經典故事英語：不能半途而廢

During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), there was a man called Yue Yangzi in State Yue. One day he saw a piece of gold on the road and picked it up. He took it home and gave it to his wife. But his wife was not happy. The virtuous woman said, “I hear that a man of morality doesn’t drink a thief’s water and a man of probity refuses to accept alms. What do you think of the action of picking up another’s lost valuable and possessing it for one’s own?”

Yue Yangzi, feeling ashamed, sent the gold back to where he found it. The next year, Yue Yangzi felt that he should go out and visit scholars to enrich his knowledge. So he set off.

戰國時期，魏國有個叫樂羊子的人。有一天，樂羊子在路上看到一塊金子，他就撿起金子，帶回了家並把它拿給妻子看。可他妻子一點兒也不高興。這個賢惠的女人對他說：”我聽人說’壯士不飲盜泉之水;廉潔的人不食嗟來之食。把別人遺失的貴重之物撿起來據爲己有，你怎麼看待這種行爲呢?”

樂羊子聽了妻子的話，覺得很慚愧，就把那塊金子又扔到原來的地方。第二年，樂羊子離開家到了一個很遠的地方，去拜師求學。

A year later, he came back home suddenly. “Why have you returned?” asked his wife in surprise, “You’ve only spent one year studying with scholars.” “I come back because I missed you very much.”

一年後，樂羊子突然回到家中，他的妻子很驚訝地問：”你怎麼回來了?你才和那些學者學了一年呀。”樂羊子說：”我太想你了，所以回來看看。”

Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom at which she had worked. Pointing at the half done brocade, she proclaimed: “This brocade is woven from the finest silk. I wove one strand after another to produce the brocade. Now if I cut it, all my previous work will be wasted. It’s the same with your studies. You can acquire knowledge only through diligence. Now, you’ve stopped halfway. Isn’t it the same as cutting the brocade on the loom?”

他的妻子聽了以後，二話不說，拿起把剪刀走到她的織布機前。她指着那塊已經完成了一半的錦緞說：”這塊錦緞用的是最好的絲。我一絲絲的累積來織成這錦緞。如果我現在把它剪斷，就等於前功盡棄。你求學也是這樣。如果現在停止，和剪斷織布機上的錦緞有什麼區別?”

Yue Yangzi was moved by what she said. He again left home to visit scholars. Several years later he became a learned man.

樂羊子被妻子的話所感動，於是立刻離開家，繼續拜師求學。幾年後，樂羊子終於完成學業，成爲一個博學的人。