In the state of Song, there was a man who was worried that his crops were growing too slowly, so he decided to pull them up to help them grow taller.
在宋国，有一个人担忧他田里的禾苗长得慢，于是就去把禾苗往上拔。
He was utterly exhausted when he returned home and told his family, "I am so tired today! I helped the seedlings grow taller!"
他十分疲惫地回到家，对家人说：“今天可累坏我了！我帮助禾苗长高了！”
His son hurried to the field to take a look, only to find that all the seedlings had withered.
他的儿子急忙跑到田里去看，结果发现禾苗都已经干枯了。
There are very few people in the world who do not wish their crops to grow faster.
天下不希望自己禾苗长得快一些的人很少。
Those who believe that tending to crops is useless and neglect them are like those who do not remove weeds.
认为养护庄稼没有用处而不去管它们的，是那些不去除草的人；
And those who violate the natural order to help their crops grow are like the man who pulled up his seedlings.
而违背规律去帮助禾苗生长的，就如同这个拔苗助长的人。
Doing so not only brings no benefit but also harms the crops.
这样做不仅没有好处，反而会害了庄稼。
原文： 宋人有闵其苗之不长而揠之者，芒芒然归，谓其人曰：“今日病矣！予助苗长矣！”其子趋而往视之，苗则槁矣。天下之不助苗长者寡矣。以为无益而舍之者，不耘苗者也；助之长者，揠苗者也。非徒无益，而又害之。出自《孟子·公孙丑上》
