Page 110 - 《孟子》（二）中·英对照版

?孟
子

“An officer’s being in office,” was the reply,
“is like the ploughing of a husbandman. Does a
husbandman part with his plough, because he goes
from one state to another?”

Xiao pursued, “The kingdom of Jin is one, as
well as others, of official employments, but I have
not heard of anyone being thus earnest about being
in office. If there should be this urge, why does a
superior man make any difficulty about taking it?”

Mencius answered, “When a son is born, what
is desired for him is that he may have a wife; when a
daughter is born, what is desired for her is that she
may have a husband. This feeling of the parents is
possessed by all men. If the young people, without
waiting for the orders of their parents, and the
arrangements of the go-betweens, shall bore holes
to steal a sight of each other, or get over the wall to
be with each other, then their parents and all other
people will despise them. The ancients did indeed

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