..续本文上一页ies had no access to schooling and no opportunity to improve their lot. However, people can determine their own destinies, and there have also been examples of people who underwent hardships and achieved success, such as Lincoln and the black educator, Booker T. Washington. In ancient China, there were also many great scholars who overcame the hardship of the dearth of books by determination and intelligence.

　　《三字经》说﹕「披蒲编，削竹简；彼无书，且知勉。」就说的汉朝的路温舒和公孙弘。

　　A line in the Three Character Classic goes, "They wove rushes and shaved bamboo slips. Though they had no books, they pushed themselves to study." That line alludes to Lu Wenshu and Gong Sun Hong of the Han dynasty.

　　路温舒自小家贫，替人放羊；他就把宽宽的干蒲草编在一起，然后向人借书来抄在上面，以便反复研读，后来终成有名的文学家和政治家。公孙弘家境也很穷，一直到五十岁，还为人放猪度日。他为了想读书，就利用在林中放猪的时候，把竹子削成片，去掉青皮，再把借来的《春秋》刻写在竹片上；如此苦读，终于当到了宰相。

　　Lu Wenshu came from a poor family and worked as a shepherd for others. He would copy books borrowed from others onto sheets of dried rushes that he had woven, so that he could read and study them over and over. Thus he became an eminent writer and statesman. Gongsun Hong also came from a poor family. Even at age fifty, he still herded pigs for others to support himself. Wishing to study, he whittled bamboo into slips, shaving off the green skin, then carved theSpring and Autumn Annals onto it from a book he had borrowed. Studying under such difficult circumstances, he eventually became the prime minister.

　　又宋朝的大文豪欧阳修，自小丧父家贫，母亲欧阳夫人就在地上铺了沙子，用荻草为笔，教子识字，给了欧阳修很好的启蒙教育。这些故事，都是没有书而仍能苦学成功的典范。我们现在印刷业发达，教育普及，人人可以读书受基本教育；可是却有越来越多的孩子不但不珍惜书籍，甚至逃学去做荒唐事，糟蹋了个人的大好青春时光，更成为妨害国家社会的寄生虫和害虫，真是可惜可惜之至啊！

　　The great writer Ouyang Xiu of the Song dynasty also came from a poor family and lost his father at a young age. His mother, Mrs. Ouyang, taught her son to read by spreading sand on the ground and using a reed as a brush. She gave Ouyang Xiu an excellent primary education. Those are all stories of people who studied hard and succeeded despite the lack of books. Nowadays, with advanced publishing techniques and universal public education, everyone can get a basic education. However, not only are more and more children unappreciative of books, they even skip school to engage in improper activities, wasting their precious youth and becoming parasites and scoundrels of society. What a terrible pity!

《弟子规浅释 Standards for Students 第八章﹕余力学文 Chapter Eight ﹕ON LEARNING - 5》全文阅读结束。