写字的“秘诀” the secret of writing chinese characters

这一篇讲的是 [[ Wang Xizhi 王羲之 ]]的儿子， [[ Wang Xianzhi 王献之 ]]的故事。

This is a story about one of Wang Xizhi’s sons, Wang Xianzhi.

王献之小的时候，常常到父亲的书房去玩，看父亲写字，帮父亲磨墨。王羲之看他对书法很有兴趣，就教他写字。从写字的姿势，握笔的方法到腕力量的运用和笔划的顺序，父亲都一一讲给他听。王献之是个聪明的孩子：没有多长时间，写的字就大有长进了。

When he was a little boy, Wang Xianzhi would often go play in his father’s study: he’d watch his father write and grind ink for him. Wang Xizhi noticed that his son was interested in calligraphy, so he decided to teach him. Bit by bit, his father taught him everything about writing: the posture of the body, the way the brush is held, the power of the wrist, and the order of the strokes. Wang Xianzhi was a smart kid: he made a lot of progress in a short space of time.

王献之写的字受到朋友的称赞，他自己也认为差不离了。有一次，他写了个“大”字拿去给父亲看。父亲看了看，没说什么，只是提笔在“大”字底下加了一“点”，成了“太”字。王献之又把这个字拿去给母亲看。

Friends would Wang Xianzhi’s writing, and he too thought that he had pretty much mastered the art. One day, he wrote the character da which means ‘big’ and took it to his father. His father looked at the character without saying a word. He picked up his brush and added a dot, transforming the character to tai, which means ‘great’. Wang Xianzhi took the character to show his mother.

他母亲看了好一会儿，对献之说：“孩子，依我看只有这一‘点’是下过功夫的，像你父亲的笔法。”

His mother stared at the character for quite some time before turning to Xianzhi, saying: “Son, the only part of this character which exhibits real skill is the dot, it looks like your father’s style. “

王献之听了又惊讶又惭愧，心想：“看来我的字，功夫还差得远呢！”

Hearing his mother’s verdict, Wang Xianzhi was startled and a little bit ashamed. He thought to himself: “it seems my calligraphy still needs a lot of work.”

王献之又来到父亲的书房，对父亲说：“我按您教的方法写字，写了这么长时间，怎么我写的字同您的字放在一起就显得那么差劲呢？您写字有什么秘诀吗？”

Wang Xianzhi returned to his father’s study and asked: “I write using the methods you taught me, and I’ve been writing a long time: so why do my characters look so bad compared to yours? What’s your secret?”

王羲之指着院子当中的十八口大水缸说：“秘诀就在这些水缸里面，你把这十八缸水写完就知道了。”

Wang Xizhi pointed to 18 vats of water in the courtyard: “the secret is hidden in those vats. Once you use up all of the water in those 18 vats, you’ll know the secret.”

王献之这才明白了成功的“秘诀”就是要坚持不懈，勤学苦练。从此，他靠着水缸放了一张桌子，每天很早起来就在那里练字，从不间断。后来，他终于也成为有名的书法家了。

Wang Xianzhi finally understood that the secret to success is perseverance, grit and determination. From that day on he’d move a table out into the courtyard and set it up next to one of the vats. Every day without fail, he’d get up early to practice. Later, he finally became a great calligrapher.

#WangXianzhi #WangXizhi #DongJin #王献之 #王羲之 #十八口大缸 #18VatsOfWater #东晋 #StoriesAboutCalligraphers #书法家故事

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