tsau pi and tsau jr were sons of tsau tsau. both were very gifted writers, and tsau jr was especially quick-witted.
after tsau tsau's death, tsau pi took over the throne of the kingdom of wei. jealous of tsau jr's literary a*lity, and afraid that he might cause problems, tsau pi was always looking for a way to kill his brother.
one day, tsau pi called tsau jr into see him. he ordered his brother to make up a poem within the time it took to walk s*n steps, adding that if he could not, his life would be in *er.
greatly saddened, tsau jr began to walk and to think. before he had taken the s*n steps, he had already finished his poem, the meaning of which was: "brothers are of the same family, so why should the oppress each other?"
tsau jr was very intel*t and loved to study. he wrote many outstanding articles which showed his artistic1 talent and earned him the ad*ation2 of many people. one scholar said of him: "heaven gave the world ten decalitres of talent, and tsau jr alone has eight of them."
today, to say that a person "has eight decalitres of talent" is to say that he has a great aptitude3 for writing.
曹丕与曹植都是曹操的*，二者均有才华，特别是曹植更具文采。
在曹*后，曹丕继任大统，但他嫉妒曹植的才华，同时也惧怕曹植会谋反，所以一直在伺机*害曹植。
有一天，曹丕要求接见曹植，他要求曹植在他七步之内作诗一首，如果做不到，就会有生命危险。
悲愤之下，曹植急中生智，作出七步诗，是的意思就是“本来就是亲兄弟，为什么要这样步步紧逼，伤及感情？”
曹植文采俱佳，热爱学习，他曾做过不少才华横溢的文赋，均令世人感叹不已。曾有一位学者说道：“如若天下文采共有十斗，曹植一人独占八斗。”
今天，如果我们说一个人“才高八斗”，就是指他“才华横溢，很有文采”。
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