Life is what I want; Righteousness is also what I want. You can't have both, and you have to sacrifice your life for righteousness.

Life is what I want, justice is what I want. If you can't get both at the same time, give up your life and take justice.

[Publishing] Mencius

note:

1, original text

Fish, what I want; Bear's paw is what I want You can't have your cake and eat it. You can't have your cake and eat it. Life is what I want; Righteousness is also what I want. You can't have both, and you have to sacrifice your life for righteousness. Life is what I want. I want it more than the living, so I don't want it. If there is nothing more in disgust than death, what can be done to avoid evil that can be used to escape evil? If people only want life, why not use those who can have life? If people are more terrible than the dead, why not treat the sick? If you are right, you are born unnecessary. If you are right, you can make trouble without doing anything. A bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, you can live if you get it, but you will starve if you don't get it. But with disdain to drink and eat, hungry pedestrians are unwilling to accept it; Kick others' food with their feet, and beggars will not accept it.

The senior official accepted it without distinguishing whether it was appropriate or not. Call it, and the people in the street will be blessed; Begging for help is too much.

Ten thousand minutes is acceptable, and there is no need to argue whether it is appropriate. What does ten thousand minutes do to me? For the beauty of the palace, the service of wives and concubines, and the poor people who know me? Die for the body, not subject to the body, this is the beauty of the palace; Die for yourself, not subject to it, and now be regarded as a wife; I want to die for my life, but now I want to die for those who are poor and in need. Is it ok or not? This is called the loss of humanity.

Step 2 take notes

1. Desire: What you want. 2. Bear's paw: Bear's paw is more precious and delicious than fish. Food that the ancients thought was precious.

3. at the same time: at the same time. 4. got it: got it. It means "drag out an ignoble existence".

5. Suffering: disaster, disaster. 6. monarch: avoid it.

7. Shi Ru: If, if, the following "manufacturing" is synonymous.

8. Anyone who can survive: Everything can get a way to survive. "Zhe" here refers to the method.

9. Why not use it? What means are not available?

10. Born with nothing: You can survive by some means, but some people don't need it. Yes, demonstrative pronoun, referring to a certain way.

1 1. Not independent: not independent, not independent. 12. Don't throw it away: Don't throw it away.

13. Reed: an ancient round bamboo vessel for rice. 14. Beans: ancient wooden utensils for holding food.

15.Huerhelu: It means shouting at him rudely. Uh, auxiliary words. The Book of Rites on the Duke records that there was a great famine in Qi one year, and Qian Ao sent porridge on the road. A hungry man covered his face with his sleeves, and Qian Ao shouted for him to eat porridge. He said, I just refused to eat the food I got here. The man always refused insulting alms and later starved to death.

16. trample: trample. 17. Disdain: Refuse to accept because of contempt.

180000 minutes accepted the ceremony of non-contention: officials accepted whether it is in line with etiquette not to distinguish (high officials are generous). Ten thousand bells, here refers to the high status and generosity. Clock, an ancient measuring instrument, has six hoops and four liters for one clock. Then, the conjunction, which means hypothesis here, is translated into if. Debate, use "distinguish", distinguish.

19. He Jia: What are the advantages? 20. serve: serve.

2 1. People who know the poor get me: Do the poor I know appreciate me? Virtue means "virtue". Well, it means gratitude here. Modal auxiliary words Read "fish"

22. My hometown is not subject to death: In the past (for "courtesy"), I would rather die than accept it. To, once upon a time.

23. Have: Give up and stop. 24. Heart: Nature. 25. so: such a thing.

26. can: can. 27. Those who lay down their lives for righteousness also: Besides, the table is tied.

