【英文对照赏析】见错弥补 知错勇改 How People in the Past Handled Mistakes
How People in the Past Handled MistakesA-Gui (1717-1797 AD), whose pen name was "Guangting," lived during the reign of Emperor Qianlong during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD). He served in many high-ranking positions such as Yili General, Minister of Defense, and Minister of Administration. In the end, he was appointed as the Great Academician of Wuying Palace, while also holding the first chair of the National Security Committee. On one occasion, he followed the Emperor's order to construct the Qinglonggang Dam. His assistant, Li Rongji, thought the construction was progressing too fast and that the work should slow down to prevent the dam from collapsing. A-Gui reprimanded him for slowing down the construction and disturbing the army and workers. He gave his order to again speed up the construction.
On the day when the dam was finished, many officials came to congratulate A-Gui. Only Li Rongji was absent. A-Gui ordered someone to summon Li. Li was found on the dam. However, Li said to the messenger, "Please send my thanks to his highness. Right now, however, the dam is not strong enough, and I don't dare to leave for the celebration." Li continued to monitor the workers to reinforce the dam with more logs and stones.
The reinforcement work continued for two days, but the dam eventually collapsed. When A-Gui was informed in the middle of the night that the dam had collapsed, he rushed to the site and saw that Li Rongji had fallen into the water. A-Gui immediately ordered everyone to help rescue Li, "The official that rescues Li will be promoted two levels and the soldier will be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold."
With some obstacles, Li Rongji was finally rescued and brought to shore. A-Gui was in tears as he helped Li remove his wet clothes. He took off his own uniform, which was made of black fox skin that was granted by the Emperor. A-Gui put the uniform on Li to warm him. After a long time, Li regained consciousness. A-Gui apologized to Li sincerely. He also reported his failure and mistake to the government and recommended that Li Rongji fill his post.
When Li Rongji saw that A-Gui had made a mistake, he did not flatter A-Gui by pretending nothing was wrong. After failing to persuade A-Gui to take his suggestion, Li Rongji did his best to quietly make up for A-Gui's mistake. When A-Gui realized his mistake, he didn't cover it up but apologized humbly and owned up to it. A-Gui also recommended the better-qualified person for the job to take his post. The two men showed great virtue and tolerance in their conduct. Truly admirable.
见错弥补 知错勇改
阿桂，字广廷，清乾隆年间举人，历任伊犁将军、兵部尚书、吏部尚书，累官至武英殿大学士兼首席军机大臣。他曾经奉命修筑青龙冈的大坝，他的副将李荣吉认为施工进度太快了，应缓慢施工以防止崩塌。阿桂则斥责他这是阻挠施工，扰乱军民，并且再次下令要加紧施工。
等到大坝合龙的那天，文武百官都来向阿桂道贺，只有李荣吉不知哪去了。阿桂于是派人去叫李荣吉，李荣吉在大坝上向使者拜谢说：“您替我谢谢公相了，现在大坝还不稳固，我不敢离开这里去道贺啊！”说完便继续在大坝上督促众人追加土料加固大坝。
这样一直持续了两天，大坝最终还是崩塌了，阿桂半夜听说坝塌后，立即飞驰赶到坝上，只见李荣吉已经被冲到水里，阿桂急忙下令：“能救他上来的官升二等，兵吏赏千金。”
经过一番救援，李荣吉终于被救了上来，阿桂哭着为其脱去湿衣服，把皇帝赏赐给自己的黑狐礼服给其披上取暖，过了很久，李荣吉才苏醒过来。阿桂诚恳的向他道歉，还自己向朝廷检举了自己的过失，并且推荐李荣吉替代他的职位。
见阿桂有过失，李荣吉没有去人云亦云的去阿谀奉承，而是在忠言劝谏无效的情况下，默默的尽力给予弥补；等到过失显露出来，阿桂诚实不欺，以主将的身份虚心道歉，承认自己的过错，并推举在这方面胜于自己的人来代替自己，这两人的器量真令人佩服。