拔苗助長 To Pull up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow
Once upon a time, an old farmer planted a plot of rice. Everyday he went to the field to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day. But still, he thought they were growing too slowly. He got impatient with the young plants. "How could the plants grow faster?" He tossed in bed during the night and could not sleep. Suddenly he hit upon an idea. He had an idea not wait for daybreak. He jumped out of the bed and dashed to the field. By the moonlight, he began working on the rice seedlings. One by one, he pulled up the young plants by half an inch. When he finished pulling, it was already morning. Straightening his back, he said to himself, "What a wonderful idea! Look, how much taller the plants have grown one night!" With great satisfaction, he went back home. He told his son what he had done in a triumphant tone. His son was shocked. Now the sun had risen. The young man was heart-broken to see all the pulled-up young plants dying.
People now use " Ba Miao Zhu Zhang" to describe the behavior of those who are too eager to get something done only to make it worse. The idiom is a bit like the English proverb "Haste makes waste" ------to spoil things by excessive enthusiasm.
很久以前，有一位老農民種了一塊稻田，他每天都去地里看著稻苗長。他看到新芽破土而出，每天都會長高一些。但是，他還是覺得它們長得太慢了，非常著急。夜里躺在床上，無法入睡，一直在想"怎樣才能讓稻苗長得更快些呢？"。突然，他想到了一個辦法，急不可待地跳下床，沖到他的稻田里，借著月光，開始工作。他將稻苗一個個的全都拔高半英寸，拔完后，天已經亮了。他伸著懶腰自言自語道："好聰明的主意，看稻苗一夜之間長高了這么多"。他帶著巨大的滿足感，回到家里，以得意的口氣告訴了兒子自己的功勞。他的兒子驚呆了，現在太陽已經升起。這個年輕人傷心地看到所有被拔起的稻苗已經曬蔫了。現在人們用"拔苗助長"來形容急于求成的人會讓事情變得更糟。這一成語有點像英文中的諺語"Haste makes waste（欲速則不達）"--過度的積極會把事情搞砸。
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