An Old Horse Knows the Way 老馬識(shí)途

王梓菲

“老馬識(shí)途”出自《韓非子·說林上》，比喻閱歷多的人富有經(jīng)驗(yàn)，熟悉情況，能起引導(dǎo)作用。

During the Spring and Autumn period， the troops of Qi 1）attacked a small state in the north. After the 2）victory， the troops began to return their home . But they lost their way in the mountains . Because they set off in spring， with green grass and trees， but now it was winter. No one could findthe right 3）direction， so all of them lost their way.

At this moment， Guan Zhong said， “Old horses are wise animals whoknow their way. Let them lead the way for us！”

4）Thereupon， they let several old horses lead ahead and the troops followed behind. In the end they found their way home.

春秋時(shí)期，齊國(guó)出兵攻打北方一個(gè)小國(guó)。勝利后，齊軍返回時(shí)在山谷里迷失了方向。因?yàn)辇R軍是春天出征的，遍地綠色草木，但凱旋時(shí)已是冬天，草木變了樣。于是，齊軍迷失了方向，找不到回去的路。

這時(shí)，管仲說：“馬是一種有智慧的動(dòng)物，能認(rèn)路，可以讓馬來給我們帶路！”

于是，他們就讓幾匹老馬走在前面，軍隊(duì)在后面跟著。終于，他們找到了回去的路。

Fill in the blanks：

The troops lost their way in the mountains because they ________in spring， with green grass and trees， but now it was winter. No one could find ___________.

Background Knowledge

Guan Zhong was a famous economist， philosopher， statesman and strategist in ancient China. He was the legalist representative in Spring and Autumn period， the descendant of King Muwang. In 698 BC， he began to assist Childe Jiu. In 685 BC， he was recommended by Bao Shuya to serve as Prime Minister. He assisted Duke Huan of Qi to become the prominent one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period. He was honored as “Zhong Fu”. He died in 645 BC. He was respected as “Guanzi”， known as “l(fā)egalist pioneer”“sage teacher”.

管仲，中國(guó)古代著名經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家、哲學(xué)家、政治家、軍事家。他是春秋時(shí)期法家代表人物，是周穆王的后代。公元前698年，他開始輔佐公子糾。公元前685年，他經(jīng)鮑叔牙推薦，擔(dān)任國(guó)相，輔佐齊桓公，使其成為春秋五霸之首。他被尊稱為“仲父”，于公元前645年病逝。他被后人尊稱為“管子”，譽(yù)為“法家先驅(qū)”“圣人之師”。

Know More

There are two main meanings of the story.

1. All things in the world are equal， and all things in the world can givepeople thoughts， enlightenment and wisdom.

2. Experienced people are more familiar with the situation and they canguide us in a certain area. And we should use our brains more and try to findpatterns in things around us. In order to learn about things we don't know，we should also learn from experienced people with an open mind so that wemay avoid detours and shorten the time of trial and error.

“老馬識(shí)途”告訴我們：

1. 世間萬物皆平等，世間萬象也均能給人以思想、啟迪、智慧。

2.有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人更熟悉情況，他們能夠在某個(gè)領(lǐng)域發(fā)揮引導(dǎo)作用;做事情要多動(dòng)腦，善于發(fā)現(xiàn)身邊事物的規(guī)律;對(duì)于不了解的事情，應(yīng)虛心向有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的人學(xué)習(xí)求教，這樣可以少走彎路，縮短試錯(cuò)時(shí)間。