A Drop in the Bucket杯水车薪

阮洁云

“杯水车薪”出自《孟子·告子上》：“今之为仁者，犹以一杯水救一车薪之火也。”用一杯水去救一车着了火的柴，比喻力量太小，解决不了问题。

One evening， Zhao Da passedby a teahouse when he cameback from cutting 1）firewood.

There were a lot of peopledrinking tea there. He put thefirewood outside and walked intothe teahouse.

When he finished a cup of tea， he found his firewood on fire.Zhao Da shouted， “Oh no！ It’s on fire！”

He took a cup of water， ran out of the door and 2）splashed thewater on the fire. Other people in the tea house also took their owncups to fight the fire.

However， instead of being put out， the fire burned even harder.

1） firewood n. 木柴

2） splash v. 朝……泼洒

一天傍晚，赵大砍柴回来，路过一个茶馆。

茶馆里有很多人在喝茶。于是，他把木柴放在外面，也走進茶馆喝茶。

当他喝完一杯茶，他发现他的木柴着火了。

赵大大叫道：“哦，天啊！木柴着火了！”

他拿起桌子上的一杯水，跑到门外往正在着火的木柴上泼去。茶馆里的人也都忙着拿起自己的茶杯，往木柴上泼去。

可是，火不但没灭，反而燃烧得更猛烈了。

Fill in the blanks：

Zhao Da took a cup of water， of the door and the water on the fire.

Know More

Both Mengzi and Gaozi were born in the Warring States Period. Mengzi heldthe theory of original goodness of human nature （people are born with the powerto be good）， and Gaozi held the theory of neither good nor evil （there is no suchthing as good or evil in life）. Mengzi： Gaozi begins with a debate between the two，focusing on Mengzi’ s theory on human nature， morality and related theories.

孟子与告子都出生于战国时期，孟子持“性善论”（人生来有向善的力量），告子持“性无善恶论”（人生下来本无所谓善恶）。《孟子·告子上》以两人的论辩开头，集中阐述了孟子关于人性、道德及相关的理论。

参考答案：

ran out; splashed