The second translation:
When I was looking for a teacher, I carried a book box on my back, stepped on the heel of my shoes, and walked in the deep mountains and valleys. It was cold in winter, and the snow was several feet deep, and my feet and skin were frozen and cracked. When I arrived at the school house, my limbs were stiff and I couldn't move. The servant poured me hot water and covered me with a quilt. It took a long time to warm up.
staying in a hotel, I eat two meals a day, and I don't enjoy fresh, fat and delicious food. The scholars in the classmate's house are all dressed in splendid clothes, wearing hats with red headbands and jewels, white jade rings hanging around their waists, knives on the left and sachets on the right, which are as bright as gods; I am wearing an old cotton gown and rags between them, with no envy.
I don't feel that the enjoyment of food and clothing is inferior to others because I have enough things to make myself happy. My hard work and hardship are probably like this.
Original text:
When I was a teacher, I was dragged in the mountains and valleys, and the snow was several feet deep and my skin was chapped without knowing it. After the house, the limbs were stiff and unable to move, the servant gave me the hot water, covered with the quilt cover, after a long time to warm. Living in the hotel, I eat two meals a day, without fresh fat and delicious enjoyment.
All the students in the same room were embroidered with flowers, wearing a hat decorated with Zhu Ying's treasure, a ring of white jade around their waist, a sword on their left and a stinking face on their right, making them look like gods. I was dressed in a robe, and I was slightly unattractive. Because the heart has enough to make oneself happy, do not feel that the enjoyment of food is inferior to others. This is probably the case with my hard work and hard work.
From: Preface to Send Ma Sheng to Dongyang by Song Lian in Ming Dynasty
Extended information
The second paragraph closely follows the first paragraph, describing the superior learning conditions of contemporary Taiwanese students, which is in sharp contrast with the author's difficulties in studying in his youth, and emphasizes the necessity of diligent study from the opposite side.
Through the comparison, it is clear that today's Tai students are much better than the author's schooling conditions in reading, seeking teachers and living, but they are not proficient in their careers and have not achieved their virtues. Finally, with a choice sentence and a rhetorical sentence, it is emphasized that the key is that these students are neither diligent nor diligent. This is the care of the fourth floor of the previous paragraph.
The full text narrates the personal experience of seeking advice with an open mind and studying hard in his early years, vividly and concretely describes the difficulty of borrowing books and seeking teachers, and the pain of running around in cold and hunger, and compares it with the superior conditions of Tai Xue students, which strongly shows that whether academic achievements can be achieved mainly depends on subjective efforts, not on the level of talent and the advantages and disadvantages of conditions, so as to encourage young people to cherish a good reading environment and concentrate on their studies.
Author's Achievements:
Both Song Lian and Liu Ji are famous for their prose creation, and they are called "the Sect of the Generation". He insisted that Ming Dow should be practical in his prose, learn from the classics, emphasize "expressing words", pay attention to "changing things" and require "writing according to the feelings of events", so his prose is rich in content and has certain artistic skills. His prose is simple and concise, or graceful and elegant, each with its own characteristics.
since the founding of the Ming dynasty, most of the imperial rites and music systems were formulated by Song Lian, and Liu Ji praised it as "the first article today". Ji Chuanru, such as Qin Shilu, Biography of Wang Mian and Biography of Li Yi, can grasp the details, highlight the personality, exaggerate little, but infect deeply; Scenery such as Preface to Peach Blossom Creek's Poems and Huancui Pavilion are concise and comely, like Ouyang Xiu.
Song Lian's writing style is honest and elegant because of his prominent position and the prosperity of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the early Ming Dynasty. There are many contents in his articles that praise feudal rule and publicize feudal morality. Some articles, such as Yue Jiang Lou Ji, are full of scenes, but they are quite tired of whitewashing words. Song Lian's articles provide a model for the literary creation of later "Taige Style" writers.