《古代寓言·拔苗助长》（中英对照）

宋人有闵其苗之不长而揠之者。

芒芒然归，谓其人曰：“今日病矣！予助苗长矣。”

其子趋而往视之，苗则槁矣。

——天下之不助苗长者寡矣：以为无益而舍之者，不耘苗者也；助之长者，揠苗者也。非徒无益，而又害之。

——《孟子》

Helping Young Shoots to Grow

A man in the state of Song felt the shoots in his fields were not growing fast enough. So he pulled them all up, then went home quite exhausted.

“I’m tired out today,” he told his family. “I’ve been helping the young shoots to grow.”

His son ran out to the fields to have a look, and found all their seedlings were dead.

Most people would like to help young shoots to grow; but some think all efforts useless and make no attempt, not even weeding the fields; others try to help the shoots grow by pulling them up. This, of course, is worse than useless.

Mencius