(1) Iron pestle grinding needle

Allusion: Li Bai, the famous poet of the Tang Dynasty, did not like studying when he was a child, so he often skipped school and wandered on the streets. One day, Li Bai did not go to school again. He wandered around the street and looked here and there, and unknowingly arrived outside the city. The warm sunshine, cheerful birds, and flowers swaying in the wind made Li Bai sigh, "With such a beautiful weather, how boring would it be to read in the house all day?"

Walking, in a At the door of the dilapidated hut, an old woman with white hair sat grinding an iron pestle as thick as a stick. Li Bai walked over and asked, "Old woman, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to grind this iron pestle into an embroidery needle." The old woman raised her head, smiled at Li Bai, and then lowered her head to continue. Grinding.

"Embroidery needle?" Li Bai asked again: "Is it an embroidery needle used for sewing clothes?"

"Of course!"

"But, Tie Chu When can such a thick needle be ground into a fine embroidery needle?"

The old woman asked Li Bai: "A drop of water can penetrate a stone, and a foolish old man can move a mountain. Why can't an iron pestle be ground into an embroidery needle?"

"But, you are so old?"

"As long as I work harder than others, there is nothing I can't do."

The old woman's words made Li Bai very ashamed, so after he returned, he never skipped school again. I also studied very hard every day, and finally became a poet who will be famous throughout the ages.

Source This article comes from "Fangyu Shenglan". It tells the story of the great poet Li Bai who had trouble studying when he was a child. On the way to abandoning school, he met an old woman grinding needles with an iron pestle. This deeply touched him and he finally worked hard. Study, and eventually you will achieve great success. "As long as you work hard enough, an iron pestle can be ground into a needle" comes from this story. This sentence has also become a famous aphorism that encourages future generations to persevere in their studies.

The original text of the idiom is Mozhen River, at the foot of Elephant Er Mountain in Meizhou. Legend has it that Li Taibai was studying in the mountains, but he abandoned it before completing it. After crossing a stream, I met an old woman grinding an iron pestle and asked her, "I want to make a needle." Taibai understood what he meant and returned to work. I said my surname was Wu. There is Wushi Rock next to Jinxi River.

No matter what you do, as long as you have perseverance, you will definitely succeed. Hard work pays off. If our children can be serious, hard-working and perseverant in their studies, there will be no problem with good grades.

(2) Hearing the Chicken and Dancing

Allusion Zu Ti of the Jin Dynasty was a man with an open mind and lofty ambitions. But when he was a child, he was a naughty child who didn't like reading. When he entered his youth, he realized his lack of knowledge and felt that he could not serve the country without studying, so he started reading hard. He read extensively and studied history seriously, so he started reading hard. He read extensively and studied history carefully, from which he learned a wealth of knowledge and made great progress in his knowledge. He went in and out of Luoyang, the capital, several times. People who came into contact with him said that Zu Ti was a talented person who could assist the emperor in governing the country. When Zu Ti was 24 years old, someone recommended him to go to court, but he refused and continued to study hard.

Later, Zu Ti and his childhood friend Liu Kun Yizhi served as the chief registrar of Sizhou. He and Liu Kun had a deep relationship. Not only did they often sleep in the same bed and quilt, they also had the same lofty ideals: to make contributions, revive the Jin Dynasty, and become the pillars of the country.

Once, Zu Ti heard the crow of a rooster in his sleep in the middle of the night. He kicked Liu Kun awake and said to him: "Other people think it is unlucky to hear a rooster crow in the middle of the night, but I don't." Thinking about it this way, how about we just get up and practice swordplay when the rooster crows?" Liu Kun readily agreed. So they got up after the rooster crows every day to practice their swords, with sword lights flying and sword sounds clanging. Spring goes to winter, cold comes and heat comes, never stopping. Hard work paid off, and after long-term hard study and training, they finally became all-round talents capable of writing good articles and leading troops to win battles. Zu Ti was named General Zhenxi, realizing his desire to serve the country; Liu Kun became the governor, taking charge of the military affairs of the three states of Bing, Hebei and You, and gave full play to his literary and military talents.

