胸有成竹的故事
北宋畫家文同,字與可。他畫的竹子遠近聞名,每天總有不少人登門求畫。文同畫竹的妙訣在哪裡呢?原來,文同在自己家的房前屋後種上各種樣的竹子,無論春夏秋冬,陰睛風雨,他經常去竹林觀察竹子的生長變化情況,琢磨竹枝的長短粗細,葉子的形態、顏色,每當有新的感受就回到書房,鋪紙研墨,把心中的印象畫在紙上。目積月累,竹子在不同季節、不同天氣、不同時辰的形象都深深地印在他的心中,只要凝神提筆,在畫紙前一站,平日觀察到的各種形態的竹子立刻浮現在眼前。所以每次畫竹,他都顯得非常從容自信,畫出的竹子,無不逼真傳神。
當人們誇獎他的畫時,他總是謙虛地說:“我只是把心中琢磨成熟的竹子畫下來罷了。”
有位青年想學畫竹,得知詩人晁補之對文同的畫很有研究,前往求教。晃補之寫了一首詩送給他,其中有兩句:“與可畫竹,胸中有成竹。”
故事出自北宋蘇軾《文與可yún dāng谷偃竹記》。“胸有成竹”,比喻做事之前已作好充分準備,對事情的成功已有了十分的把握;又比喻遇事不慌,十分沉著。
having had ready plans or desingns in one's mindin the song dynasty (960-1279),there was a scholar whose name was wen tong and who styled himself yuke. he was not only admired by others for his great learning, but also enjoyed widespread renown for his bamboo drawing. every day there were always quite a few peoply who called at his house to ask for one of his bamboo drawings.
as a matter of fact,there were quite a few painters contemporary with him who could draw bamboos fairly well. but how did it happen that wen tong drew better than anybody else? of this point su shi and chao buzhi, buth of whom were wen tong's good friends, gave vivid explanations in their respective poetic and prose works.
actually, wen tong loved bamboos so much that he had grown various bamboos everywhere around his house. no matter what season it was and no matter whether it was sunny or rainy, he used to go to the bamboo forest to observe how they were growing. he pondered over the lenght and breadth of the bamboo poles as well as the shapes and colours of the leaves. whenever he had gained a new understanding, he went back to his study, spread a piece of paper and prepareed some ink by rubbing an ink stick on an ink slab, and drew what was in his mind on the paper. through accumulation over a long period of time, the images of the bamboo in different seasons, under different weather conditions and at different moments were deeply imprinted in his whenever he stood before the paper and picked up a painting brush with concentrated attention, the various forms of the bamboo which he had observed at ordinary times at once rose before his eyes. and so every time he was drawing bamboos he appeared confident and at ease, and all the bamboos he had painted were very vivid and true to lift.
when people spoke highly of his paintings, he always said modestly that he had just put the images of the bamboo imprinted in his mind on the paper.
a young man wanted to learn bamboo drawing; when he knew that chao buzhi had made a profound study of wen tong's art of drawing, he went to chao buzhi for instruction. chao buzhi wrote a poem to him. in the poem, there are the following two lines:
when yuke was painting the bamboos,
he bad their images ready in his bosom.
later people have summarized the lines as " having had the images of the bamboo ready in one's bosom," which means having had ready plans or designs in one's mind before doing a certain job so that its success is guaranteed. it is also used go mean being calm and cool - headed in dealing with things.
this story comes from an article writted by su shi concerning wen yuke's art of bamboo drawing.
-
抱薪救火的故事
戰國末期,秦國向魏國接連發動大規模的進攻,魏國無力抵抗,大片土地都被秦軍佔領了。到公元前273年,秦國又一次向魏國出兵,勢頭空前猛烈。魏王把大臣們召來,愁眉苦臉地問大家有沒有使秦國退兵的辦法。大臣們由於經過多年的戰亂,提起打仗就嚇得哆嗦,誰也不敢談抵抗二字。...
-
桃李不言,下自成蹊的故事
西漢時候,有一位勇猛善戰的將軍,名叫李廣,一生跟匈奴打過七十多次仗,戰功卓著,深受官兵和百姓的愛戴。李廣雖然身居高位,統領千軍萬馬,而且是保衛國家的功臣,但他一點也不居功自傲。他不僅待人和氣,還能和士兵同甘共苦。每次朝廷給他的賞賜,他首先想到的是他的部下,就把那...
-
退避三舍的故事
春秋時候,晉獻公聽信讒言,殺了太子申生,又派人捉拿申生的弟弟重耳。重耳聞訊,逃出了晉國,在外流忘十幾年。經過千幸萬苦,重耳來到楚國。楚成王認為重耳日後必有大作為,就以國群之禮相迎,待他如上賓。一天,楚王設宴招待重耳,兩人飲灑敘話,氣氛十分融洽。忽然楚王問重耳:你...
-
望梅止渴的故事
有一年夏天,曹操率領部隊去討伐張繡,天氣熱得出奇,驕陽似火,天上一絲雲彩也沒有,部隊在彎彎曲曲的山道上行走,兩邊密密的樹木和被陽光晒得滾燙的山石,讓人透不過氣來。到了中午時分,士兵的衣服都溼透了,行軍的速度也慢下來,有幾個體弱的士兵竟暈倒在路邊。曹操看行軍的速...