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曾子是孔子的弟子。一天，他的妻子急着去市场，儿子紧紧抱着她，也想跟着去。 于是她哄孩子说："听话，妈妈就出去一会儿，回来杀猪做晚饭给你吃。” 她回到家时，曾子正在磨刀，准备杀猪。 妻子马上阻止他，说：“你别当真！我刚才只不过是哄哄孩子罢了。” 曾子忙把妻子拉到一边，说："我们要遵守诺言，即便是跟小孩说话也应如此。小孩子知事甚少，什么事情都是跟父母学习，听从父母的教导。你若是现在骗他，就等于是教他以后骗人。一旦你对他撒过谎，他以后就再也不会相信你了。这不是教导小孩的正确方法。” 曾子说完，就把猪杀掉,拿去做饭了。 Keeping One’s Word Zeng Zi was Confucius’s disciple. One time his wife had to go to the market in a hurry. Her child clung fast to her and wanted to go along. “Listen to me," she coaxed the little boy. " I shan’t be long. When I get back, I’ll kill the pig for dinner. •’ When she returned home, Zeng Zi was sharpened his knife and set about to kill the pig. His wife immediately stopped him saying，" Don't take it seriously! I was just coaxing the child." Zeng Zi quickly drew his wife aside. "We must keep our word even with little children ,"he said. "Children don’t know much. They learn from their parents and listen to what their parents teach them. If you lie to him now, you’re teaching him to lie later. And once you've lied to him, he will never believe you again. This is not the proper way to teach a child. ’ Having said this, he killed the pig for dinner. |
