To Pull up the Seedlings1 to Help Them Grow
once upon a time, an old farmer planted a plot of rice. Everyday he went to the field to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day. But still, he thought they were growing too slowly. He got impatient with the young plants. How could the plants grow faster? He tossed in bed during the night and could not sleep. Suddenly he hit upon an idea. He had an idea not wait for daybreak. He jumped out of the bed and dashed to the field. By the moonlight, he began working on the rice seedlings. One by one, he pulled up the young plants by half an inch. When he finished pulling, it was already morning. Straightening his back, he said to himself, What a wonderful idea! Look, how much taller the plants have grown one night! With great satisfaction, he went back home. He told his son what he had done in a triumphant2 tone. His son was shocked. Now the sun had risen. The young man was heart-broken to see all the pulled-up young plants dying.
People now use Ba Miao Zhu Zhang to describe the behavior of those who are too eager to get something done only to make it worse. The idiom is a bit like the English proverb Haste makes waste ------to spoil things by excessive enthusiasm.
以前，有个农夫，种了稻苗后，便期望能早早收获。天天他到稻田时，发觉那些稻苗长得很慢。
他等得不耐烦，心想：如何才能使稻苗长得高，长非常快呢?
想了又想，他终了想到一个最好办法，就是将稻苗拨高几分。
经过一番辛劳后，他认可地扛锄头回家休息。心想：明天稻苗长得肯定更高了。
隔天早晨．一早起身，他迫不及待地起去稻田看他的成就。
哪知，他跑到稻田时，却看到所有些稻苗都枯萎了。
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