Chapter 221 Driving a Train
Gu Jiayue was in charge of the Confucian Classics course for the second class of the Imperial Examination. Following the textbook's instructions, they had already reviewed the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics and the Confucian system of thought. The next day would be spent practicing and repetitively doing exercises. They wanted to completely ingrain the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics and the Confucian system of thought into their DNA. They should be able to analyze the underlying thought within ten seconds of seeing a question.
Gu Jiayue took out the textbook and said, "Okay, today we will learn how to quickly analyze the questions on the meaning of the scriptures."
If you want to quickly analyze the meaning of the classics questions, the first thing you must do is to be familiar with the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics and be able to combine them with Confucian thought.
However, the contents of the Four Books and Five Classics are too complex and profound, and many scholars have studied them for their entire lives but still cannot fully understand their meaning.
So at this time, we need some skills.
In fact, the questions on classics in the imperial examinations are similar to the subjective questions in modern examinations. They both test the candidates' knowledge reserves and comprehensive application capabilities, logical thinking and analytical skills, as well as their writing and opinion-explanation capabilities.
To sum up, we can actually use the same thinking as for subjective questions to answer questions about the meaning of the scriptures.
First of all, you must have something in your head. If you don’t even know what the Four Books and Five Classics are, no matter how many skills you learn, it will be useless.
However, these twenty-nine students are all the best in the school. They basically started their education at the age of five or six. Although they cannot recite the Four Books and Five Classics by heart, they are very familiar with them.
Can you answer questions about the meaning of the scriptures well just by having something in your head?
That's impossible.
So we must first learn to read and analyze excellent essays. Before we write, we must first see how others write.
After analyzing the writing style, format and other key points from these excellent essays, we can write our own.
After several months of study, the students in the second class of the Imperial Examination have learned the analysis of question types and mastered the skills to answer questions.
They have now completed the basic consolidation stage. After receiving a question on the meaning of the scriptures, they can quickly analyze the intention of the questioner.
So next they need to improve their capabilities, and Gu Jiayue plans to spend one month on this stage.
Within one month, teach them how to quickly write a meaningful article.
The task is heavy, but Gu Jiayue is confident that she can complete it.
The students, who were originally feeling sore all over, sat up straight unconsciously after Gu Jiayue officially started the class.
At first, they could still think while listening to the lecture, but as the course progressed, they could no longer understand anything and could only take notes and think about and ask questions later.
Of course, Gu Jiayue was teaching, not showing off. Seeing the students gradually staring at her with confused eyes, she temporarily gave up on continuing with the new lesson and instead began asking questions and consolidating the knowledge she had just covered.
"Okay, I see you've all learned well, so let's play a game. This game is called 'Train Driving'!"
Driving a train? I've never heard of it. But just hearing the name sounds interesting.
Everyone immediately became interested.
Looking at those eager faces, Gu Jiayue smiled meaningfully.
She walked down from the podium and stood beside Zhang Sheng's desk. "What we call a train-style discussion is that I'll ask the questions and you'll answer them one by one. If you can't answer them, you'll have to copy the question and answer a hundred times. Do you understand?"
The students, who had been eager to learn, suddenly became listless. Weren't they supposed to play games? Wasn't this still class?
Gu Jiayue didn't care what they thought and knocked on Zhang Sheng's desk.
"What are the 'four beginnings' mentioned in Mencius?"
For some reason, Zhang Sheng spontaneously stood up. "The 'Four Beginnings' mentioned in Mencius are: 'Compassion, the beginning of benevolence; shame and disgust, the beginning of righteousness; courtesy, the beginning of propriety; and the sense of right and wrong, the beginning of wisdom.'"
Gu Jiayue nodded and walked back. "What do the 'Six Principles' in the Book of Songs refer to? What do they mean?"
The person sitting behind Zhang Sheng is Su Yichen.
He stood up tremblingly. "The 'Six Arts' of the Book of Songs refer to Feng, Ya, Song, Fu, Bi, and Xing. Feng, Ya, and Song are the three poetic forms of the Book of Songs. Feng refers to the local music of different regions; Ya refers to the music of the areas directly under the Zhou Dynasty, the so-called Zhengsheng Yayue; and Song refers to the dance music and lyrics for ancestral temple sacrifices. Fu, Bi, and Xing are the three expressive techniques of the Book of Songs. Fu is a direct narrative; Bi is a metaphor; and Xing uses other things as the starting point of a poem to bring up the content to be sung."
