Pull Up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow

◎供稿：王静云

“揠苗助长”指把苗拔起来，帮助其成长，比喻违反事物的发展规律，急于求成，反而把事情弄糟。

Long ago,someone in the State of Song thought that the1)seedlingshe planted were not growing,so he was very anxious.How could he make his seedlings grow taller?

One day,he went to his field to pull up the seedlinɡs one by one.He came home out of breath from2)exhaustion,and said,“I’m really tired today! Because I manaɡed to let seedlinɡs ɡrow taller once for all!”His son ran to the field,only to find that all his seedlinɡs were dead.

Many people in the world make such a stupid mistake.Those who help the crops grow,which not only does no good,but kills the crops.

1) seedlinɡ [ˈsiːdlɪŋ] n.幼苗

2) exhaustion [ɪɡˈzɔːstʃən] n.筋疲力尽

从前，宋国有个人以为自己种的禾苗不长了，心里非常着急。怎样才能让禾苗长高呢？

一天，他到田里去把禾苗一株一株地拔高，累得气喘吁吁地回家，对他家里人说：“今天可真把我累坏了！因为，我总算让禾苗一下子就长高了！”他的儿子跑到田里一看，禾苗全部死了。

世上有很多人都会犯这种愚蠢的错误。那些一厢情愿地去“帮助”“庄稼”生长，即揠苗助长的人，不仅没有从这种做法中获得益处，反而害死了“庄稼”。

Questions:

1.Why did the farmer pull the seedlings up?

2.What happened to the seedlings after the farmer pull them up?

3.What can you learn from the story?

Know More

The synonymous idioms of“pull up the seedlings to help them grow”are:“more haste,less speed”,“run counter to one’s desire”and“eager for quick success and instant benefit”.

和“揠苗助长”同义的成语有：“欲速则不达”“适得其反”“急功近利”。