Going Too Far Is as Bad as Falling Short

事物超過一定的標準和沒有達到標準同樣是不好的。儒家以禮作為個人言語行事及其與天地萬物關系的標準，并根據(jù)禮的要求判斷言行的“過”或“不及”?？鬃臃謩e用“過”與“不及”評價自己的兩位學生，認為二者在未能達到禮的要求這一點上是一樣的。如果能夠按照禮的要求達到無過、無不及的中道，即具備了“中庸”的美德。

It is just as bad to go beyond a given standard as to fall short of it. Confucian scholars use rites as the standards both for individuals' words and actions, and for their relationship with everything in the world. They also judge people's words or actions against the requirements of the rites to see whether they have gone too far or fallen short. Confucius evaluated one of his students as "going too far" and another as "falling short," considering them to be the same in both failing the requirements set by the rites. If a person can follow the middle way by not going too far or falling short, then he has achieved the virtue of "the Golden Mean."

引例 Citation：

◎子貢問：“師與商也孰賢？”子曰：“師也過，商也不及?！痹唬骸叭粍t師愈與？”子曰：“過猶不及?！保ā墩撜Z·先進》）

子貢問孔子：“子張和子夏誰更好一些？”孔子說：“子張行事過度，而子夏常有不及。”子貢問：“那么子張這樣更好一些嗎？”孔子說：“過與不及一樣，都是不好的。”

Zigong asked Confucius, "Which one is more virtuous, Zizhang or Zixia?" Confucius replied, "Zizhang tends to go too far, while Zixia often falls short." Zigong further asked, "In that case, is Zizhang better?" Confucius said, "Going too far is just as bad as falling short." (The Analects)

推薦：教育部 國家語委

供稿：北京外國語大學 外語教學與研究出版社

責任編輯：錢耐安