The Cook Dissects an Ox

濟南五中 龍菲

“庖丁解牛”出自《莊子·養生主》，比喻技藝純熟、高超，發揮起來得心應手。

In the Warring States Period,there was a cook who was very1)skilfulat2)dissectingoxen.King Hui of Liang was surprised at his skill and asked,“How skilful you are! How did you make it?” The cook replied,“At the beginning,I didn’t know the3)innerstructure of an ox.So it often took me not only a lot of time but also great strength to dissect them.Later on,I kept practicing again and again.And finally I4)masteredthe inner structure of an ox.That’s why I can do it skilfully.Now look at my knife,which I have used for nineteen years.It is still as sharp as a new one.”

Hearing this,King Hui of Liang nodded with his thumb up,“Nice! Nice! I am inspired a lot by your words.”

1) skilfuladj.熟練的

2) dissectv.剖析；解剖（人或動植物）

3) inneradj.內部的

4) masterv.掌握；精通

戰國時有個廚師擅于宰牛。梁惠王見他宰牛如此嫻熟，便問道：“你的技術如此高超，究竟是怎樣練就的呢？”廚師說：“我剛宰牛時因為不知道其身體結構，不僅速度慢，而且要花很大的力氣。后來經過反復練習，我完全掌握了牛的身體結構，所以再宰起牛來就得心應手了。看！我的刀，雖然已經用了十九年，卻還如新的一樣鋒利。”

梁惠王聽后不由地點頭稱贊：“不錯！不錯！聽了你的話，我深受啟發。”

Fill in the blanks:

1.The cook mastered the inner structure of a cow after keep _____ again and again.

2.The cook had used his knife for ______ years.

Know More

In the story,Zhuang Zi used the knife as a metaphor for human beings and used the inner structure of an ox as a metaphor for the complex society.In his opinion,dissecting an ox with a knife is a metaphor for human life in society.

This idiom vividly illustrates that as long as you master the objective law and use it flexibly,you can be liberated from necessity and get real freedom.In repeated practice,we should also pay attention to mastering the method,rather than blindly repeat.

在這個故事中，莊子以刀喻人，以牛體組織喻復雜的社會，以刀解牛喻人處世。

該成語形象地說明了人只要掌握了客觀規律并靈活運用，就能從必然中解放出來，從而獲得真正的自由。在反復實踐時，我們也應該注意掌握方法，而不是盲目重復。