提 要

「好高騖遠」是指追求過高過遠的目標，《宋史 程顥傳》中所說的：「病學者厭卑近而騖高遠，卒無成焉。」就是說一味的嚮往久遠的目標而不切實際。另外，出自《後漢書 耿弇傳》的句子：「將軍前在南陽，建此大策，常以為落落難合，有志者事竟成也。」只要有決心、毅力、持續努力，終究會成功。

The Milkmaid

Patty the Milkmaid was going to the market carrying milk in a pail on her head.

As she went along, she began calculating what she would do with the money she would get for the milk. "I'll buy some fowls from Farmer Brown," she said to herself, "and they will lay eggs each morning, which I will sell to the parson's wife. With the money that I get from the sale of these eggs, I'll buy myself a new dimity frock and a straw hat, and when I go to the market, won't all the young men come up and speak to me! Polly Shaw will be so jealous, but I don't care. I shall just look at her and toss my head like this."

As she spoke that, she tossed her head back and the pail fell off it, and all the milk was spilt!

Do not count your chickens before they are hatched.

The Thirsty Crow

One hot day, a thirsty crow flew all over the fields looking for water. For a long time, she could not find any. She felt very weak, almost giving up hope.

Suddenly, she saw a water jug below. She flew straight down to see if there was any water inside. Yes, there was some water inside the jug!

The crow tried to push her head into the jug. Sadly, she found that the neck of the jug was too narrow. Then she tried to push the jug down for the water to flow out, but she found that the jug was too heavy.

The crow thought hard for a while, looking around her, she saw some pebbles. She suddenly came up with a good idea. She started picking up the pebbles one by one, dropping each into the jug. As more and more pebbles filled the jug, the water level kept rising. Soon it was high enough for the crow to drink. Her plan had worked!

If you try hard enough, you may find an answer to your problem eventually.

解 說

擠奶女傭

女傭派蒂正走向市場送牛奶，她把裝著牛奶的桶頂在頭上。

她走著走著，開始盤算她要用賣牛奶的錢做什麼：「我會從農夫布朗那裡買些家禽。」她對自己說：「牠們每天早上都會下蛋，我會把它們賣給牧師的妻子。用這些賣雞蛋得到的錢，我會給自己買一件新的連衣裙和一頂草帽，等我穿上到市場時，所有的年輕人都會過來和我說話！蕭波莉會非常嫉妒，但我不理會她。我會看著她，像這樣甩我的頭。」

她說著說著，把頭往後一仰，裝著牛奶的桶便掉了下來，本來可以賣錢的牛奶，灑了滿地！

蛋還未孵化的時候，別算會有幾隻雞。（也就是說，別高興太早、別「好高騖遠」。）

口渴的烏鴉

一個炎熱的日子，一隻口渴的烏鴉飛遍了田野、四處尋找水源。 經過很長一段時間，她甚麼也找不著。 她感到非常虛弱，幾乎放棄了希望。

突然間，她發現在下方有一個水壺。 她筆直地向下面飛，察看裡面是否有水。是的，水壺裡有一些水！

烏鴉試圖將頭擠入水壺。 不幸的是，她發現壺頸太窄了。 然後，她試圖推倒水壺讓水流出，但她發現水壺太重了推不動。

烏鴉努力地想了一陣子，環顧四周，她看到了一些鵝卵石。 她突然想出了一個好主意：她開始一個個地拾起鵝卵石，把它們放入水壺中， 隨著愈來愈多的鵝卵石填滿水壺、水位不斷上升。 沒多久，水就夠高讓烏鴉喝得到了。她的妙計奏效！

如果夠努力，終究可以找到解決問題的辦法。