王戎不取道旁李
The plums beside the road
Read, find evidence, and explain in your own words.
Read
王戎七岁，尝与诸小儿游。看道边李树多子折枝，诸儿竞走取之，唯戎不动。
When Wang Rong was seven, he once went out with other children. They saw a roadside plum tree so full of fruit that its branches bent. The children raced to pick the plums; only Wang Rong stayed still.
人问之，答曰：“树在道边而多子，此必苦李。”取之，信然。
Asked why, he replied, “A tree beside the road with so much fruit must have bitter plums.” They picked some, and it was indeed so.
Explore the text
选自《世说新语·雅量》。尝是曾经，诸是众多，走在这里是跑，唯是只有，信然是的确如此。李树的子指果实，不是孩子。
From A New Account of Tales of the World, Composure. Chang means once; zhu means the various; zou here means run; wei means only; xin ran means indeed so. The tree’s zi are its fruit, not children.
王戎把靠近道路和果实很多连起来，推测好吃的果实可能早被人摘了。故事中推测得到了验证，却不能推出所有路边的果子都苦。今天还要考虑果子是否成熟、是否属于别人等情况。
Wang Rong linked the roadside location with the abundance of fruit: tasty fruit might already have been picked. His guess was confirmed in this story, but that does not prove all roadside fruit is bitter. Ripeness and ownership are among the other things we would need to consider today.
Words to practise
李苦取唯信