In the past, a man bragged¹ about his bow: "There is no bow better than mine. It doesn't need any arrow!"

 

Another man bragged about his arrow: "There is no arrow better than mine. It doesn't need any bow!"

 

At that time, a man good at archery happened to pass by and heard their dialogue. He said: "You are both wrong. One cannot shoot an arrow without a bow; and without an arrow, how can one hit the target?"

 

Thereupon, the man good at archery asked them to take out their bow and arrow. Then he showed them how to shoot at the target with a bow and an arrow.

 

Now they understood: A bow won't do without an arrow; nor an arrow without a bow. They complement² each other.

 

从前，有个人自夸他的弓，说:“我的弓嘛，没有比这更好的了，好得不需要用什么箭的！”

 

也有人在自夸他的箭，说:“我的箭，没有比这更好的了，好得用不着什么弓了！”

 

这时候，恰好有一个会射箭的人从他们身边走过，听到他们的这段对话，就说：“你们两人的话都不对。没有弓，发不出箭；没有箭，怎么能射中目标呢？”

 

说完后，会射箭的人还叫他们把弓和箭都拿出来，射箭给他们看。

 

他们这才明白：弓不能离开箭，箭也离不开弓，两者相辅相成。

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