In the Western Han Dynasty, there was a farmer's child named Kuang Heng. He wanted to study very much when he was a child, but because his family was poor, he couldn't afford to go to school. Later, he learned to read from a relative before he could read.
Kuang Heng can't afford books, so he has to borrow books to read. At that time, books were so valuable that people who had books refused to lend them to others easily. During the busy farming season, Kuang Heng worked as a short-term worker for wealthy families and asked them to lend him books for free.
A few years later, Kuang Heng grew up and became the main labor force in the family. He works in the field all day, and only has time to read a little book during his lunch break, so it often takes ten days and a half months to finish reading a book. Kuang Heng was in a hurry, thinking: planting crops during the day, no time to read, you can spend more time reading at night. But Kuang Heng's family is too poor to buy oil for lighting. What should we do?
One night, Kuang Heng was lying in bed reciting the books he had read during the day. Behind me, I suddenly saw a light coming through the east wall. He stood up and walked to the wall. It turned out that the neighbor's lights came through the cracks in the wall. So Kuang Heng thought of a way: he picked up a knife and dug several cracks in the wall. In this way, the light coming through is also very big, so he gathered the light coming through and began to read.
Kuang Heng studied so hard that he became a learned man.
Reading with the light of fireflies in bags or the reflected light of snow-pursuing knowledge under difficult conditions
The idiom "firefly reflecting snow" refers to Che Yin in Jin Dynasty. He was poor and had no money to buy lamp oil, but he wanted to study at night, so he caught a firefly as a lamp and studied at summer night. Snow-reflecting is a way of reading in winter nights in Sun Kang in Jin Dynasty by using the light reflected by snow.
In the Jin Dynasty, Che Yin was always eager to study, but because of his poor family, his father could not provide him with a good learning environment. In order to maintain food and clothing, there is no extra money to buy him lamp oil for evening study. To this end, he can only use this time during the day to recite poems.
One night in summer, he was reciting an article in the yard when he suddenly saw many fireflies flying at low altitude. The flashing light is a bit dazzling in the dark. He thought, if you put many fireflies together, wouldn't it become a lamp? So, he went to find a white silk bag, immediately caught dozens of fireflies and put them in, then tied the mouth of the bag and hung it up. It's not very bright, but it can be used for reading. From then on, as long as there are fireflies, he will catch one to use as a lamp. Because he studied hard and practiced hard, he finally became an official in a high position.
The same is true of Sun Kang in the same dynasty. Because I have no money to buy lamp oil, I can't read at night, so I have to go to bed early. He felt it a pity to let time pass in vain.
One night in the middle of the night, he woke up from his sleep, turned his head out of the window and found a ray of light in the window. It turned out to be a reflection of heavy snow, which can be used for reading. So he was so tired that he immediately got dressed, took out his book and went outside. The snow reflected on the wide earth is much brighter than the snow in the room. Sun Kang ignored the cold and immediately read a book. His hands and feet were frozen stiff, so he got up and ran, rubbing his fingers at the same time. From then on, every snowy night, he never missed this good opportunity and studied tirelessly. This spirit of hard work has promoted his knowledge to advance by leaps and bounds and become a knowledgeable person. Later, he became a big official.
Tie your hair to the beam and poke your thigh with an awl to stay awake ―― study hard/diligently.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a man named Sun Jing, a famous politician. At first, because of his shallow knowledge, he was not reused, and even his family looked down on him, which greatly stimulated him. He made up his mind to study hard, often closed the door and continued reading alone. Reading from morning till night every day, often forgetting to eat and sleep. After studying for a long time, I am tired, but I still don't rest. After a long time, I was too tired to doze off. Afraid of affecting his study, he came up with a special method. In ancient times, men had long hair. He found a rope and tied it firmly to the beam. When he is tired of reading, he dozes off. When his head is lowered, the rope will hold his hair and hurt his scalp, wake up immediately and continue to study.
This is the story of Sun Jing's hanging beam.
During the Warring States Period, there was a man named Su Qin, who was also a famous politician. When I was young, because of the lack of knowledge, I went to many places to do things and was not taken seriously. After returning home, his family was also very cold and looked down on him. This is a great stimulus to him. So, he made up his mind to study hard. He often studies late into the night, is very tired, often takes a nap and wants to sleep. So he thought of a way, prepared an awl and stabbed himself in the thigh when he dozed off. In this way, I suddenly felt pain, woke up by myself, and then insisted on reading. This is the story of Su Qin's "stabbing stocks".
Study hard
Books in the Spring and Autumn Period were mainly made of bamboo. Bamboo is broken into bamboo sticks, called bamboo slips, then dried with fire and written on them. Bamboo slips have a certain length and width, and a bamboo slip can only write one line, ranging from dozens to eight or nine. A book needs a lot of bamboo slips, which must be woven together with strong ropes and the like before it can be read. Books like Yi, of course, are made of many bamboo slips, so they have considerable weight.
Kong Qiu spent a lot of energy reading the Book of Changes and basically understood its contents. I quickly read it for the second time and grasped its basic points. Then, he read it for the third time and had a thorough understanding of its spiritual essence. Later, in order to study the book deeply and explain it to his disciples, he read it many times. After reading this way, the cowhide belt of serial bamboo slips has been worn off several times, and it has to be replaced with a new one and reused many times.
Even after reading these, Confucius said modestly, "If I were allowed to live a few more years, I would fully master the text and quality of the Book of Changes."
Reading while herding cattle, the cattle have their own books hanging on their horns.
Shi Mi of Sui Dynasty was sent to the court of Yang Di as a bodyguard when she was a teenager. He is naturally flexible. When he was on duty, he looked around and was discovered by Emperor Yang Di. He thought the boy was dishonest, so he was excused from his job. Shi Biao is not depressed. After returning home, he studied hard and determined to be a learned man. Once, Shimi rode an ox to meet his friends. On the way, he hung Hanshu on the loudspeaker and took the time to study. This incident was passed down as a much-told story.
study hard
A long time ago, there was a man named Jiang Bi. When Jiang Bi was a child, her family was poor, her father was paralyzed and her mother was often ill. Jiang Bi has to work outside during the day to earn money to support her family and help her mother at night. She has no money and no time to go to school. One night, after everyone in the family fell asleep, Jiang Bi sat alone in the room. Suddenly, he saw the bright moonlight outside the window. Jiang Bi thought, "I can use this bright moonlight to read some books, so I don't have to worry about having no money to light a lamp to read." But the moon will move slowly, and Jiang Bi will move with the moonlight while reading the book until the moonlight disappears. Sometimes, Jiang Bi is too tired to work during the day, but she still tries to refresh herself and read books at night. In this way, day after day, Jiang Bi's knowledge became better and better, and he finally became a great scholar.