Guan Mao (yì) Wheat

The Tian family has few free months, but in May people are twice as busy. At night, the south wind blows, and the wheat is covered with yellow. Women and aunts carry baskets of food, children carry pots of pulp, and go to the salary fields with them. Young men and women are in Nangang. The weather is full of heat and rustic weather, and the sky is burning on my back. I am exhausted and don’t know the heat, but it is a pity that the summer is long. There is another poor woman, holding her son next to her. She holds an earring in her right hand and a basket hanging on her left arm. Hearing his words of care makes those who hear them feel sad. When all the taxes on the family fields are exhausted, this is left to satisfy the hunger. What merit do I have now? I have never been engaged in farming and mulberry trees. The official salary is three hundred stones, and Yan has more than enough food every year. I feel ashamed thinking about this, and I will never forget it.

The title of the work is "Viewing the Wheat Cutters", but what actually appears in the picture is that in addition to the wheat cutter, there is also a wheat gleaner, and the author's concern is precisely the latter. on the person. The two of them are currently rich and poor in different degrees of joy and sorrow, but their destinies are closely linked. Today's miserable and miserable wheat gleaners are yesterday's hard and busy wheat harvesters; today's hard and busy wheat harvesters may become miserable and miserable wheat gleaners tomorrow. As long as there are heavy taxes, working people will never escape the fate of bankruptcy. The author here made sharp criticism of the tax system that harmed the people at that time, and expressed his deep sympathy for the suffering suffered by the working people. And it is not just general sympathy, but the poet himself is involved, feeling that there is a huge difference between himself and the working people, and he has a guilty conscience. This poem by Bai Juyi truly reflects the thoughts and emotions of the working people and calls out the voice of the working people. The basic characteristic of the whole poem in writing is to describe real life scenes truthfully without any exaggeration. The author chose two scenes, the busy family and the desolate gleaning, to form a strong contrast. Although the former are suffering and tired, they still have hope for the time being. As for the latter, they are completely cut off and their future is precarious.

The Snake Catcher’s Sayings by Liu Zongyuan of the Tang Dynasty are selected from "Liuhe East Collection". The wild snakes in Yongzhou are black and have white patches. They will die if they touch the grass and trees. They bite (niè) people, but there is no way to control them. who. However, wax (xī) can be used as bait to protect against strong winds, luán wǎn (luán wǎn), fistula (lòu), and boils (lì), remove dead muscles, and kill three insects. At the beginning, the imperial doctor gathered them according to the king's order, and gave them two gifts every year. If there were people who could catch them, they should be rented. The people of eternity are fighting and running around. If there is a Jiang family, it will be beneficial for three generations. When asked, he said: "My ancestor died in this way, and my father died in this way. Now my heir (sì) has been here for twelve years, and how many people have died." In other words, he looks very sad. Yu Beizhi asked, "Is it poisonous? I will sue those who have done this, and I will be more like a slave, and more like a tax, so what?" A relative of the Jiang family, Wang Ran burst into tears and said, "General, you will Are you born out of sorrow? Then the misfortune of my service is not as bad as the misfortune of me. If I don't do it, I have been sick for a long time since I lived in this country for three generations, and I am now sixty years old. , and the neighbors of the country frown (cù) on their birthdays, drowsing (dān) out of their fields, exhausting their huts to enter, shouting and migrating (xǐ), hungry and thirsty (bó), exposed to wind and rain, cold and heat, The people who lived with my ancestors in the past are now living in the same room. The people who lived with my father are living in the same room now. The people who live with me are now living in the same room. In the past twelve years, there have been no more than four or five years in the house. If I am not dead, I will be alone. Although the chickens and dogs are not at peace, I will rise up and look at the fou, but the snake will still be there, and I will eat it carefully, and then retreat. I will eat all the food I have in the soil, and I will be able to cover up the one-year-old and the dead; the rest will be prosperous and happy, even though they are dead like this, they are not as good as my neighbors. His death is already behind him, how dare he be poisoned?" After hearing about it, I became even more sad. Confucius said: "A harsh government is as fierce as a tiger." I have always doubted this, but now that Chiang has seen it, I still believe it. Alas! Who knew that Fu Lian's poison was like a snake? Therefore, it is said that those who observe people's demeanor can get it.

Liu Zongyuan’s book reflects the tragic life of the working people in my country during the Mid-Tang Dynasty through the self-narration of the snake catcher Jiang’s three generations of his descendants who were willing to risk death to catch venomous snakes in order to avoid paying taxes. It exposes the brutal oppression and exploitation of the working people by the feudal ruling class and expresses the author's deep sympathy for the working people. It reflects the taxation that "tyranny is more fierce than tiger" at that time.