The Man from Zheng Buys Shoes

供稿：王梓菲

《鄭人買履》出自《韓非子·外儲說左上》。韓非的文章語言幽默，于平實(shí)中見奇妙，具有耐人尋味、警策世人的藝術(shù)效果。他的很多寓言故事，都成為膾炙人口的成語典故，至今為人們廣泛運(yùn)用。

In the State of Zheng,there was a man who wanted to buy a pair of new shoes for himself.Before leaving home,he1)measuredhis feet with a2)rope.When he entered the market,he put his hand into his pocket to find the rope.But he found he didn’t take the rope with him.So he decided to return home to get the rope back.But when he rushed back to the market with the rope,the market had been closed.He got nothing.

An old man saw him and asked,“Why don’t you try on the shoes with your feet?”The man said,“I would rather trust the measurement than my own feet.”

1) measure [?me??(r)] v.測量

2) rope [r??p] n.繩索；粗繩

從前有個鄭國人，想給自己買一雙新鞋子。他在離開家之前，用一段繩子先量好了腳的尺寸。到了集市，他把手伸進(jìn)口袋找繩子，才發(fā)現(xiàn)忘帶量尺寸的繩子。因此，他決定返回家中拿量尺寸的繩子。但等到他返回集市的時候，集市已經(jīng)散了，他最終沒有買到鞋子。

一位老人看到他并問：“你為什么不用自己的腳去試試鞋子？”那人說：“我寧可相信量好的尺寸，也不相信自己的腳。”

Questions:

1.Why the man decided to return home?

2.Why didn’t the man get the shoes finally?

Know More

The idiom“the man from Zheng buys shoes”tells people to be flexible in dealing with things rather than to be so rigid.We should pay attention to the facts of objective reality and start from reality when dealing with people.

“鄭人買履”這個成語故事告訴我們：對待事物要靈活變通，不能墨守成規(guī)。與人交往時，我們要注重客觀現(xiàn)實(shí)，為人處世要從實(shí)際出發(fā)。