Fuller's ILC Chapters 17 (史記) and 18 (說苑)

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17 晏子之御 （史記）

 

晏子為齊相。出，其御之妻，從門間而窺其夫。其夫為相御，擁大蓋，策駟馬，意氣揚揚，甚自得也。既而歸，其妻請去。夫問其故。妻曰，晏子長不滿六尺，身相齊國，名顯諸侯。今者妾觀其出，志念深矣，常有以自下者。今子長八尺，乃為人僕御，然子之意自以為足。妾是以求去也。其後，夫自抑損。晏子怪而問之，御以實對，晏子薦以為大夫。 

 

Questions

1. In 今者妾觀其出, to whom does the 其 refer to?
2. What is 有以 equivalent to?
3. What is the function of the 也 in 妾是以求去也?
4. Why did Yan Zi recommend his driver to become a minister?

Review

1. What part of speech is 然?  Is it equivalent to 然而 or 然则?  Explain the difference.
2. Explain the meaning of 自抑損.
3. Is 怪 an intransitive verb?  If transitive, where is its direct object in the text?
4. In 御以實對, what is the object of the coverb?  What is the main verb?

The place where I copied this text from had 禦 in every case instead of 御.  What's up with that?

 

18 吳王欲伐荊 （說苑）

 

吳王欲伐荊，告其左右曰，敢有諫者死。舍人有少孺子者，欲諫不敢，則懷丸操彈，遊於後園，露沾其衣。如是者三旦。吳王曰，子來。何苦沾衣如此。對曰，園中有樹，其上有蟬。蟬高居悲鳴飲露，不知螳螂在其後也。螳螂委身曲跗欲取蟬，而不知黃雀在其傍也。黃雀延頸欲啄螳螂，而不知彈丸在其下也。此三者皆務欲得其前利，而不顧其後之有患也。吳王曰善哉乃罷其兵。

 

Questions

 

1. What is the function of the 也 in the situations the boy describes:

 

不知螳螂在其後也

不知黃雀在其傍也

不知彈丸在其下也

不顧其後之有患也

 

Is the 也 sentence final or phrase final?  That is, does it go with the objects of the verbs or with the complete verb phrases?

 

2. What does the boy's story have to do with the king's plan to attack Jing?

 

Review

1. What is the relationship between 欲諫 and 不敢?  Explain.
2. In 如是者三旦, what modifies the 者?  Explain.
3. Is 高 an adverb, verb, or noun in 蟬高居悲鳴?  Explain.
4. What is the relationship between 務 and 得?  Explain.

 

 

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No takers?  Not even one??

 

OK, here are my answers for Lesson 17:

 

17Q1:  晏子, this seems deceptively simple, there are only three people in the story and she refers to her husband as 子.

 

17Q2:  Trickier.  For this I'd need to maybe know what 常 in 常有以自下者 means.  But right now I don't know.

 

17Q3:  Again, not really sure.  Fuller's comment that 是以 is equivalent to 以是 doesn't help much - I'd have expected 以之, or "by means of the preceding reason".

 

17Q4:  Yan Zi recommended him because he noticed a change in his behaviour, or maybe just because he felt sorry for him after hearing his story.

 

17R1:  No idea.  Please help.

 

17R2:  "he (the husband) became dispirited".  Not really sure what the 自 adds here.

 

17R3:  I'm going to go with intransitive.  Although, if it was transitive, I'd say the object was: 自抑損.

 

17R4:  Object:  实, verb:  对.

 

 

I'll leave this for a bit in case anyone wants to chip in.  But I'll be back shortly with Lesson 18!

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No takers still?

 

OK, here are my answers for Lesson 18:

 

18Q1:  Don't understand this question.

 

18Q2:  I guess I would need to know a little of the related history here.  However, I assume that the king realises he isn't the biggest state and that while he is planning to attack another - smaller - state, it is likely that someone else is currently planning to attack him.

 

18R1:  I'm going to go with coordinate: "he wanted to remonstrate, but did not dare" as opposed to topic-comment which I guess would be "as for his remonstrations that he wanted to air, he did not dare".

 

18R2:  I'm not clear on this linguistic use of the word "modify".

 

18R3:  An adverb describing how high in the tree the cicada is residing.

 

18R4:  Adverb-verb relationship?  They work laboriously to catch what is in front of them.

 

I'm having a hard time with the grammar but am enjoying the stories.  This lesson in particular was pretty easy to read through a couple of times and elicit the meaning.

 

Onwards!

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Oh, I forgot to mention, I found it a little contrived in that last story that he went out three mornings (or does he mean three days?) in a row to aim his slingshot at this row of animals.  If I was the king I'd be telling him to get his ass back to work, or probably just executing it for wasting time.