西汉史学家司马迁，
祖上世代为史官。
武帝时，他的父亲去世后，
司马迁继承父志把史籍纂。
有一位大将叫李陵，
投降了匈奴在北边。
他深知李陵降敌是不得已，
替他辩护陈己见。
哪知触恼了汉武帝，
受了宫刑关牢监。
司马迁后来出了狱，
忍辱发愤把史书编。
写成了著名史书叫《史记》，
美名流芳万载传。
他给好友任安写过信，
把蒙冤入狱的心情谈。
他说道，人生自古皆有死，
可比鸿毛或泰山。
人死的意义有不同，
我不做鸿毛遭轻贱。
我受了宫刑心忧郁，
好比那老虎笼内关。
老虎摇尾乞怜为果腹，
是人画地为牢应自勉。
受耻辱隐忍苟活粪土中，
只因为先父遗愿未实现。
我要把史书写成传后世，
藏于名山死无憾。
司马迁提到“画地为牢”这成语，
本意是在地上画个大圆圈，
古时把圆圈当牢狱，
监禁囚犯在里边。
到后来“画地为牢”这成语，
常形容活动范围受局限。
To Make a Jail by Drawing
a Circle on the Ground
In the Western Han Dynasty（206B。C。—24A。D。），there was an historian named Sima Qian whose forefathers were all historians。During the reign of Emperor Wu，his father died。Sima Qian resolved to take up his father's will to write history books。
At that time，there lived a general called Li Ling，who surrendered himself to the Hun in the north。Sima Qian knew it quite well that Li Ling was unwilling to have had done that。So he aired his view to defend the general。This，however，threw the emperor into a furious rage，and he gave Sima Qian the castration punishment and put him in jail。
Later，when Sima Qian was released，he mentally bore the heaviest insult and made up his mind to fi-nish composing the history book。The book he wrote was titled“Records of the Historian”which has lasted for thousands of years。
He once wrote a letter to his friend Ren An，and told him about how he had been wronged and put in prison。He stated that from ancient times，every one had a natural death，but some were lighter than a feather and some heavier than Mount Tai。People died in different ways and so they have different meanings。
“I don't want my death to be like a feather and be looked down upon。I am quite unhappy for having received the worst punishment。Like a tiger being put in a cage-the King of Beasts may have to wag his tail and beg for food。But being a man，I should draw a circle to serve for me as a prison：Bearing the insult and live among the unworthy，to fulfill my late father's great will。I must finish the historical book for the later generations，and put it in a famous mountain and then die a worthy death。
Sima Qian was referring to the idiom“to Make a Prison by Drawing a Circle on the Ground”。In ancient times，a circle meant a prison in which pri-soners were kept。Later it became an idiom，which means someone's confined to a little place。
