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When Reaching an Extreme, Things Are Bound to Revert to Their Opposites
事物到達某一極端必然會向其反面轉化。古人很早就認識到，事物的屬性或狀態總會在一定情況下向與自身相反的對立面轉化。北宋的程頤（1033—1107）則對這一事物變化的規則作出了更細致的描述，提出了“物極必反”之說。“物極必反”揭示的是事物在屬性或狀態上發展到極端時的變化趨向。事物在極端狀態下，其屬性或狀態的反向轉變是必然發生的。
The ancient Chinese came to know early that the nature or state of things change to their opposite under certain circumstances. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Cheng Yi (1033-1107) gave a detailed description of the rules of such change when he argued that "when reaching an extreme, things are bound to revert to their opposites." This view believes that things tend to change when reaching an extreme in their nature or state. In such a state, things inevitably transform themselves into their opposite.
引例 Citation：
◎物極必返，其理須如此。有生便有死，有始便有終。（《二程遺書·入關語錄》）
事物到達極端就必然向其反面轉化，事物的道理就是這樣。有生便會有死，有開始就會有終結。
When reaching an extreme, things are bound to revert to their opposite state. This is the way things work. When there is life, there is death, and when there is a beginning, there is an end. (Writings of the Cheng Brothers)
推薦：教育部 國家語委
供稿：北京外國語大學 外語教學與研究出版社
責任編輯：錢耐安
