《戰國策》選讀
Level 6 · 古文选读 · 502 vocabulary words
Source: 《战国策》 · Strategies of the Warring States
前事之不忘，后事之师。
Not forgetting what came before is the teacher of what comes after.
释读：不忘记过去的事，就是以后的老师。这句两千年前的话，今天还在用。
Gloss: not forgetting the past teaches the future, a line from two thousand years ago still in daily use.
士为知己者死，女为悦己者容。
A man of spirit dies for the one who truly knows him; a woman adorns herself for the one who delights in her.
释读：豫让说的名言。懂你的人，值得你拼命；欣赏你的人，值得你打扮。
Gloss: the assassin Yu Rang's creed, die for the one who understands you, dress for the one who admires you.
父母之爱子，则为之计深远。
Parents who love their child plan far ahead for it.
释读：触龙劝赵太后的话。真正的爱，不是眼前抱紧，而是替孩子想得很远。
Gloss: Chulong's counsel to the Queen Mother, true love is not holding tight now but planning far ahead.
风萧萧兮易水寒，壮士一去兮不复还。
The wind wails and the Yi River runs cold; the brave man leaves and never returns.
释读：荆轲出发刺秦王前唱的歌。一去不回的人，把生死唱成了千古名句。
Gloss: Jing Ke's song before leaving to strike the King of Qin, a man who will not return, singing life and death into eternity.
南辕而北辙：臣之君欲之楚，将奚为北面行？
Pointing the carriage south while heading north: my lord wishes for Chu, why drive toward the north?
释读：南辕北辙。马再好、钱再多、车夫再强，方向错了，离目标只会越来越远。
Gloss: south-bound shafts, north-bound wheels. Fine horses, fat purse, skilled driver, the wrong direction only widens the gap.
蚌方出曝，而鹬啄其肉，蚌合而箝其喙。鹬曰：今日不雨，明日不雨，即有死蚌。蚌亦谓鹬曰：今日不出，明日不出，即有死鹬。
A clam lay sunning when a snipe pecked its flesh; the clam clamped shut on the bird's beak. The snipe said: no rain today, no rain tomorrow, and you'll be a dead clam. The clam answered: no release today, no release tomorrow, and you'll be a dead snipe.
两者不肯相舍，渔者得而并禽之。
Neither would let go, and the fisherman came and caught them both.
释读：鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利。两边死磕，便宜的是看热闹的第三者。
Gloss: snipe and clam locked, the fisherman profits. When two sides fight to the death, the bystander collects.
狡兔有三窟，仅得免其死耳。
The cunning rabbit has three burrows, only thus does it escape death.
释读：冯谖替孟尝君留的后路。聪明人给自己多留一条退路，危机来了才不慌。
Gloss: Feng Xuan's back-up plans for Lord Mengchang. The wise keep a second door open for the crisis.
今臣闻王诈赵王于渑池之会，令赵王鼓瑟而秦王击缶。臣请以颈血溅大王矣。
I hear that at the Mianchi meeting you made the King of Zhao play the zither while you struck the jar, allow me now to splash my neck's blood on Your Majesty.
释读：蔺相如在渑池会上硬顶秦王：你敢羞辱我王，我就血溅当场。弱国的外交官，也能把强秦顶回去。
Gloss: Lin Xiangru at Mianchi faced the King of Qin: humiliate my king and I splash my blood on you. A weak state's envoy could still push mighty Qin back.
门庭若市：群臣进谏，门庭若市；数月之后，时时而间进；期年之后，虽欲言，无可进者。
At the gate like a market: the ministers' remonstrations crowded like a market; after some months they came only now and then; after a full year, those wishing to speak found nothing left to say.
释读：邹忌讽齐王纳谏的结果。批评越来越少，不是没人敢说，是毛病真的改完了。
Gloss: Zou Ji's advice to the King of Qi. Complaints fading means not silence but faults truly fixed.
千金市骨：王诚欲致士，先从隗始；隗且见事，况贤于隗者乎？
Buying the bones for a thousand gold: if the king truly wants talent, begin with me, when even I am honored, what will worthier men think?
释读：郭隗劝燕昭王。连我这样的人都被重用，天下的人才自然会来。千金买马骨，买的是名声。
Gloss: Guo Wei's counsel to King Zhao, honor even me and worthier men will come. A thousand gold for bones buys reputation.
靖郭君将城薛，客多以谏。靖郭君谓谒者：无为客通。
Lord Jingguo planned to wall the city of Xue, and many retainers came to dissuade him. He told his usher: admit no one.
齐人有请者曰：臣请三言而已矣，益一言，臣请烹。靖郭君因见之。
A man of Qi begged: grant me three words only, one extra and you may boil me. Lord Jingguo received him.
客趋而进曰：海大鱼。因反走。君曰：客有于此。客曰：鄙臣不敢以死为戏。
The man stepped forward and said: big fish of the sea, then turned to go. The lord called: stay! The guest said: I dare not jest with death.
君曰：亡，更言之。对曰：君不闻大鱼乎？网不能止，钩不能牵，荡而失水，则蝼蚁得意焉。今夫齐，亦君之水也。
The lord said: no harm, go on. He answered: have you not heard of the great fish? Nets cannot stop it, hooks cannot pull it, but if it slips and loses the water, even ants have their way. Qi, my lord, is your water.
