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Ignore the danger behind us

Once, there was a King who was very arrogant. In his opinion, he was the best and his state was the strongest. So he was going to invade his neighbouring state without listening to any advice.

A young man wanted to dissuade the King but he didn’t dare. Then an idea occurred to him. He took the King into the garden. The young man pointed to a tree and said: “My King. Look at the tree. There is a cicada in the tree. The cicada is high above, chirping leisurely and taking in the dew freely, but he has no idea that a mantis is right behind him. The mantis, pressing his body in a concealed place, is intent on catching the cicada, but he doesn’t know that a siskin is hiding right behind him. Look! All of them make effort only to get the benefit before them, but they ignore the danger behind them at the same time.”

The King was suddenly enlightened after hearing this and gave up the plan to invade other state.

When dealing with the problems, we should look before you leap.

故事梗概：

一次，吴王要进攻楚国。他警告大臣们说：“有谁再敢来劝阻我进攻楚国，我就处死他。”

吴王的门客中有一个年轻人，想去劝阻但又不敢。他怀里揣着弹弓，一连三个早晨在吴工的后花园里徘徊。露水湿透了他的衣服。一天，吴王叫住他：“露水把你的衣服湿成这个样子。你何必吃这个苦呢？”

年轻人回答说：“这个园子里，有一棵树，树上有一只蝉。蝉高高在上，悠闲地叫着，自由自在地吸着露水，却不知道有一只蝗螂在它身后呢！而蝉身后的蝗螂把身子紧紧地贴在隐蔽的地方，只想去捕蝉，却不知道有一只黄雀早已躲在它的身后。黄雀正伸长了脖子想去啄蝗螂，却不知道在它下面正有人拿着弹弓呢！你看这三只小生物，只是力求得到它们眼前的利益，却全不管它们身后隐伏着祸患啊！”

吴王听了年轻人的话后，恍然大悟说：“你说得好啊！”

于是，吴王就不再进攻楚国了。

这个故事告诉我们：在考虑问题、处理事情时，要深思熟虑，考虑后果，不要只顾眼前利益，而不顾后患。



难点点拨

arrogant骄傲的，自大的

in one’s opinion 在某人看来

invade 侵略

neighbouring state邻国

dissuade 劝阻

cicada 蝉

chirp鸣叫

leisurely 悠闲地

dew 露珠

take in 汲取

mantis 螳螂

concealed 隐蔽的

be intent on 下定决心做某事

siskin 黄雀

make effort努力做某事

ignore 忽略，忽视

be suddenly enlightened 恍然大悟

give up 放弃

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