Reading on a Winter Night and Showing Children is a poem by Lu You, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty. The whole poem is:
The ancients learned nothing, and it takes time to grow old.
What you get on paper is so shallow that you never know what you have to do.
Translation:
The ancients spared no effort to learn knowledge and struggled for it all their lives. They often began to work hard when they were young and achieved something when they were old.
After all, the knowledge gained from books is superficial and it is impossible to understand the true meaning of knowledge. To truly understand the profound truth in books, you must practice it yourself in order to learn successfully.
Extended data
Ideological theme:
This poem wins by thought and philosophy, and makes people benefit from rational speculation. It contains profound philosophy: direct experience and indirect experience are two ways for people to acquire knowledge.
Indirect experience is a way for people to draw nutrition from books and learn the knowledge and skills of their predecessors. Direct experience is an understanding that comes directly from practice, and it is a more important way to acquire knowledge. Only by "practice" can we turn book knowledge into practical knowledge and play the guiding role of what we have learned in practice.
Literary appreciation:
The first two sentences of the poem praise the ancient people's spirit of hard study and the difficulty of learning. It shows that only when you develop good study habits and lay a good foundation can you achieve something in the future.
The poet begins with the knowledge of the ancients. The word "effortless" describes the diligence and persistence of the ancients in learning, which is both vivid and vivid. The poet earnestly warned his son to seize the good time, work hard while he was young, and don't let his youth go to waste.
The last two sentences emphasize the importance of where the learning effort should be. It is important to study knowledge tirelessly and persistently, but it is not enough, because it is only book knowledge and a summary of previous practical experience. It is not an armchair strategist, but "hands-on".
A person who has both book knowledge and practical experience is truly learned. Book knowledge is the summary of predecessors' practical experience, and whether it can conform to the situation here and now remains to be tested by practice. Only through personal practice can we turn the knowledge in books into our own practical skills.
By describing Lu You's education to his son Yu Zi, the whole poem tells readers to have a tireless and persistent learning spirit.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Reading at Winter Night to Show Children's Appreciation