释读：海大鱼的故事。三个字进门，把靖郭君说服了：你是大鱼，齐国是水，离开水修城墙有什么用？说客的本事，是把大道理藏在小故事里。
Gloss: the great fish of the sea, three words through the door convinced Lord Jingguo: you are the fish, Qi your water; what use are walls out of water? The persuader's art is hiding the argument in a story.
魏武侯与诸大夫浮于西河，称曰：河山之险，岂不亦信固哉！
Marquis Wu of Wei, boating with his ministers on the West River, exclaimed: such steep rivers and mountains, what a solid defense!
吴起对曰：在德不在险。昔三苗氏左洞庭，右彭蠡，德义不修，禹灭之。
Wu Qi answered: security lies in virtue, not terrain. The Sanmiao had Dongting on their left and Pengli on their right, but neglected virtue, and Yu destroyed them.
释读：吴起谏魏武侯：江山险要不顶用，德行不够照样亡国。山再险，不如人心齐。
Gloss: Wu Qi to the Marquis, terrain does not defend, virtue does. Steeper mountains mean less than united hearts.
苏秦之楚，三日乃得见乎王。谈卒，辞而行。楚王曰：寡人闻先生，若闻古人，今先生乃不远千里而临寡人，曾不肯留，愿闻其说。
Su Qin went to Chu and waited three days for an audience. When he rose to leave after one talk, the king said: hearing you is like hearing the ancients, you came a thousand li yet will not stay. Tell me why.
对曰：楚国之食贵于玉，薪贵于桂，谒者难得见如鬼，王难得见如天帝。今令臣食玉炊桂，因鬼见帝。
He answered: in Chu food costs more than jade, firewood more than cassia; your usher is rarer than a ghost, and you harder to see than the Lord of Heaven. Now you ask me to eat jade, burn cassia, and pass a ghost to see Heaven.
释读：苏秦发牢骚发成了名句。饭比玉贵，柴比桂贵，看门的像鬼，大王像天,,把楚王怼得哑口无言。
Gloss: Su Qin's complaint became immortal, food above jade, fuel above cassia, the usher a ghost, the king a god. The King of Chu had no reply.
《战国策》里这些人，靠一张嘴吃饭，也靠一张嘴改变历史。
The men of the Zhanguo Ce lived by their tongues, and changed history by them too.
庄辛谓楚襄王曰：君王左州侯，右夏侯，辇从鄢陵君与寿陵君，专淫逸侈靡，不顾国政，郢都必危矣。
Zhuang Xin said to King Xiang of Chu: your lordship keeps Lord Zhouhou at your left, Lord Xiahou at your right, and rides with Lords Yanling and Shouling, sunk in pleasure and heedless of the state. The capital Ying is in danger.
襄王曰：先生老悖乎？将以为楚国妖祥乎？庄辛曰：臣诚见其必然者也，非敢以为国妖祥也。
The king said: sir, are you senile, or do you call yourself an omen for Chu? Zhuang Xin answered: I only see what must come; I dare not be a portent.
庄辛去之赵，留五月，秦果举鄢、郢、巫、上蔡、陈之地。襄王流掩于城阳，于是使人发驺征庄辛于赵。
Zhuang Xin left for Zhao. Five months later Qin indeed took Yan, Ying, Wu, Shangcai and Chen. The king fled to Chengyang and sent riders to bring Zhuang Xin back from Zhao.
庄辛至，襄王曰：寡人不能用先生之言，今事至此，为之奈何？
When Zhuang Xin arrived, the king said: I did not use your words, sir, and now it has come to this, what is to be done?
庄辛对曰：臣闻鄙语曰，见兔而顾犬，未为晚也；亡羊而补牢，未为迟也。
Zhuang Xin answered: I have heard the saying, seeing the rabbit and turning to the hound is not too late; losing the sheep and mending the pen is not too late.
释读：亡羊补牢的原话，就是这场对话里说的。楚襄王不听劝，丢了半个楚国才回头找庄辛。庄辛告诉他：羊丢了才修圈，只要肯修，就不算晚。
Gloss: 'mending the pen after losing the sheep' comes from this very exchange. The king ignored the warning and lost half of Chu before calling Zhuang Xin back. Lose the sheep, then mend, better late than never.
曾子之妻之市，其子随之而泣。其母曰：女还，顾反为女杀彘。妻适市来，曾子欲捕彘杀之。妻止之曰：特与婴儿戏耳。
Zengzi's wife was going to market when their son cried to follow. She said: go back, and when I return I'll kill the pig for you. When she came home, Zengzi went to catch the pig. She stopped him: I was only joking with the child.
曾子曰：婴儿非与戏也。婴儿非有知也，待父母而学者也，听父母之教。今子欺之，是教子欺也。遂烹彘也。
Zengzi said: a child is not to be joked with. Children know nothing and learn from their parents' teaching. Deceive him now, and you teach him deceit. So he cooked the pig.
释读：曾子杀彘。妻子哄孩子一句杀猪吃肉，曾子真把猪杀了：对孩子说话要算数，骗他一次，他就学会骗人。
Gloss: Zengzi slaughters the pig. His wife's idle promise became a real lesson, lie to a child once and you teach him to lie.
《战国策》教的就是这种本事：几句话，把道理装进故事里，让人自己明白过来。
The Zhanguo Ce teaches precisely this: pack the truth into a story and let the listener understand it himself.
《战国策》是策士们的语言艺术：讲一个寓言，说动一个国君，改变一场战争。
The Zhanguo Ce is the art of persuasion: a fable to move a king, a speech to change a war.