In the middle of Confucius¹'s travel round all the states, he saw two children arguing with each other.

 

He stopped and asked them what they argued about. One child said, "I think the sun is closer to us when it first rises in the morning, and farther² away from us at noon." The other child said, "I think the sun is farther away from us when it first rises in the morning, and closer to us at noon," The former child then said, "When it first rises, the sun looks as big as a canopy（天篷，华盖）. At noon, it looks only as big as a plate. " According³ to the rule that the farther away. An object is from us, the smaller the object looks, and the closer the bigger, I am sure the us is closer to us in the morning and farther away from us at noon." The latter one said, "It is cool when the sun first rises, and it is hot at noon. The sun must be closer to us for us to feel hot, and it must we farther away when it is cool."

 

Confucius could not adjudicate（裁定，宣判） and ordered the wagoner to leave.

 

孔子周游列国的途中，见两个小孩在相互争辩，便停下车来问他们在争什么。

 

一个小孩说：“我觉得太阳刚升起时离人近，中午时离人远。”另一个则说：“我觉得太阳刚升起离人远，中午时才离人近。”前者说：“日出时，太阳像车盖那么大，中午却只有盘子那么小，根据远的小、近的大的原则，我认为早晨近，中午远。”后者说：“日出时很凉快，中午就热得很，只有热的才近，远的就凉快了。”

 

孔子认为这个问题自己无法裁决，便命令车夫马上离开这里。

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