Original source spelling · punctuation belongs to the digital witness · pronunciation tools follow your language focus.
A route through this passage
31 Han characters · 18 distinct forms · 6 units separated by the witness’s punctuation
- Establish the frame. Read the surrounding chapter. Who speaks, what is being discussed, and which earlier words supply the context?
- Test one unit.
故塗之人可以為禹，
Mark a possible predicate and its participants. Record what you have supplied rather than found explicitly in the text. - Reconstruct the argument. Connect the units in your own words. Where does a description, question, contrast, or consequence depend on your interpretation?
Investigate 8 written forms in this passage
Matched by spelling. These are candidate reading procedures, not assigned grammatical analyses.
Watch recurrence: 為 × 4 禹 × 4 塗 × 2 之 × 2 人 × 2 可 × 2. Repetition of a graph need not mean repetition of a sense.
Computed from this exact witness · Contextual interpretation awaits editorial review. The guide is a set of reading prompts, not a translation. Sources & methods
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Use the reading guide above, build your interpretation, then test what you can recover. Your notes and schedule stay on this device.
1 · Explain it in your own words
2 · Recover the wording
Select a source unit, then hide the passage and reconstruct it. This checks textual recall, not understanding.
3 · Explain, then revisit
Without the source in front of you, explain the passage’s main point and one choice you made in reading it. Then reopen the text and check the evidence.
Rate your understanding yourself. These reminders use a simple schedule; they do not certify mastery.
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Shared wording
Computed exact phrases in the pinned witnesses. These links do not assign a sense or assert borrowing.
荀子 · 性惡篇第二十三塗之人可「塗之人可以為禹」，曷謂也？曰：凡禹之所以為禹者，以其為仁義法正也。然則仁義法正有可知可能之理
荀子 · 性惡篇第二十三無害可以觀之，然則可以為，未必能也；雖不能，無害可以為。
荀子 · 性惡篇第二十三人可以為故小人可以為君子而不肯為君子，君子可以為小人而不肯為小人。小人、君子者，未嘗不可以相為也；然而不
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Shared teaching construction · an editorial learning connection, not evidence of common authorship or origin.
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Edition, source, and reuse
- Work
- 荀子 · Xunzi
- Attribution
- Traditionally associated with Xun Kuang; the received collection contains multiple textual layers.
- Digital witness
- Kanseki Repository · KR3a0002 · base edition tls
- Contributors
- Kanseki Repository (Kanripo) contributors; upstream base-edition labels retained in each original file.
- Source position
- KR3a0002_023.txt, lines 609–614. XUN 23.15.03; 23:5b, Knoblock 3:159
- Version
e18a27621ef434940a368defd29e00eee205dfd2- Reuse
- CC BY-SA 4.0. Text extraction and teaching additions share this licence.
- Text policy
- Source spelling and punctuation retained. Encoding headers, page markers, paragraph markers, whitespace, and leading section numbers are removed from the reading view. No silent script conversion or textual correction.
- Teaching
- zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes. English renderings are excerpt-level reading aids, not a full published translation. Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed.
Source-file SHA-256: bcd4df887e25970e3d73b080850805203c9b48d48611e949f8849ad461d2e895. A source comment that cites a translator is an upstream reference, not the attribution of a translation imported here.