中國成語故事中英對照 揠苗助長

In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a farmer who was impatient by nature. He thought his rice shoots(嫩枝) were growing too slowly, so he decided to help them by pulling them.

有個急性子的宋國人，日夜盼望稻田里的稻子快些長大。可是，稻子是要慢慢長的，不能照他想的那樣長的那么快。

One day at dusk, he went back home dog-tired and said to his family: "I helped the rice shoots grow today." Hearing this, his son hurried to the field, only to find that all the plants had withered(干枯) .

有一天，他想出了一個妙計：下得田去，把每棵稻子都從土里拔高了一些。“好累啊!辛辛苦苦干了一整天!不過，田里的稻子倒是都長高好些了。”他的兒子聽說田里的稻子長高了好些，連忙跑到田里去看?？墒?，糟糕得很，田里的稻苗的葉子，都開始枯萎了。

This idiom refers to spoiling things because of being over-anxious for results and ignoring the law of nature.

這則故事主要告誡人們：不尊重自然規(guī)律或忽視自然規(guī)律，過分的焦急，必然導致破壞事情的正常發(fā)展。