《愚公移山》

愚 公 移 山

漢 ·《列子·湯問篇》
譯文來自：互聯網
校 正：李 颯
編輯整理：葉紫荊
英文朗讀：北京二號

　　太行、王屋二山，方七百裏，高萬仞。本在冀州之南，河陽之北。

　　北山愚公者，年且九十，麵山而居。懲山北之塞，出入之迂也，聚室而謀曰：“吾與汝畢力平險，指通豫南，達於漢陰，可乎？”雜然相許。其妻獻疑曰：“以君之力，曾不能損魁父之丘，如太行、王屋何？且焉置土石？”雜曰：“投諸渤海之尾，隱土之北。”

　　遂率子孫荷擔者三夫，叩石墾壤，箕畚運於渤海之尾。鄰人京城氏之孀妻有遺男，始齔，跳往助之。寒暑易節，始一返焉。河曲智叟笑而止之，曰：“甚矣，汝之不惠！以殘年餘力，曾不能毀山之一毛，其如土石何？”北山愚公長息曰：“汝心之固，固不可徹，曾不若孀妻弱子！雖我之死，有子存焉；子又生孫，孫又生子；子又有子，子又有孫。子子孫孫，無窮匱也，而山不加增，何苦而不平？”河曲智叟無以應。

Old Man Moves Mountains

Lie Zi, Han Dynasty

Taihang and Wangwu were two mountains that covered an area of seven hundred square Li and rise over thousands of meters. They were originally situated south of Jizhou and north of Heyang.

North of the mountains lived an old man called Yugong (literally 'foolish old man') who was nearly ninety years old. Since his home was surrounded by the two mountains, he was troubled by the fact that people in the neiborhood had to take a roundabout route whenever they went out. He then gathered his family to discuss the matter. "Let’s do everything in our power to flatten these forbidding mountains and get a direct route to Yuzhou and Hanyin. What do you say?" Everyone applauded his idea, except his wife, who voiced her doubts. "You are not strong enough to even remove a small hillock like Kuifu. How can you tackle Taihang and Wangwu? And where would you dump the earth and rocks?" "We can dump them into the edge of the Bohai Sea to the north of Yintu," answered everyone.

With that Yugong took with him three sons and grandsons who could carry loads on their shoulders. They broke up rocks, dug up mounds of earth, and transported them to the edge of the Bohai Sea in baskets. His neighbour, a widow named Jingcheng, had a posthumous son who was just getting his permanent teeth. This vivacious boy jumped at the chance of giving them a hand. From winter through summer the workers only returned home once.

An old man called Zhisou (literally 'wise old man') who lived in Hequ, near a bend of the Yellow River, was amused and dissuaded Yugong. "How can you be so foolish? With your advanced years and the little strength you have left, you cannot even destroy a blade of grass on the mountain, not to speak of its earth and stones." Yugong heaved a long sigh. "You are so obstinate that you don’t use your reason. Even the widow and her little son do better than you. Though I may die, my son lives on. My son has grandsons and in turn the grandsons will have sons of their own. Sons follow sons and grandsons follow sons. My family line will keep on going, while the mountains won’t grow. So why worry about not being able to flatten them?" Zhisou was bereft of speech.

The god of the mountains heard about this and was afraid that Yugong would not stop digging at the mountains. He reported the matter to the king of the gods. The king was moved by Yugong's sincerity and commanded the two sons of Kua'eshi, a god with great strength, to carry away the two mountains on their backs: one was put east of Shuozhou and the other south of Yongzhou. Since then, there is no obstruction between Jizhou and Hanyin.