Source: "Book of Jin·Zu Ti Biography" Zu Ti (266-321), courtesy name Shizhi, was born in Fanyangqiu County (now Laishui, Hebei Province) and was a military strategist in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Zu Ti was born in Fanyang's ancestral family. He once served as the chief secretary of Sizhou, the chief minister of the state, the hussar offering wine, and the prince's minister. Later, he led his pro-party to escape the chaos in Jianghuai and was awarded the title of General Fenwei and governor of Yuzhou.

The interpretation story comes from "Jin Shu·Zu Ti Biography". The idiom "Dance upon hearing the chicken" describes a person who is energetic and promising, and also a metaphor for people with lofty ideals to cheer up in time.

(3) Repairing the situation after a desperate situation

Allusion This story comes from the "Warring States Policy". During the Warring States Period, a minister of the Chu State named Zhuang Xin said to King Xiang of Chu one day: "When you are in the palace, the Marquis of Zhou is on your left and the Marquis of Xia is on your right; when you go out, Lord Yanling and Lord Shouhe are always together. It’s up to you. You and these four people specialize in luxury and sex, regardless of national affairs, and Ying (the capital of Chu, in the north of Jiangling County, Hubei Province) must be in danger.”

King Xiang heard this! , was very unhappy and cursed angrily: "Are you confused? Are you deliberately saying these sinister words to confuse people's hearts?"

Zhuang Xin replied calmly: "I really feel that things must be done. If you have reached this point, you don’t dare to deliberately say that Chu is in trouble.

If you continue to favor this person, Chu will definitely perish. If you don’t believe me, please allow me to hide in Zhao. Hide and see what happens.

"Zhuang Xin had only lived in Zhao for five months. As expected, Qin sent troops to invade Chu, and King Xiang was forced to exile to Yangcheng (now northwest of Xixian County, Henan). Only then did he feel that Zhuang Xin's words were good, and he quickly sent people to retrieve Zhuang Xin. Come and ask him what he can do; Zhuang Xin said sincerely: "I have heard that it is not too late to think of a hound when you see a rabbit's teeth; it is not too late to mend the sheepfold after the sheep has run away." ..."

Source: "Warring States Policy·Chu Ce": "It is not too late to look after the dog when you see the rabbit; it is not too late to repair the dead sheep. ”

Interpretation: This is a very meaningful story. If you only know how to enjoy yourself but don’t know how to do things, the result will undoubtedly be a tragic failure. The idiom “to make up for the situation after the sheep is gone” is based on the above It comes from about two sentences and expresses the meaning that if something goes wrong, it is not too late to save it. For example, a businessman makes a mistake in estimating the development of things, advances rashly, and falls into failure. But he was not discouraged, and patiently thought about the matter again, learned from this mistake, and believed that it was not too late to "make up for it" and start from scratch.

(4) The blind man touches the elephant!

According to ancient Indian Buddhist scriptures, there was a small country in India in ancient times, and the king was named Mirror King. He believed in the Buddhism of Sakyamuni, worshiped Buddha and chanted sutras every day, and was very pious at that time. Many divine religions and witchcraft are popular, and most of the people are confused by their preaching, and their hearts are confused and unclear about right and wrong, which is not conducive to the governance of the country. The Mirror King really wants his subjects to convert to Buddhism, so he came up with an idea: use dharma. The blind man touched the elephant and taught them the truth. The Mirror King told his ministers: "Find some blind people who are completely blind to come to the king's city. "The messenger quickly gathered a group of blind men and led them to the palace.

