水深火热Deep in Water and Scorched in Fire

Deep in Water and Scorched in Fire(1)（成语 水深火热 英文）

The state of Qi went on a punitive expedition against the State of Yan and triumphed over it.

King Xuan of the State of Qi asked Mencius, “Some have advised me not to annex Yan while others have insisted that I should. Consider now, it took a state with 10,000 chariots(2) like ours only 50 days to beat another with the same number of chariots. This was something that could never have been achieved by human strength, it must have been the divine will. If I don’t annihilate Yan this time, there will certainly be punishment frim Heaven. What is your opinion?”

“If you carry out the annexation and the people of Yan are glad of it, then proceed,” replied Mencius.”There was one among the ancients who did the same thing and that was Emperor Wu. On the other hand, if you carry it out and they are not happy about it, then you’d better not. There was a similar case in ancient times and that was in Emperor Wen(3). When a powerful state has overwhelmed another one of the same strength, and the conquered people come out to welcome the conquering army with food baskets and wine pots, it shows nothing but their eagerness to be relieved of the miseries they have long suffered under their own ruler, but, if stead you are going to plunge them deeper into the water and scorch them in a yet fiercer fire, it will only make the people turn away from you and look for help elsewhere.”

_________remark__________
(1)meaning"to plunge people in an abyss of suffering".

(2)In ancient times a state with 10,000 chariots was a powerful one;the strength of a state was measured by its number of chariots.

(3)Emperor Wen is known for his justice and benignity during the early Western Zhou days.

水深火热 (chinese idioms)

　　这时，齐宣王向正在齐国游说的孟子请教，问道：“有人劝我不 要吞并燕国，有人劝我吞并它，到底该怎么办?”

　　孟子回答说：“如果吞并燕国，当地百姓反而很高兴，那就吞并 它。古人有此先例，周武王便是。”

　 “如果吞并燕国，当地百姓并不高兴，”孟子又说，“那就不要吞 并它。古人也有先例，周文王便是。”

　　孟子举了这两个例子后指出：“当初齐军攻入燕国，燕人送饭递 水表示欢迎，那是因为燕国百姓想摆脱苦日子；而今如果齐国进而 吞并燕国，给燕人带来亡国的灾难，使他们陷入水深火热之中，那他 们必然会转而盼望别国来解救了!