Original sentence:
When he grew up, he admired the teachings of saints and suffered from being unable to associate with knowledgeable teachers and celebrities. He quickly walked out of the hundred miles and brought the scriptures to his fellow villagers.
Translation:
As an adult, I admire the theory of sages more, but I can't communicate with knowledgeable teachers and celebrities. Once I walked (ran) a hundred miles and asked my compatriots for advice with scriptures in my hand.
Preface to Send Ma Sheng to Dongyang is an article that Song Lian gave to Ma Junze, a fellow villager in Dongyang, Zhejiang Province, in the early Ming Dynasty. In this message, the author tells about his early experience of seeking advice with an open mind and studying hard, encouraging young people to cherish a good reading environment and concentrate on their studies. This paper vividly and concretely describes the difficulty of borrowing books from teachers and the pain of running around hungry and cold, and compares it with the superior conditions of Taiji students, which strongly shows that whether or not academic achievements depend mainly on subjective efforts, not on the level of talent and the quality of conditions. This understanding still has reference significance today.