《三字经》故事 Tales from Three Character Classic

《三字经》简介

注音：三(sān)字(zì)经(jīng) 英文：Three Character Classic  

《三字经》与《百家姓》、《千字文》并称为三大国学启蒙读物。《三字经》是中华民族珍贵的文化遗产，它短小精悍、琅琅上口，千百年来，家喻户晓。其内容涵盖了历史、天文、地理、道德以及一些民间传说，所谓“熟读《三字经》，可知千古事”。基于历史原因，《三字经》难免含有一些精神糟粕、艺术瑕疵，但其独特的思想价值和文化魅力仍然为世人所公认，被历代中国人奉为经典并不断流传。

古人曰：“熟读三字经，便可知天下事，通圣人礼。” 《三字经》自南宋以来，已有七百多年历史，共一千多字，可谓家喻户晓，脍炙人口。三字一句的韵文极易成诵，内容包括了中国传统的教育、历史、天文、地理、伦理和道德以及一些民间传说，广泛生动而又言简意赅。《三字经》早就不仅仅属于汉民族了，它有满文、蒙文译本。《三字经》也不再仅仅属于中国，它的英文、法文译本也已经问世。1990年新加坡出版的英文新译本更是被联合国教科文组织选入“儿童道德丛书”，加以世界范围的推广，也是儿童的必背读物。

The Three Character Classic, or San Zi Jing, is one of the Chinese classic texts. It was probably written in the 13th century and attributed to Wang Yinglin during the Song Dynasty. The work is not one of the traditional six Confucian classics, but rather the embodiment of Confucian thought suitable for teaching young children. Until the latter part of the 19th century, it served as a child's first formal education at home. The text is written in triplets of characters for easy memorization. With the short and simple text arranged in three-character verses, children learned many common characters, grammar structures, elements of Chinese history and the basis of Confucian morality.

昔孟母，择邻处

孟母择邻/孟母三迁

昔：过去。孟母：孟子的母亲。择：选择。邻：邻居。处：住处。子：儿子，此处指孟子。

孟子小时候父亲就去世了，家境非常贫寒，所以只能住在一个城外的破房子里头，这个破房子正好在墓地旁。由于经常有人出殡，办丧事，小孟子生活在这样的环境当中，就受到了熏染。所以，小孟子从小就学人家哭丧。他没事就哭，学各种各样的丧仪，这当然对孩子的成长是不利的。孟母看在眼中急在心里，怎么办呢？竭尽所能搬家。搬到哪里呢？搬到市集上，搬到商业街的附近。而隔壁恰好是个肉铺，天天要杀猪卖肉，天天要剁肉。小孟子没事干，又学着肉铺伙计天天也在那里剁肉，然后学人家讨价还价，变成了一个卖肉的小孟子。孟母当然更着急了。更何况，当时人们还是看不起商人的。孟母咬咬牙，再搬家。这对于一个生活很贫寒的家庭来讲，是非常艰难的事情。孟母这一次搬到一所学校的附近，弦歌不绝，书声朗朗。孟子受到了学校的熏染，从此开始学打躬、作揖，因为这是师生之间的规矩。又凭耳朵听在那儿学着背书，言行也变得彬彬有礼。这就是"孟母三迁"的故事。这个故事说明，为了孩子的成长，必须给孩子营造一个好的学习环境、生活环境和成长环境。

Mencius' Mother Moving Three Times--孟母三迁 mèng mǔ sān qiān
Mencius' Mother Chooses Neighbors--孟母择邻 mèng mǔ zé lín

Mencius (Meng Zi 孟子 372 – 289 BC) was a Chinese philosopher in Warring and States period who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself. This story was ab0ut his mother moving three times to find the right place for Mencius's upbringing.

Mencius was born in city Zou (邹城) located at the foot of Ma'an mountain in Chinese Shan Dong province. Mencius's father died when he was very young. His mother Zhang (仉) raised her son alone. At the beginning, they lived next to a cemetery in which funerals or religious activities were hold nearly every day. Mencius and other village kids liked to play a game imitating adults to stage these rites. Some kids even stole the sacrifices. Seeing this, his mother said: "“No, I can’t let my son live here."

So they moved to live next to a marketplace. Soon Mencius began to be interested in observing and imitating their new neighbors, among which a butcher was his favorite. Mencius shaped clay into small piggies, cut them apart with a toy knife, and then hawked the 'meat' everywhere. His mother became more upset. "This is not the place I would like to raise my son, either" she said anxiously. As a result, they moved again.

Finally they settled down near a school, in which all they saw was people treating each other politely, and all they heard was the sound of reading. At the first day of every month, officials, scholars and all students went to Confucius temple to learn and discuss the Confucius's theories. Inspired by these, Mencius naturally started to imitate the courtesy behavior and study habits of the students. Observing this, his mother smiled and said, "This is the place where my son should live." 
Now, this story is used to show the imp0rtance of growing environment for children, that is, so called "peer effect". Peer effects are what happen when you hang around in the wrong company.

Although some experts argue that the evidence for the existence of peer effect is far slimmer than people assume, most Chinese parents still deeply believe their children's performance will suffer, if they are surrounded by too many of the "wrong" type of kids.

中国千百年来流传的一个道德教育故事，是中国古代东汉末文学家孔融的真实故事，教育人们凡事应该懂得谦让的礼仪。《三字经》中“融四岁，能让梨”即出于此。

孔融让梨

东汉时候，有个叫孔融的人。他小时候很聪明，有五个哥哥，一个弟弟。一天爸爸买了一些梨子，特意捡了一个最大的给孔融，孔融却摇头不要，拿了一个最小的梨。爸爸很好奇，就问：“为什么呢？”孔融说：“我年纪小，我吃小梨，大的给哥哥吃。” 爸爸听后很高兴，又问：“那弟弟比你还小呀？”　孔融说：“我比弟弟大，我是哥哥，我应该把大的留给小弟弟吃。”后来，孔融成为了一个很有学问的人。

Kong Rong Gave Away Bigger Pear

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a person called Kong Rong. He was very smart ever since he was a little boy. He had five older brothers and one younger brother. One day his father bought some pears, picking one of the largest and giving it to Kong Rong deliberately. But Kong Rong shook his head and picked up the smallest one. His dad was very curious, and asked: “Why?” Kong Rong said: “I am younger, so I should eat the smaller pear, and brothers should eat the bigger ones.” His dad was very glad after hearing his words, but asked further: “What ab0ut your younger brother who is younger than you are?” Kong Rong said: “I am older than him, so I should leave the bigger one to my little brother.” Later, Kong Rong became a great scholar.