铁杵磨针(详读本)
Grinding an Iron Pestle into a Needle (Detailed Reading)
Level 3 · Fables · 寓言故事 · 151 vocabulary words
Source: 《方舆胜览》 · Fangyu Shenglan
唐朝的大诗人李白,小时候非常贪玩,不爱读书,常常从学堂里逃出去玩。
The great Tang poet Li Bai was, as a boy, very fond of play and often skipped school to run off outside.
有一天,他又偷偷溜出学堂,走到一条小河边。河边有一位白发老婆婆,正低着头,在一块石头上磨一根铁棒。
One day he slipped out again and came to a stream, where a white-haired old woman was grinding an iron bar on a stone.
李白觉得很奇怪,就走过去问:老婆婆,您在磨什么呀?
Puzzled, Li Bai went over and asked: granny, what are you grinding?
老婆婆头也不抬,一边磨一边说:我在磨一根绣花针。
Without looking up she kept grinding and said: I am grinding it into a sewing needle.
李白听了,差点笑出来:这么粗的铁棒,要磨成细细的针,那得磨到什么时候啊!
Li Bai nearly laughed: such a thick iron bar into a thin needle, how long would that take!
李白蹲在旁边看了一会儿,问:老婆婆,这根铁棒这么粗,针那么细,能磨成吗?
Li Bai squatted watching a while, then asked: granny, the bar is so thick and a needle so thin, can it really be ground down?
老婆婆说:只要天天磨,铁杵总能磨成针。下的功夫深了,就没有做不成的事。
The old woman said: grind every day and the bar will become a needle. Work deep enough and nothing is impossible.
老婆婆还是不抬头:我磨一天,它就细一点;磨一年,它就细一截。铁棒是死的,人是活的。
Still without looking up she said: one day of grinding and it is thinner; one year and it is shorter. The bar is dead; the person is alive.
李白听了,心里很惭愧。他想:老婆婆能把铁棒磨成针,我读书这点苦,又算得了什么呢?
Li Bai felt ashamed. If an old woman can grind iron into a needle, he thought, what is a little hardship in study?
他马上回到学堂,从此认真读书,再也不逃学了。
He went straight back to school and studied hard, never skipping class again.
那天以后,村里人常常看见李白在河边读书。有人笑话他装样子,他不理,只是把手里的书翻过一页。
After that day the villagers often saw Li Bai reading by the river. Some mocked his pose; he ignored them and turned another page.
后来,李白成了中国历史上最伟大的诗人之一。这个故事说:只要有恒心,再难的事也能做成。
Li Bai became one of China's greatest poets. The story says: with perseverance, the hardest thing can be done.