南朝宋国谢灵运是古代著名的诗人，也是山水派诗人的代表人物之一。他善于刻画自然景物和名胜风景，艺术性强，很受文人雅士的喜爱。他的诗文每次一传出来，就会受到文人们争相抄录、传诵。连皇帝都十分欣赏他，请他入朝为官，常常叫他一边侍宴一边作诗。

这样被众人捧着的感觉，让谢灵运感到更加自大。他说道：魏晋以来，天下文学之才共十斗，其中曹植占八斗，我占一斗，剩下的一斗天下人共分。他认为除了曹植其他人的才华都不如他。

因此，后世就把才学极为出众的人称为“才高八斗”。

Xie Lingyun was a famous poet in the ancient times and was one of the representatives of the landscape poetry school. He was good at depicting natural scenery and scenic spots. His paintings were adored by  literati at that time. Every time Xie lingyun wrote new poems and essays , literati of his time would transcribe and recite his work immediately. Even the emperor appreciated him very much and recruited him as an official. He was often asked to serve the banquet and write poem at the same time.

Being admired by his contemporaneities and appreciated by the emperor made Xie Lingyun arrogant. He said: “since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there have been ten quota of talent in literature world, among which Cao Zhi has eight , I have one, and the rest share one. He was extremely confident of his talent.

Therefore, the person with outstanding talent and learning are referred to as "才高八斗".   

生词

文化小知识

曹植(Cáo Zhí)

    曹植是三国时期著名文学家，作为建安文学的代表人物之一与集大成者，他在两晋南北朝时期，被推尊到文章典范的地位。

Cao Zhi was a famous writer in the Three Kingdoms period, and regarded as one of the representative figures of Jian'an literature. In later Jin Dynasty and southern and Northern Dynasties, Cao Zhi was acclaimed as exemplary in classic literature .

斗（dǒu）

中国市制容量单位，古代一斗相当于现在的12斤左右。

Dou（斗） is a unit of measurement. One dou（斗）is about 6 kilograms.