Once upon a time, an old farmer planted a plot of rice. Everyday he went to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young plants grow taller each day. But still, he thought they were growing too slowly.
从前，一位农民种了一块水稻。每天他去看幼苗的生长。他看见那些幼苗每天都在长高。但他仍然认为它们生长得太慢了。
The farmer become impatient. “How could the plants grow faster?” He tossed in bed during the night and could not sleep.Suddenly he
thought of an idea. He jumped out of the bed and dashed to the field. For the whole day, he was there to pull each crop upward.
农夫不耐烦了。“怎么能让庄稼长快点儿呢？” 夜里他在床上辗转反侧，睡不着觉。突然他想到了一个主意。他跳下床，向田地冲去。他把禾苗一棵一棵往高里拔。
Then he came home, exhausted. “I am exhausted, but you know, my
efforts were not in vain, I helped all the little crops grow faster. ” the
farmer said to his son. However, his son ran to the fields in a hurry and found that all the crops died back.
他筋疲力尽地回到家。他对儿子说：“可把我累坏了，力气没白费，禾苗都长了一大截。” 他的儿子跑到田里一看，发现禾苗都枯死了。
People now use “Ya Miao Zhu Zhang” to describe the behavior of those who are too eager to get something done only to make it worse.
现在人们使用“揠苗助长”来形容急于求成最后却事与愿违的行为。
（图、文/刘爽， 编审/张慧娟，审核/王俊华）
