In the last years of the Warring States
period, the State of Qin attacked the State of Wei on a large scale repeatedly
and occupied large areas of land, for the State of Wei was too weak to defend
itself. In 273 B.C., the Qin army launched a more serious attack upon the State
of Wei than ever. The king of the State of Wei gathered his officials, and
asked with a worried look if anyone could propose a way to defeat the Qin army.
After years of chaos caused by the wars, the officials trembled when fighting
was mentioned, and no one dared to speak of resistance.
At the critical moment
when a large enemy force was bearing down upon the border, most of the officials
persuaded the king to sue for peace, at the cost of giving away to the
State of Qin the large area of land north of the Huanghe River and south of the
Taihang Mountain. However Su Dai, a counselor, did not agree. He hurried up to
the king and said: "Your Majesty, they don't think about the interests of
the country at all. It is just because they are afraid of death that they ask
you to sue for peace by betraying the country. Of course you can temporarily
satisfy the ambition of Qin, but it will never stop attacking us until our land
is totally given away."
He added,“Once there was a man whose house was
on fire. People told him to put out the fire with water, but he would not
listen. Instead, he carried a faggot to put out the fire, only to make the fire
fiercer. Isn't it similar to carrying faggots to put out a fire if you agree to
sue for peace at the cost of the land of the State of Wei?”
Though Su Dai's argument
was very convincing, the king accepted the suggestion of those officials and
gave away to the State of Qin a large area of the land of the State of Wei. As
might be expected, the Qin army attacked the State of Wei in 225 B.C. again,
surrounding the capital city Daliang and flooding it by digging open the dykes
(堤防) of the Huanghe River.
The State of Wei was finally destroyed.
1. When asked how to defeat the Qin army, most
officials _______.
A. were scared and at a
loss what to do
B. looked worried and
turned to Su Dai for help
C. asked a large enemy
force to bear down upon the border
D. were extremely
frightened and decided to give up fighting back
2.The underlined phrase“sue
for”in Paragraph 2 probably means _______.
A. demand B.
beg for C. search for D.
negotiate for
3.Su Dai used the example of“carrying faggots to put out a fire”to show
_______.
A. the ambition of the
State of Qin
B. the serious results of
giving in
C. the loss of the land of
the State of Wei
D. the trembling
consequences of defense
4. The story is mainly developed by _______.
A.
time B. logic C.
making comparison D. cause and effect
5. The attitude of the writer towards Su Dai is _______.
A.
approval B. praise C.
neutral D.
disapproval