Historical Tales
历史故事
Three Moves by Menclus’s Mother
孟母三迁
The allusion comes from The Biography of Mencius' Mother in Biographies of Outstanding Women by Liu Xiang, one of the greatest men of letters in the Han Dynasty.
这则典故出自汉朝最著名的文人之一刘向的《列女传•卷一•母仪》。
“When Meng Ke, known later on as Mencius, was still a child, his mother and he lived near a graveyard.
“当孟轲，也就是之后的孟子，还是一个孩子的时候，他的母亲和他住在一片墓地旁边。
As Meng Ke played in the yard, what he imitated were all the rites of funerals.
当孟轲在墓地旁玩耍时，他模仿的全都是葬礼的仪式。
So his mother said ：‘This is not the right place for me and my son to live. ’
于是他的妈妈说：‘这不是我和我的儿子应该居住的地方。’
She moved to a house near a market.
她将家搬到了一个集市旁边。
Then her son took pleasure in imitating the peddlers' hawking and the salesmen's bargaining.
于是他的儿子很开心地模仿起了小贩的叫卖和商家的讨价还价。
Again the mother said ：‘This is not the place for me and my son to live.’
他的母亲再一次说：‘这不是我和我的儿子应该居住的地方。’
And she made another migration and housed themselves near a school.
于是她再次搬家，搬到了学校附近。
There her son behaved in the same polite manner as the teachers and students.
在那里，她的儿子像老师和学生们一样礼貌的表现。
The mother said ：‘ Here should we live!’
他的母亲说：‘我们就应该住在这里。’
So they settled there.
于是他们就在那里定居了。
In the following years, Meng Ke acquired a wide range of knowledge, such as etiquette, music, archery, charioteering, reading, writing and arithmetic.
接下来的几年，孟轲习得了广泛的只是，如礼仪、音乐、射箭、驾车、阅读、写作和算术。
When he grew up, he became one of the most famous scholars and representatives of Confucianism. ”
当他长大以后，他成为了儒家学派最著名和最有代表性的学者。”
Later, the phrase is used to sing praises of mothers who teach their children by means of examples.
后来，这则典故被用来比喻那些费尽心力培养孩子的母亲。
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