The Pot Calling the Kettle Black
The Pot Calling the Kettle Black
“I have spent a lot of time and effort，”stated King Hui of the state of Liang，“on governing my country．When there is a bad harvest in Henei，north of the Yellow River，I evacuate 1 the people there to Hedong，east of the Yellow River and move the grain of Hedong to Henei．When the harvest is bad in Hedong I would do the same for them． As far as I would see，none of the rulers of the neighbouring states are as diligent 2 as I．But the number of people in neighbouringstates does not decrease and the number of my subjects does not increase．Why is this so？
“My lord likes fighting battles，”replied Mencius，“so I will use an analogy from war：Imagine battle drums thundering and weapons clashing．At this time some soldiers abandon their armour 3 and runaway，dragging their weapons behind them．Some stop after going one hundred paces．Others halt after fifty paces．Those who ran only fifty paces laughed at those who ran a hundred．What do you think？”
“That's not right．It's just that they didn't go a hundred paces，but they did run away all the same．”
“My lord，if you understand this，then you should not cherish hopes of having more subjects than your neighbours．”
Exercises：
回答下列问题：
① Where is Henei？
② Who answered King Hui's question？
③ What do you think those who ran only fifty paces laughed at those who ran a hundred？
- We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
- They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。
- He is the more diligent of the two boys.他是这两个男孩中较用功的一个。
- She is diligent and keeps herself busy all the time.她真勤快，一会儿也不闲着。