提 要

出自《戰國策》 中 〈秦策五．謂秦王〉 的句子：「行百里者半於九十，言末路之難也」。 「行百里者半九十」就是走一百里路，到其中的九十里才算是走了一半。比喻做事愈接近成功，愈要堅持到最後。貪心想多走一些路，或者仗著自己腳程快而輕忽，最後必然導致失敗。

Becky and Alice were identical twins. They were so identical that even their mother found it difficult to distinguish one from the other, at least during their initial days on earth.

However, they were very different from each other when it came to everything other than their appearance. Becky had no friends, while Alice was a great friendship maker. Becky loved sweets, but Alice loved spicy food and detested sweets. Becky was mommy’s pet and Alice was daddy’s pet. While Becky was generous and selfless, Alice was greedy and selfish!

As Becky and Alice grew up, their father wanted to share his fortune equally amongst them. However, Alice did not agree and she argued that whoever proved to be more intelligent and strong would have to get a bigger share of the wealth.

Becky agreed. Their father decided to organize a competition between the two. He asked the two daughters to walk as long as they could, and return home before sunset. The wealth would be divided in proportion to the distance covered. As a rule of the competition, they were not permitted to carry a watch to keep track of the time.

The following day, Becky and Alice set out to walk. It was a rather sunny day. Becky walked slowly and steadily, while Alice broke into a sprint as she was bent on winning the race and also winning a greater portion of his father’s wealth.

Becky knew that it would be ideal to walk as far as possible till noon and start for home at noon as it would take the same amount of time to walk back home. Knowing this, Becky decided to turn back for home at noon so as reach home on time.

On the other hand, Alice, with her greed to earn more wealth, did not attempt to return home even after mid-noon. She walked twice as long as Becky, and thought she would still be able to return home before sunset. She hurried back when she saw the sun turn orange. Unfortunately, Alice could not even make it half way home as the sun started to set. Slowly darkness engulfed her path and she had to drag her tired feet back home.

She had lost the race. Only because of her greed. Greed leads to loss.

解 說

貝琪和愛麗絲是同卵雙胞胎，她們的外表幾乎完全相同，即使她們的母親也難以區分一模一樣的兩人，從她們倆出生的那一天起就是如此。

然而除了外表之外，她們的個性卻南轅北轍：貝琪沒有朋友，愛麗絲倒很容易結交；貝琪喜歡甜食，但愛麗絲喜歡辛辣的食物，憎惡糖果；貝琪是媽媽的寶貝，愛麗絲卻是爸爸的寵兒。雖然貝琪的個性慷慨無私，但愛麗絲卻貪婪又自私！

隨著兩姊妹漸漸長大，父親想平均分配自己的財富。但愛麗絲不同意，她認為應該由較聰明與強壯的人分多一些。

貝琪表示同意。於是父親決定安排一個公平競爭。他要兩個女兒盡可能地走遠，然後在日落之前回家。財富將依走的距離按比例分配。比賽的規則是，她們不可以帶手表判斷時間。

第二天是個陽光明媚的日子，貝琪和愛麗絲啟程。貝琪慢慢且穩健地走，而愛麗絲則一個箭步衝出去，因為她對分多一些父親的財富志在必得。

貝琪知道理想的作法是盡可能地走遠，中午開始調頭，因為需要相同的時間回家。弄清楚這一點之後，貝琪決定日正當中時折返，以便及時回到家。

另一方面，貪婪想取得更多財富的愛麗絲，過了中午也沒打算回家。她走了兩倍於貝琪的距離，還認為她還能在日落之前回到家。當她看到太陽變成橘色時，才急急忙忙回頭。不幸的是，夕陽西下時，愛麗絲甚至不能走到半途。黑暗慢慢吞沒了眼前的路，她不得不拖著疲憊的腳步蹭回家。

她輸了比賽，只因自己的貪心。貪婪必遭損失。