Interesting things explained according to form.

A story about reading the meaning of literature.

In ancient times, some accomplished people sometimes had the regret of being expected to read.

Wang Anshi, a famous politician and poet in Song Dynasty, wrote a book Zi Shuo, which has been lost because of its lack of vitality. However, in other books, we can see its fragments. Wang Anshi made a lot of jokes because he only explained words from the surface meaning of glyphs. For example, according to the book Tiaobanter edited by Wang Shizhen in Ming Dynasty, Wang Anshi said that the word "slope" meant "the skin of the earth" at that time, which was ridiculed by Su Dongpo. Su Dongpo said: "If' slope' is the skin of soil, then' slip' is the bone of water." Su Dongpo also ridiculed Wang Anshi by quoting the sentence "Stone and his son are in harmony" in The Book of Songs. He said, "Yes, Liao."

In the Song Dynasty, there was a man named Lu Dian, who was most influenced by Wang Anshi. He wrote a book called Yaya, which contains many examples. He said that a cat is called a cat because the word cat follows the seedlings. Cats can kill mice and protect the seedlings. This statement is ridiculous. In fact, the word "cat" sounds like a seedling. Its name is.

Li Shizhen, a great physician in Ming Dynasty, has written a brilliant treatise Compendium of Materia Medica with world influence for 30 years, leaving a valuable legacy for future generations. There are many original views on the interpretation of famous things in the book, such as the explanation of the name "cat" in the past. However, there are also many far-fetched. For example, when explaining the name of "grape", he said: "(Grape) can make wine. Therefore, there is a name. " In fact, grape is a foreign word, which is a transliteration of ancient Persian batak. "Tongzhilue" says: "Grapes are born in vines and spread from the western regions ... Zhang Qian made the western regions and returned them to China." It was written as "Pu Tao" in Turpan documents of Tang Dynasty unearthed in recent years. Fang Quan Bei Zu published in the Southern Song Dynasty wrote "Pu Tao".

Yan Zhitui, a scholar of the Northern Qi Dynasty who wrote Family Instructions for Yan, explained that the word "hesitation" was poisonous. He said Judas is a wild animal. When this wild animal hears human voice, it will climb the tree first, so it is called "hesitation". In fact, "hesitation" is a conjunction, and the two words cannot be separated. Wandering is written in an ancient book.

These people are well-known figures in history, and their contribution to China's cultural history is unparalleled. Compared with their achievements, these "jokes" are insignificant. But to read their works, we should not blindly follow blindly, but have a little "discrimination".