Yu Gong Yi Shan

 

愚公移山 (yú gōng yí shān)

Yu Gong Yi Shan

 

The Foolish Old Man of the North Mountain, nearly ninety years of age, lived behind two high mountains. He was unhappy about the fact that the mountains blocked his way to the south, so he called the whole family to level the two mountains. While they were working, The Wise Old Man at the River Bend stopped the old man. He laughed and said, “How unwise you are! At your age, old and feeble as you are, you cannot even remove one hair on the mountain, let alone so much earth and so many rocks!” The Foolish Old Man had a long sign and said: “When I die, there will be my sons, who will have their sons and grandsons. Those grandsons will have their sons and grandsons, and so on to infinity. But the mountains will not grow. Why is it impossible to level them?” The Wise Old Man could not answer him. Finally, a god of the mountains was touched by their actions and he helped them finished the road quickly. This fable teaches us, no matter how difficult a thing is, as long as we persist, we shall definitely succeed.

 

传说古时候有两座大山,一座叫太行山,一座叫王屋山。那里的北山住着一位老人名叫愚公,快90岁了。他每次出门,都因被这两座大山阻隔,要绕很大的圈子,才能到南方去。所有他决定率领听得子孙挖掉这两座大山。有个名叫智叟的老人得知这件事后,嘲笑愚公说:“你这样做太不聪明了,凭你这有限的精力,又怎能把这两座山挖平呢?”愚公回答说:“你这个人太顽固了,简直无法开导,即使我死了,还有我的儿子在这里。儿子死了,还有孙子,孙子又生孩子,孩子又生儿子。子子孙孙是没有穷尽的,而山却不会再增高,为什么挖不平呢?” 上帝被愚公的精神所感动,派了两个大力神下凡,把两座山背走。从此,这里不再有高山阻隔了。成语愚公移山比喻坚持不懈地改造自然和坚定不移地进行斗争。