Our faces were filled with shame. (忸忸怩怩)
The Xia dynasty was the first in Chinese
history, existing from around 2070 to 1600 BC. The third king of the Xia
dynasty was named Tai Kang, and his story is recorded in history books.
The Xia Dynasty was founded by a leader
named Yu who deeply cared about the lives of his people. Tai Kang was Yu's
grandson and the third Xia king.
Yu and his son governed the Xia Dynasty
diligently, and it enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity.
However, Tai Kang had never experienced
hardship or suffering in his privileged childhood, which fostered a love of
pleasure.
He loved hunting and continued to pursue
this hobby even after becoming king. However, he neglected the lives of his
people and failed to govern the Xia Dynasty effectively. During his reign, the
political, economic and military situations of the Xia Dynasty deteriorated,
and the people became increasingly dissatisfied with him.
On one occasion, he led a group of servants
and confidants on a hunting trip that lasted over 100 days. During this time,
he neither returned to the capital nor appointed a proxy, plunging the central
government into chaos.
The people of the Xia Dynasty had reached
breaking point in their discontent with Tai Kang, and it erupted. They
organised themselves under the leadership of a man named Hou Yi and refused to
allow Tai Kang to continue as king. They refused to let him return to the lands
ruled by the Xia dynasty, and he never returned to his homeland until his
death.
Following this event, Tai Kang's five
younger brothers wrote several poems to document it and express their views.
The fifth poem roughly translates as follows:
Ah! We have been refused a return to the
Xia Dynasty. Where can we go next? Where can we go?
Our hearts are filled with sorrow. The
people of the Xia Dynasty hate us. We have lost our support.
Many melancholy thoughts entwine in my
heart, and our faces are filled with shame.
Tai Kang was careless with his words and
actions, and lacked good character. Because of him, we are now in this
embarrassing situation. We regret it, but it's too late.
In Chinese idioms and phrases, there's a
special usage where a single character is repeated twice.
This can intensify the meaning of the
character. The original idiom has two characters, but in modern usage, people
often use this special form, repeating each character twice to make a total of
four characters.
When this four-character idiom appears, it
represents a person expressing very strong shame.
The direct translation of this idiom is:
Our faces are filled with shame.
It is used to describe someone whose face
is filled with shame.
It is also used to describe an introverted
and reserved person who is extremely embarrassed and hesitant.
Dear friend, what are your thoughts or feelings after hearing this story?
Have you ever felt intense shame? If you could do it all over again, what choices would you make differently?
I hope
this story gives you some new insights.
忸忸怩怩(Our faces were filled with shame.)
夏王朝是中國歷史上的第一個王朝，其存在時間大約為西元前2070年至西元前1600年之間。夏王朝的第三任國王的名字叫做(太康)，歷史書上記載了一個他的故事。
夏王朝的開國國王的名字是(禹)，他是一個非常關心百姓的生活的領導者，太康是(禹)的孫子，他是夏王朝的第三任國王。
(禹)與他的兒子很用心的管理夏王朝，夏王朝處於長期的和平富足的狀態。
太康從小就沒有受過艱難，也沒體驗過困苦的滋味，優越的生活條件養成了他喜歡享樂的個性。
太康很喜歡打獵，他在成為國王之後仍舊延續這項愛好，他不關心百姓的生活，也不用心去治理夏王朝，夏王朝在他的治理之下，政治與經濟還有軍事情況都愈來愈差，人民也對他愈來愈不滿。
有一次，太康帶領著一群僕役與親信去打獵，這次打獵的時間超過100天，在這100多天中，他沒有回到首都，也沒有設置代理人，中央政府陷入一片混亂。
夏王朝人民對太康的不滿累積到臨界點而爆發，所有的人民組織起來，在一個名字叫做后羿的領袖的帶領下，百姓們決定拒絕讓太康繼續成為夏王朝的國王，百姓們不讓太康回到夏王朝所統治的土地上，太康至死都沒有再次回到他的家鄉。
這件事情發生後，太康的五個弟弟寫了幾首詩，他們用這些詩來記錄這個事件與藉由這些詩表達他們的看法，其中第五首詩的大概意思如下。
啊。我們被拒絕回到夏王朝，我們接下來要去那個地方呢?我們可以到哪裡去呢?
我們的心中感覺到非常的悲傷，夏王朝的百姓仇視我們，我們已經失去了依靠。
許許多多的憂鬱的想法在我的心中纏繞在一起，我們的臉上充滿了羞愧的神色。
太康沒有謹慎自己的言語與行為，他沒有好的品德，因為他的關係，我們現在落在這種難堪的境地，我們感到後悔但已經來不及了。
中文的成語或詞句中有一種很特殊的用法，這種用法就是會把一個字重複兩次。
這種用法可以帶給人們一種強化這個字的狀態的感受，這句成語的原文是兩個字，但是現代人在使用時，常常會使用這種特殊的用法，讓這兩個字各自重複兩次，所以總共變成四個字。
這個四個字的成語出現的時候，代表一個人表現出一種非常強烈的羞愧的樣子。
這句成語直接翻譯的意思是我們的臉上充滿了羞愧的神色。
這句成語被用來形容一個人的臉上充滿了羞愧的神色。
這句成語也被用來形容一個人內向又拘謹的人，這個人表現出一種非常尷尬且猶豫的樣子。
親愛的朋友，你聽完這個故事有怎樣的感受或有怎樣的想法呢。
你是否曾經感到強烈的羞愧感呢?如果可以重來，你的人生中會做出那些與當時不同的選擇呢?
我希望這故事能讓你產生一些新的收穫。
出處為尚書-五子之歌
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