Chapter 39 hour

At the end of the Han Dynasty (Eastern Han Dynasty), a very learned man named Kong Rong and Yu Wenju came out of Beihai, who was the twentieth grandson of Confucius.He has been very smart since he was a child, especially good at eloquence. At a young age, he is already well-known in society.When he was ten years old, he went to Luoyang (now Luoyang County, Henan Province) with his father. Luoyang was the accompanying capital of the emperors of all dynasties. Because it was located in the east of Chang'an, it was called the Eastern Capital). Li's talent and reputation are very important, so except for his relatives, the rest of the people who came and went in the prefect's mansion were talented people at that time.If it is not a famous person who visits, the doorkeeper will not report it as a rule.

Kong Rong, who was only ten years old, boldly visited the prefect.He went to the gate of the mansion and said to the gatekeeper: "I am a relative of Li Taishou, let me know." After the gatekeeper informed, Li Taishou received him.Li Yuanli asked him, "Excuse me, what is your relationship with me?" Kong Rong replied, "In the past, my ancestor Zhongni (that is, Confucius) and your family's ancestor Boyang (referring to Laozi, whose surname is Li Minger, Zi Boyang) has the respect of teachers (Confucius once asked Laozi about etiquette) , Therefore, you and I are also world friends! "There were many congratulatory guests present at that time, and Mrs. Li and his guests were very surprised by what Kong Rong said.

Among them was Chen Wei, a doctor of Chinese medicine, who arrived later. After the guests told him what Kong Rong had said, he casually said, "It's too young, but it may not be good to be old." The clever Kong Rong immediately retorted: "I think Doctor Chen When I was young, I must have been very smart." Chen Wei was stumped by a word to Kong Rong, and was speechless for a long time (see "New Words in the World"). Later people quoted two sentences from this story and turned "it's too young" into an idiom to explain that children are naturally smart from the urine and know many things.But because there is the phrase "big is not necessarily good" below, the meaning of this idiom becomes: Although you are smart when you are young, you may not be able to become a talent when you grow up.

Therefore, although the words of praise appear on the surface, they are ridiculed and despised in their hearts.Therefore, when we apply it, we should not praise others with it, otherwise we will be misunderstood that you deliberately ridicule and despise others. A child's innate intelligence is naturally good, but without acquired training and hard work, it will become a piece of useless material; many people think that they are naturally intelligent, and refuse to study hard. On the contrary, he will become the most useless person.