In the ancient China, the various states were locked in a tangled fight. A small state was defeated by a big state. Only several thousand of the soldiers survived and retreated into the mountain.
As there were no foods supplies in the mountain, the big state thought that small one would surrender sooner on later
One year had passed and there were no movement of the small state in the mountain. The officers and soldiers of the big state thought that the men in the mountain had been starved to death.
One night, there suddenly appeared a strong army in the mountain.They charged towards the battalion of the big state.
The soldiers of the big state had been at ease for one year and were caught unprepared. So the small state recaptured the territory.
The big state was very curious and tried to find out what the small state had taken as foods in the mountain.
It turned to be that there was a kind of plant of which the flowers were white and the root was very thick in the mountain. The soldiers of the small state just took them as food. They termed it as "shan-yu" (what found in the mountain) because they found it in the mountain when they ran out of food.
However people found that the plant had the actions of invigorating spleen and stomach, and supplementing lung and kidney, and was suitable for treating spleen vacuity and diarrhea, etc.
Since then people took it as herb and termed it "shan-yao" i.e., dioscorea .
1.古时候，列国混战。有个强国把一个弱国打败了，弱国只剩下几千人马，逃进一座大山。
2.强国的军队把山包围，想把对方困死。弱国的人马被困在山里，外面无人供粮，里边又不能派人出来筹粮——强国以为,他们迟早会出山投降的。
3.谁想这样过了一年，山里连一点动静也没有。强国的官兵都认为山里的人马准饿死了。
4.忽然在一天夜里，从山中杀出一支人强马壮的队伍，直向强国的大营冲来。
5.强国一年没有打仗，又以为弱国的人马早已死光，所以人来不及披甲，马来不及备鞍，被杀了一个措手不及。弱国反败为胜，把失去的土地又夺了回来。
6.强国失败后很奇怪，便四处探听弱国军队在山里是拿什么当粮食的。
7.后来得知：原来山中到处长着一种夏天开白花的东西，它的根茎很粗。弱国的士兵饿急了，就挖这种根茎吃，一吃味儿挺甜。从此，人吃根茎，马吃藤叶——几千人马靠这东西生活了一年。弱国的士兵还给它起了个名字，叫“山遇”。意思是说，正发愁缺粮的时候，碰巧在山里遇上了它。
8.后来人们发现，这种“山遇”不但能象粮食一样滋养人，还健脾胃，补肺肾，主治脾虚、泄泻等症。
以后，人们用它做药，就把“山遇”改成“山药”了。
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