Bitter Against Each Other 相煎何急

朱廣春

“相煎何急”出自《世說新語·文學》，后用以比喻兄弟或內部之間自相迫害或殘殺。

Cao Zhi was the son of Cao Cao， the first ruler of the State of Wei duringthe Three Kingdoms Period.

Cao Zhi was quick-witted when he was young， and Cao Cao loved himdearly and intended to name him his successor.

After the father died and the elder brother Cao Pi became the new ruler，he 1）mercilessly 2）persecuted his younger brother Cao Zhi， and determinedto put him to death.

One day， he summoned Cao Zhi to the court and accused him ofcommitting a capital crime， for which he would be executed. “However， sinceyou are my brother，” Cao Pi said， “as long as you can compose a poemwithin seven paces， I will spare your life.” Cao Zhi replied， “OK， Your Majesty.Please name a topic.” Cao Pi said， “The topic is ‘Brothers，however， not once can you use the word ‘brother in thepoem.”

Before taking seven paces， Cao Zhi 3）chantedaloud a poem to the effect， “Pods burned to cookpeas， peas weep in the pot， ‘Grow from same root，please， why boil us so hot？”

Hearing this poem， nearlye v e r y o n e p r e s e n t w a smoved to tears， and even?the elder brother felt embarrassed.

Thanks to his talent， Cao Zhi escaped death that time.

1） mercilessly adv. 殘忍地

2） persecute v. 迫害；殘害

3） chant v. 反復唱；反復呼喊

Fill in the blanks：

Before taking seven steps， Cao Zhi______________a poem to the effect.

曹植是三國時期魏國第一位統治者曹操的兒子。

曹植年少時才思敏捷，曹操對其寵愛有加，一度有傳位于他的想法。

曹操死后，曹植的兄長曹丕繼位，他開始無情地迫害曹植，非要置他于死地。

一天，他把曹植喚到朝堂，斥責其犯下死罪，將被處決。“不過，看在兄弟的情分上，”曹丕說，“只要你在七步之內作出一首詩，我就饒你不死。”

曹植回答道：“好的，請陛下出題。”“那就以‘兄弟為題作詩，”曹丕加了一個條件，“但詩中不能出現‘兄弟二字。”

然而七步未到，詩句已然作成，只聽曹植高聲吟道：“煮豆燃豆萁，豆在釜中泣。本是同根生，相煎何太急？”

幾乎在場的每個人聽后都熱淚盈眶，曹丕也為自己的所作所為感到羞愧。

憑借自己的文學天賦，曹植逃過了一劫。

Know More

One of Cao Zhis elder brothers was Cao Pi. These three Caos， knownin the history of Chinese literature as the “Father Cao and Sons”， were allaccomplished writers. But， of the three， Cao Zhi was by far the most talented.

曹丕，是曹植的一位兄長，他們與父親曹操一樣，皆文采斐然，被史家合稱為“三曹”。在“三曹”之中，又以曹植一枝獨秀，遠超二人。

參考答案：chanted aloud