What does it mean to eat the earth and drink the yellow earth?

Eating soil and drinking yellow water means eating soil and drinking underground spring water.

Persuade sb. to study

The source of this sentence is from Xunzi's Persuasion in the pre-Qin period.

I extracted the most famous paragraph from the original sentence for your reference.

Accumulated soil becomes mountains, and the wind and rain are prosperous; The water drops merged into the ocean and the dragon was born; Accumulate goodness into virtue, the gods are complacent, and the sacred heart is prepared. Therefore, you can't take Wan Li Road without accumulating steps; If you don't accumulate small streams, you won't be a river. Leap, not ten steps; This is a great contribution to the success of Ma Xu. Perseverance, rotten wood can't be carved; Perseverance, the stone can be carved. Earthworms do not have the advantages of minions, and their bones and muscles are strong. They eat the earth and drink the yellow land with their hearts. The crab kneels six times and pinches twice. It's not that the snake hole has no sustenance, it's also impetuous. (Jianghai Zuo Yi: River)

The original translation of this sentence is

Earth and rock piled up into mountains, from which wind and rain started; Water flows into the abyss, and dragons are born from it; Accumulate good deeds, cultivate noble morality, improve spirit, and thus have the state of mind of a saint. Therefore, without the accumulation of half a step, there is no way to reach thousands of miles away; Without the accumulation of tiny flowing water, there is no way to merge into the rivers and seas. The horse jumped less than ten paces; A bad horse walks for ten days in a row, and its success lies in its non-stop. If you stop carving a few times, then the rotten wood will continue to carve. If you insist on carving, then this stone can be carved successfully. Earthworms have no sharp claws and teeth, and no strong bones and muscles, but they can eat the soil and drink the underground spring water, because they are single-minded. A crab has six legs and two claws, but it has nowhere to hide without snakes and eels, because it is impetuous.

Here are some words that I think are more important, and I will explain them to you separately.

Qǐ: stand on tiptoe.

Bo Jian: See widely.

Disease: Quick, quick, which means "loudly".

Akira: Obviously, very clearly. The meaning here is to hear more clearly.

False: rely on, use. Y: Carriage, here refers to the car.

Li Zu: Feet walk fast.

Water: swimming.

Absolutely: crossing.

Xìng: There is no difference in essence (from ordinary people). Health, communication "sex", talent, qualification.

Mongolian dove: a kind of wren, commonly known as yellow bird, also known as clever female bird, is gray and spotted, and often uses grass and reeds as its nest. )

Me (show rotten sound): Taomi water, that is, the so-called dirty water and smelly water.

Dior: The flower spike of reed.

Bud (yè) stem: also known as black fan, a herb. Its roots are used as medicine, and its slender stems are mostly born between cliffs and look like trees, so Xunzi called it "wood", which is actually a kind of grass. It is wrong to say that "wood" is "grass".

Four words: grass grows in the hemp field and can stand upright without help. When white sand is mixed with black soil, it will become as black as soil. Metaphor living in a good environment can also be a good person. Peng, Peng Cao. Marijuana, marijuana bush. Nie, ettringite, can make black dye. There is no word "Nirvana is always black" in Xieji, supplemented by the quotations "When the people are the only emperors" and "Justice" in Shangshu Hongfan.

Lan Huai: Vanilla, also known as Angelica dahurica, has white flowers and delicious taste. The ancients called its seedlings "orchids" and its roots "branches".

Jiān: Immersion. Xi incarnation: swill, sour rice washing water. This is called dirty water, smelly water.

Woman: Put it on.

Those who change gradually are naturally: this is a situation that is influenced and influenced. Sure, like this.

Evil person: a person with bad behavior. Zhongzheng: An upright man.

D?: A worm that eats away at utensils.

Strong self-pumping column: it means that the physical properties are too good and easy to break. Column, through "Zhu" (Wang said), break it. "Dai Li and Li Ji Persuade Learning" is a "discount".

Soft self-discipline: weak things lead to self-discipline.

Structure: knot, cause.

Domain: pass "Zhuo", class.

Mass: arrow target. (d √): the center of the target.

Kim: Axe.

Appreciation of this sentence

Xunzi's articles, like other philosophical papers of pre-Qin philosophers, are unique. Unlike Laozi, it didn't put the dialectical thought of unity of opposites and contradiction through; Nor does it use strict and thorough formal logic to reason like Mozi; Unlike Zhuangzi, the sky is wide and full of romanticism. Unlike Mencius, his language is sharp and magnificent, and he has the characteristics of an orator. He is telling the truth. His articles are simple and vigorous, meticulous and rigorous, with neat sentence patterns, and he is good at expounding profound truth with diversified metaphors. All these constitute the characteristics of Xunzi's articles. Someone once summarized Xunzi as "an essay by a scholar", which is a very appropriate comment.

"Encouraging Learning" is the representative work of Xunzi and the first article in Xunzi's book. The full text consists of two parts: the first part discusses the importance of learning; The second part discusses the steps, contents and methods of learning. And "learning can't" is the central idea that runs through the whole paper. Several excerpts from the first part of "Encouraging Learning" have been selected into middle school Chinese textbooks since liberation, which is one of the traditional masterpieces that can stand the test of time.

The paragraphs in "Encouraging Learning" are very clear, and basically each paragraph expounds a specific problem. And always make a clear explanation at the beginning and end of the text. For example, the first sentence of the article reads: "A gentleman says: You can't learn." This is not only a central topic of the full text, but also the content to be elaborated in the first paragraph. At the end of the paragraph, it is summarized as follows: "A gentleman is knowledgeable and cares about himself, so knowing it is not a mistake." This clearly and effectively takes care of the first sentence, wraps up the above content and clearly points out the central idea of the paragraph. For example, in the second paragraph, "I've been thinking about it all day, so it's better to learn it all at once" to explain that meditation alone is far less beneficial than learning. After enumerating several very common and convincing metaphors in life, such as "Climbing high and looking far", "Calling with the wind", "Fake horse" and "Fake boat", I strongly conclude that "a gentleman's life (sex) is the same, and good and fake are also in things." Here, starting from his "theory of evil nature", Xunzi pointed out that a gentleman's nature is also evil, and the reason why he is different from others is that he is good at learning from good teachers and friends to change his bad habits. The word "thing" has changed from "boat" and "horse" to the content of learning, and its writing has gradually deepened. The two examples cited here are taken care of from beginning to end. Some paragraphs only reveal the center of the paragraph at the beginning, or just make a proper summary at the end. In short, the purpose is the same, but the way is not rigid. Philosophical papers of pre-Qin philosophers are generally difficult to read. Xunzi's rigorous and simple writing method is very effective in helping readers master the basic content of each paragraph.

You may not be able to understand the meaning just by reading the article, but this must be interpreted in combination with the background at that time.

The important representatives of Confucianism in the Warring States period were Mencius and Xunzi. Mencius advocated the idea that "the industrious people govern the people, and the industrious people govern the people" to defend the ruling class, while Xunzi believed that human beings could conquer nature and should use nature to serve mankind. His disciples Han Fei and Li Si became important representatives of legalists at the end of the Warring States Period.