The messenger walked into the palace and reported to the Mirror King: "Your Majesty, the blind man you asked to find has been brought to the palace. "The Mirror King said: "You will lead the blind people to the elephant garden tomorrow morning, so that each of them can only touch one part of the elephant's body, and then take them to the square in front of the palace immediately. ”

The next morning, the Mirror King summoned all the ministers and tens of thousands of civilians to gather in the square in front of the palace. People were whispering to each other. No one knew what important things the king was going to announce. Different At the meeting, the messenger led the blind people to the high seat of the Mirror King, and the people in the square suddenly became quiet. The Mirror King asked the blind people: "Have you touched the elephant?" The blind people replied in unison: "I touched the elephant!" The Mirror King added: "Each of you, tell us what an elephant looks like!" The blind man who touched the elephant's leg was the first to stand up and said, "Tell the wise king that the elephant is like a big barrel filled with paint." The blind man who touched the elephant's tail said, "Your Majesty, the elephant should be like a broom." The blind man who touched the belly of the elephant said, "Your Majesty, the elephant is indeed like a drum." "Then, those who touched the elephant's head said the elephant was like a big spoon, those who touched the big tusks said the elephant was like a horn, those who touched the back of the tail said the elephant was like a stick, and those who touched the ears said the elephant was like a stick. He said that the elephant was like a dustpan. Finally, the blind man who touched the elephant's trunk said, "Sage, the elephant is really like a thick rope. "A group of blind men divided into several groups. They were noisy and arguing. They all said that they were right and what others said was wrong. They all went to the Mirror King to argue: "Your Majesty! The elephant does look like what I said! "At this time, all the subjects present laughed when they saw this, and the Mirror King also looked at everyone meaningfully and laughed.

Source: "The Mahaparinirvana Sutra" 32: "The one who touches his teeth is The shape of the speech image is like a reed root. When it touches the ear, the image is like a dustpan. When it touches the head, it is like a stone. When it touches the nose, it is like a pestle. When it touches the foot, it is like a wooden mortar. When it touches the spine, it is like an image. Like a bed, when it touches the abdomen, it resembles an urn, and when it touches the tail, it resembles a rope. ”

Explanation is a metaphor for making random guesses and trying to make a comprehensive judgment based on one-sided understanding or partial experience of things.

(5) Waiting for the rabbit to happen

< p>According to legend, in the Song Dynasty during the Warring States Period, there was a farmer who worked at sunrise and rested at sundown. In a good year, he had just enough to eat and clothing; in a famine, he would suffer from hunger. . He wants to improve his life, but he is too lazy and timid. He is always lazy and afraid of anything.

The miracle finally happened in late autumn. One day, he was plowing in the field, and there were shouts and shouts everywhere, and the frightened little beast ran for his life. Suddenly, a rabbit hit and died on the root of the tree at the edge of his field. p>

He had a delicious meal that day.

From then on, he stopped farming all day long, waiting for the miracle to happen. /p>

From: "Han Feizi·Five Beetles" records: During the Warring States Period, there was a farmer in the Song State. He saw a rabbit hit a tree stump and died, so he put down his hoe and waited next to the tree stump every day, hoping to be killed again.

Interpretation of the idiom "waiting for the rabbit" refers to wanting to get something for nothing, or clinging to narrow experience without knowing how to adapt.

Allusion Once upon a time, there was a farmer in the Song Dynasty who felt that the rice seedlings in his field were growing too slowly, so he was worried all day long. One day, he went to the field again with a hoe. He felt that the rice seedlings did not seem to grow at all, so he worked hard. He was thinking about how to make the rice grow taller.

Suddenly, he had an idea. Without hesitation, he rolled up his pants and jumped into the paddy field, starting to pull each seedling a little taller.

In the evening, the farmer finally finished what he thought was a clever masterpiece. He ran home triumphantly and couldn't wait to tell his wife: "Let me tell you something great. I thought of a good idea today to let the rice in our field grow." The seedlings have grown a lot." The farmer's wife was dubious and asked her son to go to the field to see what was going on. When my son heard that the rice at home was growing taller, he ran to the field to see it with excitement. At this time, he found that the rice seedlings had grown taller, but they were hanging down and were about to wither.

Source: "Mencius Gongsun Chou"

Original text: There was a man named Min Qi in the Song Dynasty who pinched the seedlings when they were not growing long. He came back with a bright light and said to him: "I am sick today." Come on! I'll help the seedlings grow!" His son came to look at them, but the seedlings were dying.

There are very few people in the world who do not help young people grow up. Those who think it is useless and abandon it are those who do not cultivate the seedlings; those who help the elders are those who pull out the seedlings. It is not only useless, but also harmful.

