孟子的成语

[Zhende ma?]

我读了这个成语孟子说过。我不能了解。

“天将降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心智，

劳其筋骨，饿其体肤”

Heaven will fall and so will this man's mission, one first must sorrow before having knowledge of the heart. One must labor one's muscles and starve one's body

好不好？

[skylee]

From here -> http://bgu61.nease.net/homepage/quotations.htm

“天將降大任於斯人也，必先苦其心志，勞其筋骨，餓其體膚，空乏其身，行拂亂其所為，所以動心忍性，增益其所不能。”—— 孟子（《孟子·告子下》

"Thus, when Heaven is about to confer a great office on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods it stimulates his minds, hardens his nature, and supplies his incompentencies." (Translated by James Legge in The Works of Mencius)

"So it is that whenever Heaven invests a person with great responsibilities, it first tries his resolve, exhausts his muscles and bones, starves his body, leaves him destitute, and confounds his every endeavor. In this way his patience and endurance are developed, and his weakness are overcome." (Translated by David Hinton in Mencius)

-- Mencius (Mengzi. Gaozi. Part II)

Also from here -> http://benz.nchu.edu.tw/~intergrams/intergrams/042-051/042-051-chen.htm#f16

"That is why Heaven, when it is about to place a great responsibility on a man, always first tests his resolution, wears out his sinews and bones with toil, exposes his body to starvation, subjects him to extreme poverty, frustrates his efforts so as to stimulate his mind, toughen his nature and make good his deficiencies."

[CBC]

多嘴一下 ：

我读了这个成语孟子说过。我不能了解。

it will be nicer if you put it this way:

我读了孟子说过的这句话，我不太理解。