The Pot Calling the Kettle Black
“I have spent a lot of time and effort，”stated King Hui of the state of Liang，“on governing my country．When there is a bad harvest in Henei，north of the Yellow River，I evacuate the people there to Hedong，east of the Yellow River and move the grain of Hedong to Henei．When the harvest is bad in Hedong I would do the same for them． As far as I would see，none of the rulers of the neighbouring states are as diligent as I．But the number of people in neighbouringstates does not decrease and the number of my subjects does not increase．Why is this so？
“My lord likes fighting battles，”replied Mencius，“so I will use an analogy from war：Imagine battle drums thundering and weapons clashing．At this time some soldiers abandon their armour and runaway，dragging their weapons behind them．Some stop after going one hundred paces．Others halt after fifty paces．Those who ran only fifty paces laughed at those who ran a hundred．What do you think？”
“That's not right．It's just that they didn't go a hundred paces，but they did run away all the same．”
“My lord，if you understand this，then you should not cherish hopes of having more subjects than your neighbours．”
Exercises：
回答下列问题：
① Where is Henei？
② Who answered King Hui's question？
③ What do you think those who ran only fifty paces laughed at those who ran a hundred？ |