曾參殺豬 -- 英文版

今天與大家分享一則中國的老故事「曾參殺豬」，但這是英文版，大家讀讀，感覺一下「誠信」二字對小孩教育的重要。如今的環境，我們是否還需要這兩個字？

重讀曾參殺豬的故事，使我想起馬英九先生日前在「答案，在天下父母的心中！」一文中所寫的一段話：「我們以後要怎麼告訴孩子，什麼叫正直？如果孩子說「你可以說謊，只要你不被老師發現」或者「你可以貪污，只要他們找不到證據」，我們要怎麼回答？不要再使用複雜的政治語言了。答案，就在全天下父母的心中。我們不能給孩子這樣的教育！我們不能告訴孩子說：對不起，我無能為力，我只能給你一個腐敗的政府，一個最壞的示範。我們不能給孩子這樣的未來啊！」

曾子千年前立下的榜樣，並沒有改變歷史所必然包含的謊言，而千年後，歷史與謊言也繼續自我重複著！紛擾間，我已經不知道誰錯了，但錯絕對不在孩子，而是大人！

Why Tseng Shen killed the Pig

One day, when Tseng Shen's wife was going to the market, their son cried and wanted to go with her.

"Go back now!" she wheedled him, "When I get home we'll kill the pig for you".

Upon her return, she found Tseng Shen about to kill the pig. She hastily stopped him.

"I didn't really mean it, "she protested. "I just said that to keep the boy quiet".

"How can you deceive a child like that?" asked Tseng Shen. Children know nothing to begin with, but they copy their parents and learn from them. When you cheat the boy, you are teaching him to lie. If a mother deceives her child, he will not trust her, and that is no way to bring him up.

So he killed the pig after all.

「曾參殺豬」的中文原文出自《韓非子》一書，謂之「殺彘教子」，現迻錄如下：
《韓非子外儲說左上》：「曾子之妻之市，其子隨之而泣。其母曰：『女還，顧反，為女殺彘。』妻適市來，曾子欲捕彘殺之。妻止之曰：『特與嬰兒戲耳。』曾子曰：『嬰兒非與戲也，嬰兒非有知也，待父母而學者也，聽父母之教。今子欺之，是教子欺也。』遂烹彘。」