Break the cooking pots and sink the boats——Cut off all means of retreat（退却）

    Toward the end of the third century BC，General Zhang Han of the Qin Dynasty led his army against the State of Chu and defeated（击败）the Chu army．Zhang Han was so carried away with the victory that he neglected（忽略）another Chu army in the south．He led his army north to attack the State of Zhao．The King of Zhao retreated to the city of Julu，present day Xingtai in North China’s Hebei province，and Zhang Han surrounded（包围）the city．

    On learning that the King of Zhao was in danger，the King of Chu in the south sent his two
generals Song Yi and Xiang Yu to rescue（解救）the King of Zhao．

    The two generals led their troops（军队） north．When they have gone half way，General Song Yi refused to advance before a river．He stayed there for 46 days．Xiang Yu tried to persuade Song Yi to advance further but Song Yi turned a deaf ear．So Xiang Yu killed him and reported it to the King．The King made Xiang Yu the top general．Xiang Yu then sent his officers and 20 thousand soldiers across the river to fight Zhang Han’s troops．But they couldn’t break through， because the enemy troops greatly outnumbered（数量上胜过）them．The officers asked for more soldiers．

    At this time，Xiang decided¹ to lead all his soldiers across the river to win the battle． He sank the boats after crossing the river，smashed（打碎）his army’s cooking pots and set fire to their huts．He ordered his soldiers to take only three days’food．They had to advance and win the battle，because they couldn’t retreat．Sure enough，the soldiers fought heroically and defeated Zhang Han’s troops and rescued the King of Zhao．

    Xiang Yu’s resolute² actions were later summed up in the idiom Pò Fǔ Chén Zhōu and people use
it to describea person’s resolve（决心）to win．

Questions：

1．What’s the meaning of “carry away”？

2．Which word has the close meaning to“turn a deaf ear”？

3．If you were Xiang Yu，what had you done under that circumstance（情况）？

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