Making His Mark

　　A man from the state of Chu was taking a boat across a river when he dropped his sword into the water carelessly. Immediately he made a mark on the side of the boat where the sword dropped, hoping to find it later. When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to search for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. As we know, the boat had moved but the sword had not. Isn’t this a very foolish way to look for a sword?

　　“刻舟求劍”

　　楚國有個人坐船渡江時，他不小心把自己的一把寶劍掉落江中。他馬上掏出一把小刀，在寶劍落水的船舷上刻上一個記號。船靠岸后，那楚人立即從船上刻記號的地方跳下水去撈取掉落的寶劍。他怎么找得到寶劍呢?船繼續行駛，而寶劍卻不會再移動。像他這樣去找劍，真是太愚蠢可笑了