登鹳雀楼
王之涣
白日依山尽，
黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目，
更上一层楼。
On the top of the Tower and fascinated by the beautiful view, Wang chanted:''As daylight fades along the hill,/ The Yellow River joins the sea./ To gaze unto infinity, /Go mount another storey still.''
This poem was written on the Stork-bird Tower. It is said that this three-storeyed Tower was built on a sandbar in the middle of the Yellow River near present-day Yongji County of Shanxi Province. The Tower was a famous tourist spot in the Tang Dynasty and was destroyed by the river torrents after the Song Dynasty.
In these verses, we see a vivid picture. The bright sun was setting gradually to the complete disappearance behid the west ern hills and the roaring rapids in the Yellow River were surging towards the vast sea. The poet knew the world was much larger than he could see. In order to have a better view, he had to step onto a higher storey. The profound message that the poem intended to send is that if one wants to make progress continu ously, he has to keep working harder and setting higher demands on himself throughout his life.