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So I am sure you will be interested in the teachings of Confucius – or K'ung Fu-tzu, as he was called in Chinese.
所以我確定你會對孔子——或漢語中叫孔夫子的學說感興趣。
They aren't hard to understand. Nor to remember.
它們不難懂。也容易記。
Perhaps that's why he was so successful.
大概這就是他如此成功的原因。
What Confucius proposed is quite simple.
孔子所提出的東西非常簡單的。
You may not like it, but there is more wisdom in it than first meets the eye.
也許起初你會不喜歡它，但是其中卻蘊含著比人們第一眼所看到的更多的智慧。
What he taught was this: outward appearances are more important than we think – bowing to our elders, letting others go through a door first,
他教導說：表面功夫比我們想象的更重要——向年長者鞠躬，讓他人先進門，
standing up to speak to a superior, and many other similar things for which they had more rules in China than we have.
與一位上司說話時起立，以及許多別的類似的事情，在中國比在我們這里有更多的處理這些事務的準則。
All such practices, so he believed, were not just a matter of chance.
所有這些準則，他這樣認為，并不是偶然這樣的。
They meant something, or had done once. Usually something beautiful.
它們有某種含意，或者曾經有過某種含意。通常都是某種美好的含意。
Which is why Confucius said: 'I believe in Antiquity, and I love it.'
所以孔子說：“我相信古代，并喜歡它。”
By this he meant that he believed in the sound good sense of all the many-thousand-year-old customs and habits,
這就是說，他相信所有幾千年之久的風俗習慣的美好和深刻的含意，
and he repeatedly urged his fellow countrymen to observe them.
他一再叮囑他的同胞們好好遵守它們。
