First, the original text: Warring States? Xunzi's Xunzi Persuasion

Think all day long, it is better to learn it in a moment; I've tasted it and I'm looking forward to it. Let's go hiking. Climb a trick, the arm does not lengthen, but the person you see is far away; Call with the wind, the sound does not add disease, but the listener is obvious. Those who cheat horses are not good enough, but cause thousands of miles; A man who pretends to be a boat can't swim, but he can't swim. The life of a gentleman is the same, and the goodness lies in personal leave.

Second, translation: I used to think all day and didn't learn much in an instant; I once stood on tiptoe and looked at it from a distance, but I didn't see it as wide as when I was climbing. Wave when you climb high, your arms are not lengthened, but others can see you in the distance; Calling with the wind will not get louder, but the listener can hear clearly in the distance. With the help of chariots and horses, people can walk Wan Li Road without walking fast.

People who use boats and boats are not good at swimming, but they can cross the river. A gentleman's qualification is no different from that of ordinary people, but he is good at using foreign things.

Extended data

First, the creative background

During the Warring States period, slavery further collapsed, the feudal system gradually formed, and epoch-making changes took place in history. Many thinkers expressed their opinions on the social changes at that time from different positions and angles, and gradually formed different factions such as Mohism, Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism, which was called "a hundred schools of thought contend" in history.

A hundred schools of thought contend and wrote many books, publicizing their own views and criticizing others, resulting in a situation of "a hundred schools of thought contend". Xunzi was a representative figure of Confucianism in the late Warring States period. He believes that the existence of nature does not depend on human will, but people can use subjective efforts to understand it, adapt to it and use it. In order to reveal the significance of learning the day after tomorrow, he created the article "Encouraging Learning".

Second, appreciate

A major feature of "encouraging learning" in writing is to explain the truth and prove the argument through metaphor. Except for a few places that directly explain the truth, the whole text is almost a metaphor. In this paper, a large number of metaphors commonly used in life are used, which makes the abstract truth clear, concrete and vivid and easy for readers to accept. Sometimes there are many parallel metaphors in the set, which explain the problem repeatedly from the same angle. This technique is called metaphor in rhetoric.

There are various forms of metaphor in this paper. Sometimes similar metaphors are used to explain the problem from the same angle and emphasize the author's point of view. For example, climb high, call with the wind, fake horses, fake boats, accumulate soil into mountains, and water droplets merge into oceans. Sometimes two opposite situations are organized together to form a sharp contrast, so that readers can understand the truth. For example, compare Miracle to Ma Xu, and compare rotten wood to epigraphy. Sometimes the metaphor is reversed, and sometimes it is reversed. The content is different, the sentence patterns are diverse, and readers have no sense of stagnation.