The Cook Dissects an Ox庖丁解牛

龙菲

“庖丁解牛”出自《庄子·养生主》，比喻技艺纯熟、高超，发挥起来得心应手。

In the Warring States Period， there was a cook who was very 1）skilful at2）dissecting oxen. King Hui of Liang was surprised at his skill and asked， “Howskilful you are！ How did you make it？” The cook replied， “At the beginning， Ididnt know the 3）inner structure of an ox. So it often took me not only a lot oftime but also great strength to dissect them. Later on， I kept practicing againand again. And finally I 4）mastered the inner structure of an ox. Thats why Ican do it skilfully. Now look at my knife， which I have used for nineteen years.It is still as sharp as a new one.”

Hearing this， King Hui of Liang nodded with his thumb up， “Nice！ Nice！ Iam inspired a lot by your words.”

1） skilful adj. 熟练的

2） dissect v. 剖析；解剖（人或动植物）

3） inner adj. 内部的

4） master v. 掌握；精通

战国时有个厨师擅于宰牛。梁惠王见他宰牛如此娴熟，便问道：“你的技术如此高超，究竟是怎样练就的呢？”厨师说：“我刚宰牛时因为不知道其身体结构，不仅速度慢，而且要花很大的力气。后来经过反复练习，我完全掌握了牛的身体结构，所以再宰起牛来就得心应手了。看！我的刀，虽然已经用了十九年，却还如新的一样锋利。”

梁惠王听后不由地点头称赞：“不错！不错！听了你的话，我深受启发。”

Fill in the blanks：

1. The cook mastered the inner structure of a cow after keep_____again and again.

2. The cook had used his knife for______years.

Know More

In the story， Zhuang Zi used the knife as a metaphor for human beings andused the inner structure of an ox as a metaphor for the complex society. In hisopinion， dissecting an ox with a knife is a metaphor for human life in society.

This idiom vividly illustrates that as long as you master the objective lawand use it flexibly， you can be liberated from necessity and get real freedom. Inrepeated practice， we should also pay attention to mastering the method， ratherthan blindly repeat.

在這个故事中，庄子以刀喻人，以牛体组织喻复杂的社会，以刀解牛喻人处世。

该成语形象地说明了人只要掌握了客观规律并灵活运用，就能从必然中解放出来，从而获得真正的自由。在反复实践时，我们也应该注意掌握方法，而不是盲目重复。

参考答案：

1. practicing 2. nineteen