The train continued to move forward. Yin Siqi stretched his neck and counted again and again, then looked up at the incense sticks on the desk, calculating whether it would be his turn before the get out of class ended.
"What does the 'classics' in the Book of Shang mainly record?"
Fu Wenhan stood up and blurted out his answer without even thinking. "The 'classics' in the Book of Documents primarily record important historical facts or special topics. These contents often concern the significant deeds of ancient sage kings, their statecraft, and their laws and regulations. For example, the 'Classics of Yao' records the achievements of Emperor Yao, including the formulation of the calendar, the selection of talents, and the abdication of the throne. It reveals many aspects of the political and astronomical situation at the time, and serves as an important reference for future generations to understand the development of ancient politics and culture."
Before Yin Siqi even opened the book "Shangshu", Fu Wenhan came back. He curled his lips and gave up the treatment.
"The Book of Rites records ancient marriage rituals. What are the six rituals of marriage?"
Yin Siqi's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected such a simple question to come his way. He stood up excitedly. "The six rites of marriage, as recorded in the Book of Rites, are Nacai (the bride's proposal), Wenming (the name of the bride), Naji (the wedding ceremony), Nazheng (the betrothal gift), Qingqi (the date of the wedding), and Qinying (the bride's reception)."
His excitement was so obvious that Gu Jiayue immediately had some bad thoughts.
Oh, no, how could the teacher have bad intentions? She just wanted to test the students' understanding of the knowledge.
"It's still you, keep answering."
"Mencius advocates the theory of 'human nature is good'. How did this view influence the moral cultivation methods and political ideas he advocated?"
Haha, those were just appetizers. What she's asking about now is the main course.
Yin Siqi, who thought he had escaped, looked at Gu Jiayue in disbelief.
How could this be? Why did the student in front of him only have to answer one question, while he had to answer two? And why was the latter question so difficult?
"Ten, nine, eight..."
Gu Jiayue began the emotionless countdown like a cold robot.
Yin Siqi was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead. "Mencius believed that human nature is inherently good, and that everyone possesses the 'Four Beginnings'. This means... that everyone is born with a foundation of goodness. So he advocated..."
He advocated for a long time but did not come up with any specific content.
In fact, this cannot be blamed on Yin Siqi. After all, he has studied for so many years and has never been asked such a quick question.
The contents of the Four Books and Five Classics are too much, too complicated, and too broad. If he were allowed to think calmly, he would definitely be able to answer them.
But Gu Jiayue was standing right next to him. If he didn't give an answer within three seconds, she would start counting down. This really messed up his mentality. He couldn't remember anything he had thought of before.
Gu Jiayue wouldn't waste her time on him. "A hundred times."
She took two steps forward and stood next to the student in front of Yin Siqi. "Same question, you answer it."
Chen Shuyan breathed a sigh of relief. Although it was a bit immoral, he was still grateful to Brother Yin.
When Gu Jiayue asked Yin Siqi the question just now, he was also thinking about it, so at this time he already had a rough answer in his mind.
Gu Jiayue was very satisfied with Chen Shuyan's answer. As expected of a good student, he could give a meaningful answer on the spot. Very good. "Next question, you answer it again. The Mencius opposes unjust wars and advocates "benevolent government is invincible." Considering the historical context of the time, why was this idea so difficult to achieve during the Warring States Period?"
.....
Gu Jiayue's questions became more and more profound. In the third round, even Fu Wenhan, who had always been number one, gave unsatisfactory answers.
The bell rang for the end of get out of class and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Gu Jiayue stopped and happened to be standing next to Jiang Huaijin at this time.
"Anyone who hasn't answered the question should copy the question and answer a hundred times and hand it in to me the next day."
After she finished speaking, she turned around and was about to leave, but Jiang Huaijin stood up immediately.
Everyone's eyes turned to him, and Gu Jiayue also stopped.
Jiang Huaijin's face flushed red, and he opened his mouth but couldn't utter a word. Finally, he pushed the desk away with force, turned around, and left the classroom through the back door.
The remaining students looked at Gu Jiayue worriedly.
Gu Jiayue didn't care, she continued walking forward, picked up her book and left the classroom.
She was just an ordinary teacher, not a savior. She had done everything she could to say and do what she should do. If he still couldn't figure it out, then it was his destiny.
[Sorry everyone, there was a power outage yesterday due to heavy hail, so I didn't update. I'll make up for it today.]
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