趙且伐燕，蘇代為燕謂惠王曰：“今者臣來，過易水，蚌方出曝，而鷸啄其肉，蚌合而拑其喙。鷸曰：‘今日不雨，明日不雨，即有死蚌。’蚌亦謂鷸曰：‘今日不出，明日不出，即有死鷸。’兩者不肯相捨，漁者得而並擒之。今趙且伐燕，燕趙久相支，以弊大眾。臣恐強秦之為漁父也，故願王之熟計之也。”惠王曰：“善。” 乃止。
Zhào qiě fá yàn, Sū ài wéi yàn wèi huì wáng yuē: "Jīn zhě chén lái, guò yì shuǐ, bàng fāng chū pù, ér yù zhuó qí ròu, bàng hé ér qián qí huì. Yù yuē: 'Jīn rì bù yǔ, míng rì bù yǔ, jí yǒu sǐ bàng.’ Bàng yì wèi yù yuē: 'Jīn rì bù chū, míng rì bù chū, jí yǒu sǐ yù. ' Liǎng zhě bù kěn xiāng shě, yú zhě de ér bìng qín zhī. Jīn Zhào qiě fá Yàn, Yàn Zhào jiǔ xiāng zhī, yǐ bì dà zhòng. Chén kǒng qiáng Qín zhī wéi yú fū yě, gù yuàn wáng zhī shóu jì zhī yě. " Huì wáng yuē: "shàn. " Nǎi zhǐ.
The use of 者
兩者 two of them 兩者不肯相捨 Both of them did not want to give up.
今者 the time when...今者臣來 When I came here.
Nouns used as verbs
In classical Chinese, the part of speech of a word was sometimes transformed to another part of speech. It was very common that nouns were used as verbs. Adjectives can be used as verbs too. For example, 雨 (rain) is a noun, but it can be used as a verb which is similar to English 'rain' and 'to rain'. 今日不雨 means 'it is not raining today.' In modern Chinese, it would be '今日不下雨' where 下 is the verb and 雨 is a noun. In the similar way, 弊 in 以弊大衆 is used as a verb 'to exhaust'.
The use of 以
以 in this lesson (以弊大眾) is a conjunction word indicating a result.
燕趙久相支，以弊大眾。Yan and Zhao will confront for a long time. As a result, the people of both countries will be exhausted.