Source: "Born in sorrow, died in peace" by Mencius in the pre-Qin Dynasty.

Excerpts from the original text: Shun Fa was raised among the acres of land, Fu Shuao was raised among the building blocks, Jiao Ge was raised among the fish and salt, Guan Yiwu was raised among the scholars, Sun Shuao was raised among the sea, Baili Xi was raised among them. In the city. Therefore, when Heaven is about to entrust this person with a great responsibility, he must first strain his mind and will, strain his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, deplete his body, and mess up his actions. Therefore, tempting his heart and forbearance will benefit him beyond his ability.

Translation: Shun was raised from the fields, Fu Yue was raised from the work of building walls, Jiao Ge was raised from selling fish and salt, and Guan Yiwu was raised from the hands of the prison officer. Sun Shuao came out and was appointed. Sun Shuao was appointed from his seclusion on the seaside, and Baili Xi was redeemed from the slave market and appointed.

So when God wants to place a heavy responsibility on someone, he must first make his mind distressed and his muscles and bones tired, making him hungry, his body empty and weak, and making every action he takes unsatisfactory. This will inspire his will, make his temperament persevering, and increase his abilities that he does not possess. Extended information

This is a rigorously argued and eloquent reasoning prose. The author first cites six examples of people who finally took on major responsibilities after being tempered by poverty and setbacks, proving that sorrow can inspire people to work hard and hardships can encourage people to achieve new achievements. Then, the author further demonstrates from two different perspectives: a person's development and a country's rise and fall. Worry leads to survival, and happiness leads to death.

In the end, things came to a conclusion, and we came to the conclusion that "we are born in sorrow and die in happiness". The full text adopts a writing method that combines listing of historical examples and reasoning, and infers layer by layer, making the article compact and well-argued. In addition, the article often uses parallel sentences and antithetical sentences. Even if the tone is inconsistent, it creates an unstoppable momentum and effectively enhances the strength of the article. the persuasiveness of the argument.

Creative background: Mencius, as the most important representative of the Confucian school after Confucius, developed Confucius' "benevolence" into the doctrine of "benevolent government", put forward the idea of ??"the people are valued above the monarch", and advocated that the monarch implement " "Benevolent governance" means "sharing happiness" with the people. Mencius' thought and doctrine is the work "Mencius".

"Mencius" records Mencius' words and deeds and is a dialogue-style work. Its distinctive features are: first, it is full of momentum, eloquent and vivid; second, it is good at explaining things with typical examples, metaphors and fables.

This article is selected from "Mencius Gaozi Xia". During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were wars and disputes. If a country wanted to be invincible, it had to work hard and not be content with the status quo and not make progress. This article is written against this background.

About the author: Mencius, named Ke, was born in the state of Zou (now Zoucheng, Shandong) in the middle of the Warring States Period. He is the most important thinker in Confucianism after Confucius. Mencius traveled around the world to promote his ideas of "benevolent government" and "kingly way". However, because the princely states were busy with wars and mergers at that time, his views were considered "broad" and almost no one adopted them.

In his later years, Mencius returned to the state of Zou and wrote books with his disciples. He wrote 7 chapters and 269 chapters in "Mencius". The language of "Mencius" is clear and clear, and it is also full of emotions, with majestic momentum and powerful motivational power.