28. I want more than just the living. What: awesome.

3. Translation

Fish is my favorite, and bear's paw is also my favorite. If I can't have both, then I have to give up fish and choose bear's paw. Life is what I love, and righteousness is what I love. If you can't have both at the same time, then I'll have to give my life for justice. Life is what I love, but there are some things I love more than life, so I don't drag out an ignoble existence; I hate death, but there are some things that I hate more than death, so I don't avoid some disasters. If people love nothing more than life, then what can be used for survival can't be used? If people hate nothing more than death, what can be done to avoid disaster? You can survive by some means, but some people refuse to use it; Some methods can avoid disaster, but some people refuse to adopt them. It can be seen that what they love is more precious than life, that is "righteousness"; What they hate is something more serious than death, that is "injustice". Not only saints have this nature, everyone has it, but saints can't lose it.

A bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, you can live if you eat it, or you will starve if you don't eat it. However, when passing hungry people gave it to others contemptuously and angrily, they refused to accept it. Kicking or stepping on others to eat, beggars are unwilling to accept because of contempt.

However, some people accept the generous salary of Wanzhong without knowing whether it is in line with etiquette. In this case, what good is a good salary for me? Do you appreciate the splendor of my family, the service of my wife and concubine, and the poor people I know well? In the past, some people would rather die than accept charity for the sake of "ceremony", but now some people accept it for the sake of gorgeous residence; In the past, some people would rather die than accept charity for "courtesy", but now some people accept it for the service of wives and concubines; In the past, some people would rather die than accept charity for "politeness", but now some people appreciate themselves for the poor people they know well, but they accept it. Can't this practice be stopped? This is called losing people's inherent sense of shame and shame.

Mencius himself is a rather arrogant person. He refused to compromise and curry favor with power. He said: "Richness and wealth can't be lewd, poverty and lowliness can't be moved, and powerful people can't be bent. This is called a gentleman. " Mencius (under Teng Wengong) was a visiting minister of Qi. Later, because of disagreement with the king of Qi, he decided to resign from Qi and go home. The King of Qi asked someone to keep Mencius on condition that he was prepared to build a house in the center of the capital and give Mencius 10,000 grain as his disciple's living expenses. As a result, Mencius sternly refused. (See "Under the Ugly Sun") It can be seen that Mencius said in this article that "10,000 minutes without arguing about propriety and righteousness will be of no help to me", which shows Mencius' integrity and spirit.

In this article, Mencius praised the spirit of sacrificing one's life for righteousness, and criticized "10,000 minutes without arguing about propriety and righteousness", which had a good influence on later generations. In history, many people with lofty ideals took "sacrifice their lives for righteousness" as the code of conduct and "wealth and not prostitution" as the moral norm, which made contributions to the country and the nation. Wen Tianxiang, a national hero in the Southern Song Dynasty, said in the poem "Crossing the Zero and Ding Yang": "No one has died since ancient times, so we should learn from our hearts and take a look at history." Xia, a modern proletarian revolutionary martyr, said in the poem of righteousness: "It doesn't matter if you behead, as long as the doctrine is true." This is in line with the spirit of "giving up one's life for righteousness".

From the literary point of view, the prose of Mencius is magnificent, emotional and lively, which fully embodies Mencius' upright personality and shows Mencius' eloquence. He likes to use rhetorical devices of parallelism, such as: "hometown is not subject to physical death, but now it is a beautiful palace;" Hometown is not subject to physical death, and now it is regarded as a wife and concubine; I don't want to die in my hometown, but now I want to do it for the poor and those in need. "Originally, this sentence could be finished in one sentence, that is,' My hometown died for my body, and I am doing it now for the beauty of the palace, for the service of wives and concubines, and for those who need me to know the poor and love the rich. "But he deliberately divided into three sentences, strengthened the momentum and feelings, and showed the speaker's righteous words. Secondly, in order to make the truth simple, vivid and interesting, Mencius likes to use metaphors. This article takes concrete fish and bear's paw as abstract metaphors of life and justice, and "taking bear's paw for fish" as a clever metaphor of "giving up life for righteousness" is a very famous example. Secondly, this paper also uses a lot of contrast techniques, such as comparing fish with bear's paw, comparing righteousness with life, comparing people who value righteousness over today's behavior, so as to compare beggars, passers-by, and "10,000 minutes without arguing about propriety and righteousness". The reasons are clearer and more impressive, which strengthens the persuasiveness of the article.