. The messenger said, "sir, if you don't want others, they will give it." Why don't you laugh at it? " Ceng Zi said, "As soon as I heard about it, I was afraid of others and proud of them. Even if you are talented, I am not arrogant. Can I not be afraid? " I won't accept it. Confucius listened: "The words of participation are enough for the whole section."
(selected from "Shuo Yuan Volume IV")
translate
Ceng Zi cultivated the land in rags, and King Lu sent someone there to give him a fief. And said, "just use the income of this city to make you wear expensive clothes." Ceng Zi doesn't accept it. I walked again and again, but I still didn't accept it. The messenger said, "sir, this is not what you want, but someone else gave it to you." Why not accept it? " Ceng Zi said, "I have heard this proverb. People who accept things from others will feel indebted to others, and people who give things to others will be arrogant to others. Even if you give me something that is not arrogant to me, can I not feel indebted to others? " I didn't accept it in the end. Confucius listened and said, "Zeng Shen's words are enough to preserve his integrity."
To annotate ...
Key notional words
1. clothes (the former of "clothes and clothes"): nouns are used flexibly as verbs: wear.
2.To: verb: give.
3. amendment: verb: amendment.
4.Xi: interrogative pronoun: what.
5. All: Verb: Save.
6. Fear: Verb: Here is "feeling indebted to others".
7. vertical: even if, even if.
Section 8: Integrity.
Key function words
1.Take (farm clothes): conjunction: connecting modifier and head word.
2. Yan: pronoun: equivalent to "then", which can be translated as "going there".
source
Shuo Yuan, written by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty. Liu Xiang, a Confucian scholar, writer and bibliographer in the Western Han Dynasty, was the secretary of the school. This book is some historical stories and legends from the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Western Han Dynasty edited by the Royal Library and folk books when he was at school, with the author's comments. It gives full play to the political thoughts and moral concepts of Confucianism and has a certain philosophical nature.