拔苗助长英文故事.docxVIP

拔苗助长(英文故事) A wise man named Mengzi once told this story: A long, long time ago, there was a farmer who lived with his son in the State of Song. However, they weren’t musical. They were hardworking and rarely sang. The farmer was particularly serious. His closest neighbor had even called him a worrier. Once the weather was good, the farmer and his son planted rice together. They were tired and proud when all the seeds had been planted. The farmer hoped they had done? everything perfectly. He wanted to watch the rice grow. Starting at sunrise every day, he stood in the flooded fields, waiting. He wondered if the small green sprout near the boulder had been there an hour ago. He got excited. Maybe it was a new plant! When he looked closer, he saw that it was an old plant. What a disappointment. He went back to watching the fields. He waved his arms to scare birds. Many days passed just in this way. Soon, he began to get worried. It seemed that the shoots had not grown for several days. They looked the same as they had the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that too. He decided to stop at his closest neighbor’s house. As they drank tea, the farmer asked the question that had been bothering him. “By the way, how is your rice growing?” he asked. “I am worried about mine. It seems to have stopped growing!” “Oh, my rice is growing green and healthy!” replied the neighbor. “I am very happy with the progress. Nature will provide.” This conversation did not put the farmer’s mind at ease. He quickly returned to his fields to check on his rice. It looked like it still hadn’t grown. Not even a millimeter! He started to panic. He looked again. Was the rice even shorter than yesterday? Perhaps there was something wrong with his rice! “What if my crop never grows?” he thought aloud. He began pacing back and forth on the side of the rice field. “I must find a way to help my shoots grow faster.” When he got home that night, he told his son about the fields. “The r