A Scene of Desolation

濟南五中 龍菲

“門可羅雀”最早見于《史記·汲鄭列傳論》，原指門外可張網捕雀，現多形容門庭冷落、賓客稀少。

Zhai Gonɡ was an official in the Han Dynasty.Because he held a very high-ranking and powerful position,many of his friends,relatives,and even1)acquaintance [??kwe?nt?ns] n.相識的人acquaintanceswhom he barely knew often went to visit him.Day after day,horses and2)chariot [?t??ri?t] n.馬車chariotslined up in front of his house.It was as crowded as a marketplace.

Then,Zhai Gonɡ was removed from office.All people then stopped ɡoinɡ to see him,and the place in front of his house was so empty that you could have caught3)sparrow [?sp?r??] n.麻雀sparrowsin a net.

Shortly after,Zhai Gong was4)reinstate [?ri:?n?ste?t] v.使恢復；使復原reinstated.After hearing the news,his friends and relatives all once again began to come to visit him.Zhai Gong,however,was now unwilling to see them because he realized the real intention of them.

翟公是漢代的朝臣。因位高權重，眾多親朋好友甚至他幾乎不認識的人都經常去拜訪他。日復一日，車馬在他的門前排成一排，院子猶如市場一樣擁擠。

后來，翟公被免去了官職。從此再也沒有一個客人來拜訪他，他家門口空無一人，簡直可以張網捕捉麻雀。

不久，翟公官復原職。聽到這個消息后，他的親朋好友又開始來拜訪他。然而，翟公現在不愿意見他們了，因為他明白了他們真正的意圖。

Answer the questions:

1.When did people around Zhai Gong often go to visit him?

2.What happened when Zhai Gonɡ was removed from office?

Background Knowledge

When a man is in power,people clamor to please him one after another.When he’s down,people move away from him and draw the line.This is a phenomenon of fickleness of the world.We must criticize it resolutely.

We should treat others consistently.Especially when our friends are in trouble,we should give them more care.In this way,our society will be warmer.

一個人得勢時，人們爭相攀附并討好他；在他失意時，人們卻遠離他并與其劃清界限。這是一種世態炎涼的現象，必須對其進行堅決的批判。

我們對待他人要始終如一，尤其是在朋友遇到困難時，我們應給予更多的關懷，這樣我們的社會才會更溫暖、更和諧。