以…为己任
to take … upon oneself as a duty; to make … one’s mission
Structure
主语 以 事业／目标 为己任
What it means
Someone takes a big cause upon himself as a personal duty; 己任 is 'one's own responsibility'. Formal and admiring.
How it is built
Subject + 以 + cause (verb phrase or abstract noun) + 为己任: 老校长以办好乡村教育为己任 (The old headmaster made good rural schooling his mission).
When to use it
For biographies, speeches and tributes; it goes back to the Analects: 仁以为己任. In speech say 把…当作自己的责任. It is a set frame built on 以…为… (1-2).
Watch out
Only for big causes, not chores: ✗ 以洗碗为己任. 以 cannot be swapped for 把: ✗ 把天下为己任 ✓ 以天下为己任.
Examples
他一生以治理天下为己任，却到死也没能实现这个抱负。
All his life he took setting the world in order as his mission, yet that ambition was never realised before he died.
这位老校长以办好乡村教育为己任，在山里一干就是四十年。
The old headmaster made good schooling for the countryside his mission and worked in the mountains for forty years.
许多年轻医生以救死扶伤为己任，主动报名去了灾区。
Many young doctors, holding it their duty to heal the sick and save the dying, volunteered for the disaster zone.
Learn this in Lesson 86 · HSK 6–7: 孔子其人 (Confucius the man)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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