The legend of Shennong, the 'Divine Farmer,' who patiently tasted hundreds of wild plants to discover which were food, which were medicine — laying the legendary foundation of Chinese farming and herbal medicine.
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很久很久以前，神农是传说中教会人们种田的一位首领，大家都叫他"神农氏"。
那时候，人们还不知道哪些草能吃，哪些草有毒，常常因为吃错东西而生病，甚至丢掉性命。
神农看在眼里，急在心里。他决定要亲自尝一尝，把每一种草都弄清楚。
于是，他走遍山野，看到一种没见过的植物，就摘下来，放进嘴里，细细地尝。
甜的，他记下来；苦的，他也记下来；有的吃了浑身发麻，有的吃了肚子疼痛——神农一样一样，耐心地试，耐心地记。
传说他一天之内，最多尝过七十种草，中毒了好多次，靠喝茶水解毒，才一次次挺了过来。
就这样，年复一年，神农终于弄清楚了：哪些草可以当饭吃，哪些草可以治病，哪些草绝对不能碰。
人们从此知道该吃什么、不该吃什么，也学会了用草药治病。
神农尝百草讲的是神农一种一种地尝试各种植物，弄清楚哪些能吃、哪些能treat病。这个故事告诉我们，神农的耐心和勇气，为中国的农业和中医打下了最早的基础。
A very long time ago, Shennong — whose name means "the Divine Farmer" — was a legendary leader said to have taught early people how to grow their own food.
Back then, nobody knew which wild plants were safe to eat and which were dangerous, and people often got sick — or worse — from eating the wrong thing.
Shennong saw this and decided he would find out for everyone, one plant at a time.
So he traveled through the mountains and fields, and whenever he found a plant he didn't recognize, he would pick it and carefully taste a little.
Some were sweet, and he noted that down. Some were bitter, and he noted that too. Some made him feel numb, some gave him a stomachache — patiently, one by one, Shennong tried and recorded them all.
Legend says that on some days he tasted dozens of different plants, and was poisoned more than once — but he always found a way to recover, often by drinking tea to help clear the poison from his body.
Year after year, plant after plant, Shennong slowly figured it all out: which plants were good to eat, which could be used to treat illness, and which should never be touched at all.
Thanks to his patient work, people finally knew what was safe — and learned how to use plants as medicine, too.
Shennong Tastes the Hundred Herbs is a legend about patience and care — trying things carefully, one at a time, so that everyone else would be safer. It's said to be the starting point of both Chinese farming and Chinese herbal medicine.
