《嗟来食》英译

齐大饥，黔敖为食于路，以待饿者而食之。

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有饿者蒙袂辑屦贸贸然来。黔敖左奉食，右执饮，曰：“嗟，来食!”

扬其目而视之，曰：“予唯不食嗟来之食，以至于斯也。”

从而谢焉。终不食而死。

曾子闻之曰：“微与！其嗟也可去，其谢也可食。”

The “Hey-You” Food

A great famine occurred in Ch’i. A rich man named Chien Ao set up a relief stand by the wayside to feed the hungry.

Presently a hungry man, in shreds and tatters, tottered along. With food in his left hand and drink in his right, Chien Ao called to him, saying, “Hey, you, come and get it!”

The man flung him a glance and said, “It is just because I do not eat any ‘hey-you’ food that I have come to this.”

Chien Ao apologized, but the man refused the proffered food to the end and died starving.

The philosopher Tsengtze heard of it and said, “My word!” It is all right to balk at the ‘hey’; but after the apologies it seems that the man could have eaten.”