The Story of a Woodcutter (伐木工人的故事)

The Story of a Woodcutter...
伐木工人的故事…

Once upon a time, there was a very strong woodcutter. He asked for a job from a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work.
从前，有一名非常健壮的伐木工人。他从木材客商那儿求得一份工作。工资与工作条件都非常的理想。因此，伐木工人决定尽心尽力地把工作给做好。他的老板给了他一把斧头并给他说明了他的伐木区。

The first day, the woodcutter brought down 18 trees. The Boss was very much impressed and said, "Congratulations, Go on that way!"
第一天，伐木工人砍伐了18棵树。他的老板非常的高兴并赞赏的说：“恭喜你，继续努力。”

Very motivated by the words of the boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring down 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing down less and less trees. "I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought to himself.
他老板的话激励了他，隔天伐木工人更积极的干活，但他只能砍15棵树。第三天他更是尽力的砍，但也只能砍倒10棵树。日复一日，他所砍伐的树越来越少。伐木工人自言自语的说：“我的力量必定是退减了。”

He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.
"When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked.
"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe.
I have been very busy trying to cut trees.
他前去向他的老板道歉，说他也不晓得到底那里出了问题。
他的老板问：“你上一次是何时打磨你的斧头？”
“打磨？”他回答说：“我没时间打磨我的斧头。”
“我一直忙着砍伐树木。”

The moral of the story（故事的启示）：
Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to sharpen the axe. "

In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp? There's nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like our personal life, taking time to read etc. We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness. So start from today, think about the ways by which you could do your job more effectively and add a lot of value to it.

Hope this story has given you some insight to life, may you be happy always!

咱们的生活就是如此；有时我们太忙而无暇打磨自我的斧头。

在今天的世界里，每个人看起来比以往更加的忙碌，但快乐却比以前更少。这又是为什么呢？有可能是我们忘了如何保留其“锋利”？日常活动与辛勤工作本身并没有错，但我们不应该过度忙碌以至于忽略了生命中真正重要的事务。例如：属于我们个人的生活、拥有阅读的时间等。我们都需要时间自我放松、想象与思考、学习和成增长。如果我们不花点时间来打磨这把斧头，我们将会变得痴呆并丧失我们的效率。因此，打从今天开始，想想有那些更有效率的工作方式，同时得给予更多的价值。

但愿这个故事能让你看到生活中的另一面，祝愿你永远愉快!

(Chinese Translation by floydtan08@gmail.com )