Interpretation of this story tells us that we must not learn from the practices of farmers in the Song Dynasty. Everything has its order. If you destroy its order just to finish it early, in the end not only will it not be completed early, but Instead, nothing was accomplished.

(7) Buy a coffin and return a pearl

The allusion is about a man from Chu State, he had a beautiful pearl, and he planned to sell it. In order to sell it at a good price, he thought about packaging the pearl well. He felt that with noble packaging, the "status" of the pearl would naturally increase.

This man from Chu State found the precious magnolia and invited skilled craftsmen to make a box (ie coffin) for the pearl. He used cinnamon pepper to make the box fragrant. Then, many beautiful patterns were carefully carved on the outside of the box, and it was also inlaid with beautiful metal lace. It looked shiny, and it was really an exquisite and beautiful handicraft.

In this way, the Chu people carefully put the pearls into the box and took them to the market to sell.

Not long after arriving at the market, many people gathered around to admire Churen’s box. A man from Zheng held the box in his hand and looked at it for a long time. He couldn't put it down and finally bought Chu's box at a high price. After Zheng Ren paid the money, he took the box and walked back. But after walking a few steps he came back again. Chu Ren thought that Zheng Ren regretted and wanted to return the goods. Before Chu Ren could finish thinking about it, Zheng Ren had already walked up to Chu Ren. I saw Zheng Ren take out the pearl from the opened box and hand it to Chu Ren and said: "Sir, you forgot to put a pearl in the box. I came back specially to return the pearl." So Zheng Ren handed the pearl to Chu Ren. Chu Ren then lowered his head and walked back while admiring the wooden box.

Chu Ren stood there awkwardly holding the returned pearl. He originally thought that others would appreciate his pearls, but he didn't expect that the exquisite outer packaging exceeded the value of the box, so that it "overwhelmed the guest and took the prize", making Chu people dumbfounded.

Source: "Han Feizi·Wai Chu Shuo Upper Left".

Original text: Someone from Chu sold his pearls to Zheng. It was a cabinet of magnolia, smoked with cinnamon and pepper, embellished with pearls and jade, decorated with roses, and arranged with jadeite. The people of Zheng bought the coffin and returned the pearls. This can be said to be good at selling casks, but not good at selling pearls.

Interpretation: The Zheng people only paid attention to the appearance and ignored the essence, which made him make improper choices at the expense of the basics; and the "excessive packaging" of the Chu people is also a bit ridiculous.

(8) Playing the Yu indiscriminately

According to "Han Feizi" records, King Xuan of Qi loved to listen to the playing of the Yu, and he was also good at showing off. There were three hundred people playing Yu for him. He often asked these three hundred people to play the Yu together to listen to him. There was a Mr. Nan Guo who didn't know how to play the Yu at all. When he saw this opportunity, he went to King Xuan of Qi and asked to join the Yu playing team. King Xuan of Qi put him in the Yu playing team and gave him a high salary. Mr. Nanguo, who didn't know how to play the Yu at all, would always hang out in the team and show off with the Yu whenever he wanted to play the Yu. He went on like this day after day without being discovered.

When King Qi Xuan died, King Qi Min took over the throne. Unlike King Xuan of Qi, he did not like to listen to everyone playing the Yu together. Instead, he liked to ask the Yu players to play to him one by one. When Mr. Nan Guo heard the news, he had no choice but to run away and no longer dared to pretend to be a Yu player.

Source: "Han Feizi·Nei Chu Shuo".

Original text King Xuan of Qi sent people to play Yu, and there must be three hundred people. The Nanguo ministers asked him to play the Yu for the king, and King Xuan said so, and hundreds of people came to eat. King Xuan died, and King Min was established, so that he could listen to them one by one and the soldiers fled.

Translation King Xuan of Qi sent people to play the Yu, and three hundred people must play it together. The Nanguo minister asked to play the Yu for King Xuan of Qi, and King Xuan of Qi was very happy. The government gave him the same treatment as those hundreds of people. After King Xuan of Qi died, his son King Min of Qi (Tiandi) inherited the throne.

King Qi Min liked to listen to solos one by one, so Nanguo Chushi ran away