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用英语讲中国传统文化
——缘木求鱼
Climbing a Tree to Seek for Fish
The dialogue between Mencius and King Xuan of Qi
One day, Mencius came to visit King Xuan of Qi. Mencius asked, ‘May I hear from you what it is that you greatly desire?’
有一天，孟子来王宫里拜见齐宣王。孟子问齐宣王：“大王，您心中最大的愿望是什么呢？
The king laughed and did not speak.
齐宣王只是笑了笑，没说什么。
Mencius resumed, ‘Are you led to desire it, because you have not enough of rich and sweet food for your mouth? Or because you have not enough of light and warm clothing for your body? Or because you have not enough of beautifully coloured objects to delight your eyes? Or because you have not melodies and tones enough to please your ears? Or because you have not enough of attendants and favourites to stand before you and receive your orders? Your Majesty’s various officers are sufficient to supply you with those things. How can your Majesty be led to entertain such a desire on account of them?’
孟子恍然大悟地感叹了一下，接着说：“是因为甜美的食物不够吃吗？还是因为轻而暖的衣服不够穿？或者是因为美艳的女人不够看？是因为美妙的音乐不够听，还是因为阿谀奉承的臣子不够使唤？这些，我想您身边的人都会尽力满足您的，难道您就真的为了这些？”
‘No,’ said the king; ‘my desire is not on account of them.’
齐宣王连忙辩解：“不是的，大夫误会了。”
Mencius added, ‘Then, what your Majesty greatly desires may be known. You wish to enlarge your territories, to have State of Qin and Chu wait at your court, to rule the Middle Kingdom, and to attract the surrounding barbarous tribes to you.
孟子说：“那么，您最大的愿望就很清楚了。您想扩大国家的疆土，让秦国、楚国那样的大国都向您称臣，给您供奉，您自己做天下的盟主，并统领四方。”
Seeing that his mind was seen through by Mencius, He nodded.
眼看自己的心思被孟子看穿了，齐宣王只好默认。
“But doing what you do to seek for what you desire is like climbing a tree to seek for fish.”
“如果您想实现那个理想，就好像爬到树上去捉鱼一样。”
In this dialogue, Mencius was trying to persuade King Xuan of Qi that conquering other states with wars to enlarge his territory wouldn’t work, just as fruitless as “to climb a tree to seek for fish”. Having a benevolent government would automatically attract people and enlarge his territory.
在这段对话中，孟子试图说服齐宣王，用战争征服其他国家来扩大他的领土是行不通的，就像“爬树找鱼”一样徒劳。拥有一个仁慈的政府会自动吸引人们，扩大他的领土。
Other English equivalents
英语中类似的表达
to fish in the air
to milk the bull（公牛）
to wring water from a flint （燧石）
a fruitless approach （毫无结果的方式）
战国策▪楚策
梦珂
孟子曰：“王之大欲可得闻与？”
王笑而不言。
曰：“为肥甘不足于口与？
轻暖不足于体与？
抑为采色不足视于目与？
声音不足听于耳与？便嬖不足使令于前与？
王之诸臣皆足以供之，而王岂为是哉？
曰：“否。吾不为是也。”
曰：“然则王之所大欲可知已。
欲辟土地，朝秦楚，
莅中国而抚四夷也，
以若所为，求若所欲
犹缘木而求鱼也。”
小测验
根据首字母和句意填空（文章与上文寓意有差距）。
What would you think if you saw a fish walking？Would you look again i___1__ you saw a fish climbing a tree？There is a fish that does b 2 of these things．It is called the tree-climbing fish．
点击题号，核对答案
It is believed that a traveller to India first told about the tree-climbing fish．The fish was h 3 up in a tree．What was the fish doing in that tree？How did it get there？The traveller t 4 a bird might have put it there．
The next day the traveller saw a fish come out of the w 5 ．It was hard to believe，
but up the road went the fish．It used its fins （鱼鳍） and tail to pull i 6 along．It stopped to eat some worms．After the fish ate，it walked slowly over to a tree．Up，up it c 7 ．
When it got high up in the tree，it took a rest．
The traveller was s 8 to see these things and told other people about the tree-climbing fish．The people wanted to know w 9 this fish looked like．He explained the one he saw was dark brown and about one foot long．
People can find the tree-climbing fish not only in India but also in the Philippines，Thailand，Pakistan，and other places．At one time，people saw the fish in Florida，America．Because the weather there was too t 10 ，it was not able to live there any longer．
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特别声明
来源：英语教学研究公众号。
声明：义教在线微信公众号刊载此文，是出于传递更多信息之目的。若有来源标注错误或侵犯了您的合法权益，请及时与我们联系，我们将及时更正、删除。
