1. Vocabulary
Enticements for him to come to the capital were without avail.
enticement /ɪnˈtaɪsmənt/
An enticement is something that makes people want to do a particular thing. 诱惑物
仿写：
The software game offers many kinds of enticements.
without avail无效；无用；未成功，无济于事
仿写：
I did persuade him, without avail
This period of his self-imposed obscurity is difficult to understand.
self-imposed
A self-imposed restriction, task, or situation is one that you have deliberately created or accepted for yourself. 自愿承担的; 自己强加的
仿写：
He returned home after eleven years of self-imposed exile.
obscurity /əbˈskjʊərɪtɪ/
Obscurity is the state of being known by only a few people. 鲜为人知的状态
仿写：
For the lucky few, there's the chance of being plucked from obscurity and thrown into the world of modeling.
2. Guiding Questions
2.1 Q: What policies did Wang Anshih implement after gaining power and what was their effect on the people in the kingdom?
A: The policies Wang implemented after gaining power were three state capitalist enterprises, three new taxes, and three systems of registration for a complete regimentation and control of the people. The effects were that in place of “private monopoly” the state set up its own monopoly; small businessmen were thrown out of jobs, and farmers, unable to repay the compulsory loans or keep up the interest, sold their wives and children or fled, and their neighbors who were made guarantor of the loans fled with them or sold or mortgaged their properties.
2.2 Sentences
Such a person could deceive the most discerning ruler and be a great danger to the state if he should never come into power.
此人一旦得势，足以欺明主，为国家之大害。此句为苏洵对王安石的批评之词，苏氏兄弟皆以为太重。
It was inevitable that the government and the businessmen would be treading on each other’s toes.
政府和商人必将互相掣肘。此句为苏子由上奏折反对新法中的由朝廷接收全国贸易，若此，自由企业会立即瘫痪。
From that year on, China was to be plunged into a wave of new social experiments amid political storms whose concussions were felt to the end of the Sung Dynasty.
中国在政潮汹涌中卷入新一轮变法，此变法所引起的冲击震荡不绝，直到宋朝灭亡而后已。此句为林语堂对王安石变法的评价。
3. Reflection
本书作者林语堂是为苏东坡写传记，所以他极力赞扬苏东坡，而对王安石则持否定态度。他在书中写到，神宗熙宁二年（1069），中国在政潮汹涌中卷入新一轮变法，此变法所引起的冲击震荡不绝，直到宋朝灭亡而后已。他认为王安石及其变法导致国力日衰、民不聊生、北宋王朝自此走上亡国之路。
实际上，古往今来很多学者、历史学家对王安石都作出过评论，众说纷纭、褒贬不一。但总的来讲，王安石发动的变法初衷是好的，旨在改变北宋建国以来积贫积弱的局面，以发展生产、富国强兵、挽救宋朝政治危机为目的。
而且变法在一定程度缓解了北宋积弊的局面，兴修了水利，重拾财政，巩固国防。但在变法过程中，过于急功近利，导致一些举措尚不成熟，实际执行过程中被一些贪官污吏利用，欺下瞒上，造成百姓利益受到不同程度的损害。加之新法触动地主阶级的根本利益，遭到司马光等人强烈反对，元丰八年（1085），因宋神宗去世而告终。
宋神宗死后，司马光出任宰相，尽废新法，苏东坡、范存仁等人皆曰不可，因为新法中有些措施是合理有效的，苏东坡亦因此受到司马光排挤出京，所以说林语堂对王安石的评价是否完全正确呢？尚有待考证。
