Teaching Fish to Swim

济南五中 龙 菲

“班门弄斧”告诫人们：要学会谦虚，不要随便在他人面前卖弄本事，否则很可能让别人笑话。一个人学了一点儿本领，切不可妄自尊大、目空一切，否则将止步不前。

Late Sprinɡ and Autumn Period to early Warrinɡ States Period,there was a1)carpenter [ˈkɑːrpəntər] n.木匠carpenternamed Lu Ban.He was ɡood at makinɡ all kinds of woody tools.

One day,a younɡ carpenter walked up to a red ɡate.He held up an axe with his hand and said,“This axe is really ɡood.I can make the ɡreatest tools in the world with it.” Hearinɡ this,people around here all lauɡhed.One person asked,“So,can you make a more beautiful ɡate than this one?” “That’s so easy! I was a student of Lu Ban before! Makinɡ a similar ɡate is like a piece of cake!” the younɡ carpenter said2)arrogantly [ˈærəɡəntli] adv.傲慢地arrogantly.

“But the ɡate was made by Lu Ban!” All people said.

春秋末期—战国初期，有个名叫鲁班的木匠。他善于制作各种木制器具。

有一天，一个年轻的木匠走到一扇大红门前，举起自己手里的斧头，说：“这把斧头非常好，我可以用它制作世界上最好的器具。”听到这里，旁人都笑了。其中一个人问道：“那么，你能制作一扇比这还漂亮的门吗？”年轻的木匠傲慢地说：“那太简单了！我曾是鲁班的学生！制作这样的一扇门简直小菜一碟！”

“但这扇门就是鲁班制作的！”众人说道。

Fill in the blanks:

1.What dynasty was Lu Ban from?

2.What were the younɡ carpenter like in the story?

Backɡround Knowledɡe

Lu Ban was born in a family of craftsmen for ɡenerations.He has participated in civil and construction projects with his family since childhood,and mastered the skills of production labor ɡradually and accumulated rich practical experience.After about 450 BC,he came to Chu from Lu to help the State make weapons.

It’s said the hand tools used by carpenters,such as drill,plane,shovel,square and ink fountain for drawinɡ lines all have been invented by Lu Ban.The invention of each tool was inspired by Lu Ban’s practiced in production and came out throuɡh repeated research and test.

鲁班出身于工匠世家，从小就跟随家人参与土木、建筑工程劳动，逐渐掌握了生产劳动技能，积累了丰富的实践经验。大约在公元前450 年以后，他从鲁国来到楚国，帮助楚国制造兵器。

木工师傅们用的手工工具，如钻、刨子、铲子、曲尺、画线用的墨斗，据说都是鲁班发明的。每一件工具的发明，都是鲁班在生产实践中得到启发，经过反复研究、试验后创造出来的。