e mountains （or How Yukong Moved the Mountains）
宋迪 20102139
Allusion
There are two high mountains blocking the nearby road. Yu Gong made up his mind to remove the mountains. While another man called Zhi Sou laughed at his foolish idea and told him that it was impossible. At that time, Yu Gong said: “Though I will die, I have my sons. Even my sons will die, I still have my grandsons. My descendants are endless. One day these two mountains will be flattened. ” Afterwards, god was moved by him and dispatched Hercules’s two sons to move away the mountains
"the Bohai Sea is big enough to contain all the earth and stone," Yu Gong said. So it was decided. His children started to dig the mountains, led by the old man Yu Gong. A man named Zhi Sou saw them working and tried to stop them, saying, "You are so silly! You're so old and weak that you can't even take away the grass and trees. How can you move the high mountains?"
"You're wrong," Yu Gong said with a sigh. "Look, my sons can continue my work after my death. When my sons die, my grandchildren will continue. So generations after generations, there's no end. But the mountains can't grow higher. Do you still say I can’t move them away?"
Character analysis
1.Yu Gong
He determined to remove the mountains after deep consideration. All the villagers faced the same problem and had the same feeling. Yu Gong gathered all the villagers to consult others’ opinions. Finally, they reached an agreement. He knew what benefits it will bring to the villagers. He had confidence to make it. Yu Gong realized the value of people. He is very considerate and also a man of perseverance. So he is not really stupid.
Later the Heaven God, upon learning of Yu Gong’s story, was greatly moved. He then ordered another god to come down and take the two high mountains away.
His wife said, "An old man like you cannot even move a small hill, not to mention the two high mountains. Even if you can, where can you throw so much earth and stone?"
Details
There were two high mountains between Jizhou in the south and Heyang in the north. One was called Taihang Mountain and the other Wangwu Mountain. Both of the mountains were very high. Just to the north of the mountains lived an old man called Yu Gong who was nearly 90 years old. With the two high mountains just in front of his house, his family and he had to walk a long way around the mountains whenever they had something to do on the other side of the mountains. One day, Yu Gong called all his family together to talk about how to move the two mountains to other places.