Page 275 - 《孟子》(三)中·英对照版
P. 275

告
                                                                                                            子
                                                                                                            下

病不求耳。子归而求之,有余师。”

      Jiao of Cao asked Mencius, saying, “It is said,
‘All men may be Yaos and Shuns;’ —is it so?”

      Mencius replied, “It is.”
      Jiao went on, “l have heard that king Wen was
ten cubits high, and Tang nine. Now I am nine cubits
four inches in height. But I can do nothing but eat
my millet. What am I to do to realize that saying?”
      Mencius answered him, “What has this—
the question of size— to do with the matter? It all
lies simply in acting as such. Here is a man, whose
strength was not equal to lift a duckling: —he was
then a man of no strength. But today he says, ‘I can
lift 3,000 catties’ weight,’ and he is a man of strength.
And so, he who can lift the weight which Wu Huo
lifted is just another Wu Huo. Why should a man
make a want of ability the subject of his grief? It is
only that he will not do the thing. To walk slowly,

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