In the Opposite Direction

    The king of the state of Wei had the intention of attacking Handan，the capital of the state of Yue．Ji Liang，a minister of the state of Wei，heard of this and broke off his journey to return to the state of Wei．He went to see the king before even stopping to smooth the creases¹ of his clothes or flicking² the dust off his head．“Your Majesty³，”said Ji Liang，“on my way here I saw a man on a main road driving his carriage northwards．”
    “He said to me，‘I want to go to the state of Chu．'
    “‘If you want to go to the state of Chu，why are you going north？'I asked．“‘I have fine horses，’he said．“‘Even though you have good horses，this is not the road to the state of Chu，’I pointed⁴ out．‘I have plenty of money for my journey．’he said．“‘Even though you have a lot of money for your journey，this is not the road to the state of Chu．’I said．“‘I have an excellent driver for my carriage．’he said．“The better are the resources he mentioned，the farther⁵ he was going away from the state of Chu．“Now Your Majesty seeks to rise above all the other kings and win the confidence and support of the common people everywhere．However，you plan to expand your territories and raise your prestige⁶ by attacking Handan，relying on the powerful strength of your state and the well-trained soldiers under your command．The more you move in this direction the farther away you are from your goal of ruling over all the states．This is as effective as going north while hoping to reach the state of Chu．”
    Exercises：
    回答下列问题：
    ① What did the king of the state of Wei intend to do？
    ②Who did Ji Liang，a minister of the state of Wei，see on his re-turn to the state of Wei？
    ③ Why did the man go north instead of going south？
    ④ What can we learn from this？

1 creases   

（使…）起折痕，弄皱( crease的第三人称单数 )； （皮肤）皱起，使起皱纹

参考例句：

• She smoothed the creases out of her skirt. 她把裙子上的皱褶弄平。
• She ironed out all the creases in the shirt. 她熨平了衬衣上的所有皱褶。

2 flicking   

（尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的现在分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等）

参考例句：

• He helped her up before flicking the reins. 他帮她上马，之后挥动了缰绳。
• There's something flicking around my toes. 有什么东西老在叮我的脚指头。

3 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！

4 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

5 farther   

adj.更远的，进一步的；adv.更远的，此外；far的比较级

参考例句：

• I can throw the ball farther than you can.这个球我能比你扔得远。
• The farther hill is five kilometres away.那座更远的小山在五公里以外。

6 prestige   

n.声望，威望，威信

参考例句：

• Their products enjoy ever higher prestige in the world market.他们的产品在世界市场上享有越来越高的声誉。
• He has high prestige among the masses.他在群众中威信很高。