中國寓言故事雙語版 第112期:熟能生巧

Chen Yaozi, Duke Kang Su was unsurpassed in archery,and he had a very high opinion of himself.

康肅公陳堯諮，射箭技術舉世無雙，他本人也自命不凡。

One day, when he was shooting arrows in his own garden, an old oil peddler happened to pass by.

一天，他在自己的花園裏射箭。有個賣油的老頭兒正好路過這裏，

The old man laid down his shoulder pole with its load, stood to one side, watched askance for a long while and didn’t go away.

老人放下擔子，站在一旁，斜着眼睛看了好久仍不離去。

When the old man saw him hit the target every time, he didn’t cheer, but only nodded slightly. Duke Kang Su asked:

老頭兒見他箭箭射中，並不喝彩，只是微微點頭。康肅公問:

“Do you know archery too? Isn’t my skill excellent?”

“你也懂得射箭嗎?難道我的本領還不高明嗎?”

The old man said:

老頭兒說:

“This is nothing, only skillful technique.”

“這沒什麼，只不過是手法熟練而已。”

Duke Kang Su was angry and rebuked him loudly:

康肅公很惱火，大聲斥責說:

“How dare you belittle my archery skill?”

“你怎麼敢小看我的射箭技術!”

The old man replied unhurriedly:

老頭兒不慌不忙地回答說:

“I know this from pouring oil.”

“我是通過打油得知的。”

As he spoke, he put a bottle gourd on the ground, and a copper coin with a hole in its centre on the mouth of the bottle gourd.

說着，他拿了一隻葫蘆放在地下，又把一枚有孔的銅錢放在葫蘆口上，

Then he slowly poured oil into the bottle gourd with a ladle.

然後用勺慢慢地往葫蘆裏灌油。

The oil,like a thin string, went straight into the bottle gourd through the hole in the copper coin without staining the coin at all.

只見油像一條細線一樣，從銅錢眼裏注人葫蘆，銅錢卻一點也沒有沾油。

The old man smiled and said:

老頭兒笑了笑說:

“This is nothing either, only skillful technique.”

“我這也沒什麼，只是手法熟練罷了!”