《孺子可教》成语英译与典故

五十八、孺子可教

汉高祖刘邦有个谋士叫张良，

他的表字叫子房。

张良原是韩国人，

爱国之心非常强。

秦国吞灭六国时，

张良年轻有志向，

决心将来灭秦国，

报国仇把正义来伸张。

隔不久他结识了一位大力士，

这人行刺过秦始皇。

可惜刺杀未成功，

秦始皇画影图形逮张良，

张良隐姓又埋名，

逃到邳（pī）地去躲藏。

有一天他闲逛来到一座桥上，

见一位老者走得慌，

过桥时老者鞋子落桥下，

呼张良替他捡来快穿上。

张良见他年岁大，

捡来了鞋子跪地上，

小心替老人穿上鞋，

那老者便有笑容浮脸上，

却一句话儿没有说，

双脚抬起走得忙。

张良默默站桥头，

目送老人去远方。

过一会老人忽又返回来，

对他说：

“小伙子你真是好样儿。

孺子可教惹人爱，

五天后请你再来此桥上。”

到这天早晨天刚亮，

张良如约来桥上，

看见老人早来到，

正在生气怨张良：

“孩子啊，你与老者相约会，

迟到失礼话怎讲？

过了五天你再来，

我仍等你在桥上。”

转眼五天又过去，

张良更早来桥上，

不想那个老头儿，

又是早早立桥上。

张良又挨了一通训，

心中反而觉亮堂：

分明是老人在考验我，

我两次迟到不应当。

临别老人又相约，

五天后仍然相会在桥上。

这一次张良半夜便起身，

一溜小跑到桥上，

终于比老人早来到，

那老人掏出本古书赠张良，

劝张良若把这书读通晓，

以后便可辅帝王。

辅佐帝王建功业，

千秋万代美名扬。

说罢老人飘然去，

转眼之间天已亮。

张良俯视手中书，

《太公兵法》写得详。

张良心中细琢磨，

这件事儿不寻常。

从那后认真读兵书，

恰逢反秦起刘邦。

张良为刘邦出谋略，

屡建奇功打胜仗。

后来被封为张留侯，

后世人谁不夸赞汉张良！

“孺子可教”作成语，

意思是青年人前途无量待培养。

You Could Be Taught，Young Man

The emperor of Han，Liu Bang had a consultant named Zhang Liang，whose style name was Zi Fang.Zhang was originally from the state of Han，where they cherished strong patriotic emotions.When the State of Qin swallowed the other six states，Zhang was young and had high aspirations.He resolved to eliminate the State of Qin，and spread justice by revenging it.

By and by，he made acquaintance with an heroic man，who had tried to assassinate the emperor of Qin.It's a pity that he didn't succeed，and Emperor Qin Shihuang had his photo drawn and ordered Zhang Liang to be arrested.

Zhang Liang then had to change his name，and flee to the Pi area to hide away.One day Zhang took a walk on a bridge，and saw an old man striding hur⁃riedly.Passing the bridge，the old man dropped one of his shoes to the dry river bed and he asked Zhang to pick it up and put it on.Zhang noticed the elder's advanced age.He picked up the shoe and knelt on the ground，and carefully put the shoe on the old man's foot.The old man then put a broad smile on his face，but uttered not even a single word，and stepped for⁃ward in his hurrying way.

Zhang silently stood at the head of the bridge，and saw the old man off for quite some distance.Af⁃ter a while the old man was returning to the bridge，and he said to Zhang Liang，“Well done，my young lad，you could be taught，my dear.Come on this bridge again in five day's time.”

When the fifth day dawned with rosy fingers，Zhang came on to the bridge as he had promised，but he found the old man had already arrived，and got an⁃gry when he saw Zhang.

“Oh child，you've made a date with this old man，but you came late and lost the courtesy，how do you explain？So you have to wait for another five days，then I'll be waiting for you on this bridge.”

Time flew fast and soon another five days went by.Zhang came to the bridge much earlier than be⁃fore，but quite beyond his expectation the old man was already standing there.Zhang so received anoth⁃er lesson of scolding，yet felt bright within his heart：“Apparently this elder was trying to test me，I shouldn't be late once again.”

When parting，the old man made another date.They should meet on the bridge in another five days.This time Zhang Liang rose at midnight，and came jog⁃ging onto the bridge，to reach there ahead of the old man.The old man then offered Zhang Liang his classi⁃cal book，and told him if he made a good study of this book，he could be qualified to assist the emperor，and his name therefore would go down for ever.

With these words the old man suddenly disap⁃peared.When day broke，Zhang Liang looked at the book in his hands.It was titled“The Great Duke's Strategy”.Zhang gave it a second thought，and decid⁃ed that it was an extraordinary thing that happened.From then on he worked very hard at his studies.

At that time，up rose Liu Bang against the Dynas⁃ty of Qin，and Zhang Liang then hatched out a strate⁃gy for Liu Bang，and achieved successive victories.Later Zhang was conferred the title of a duke and was praised by later generations.“You Could Be Taught，Young Man”became an idiom.It means a youth has a bright future and can be trained well.