The Pot Calling the Kettle Black五十步笑百步

Micky

“五十步笑百步”最早見于《孟子·梁惠王上》，比喻自己跟別人有同樣的缺點或錯誤，只是程度上輕些，可是卻譏笑別人。

One day， King Hui of Liang met Mencius and said， “What a mess thepolitical state of our neighbouring countries is in！ When they govern their states，they never think of the people. And I helped the people with disasters. I alsoallocate them food for calamity relief. I have really done my best to govern mycountry.”

As Mencius heard this， he nodded in agreement. King Hui of Liang went onto say， “Yet my population has not increased and our neighbouring countries’population has not decreased. What exactly is the reason？”

Mencius thought this over and replied， “Please let me take an 1）illustrationfrom war. On the battlefield， the two armies are locked in a stalemate， but thereis surely to be either victory or defeat. The defeated soldiers， throwing awaytheir 2）helmets and 3）armour， flee for their lives. Some of them flee 50 stepsand then stop， while others flee 100 steps and stop. Then， those who flee 50steps laugh at those who flee 100 steps for their cowardice. Do you think it isright to laugh？”

Upon hearing this， King Hui of Liang said， “Of course not. No matterwhether they flee 50 steps or 100steps， they are deserters just thesame.”

Mencius smiled and said， “Since you understand this truth， you cannotexpect your population to be larger than that of your neighbouring countries.”

1） illustration n 故事；實例2） helmet n. 頭盔3） armour n. 盔甲；裝甲

一天，梁惠王見到孟子，說：“鄰國的政治多么糟糕！ 他們治國從不為老百姓著想！而我不僅幫老百姓賑災，還調撥糧食救濟他們。對治理國家，我是盡自己最大的努力了。”

孟子聽后連忙點頭表示同意。梁惠王接著說：“可是，我的百姓人數卻沒有增加，而鄰國的百姓人數也沒有減少。這究竟是什么原因？”

孟子想了想回答說：“請允許我用戰爭中的故事舉個例子。戰場上，兩軍對峙，相持不下，但是一定會有勝負。潰敗的士兵丟盔棄甲，紛紛逃命。其中，有的人逃五十步就停下來，而有的人逃一百步也停了下來。這時候，逃五十步的人嘲笑逃一百步的人膽小。您說這種嘲笑對不對？”

梁惠王聽后，說“： 當然不對，不管逃五十步，還是逃一百步，一樣是逃兵啊！”

孟子笑著說道：“既然您明白這個道理，那么您也就不要希望您的百姓會比鄰國多了。”

Fill in the blanks：

King Hui of Liang helped the people with disasters and allocate them_________for calamity relief.

Know More

This story ridicules people who are unaware of their own flaws and feelsuperior to others. When looking at things， we should look at its nature and overallsituation， not superficial and partial.

這個故事諷刺了那些沒有意識到自己的缺點并覺得自己比別人優越的人。我們看事物要看到本質和大局，不能只看表面的、片面的。

參考答案：

food