秦大国也
Qin Was a Big State
【原文】
秦，大国也；韩，小国也。韩甚疏秦，然而见亲秦，计之，非金无以 也，故卖美人D美人之贾贵，诸侯不能买，故秦买之三千金。韩因以其 金事秦，秦反得其金与韩之美人^韩之美人因言于秦曰韩甚疏秦7 从是观之，韩亡美人与金，其疏秦乃始益明。故客有说韩者曰不如止 淫用，以是为金以事秦，是金必行，而韩之疏秦不明。美人知内行者也, 故善为计者，不见内行7
【今译】
秦国是一个大国，韩国是一个小国。韩国十分疏远秦国，然而却要 表现得跟秦国亲善，盘算这件事，除了用黄金没法办到，就卖掉了一个 美女。美女的价钱昂贵，其他诸侯国的君主买不起，所以秦国花三千级 黄金买下了她。于是韩国用这些黄金来收买秦国，秦国反而得到了韩 国的黄金与美女。韩国的美女对秦王说：“韩国非常疏远秦国。”由此看 来，韩国失去了美女和黄金，它疏远秦国也开始更加分明了。所以有个 到韩国游说的客人说广不如停止过分的花销，以此换来黄金侍奉秦国， 这样一来，黄金一定能见效，而且韩国疏远秦国的情形不会让对方知晓。美女是知道内幕的人，所以善于谋划的人不会暴露实情。”
The state of Qin was big, and the state of Han was small, Han was alienated from the state of Qin,but it planned to hobnob with the state of Qin superficially. The people of Han found that they could not win over the state of Qin without money. So they sold a beautiful woman. The price for this beautiful woman was extremely high，and therefore no other state could afford her except the state of Qin. So the state of Qin bought her with three thousand yi of gold. Then Han presented the gold to Qin. As a result, Qin regained the gold and also obtained the beautiful woman from Han. The beautiful woman from Han then told the king of Qin, “The state of Han is indeed very alienated from the state of Qin.” Judging from this case，the state of Han lost the gold and the beautiful woman，but it was clear that Han was still very alienated from Qin. Hence, a guest suggested to Han, “Nothing could be better than cutting excessive expenditures. Then we can present the spare gold to the state of Qin. Qin will accept the gold but not know that Han is indeed very distant from it. The beautiful woman knows the truth. Hence，a person good at evaluating matters will not divulge the truth. ”