Mencius

龙菲

“孟母三迁”出自《孟子题辞》，它告诉人们：人的性格和生活环境有很大的联系，人们在生活中应善于学习与思考，不要完全被周围的环境所影响。

When Mencius was a child， his mother and he lived near a 1）graveyard. Therefore， he often played near the grave and 2）imitated people's crying with neighbors' kids. When his mother saw this， she said， “It's not a good place for a child to live in.”

Then she moved the family to a house near a market. Soon Mencius began imitating businessmen's 3）hawking and 4）bargaining with neighbors' kids. His mother found this place still not good for a child to live in. She decided to move away again.

At last they settled down near a school. Before long， Mencius began imitating the students' reading and studying. He became more and more polite. Then his mother said， “This is a good place for a child to live in.”

Mencius studied hard and became a great thinker.

孟子小的时候和他的妈妈住在墓地旁边。因此，孟子就和邻居的小孩一起在墓地旁玩起游戏，学着大人哭嚎的样子。孟子的媽妈看到后，说：“这个地方不适合孩子居住。”

孟子的妈妈就带着孟子搬到市集旁边去住。到了市集，孟子又和邻居的小孩学起商人沿街叫卖和讨价还价的样子。孟子的妈妈认为这个地方还是不适合孩子居住。她决定再次搬家。

最后，他们搬到了学校附近。不久，孟子开始模仿学生读书和学习的样子。他变得越来越有礼貌。这时，孟子的妈妈说：“这才是孩子应该居住的好地方。”

孟子努力学习并最终成为一位伟大的思想家。

Answer the questions：

1. What did Mencius learn when his family live near the graveyard？

2. What can we know from the story？

Background Knowledge

Mencius was a famous philosopher， thinker， politician and educator. He was the representative figure of the Confucian school after Confucius . He inherited Confucius's idea of “benevolence” and developed it into the idea of “benevolent governance”. He first put forward the idea that “the people are more important than the ruler”.

孟子是著名的哲学家、思想家、政治家、教育家，孔子之后的儒家学派的代表人物。他继承了孔子“仁”的思想并将其发展成为“仁政”思想，最早提出“民贵君轻”思想。