《愚公移山》

愚 公 移 山

汉 ·《列子·汤问篇》
译文来自：互联网
校 正：李 飒
编辑整理：叶紫荆
英文朗读：北京二号

　　太行、王屋二山，方七百里，高万仞。本在冀州之南，河阳之北。

　　北山愚公者，年且九十，面山而居。惩山北之塞，出入之迂也，聚室而谋曰：“吾与汝毕力平险，指通豫南，达于汉阴，可乎？”杂然相许。其妻献疑曰：“以君之力，曾不能损魁父之丘，如太行、王屋何？且焉置土石？”杂曰：“投诸渤海之尾，隐土之北。”

　　遂率子孙荷担者三夫，叩石垦壤，箕畚运于渤海之尾。邻人京城氏之孀妻有遗男，始龀，跳往助之。寒暑易节，始一返焉。河曲智叟笑而止之，曰：“甚矣，汝之不惠！以残年余力，曾不能毁山之一毛，其如土石何？”北山愚公长息曰：“汝心之固，固不可彻，曾不若孀妻弱子！虽我之死，有子存焉；子又生孙，孙又生子；子又有子，子又有孙。子子孙孙，无穷匮也，而山不加增，何苦而不平？”河曲智叟无以应。

Old Man Moves Mountains

Lie Zi, Han Dynasty

Taihang and Wangwu were two mountains that covered an area of seven hundred square Li and rise over thousands of meters. They were originally situated south of Jizhou and north of Heyang.

North of the mountains lived an old man called Yugong (literally 'foolish old man') who was nearly ninety years old. Since his home was surrounded by the two mountains, he was troubled by the fact that people in the neiborhood had to take a roundabout route whenever they went out. He then gathered his family to discuss the matter. "Let’s do everything in our power to flatten these forbidding mountains and get a direct route to Yuzhou and Hanyin. What do you say?" Everyone applauded his idea, except his wife, who voiced her doubts. "You are not strong enough to even remove a small hillock like Kuifu. How can you tackle Taihang and Wangwu? And where would you dump the earth and rocks?" "We can dump them into the edge of the Bohai Sea to the north of Yintu," answered everyone.

With that Yugong took with him three sons and grandsons who could carry loads on their shoulders. They broke up rocks, dug up mounds of earth, and transported them to the edge of the Bohai Sea in baskets. His neighbour, a widow named Jingcheng, had a posthumous son who was just getting his permanent teeth. This vivacious boy jumped at the chance of giving them a hand. From winter through summer the workers only returned home once.

An old man called Zhisou (literally 'wise old man') who lived in Hequ, near a bend of the Yellow River, was amused and dissuaded Yugong. "How can you be so foolish? With your advanced years and the little strength you have left, you cannot even destroy a blade of grass on the mountain, not to speak of its earth and stones." Yugong heaved a long sigh. "You are so obstinate that you don’t use your reason. Even the widow and her little son do better than you. Though I may die, my son lives on. My son has grandsons and in turn the grandsons will have sons of their own. Sons follow sons and grandsons follow sons. My family line will keep on going, while the mountains won’t grow. So why worry about not being able to flatten them?" Zhisou was bereft of speech.

The god of the mountains heard about this and was afraid that Yugong would not stop digging at the mountains. He reported the matter to the king of the gods. The king was moved by Yugong's sincerity and commanded the two sons of Kua'eshi, a god with great strength, to carry away the two mountains on their backs: one was put east of Shuozhou and the other south of Yongzhou. Since then, there is no obstruction between Jizhou and Hanyin.