To Move Mountains

    Taihang and Wangwu are two mountains covering an area of seven hundred square li and rising up to a great height of thousands of meters．They were originally situated¹ south of Jizhou and north of Heyang．North of the mountains lived an old man called Yugong（literally‘foolish old man’）who was nearly ninety years old．Since his home faced the two mountains，he was troubled by the fact that they blocked the way of the inhabitants who hed to take a round about route whenever they went out．He gathered his family together to discuss the matter．“Let us do everything in our power to flatten² these forbiddingmountains so that there is a direct route to the south of Yuzhou and the southern bank of the Han River．What do you say？”
    Everyone applauded his suggestion．His wife voiced her doubts．“You are not strong enough even to remove a small hillock like Kuifu．How can you tackle Taixing and Wangwu？And where would you dump the earth and rocks？”
    “We can dump them into the shore of the Bo Sea and north of Yintu，”said everyone．Therefore Yugong took with him three sons and grandsons who could carry a load on their shoulders．They broke up rocks and dug up amounts of earth which were transported to the shore of the Bo Seain baskets His neighbour，a widow by the name of her late husband Jingcheng，had a posthumous³ son who was just at the age of discarding his silk teeth．This vivacious⁴ boy jumped at the chance of giving them a hand．From winter through summer the workers only returned home once．An old man called Zhisou（literally‘wise old man’）who lived in Hequ，near a bend of the Yellow River，was amused and dissuaded⁵ Yugong．“How can you be so foolish？At your old age and with the little strength that you have left，you cannot even destroy a blade of grass on the mountain，nor to speak of its earth and stones．”
    Yugong from north of the mountains heaved a long sigh．“You are so obstinate⁶ that you do not use your reason．Even the widow and her little son do better than you．Though I die，my son lives on．My son produces a grandson and in turn the grandson has a son of his own Sons follow sons and grandsons will follow sons．My sons and grand－sons win go on and on without end but the mountains will not grow in size．Then why worry about not being able to flatten them？”
    Zhisou of Hequ was bereft⁷ of speech．The god of the mountains who held a snake in his hand heard about this and was afraid that Yugong would not stop，so he told the matter to the king of gods who was moved by Yugong's sincerity⁸．The king commanded the two sons of Kua' ershi to carry away the two mountains on their backs：one was put east of Shuozhou and the other south of Yongzhou． From that time onwards no mountain stood between the south of Jizhou and the southern bank of the Han River．Exercises：
    回答下列问题：
    ① Who was Yugong？What did he want to do？
    ② What was the god of the mountains like？
    ③ What can we learn from Yugong？

1 situated   

adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的

参考例句：

• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。
• She is awkwardly situated.她的处境困难。

2 flatten   

v.把．．．弄平，使倒伏；使(漆等)失去光泽

参考例句：

• We can flatten out a piece of metal by hammering it.我们可以用锤子把一块金属敲平。
• The wrinkled silk will flatten out if you iron it.发皱的丝绸可以用熨斗烫平。

3 posthumous   

adj.遗腹的；父亡后出生的；死后的，身后的

参考例句：

• He received a posthumous award for bravery.他表现勇敢，死后受到了嘉奖。
• The legendary actor received a posthumous achievement award.这位传奇男星在过世后获得终身成就奖的肯定。

4 vivacious   

adj.活泼的，快活的

参考例句：

• She is an artless,vivacious girl.她是一个天真活泼的女孩。
• The picture has a vivacious artistic conception.这幅画气韵生动。

5 dissuaded   

劝（某人）勿做某事，劝阻( dissuade的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was easily dissuaded from going. 他很容易就接受劝告不走了。
• Ulysses was not to be dissuaded from his attempt. 尤利西斯想前去解救的决心不为所动。

6 obstinate   

adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的

参考例句：

• She's too obstinate to let anyone help her.她太倔强了，不会让任何人帮她的。
• The trader was obstinate in the negotiation.这个商人在谈判中拗强固执。

7 bereft   

adj.被剥夺的

参考例句：

• The place seemed to be utterly bereft of human life.这个地方似乎根本没有人烟。
• She was bereft of happiness.她失去了幸福。

8 sincerity   

n.真诚，诚意；真实

参考例句：

• His sincerity added much more authority to the story.他的真诚更增加了故事的说服力。
• He tried hard to satisfy me of his sincerity.他竭力让我了解他的诚意。