中国成语故事中英对照 揠苗助长

In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a farmer who was impatient by nature. He thought his rice shoots(嫩枝) were growing too slowly, so he decided to help them by pulling them.

有个急性子的宋国人，日夜盼望稻田里的稻子快些长大。可是，稻子是要慢慢长的，不能照他想的那样长的那么快。

One day at dusk, he went back home dog-tired and said to his family: "I helped the rice shoots grow today." Hearing this, his son hurried to the field, only to find that all the plants had withered(干枯) .

有一天，他想出了一个妙计：下得田去，把每棵稻子都从土里拔高了一些。“好累啊!辛辛苦苦干了一整天!不过，田里的稻子倒是都长高好些了。”他的儿子听说田里的稻子长高了好些，连忙跑到田里去看。可是，糟糕得很，田里的稻苗的叶子，都开始枯萎了。

This idiom refers to spoiling things because of being over-anxious for results and ignoring the law of nature.

这则故事主要告诫人们：不尊重自然规律或忽视自然规律，过分的焦急，必然导致破坏事情的正常发展。