相傳在戰國時代宋國，有一個農民，日出而作，日入而息.遇到好年景，也不過剛剛吃飽穿暖；一遇災荒，可就要忍饑挨餓了.他想改善生活，但他太懶，膽子又特小，干什么都是又懶又怕，總想碰到送上門來的意外之財。

　　奇跡終于發生了。深秋的一天，他正在田里耕地，周圍有人在打獵。吆喝之聲四處起伏，受驚的小野獸沒命的奔跑。突然， 有一只兔子，不偏不倚，一頭撞死在他田邊的樹根上。

　　當天，他美美地飽餐了一頓。

　　從此，他便不再種地。一天到晚，守著那神奇的樹根，等著奇跡的出現。

　　成語“守株待兔”，比喻亡想不勞而得，或死守狹隘的經驗，不知變通。

staying by a stump waiting for more hares to come and dash themselves against it

 

this story took place more than 2,000 years ago,in the warring states period（475-221 b.c.）.tradition has it that in the state of song at that time there was a man who was famous for staying by a stump waiting for

more hares to come and dash themselves against it.

  he was a yong farmer,and his family had been farmers for generations.year after year and generation after generation, farmers used to sow in spring and harvest in autumn,beginning to work at sunrise and retiring at sunset.in good harvest years,they could only have enough food to eat and enough clothing to wear.if there was a famine due to crop failure,they had to go hungry.

  this young farmer wanted to improve his life.but he was too lazy and too cowardly.being lazy and cowardly over everything,he often dreamed of having unexpected blessings.

  a miracle took place at last. one day in late autumn,when he was ploughing in the field,two groups of people were hunting nearby.as shoutings were rising one after another,scared hares were running desperately.suddenly,a blind hare dashed itself headlong against the stump of a dead tree in his field and died.

  that day,he ate his fill.

  from that day on,he no longer went in for farming again.from morning till night,he stayed by that miraculous stump,waiting for miracles to take place again.

  this story comes from"the five vermin"in the works of han feizi.later generations often use the set phrase"staying by a stump waiting for more hares to come and dash themselves against it"to show grusting to chance and windfalls or dreaming to reap without sowing.it is also used to show adhering to narrow experiences and not being able to be flexible.