English Original
During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC), a severe famine struck the state of Qi.
A wealthy but arrogant man named Qian Ao sought to showcase his generosity by setting up food by the roadside to give to passing refugees.
A man in shabby clothes, barely able to keep his eyes open from hunger, shuffled by with his shoes dragging.
Seeing him, Qian Ao held food in his left hand and drink in his right, and shouted, "Hey! Come and eat!"
Hearing this, the man glared and said, "It is precisely because I refuse to eat food handled out in contempt that I have been reduced to this state of starvation."
Despite Qian Ao's subsequent apology, the man resolutely refused the food and ultimately died of hunger.
This story illustrates that a person with a strong sense of self-respect would rather die than accept contemptuous charity. The idiom derived from it now denotes any aid given with disrespect or insult.
中文翻译
春秋时期，齐国发生了一场严重的饥荒。
一位名叫黔敖的富有但傲慢的贵族，为了显示自己的慷慨，在路边摆设食物，施舍给过往的难民。
这时，一个衣衫褴褛、饿得睁不开眼的人，拖着鞋子，踉踉跄跄地走过。
黔敖看见他，左手拿着食物，右手端着汤水，喊道：“喂！来吃吧！”
那人一听，瞪着眼睛说道：“我就是因为不吃这种带着轻蔑施舍的食物，才饿到这般田地的。”
尽管黔敖随后向他道了歉，那人仍然坚决不肯吃，最终饿死了。
这个故事说明，一个有强烈自尊心的人，宁可饿死也不接受带侮辱性的施舍。由此衍生的成语“嗟来之食”，现在泛指一切带有轻蔑或侮辱目的的给予。