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.

从前，有个农夫，种了稻苗后，便希望能早早收成。每天他到稻田时，发觉那些稻苗长得非常慢。

他等得不耐烦，心想：“怎么样才能使稻苗长得高，长很快呢?

想了又想，他终了想到一个“最佳方法”，就是将稻苗拨高几分。

经过一番辛劳后，他满意地扛锄头回家休息。心想：明天稻苗长得一定更高了。

隔天早晨．一早起身，他迫不及待地起去稻田看他的“成果”。

哪知，他跑到稻田时，却看到所有的稻苗都枯萎了。