中文 / B2
刻舟求剑
有个楚国人乘船过江时，随身带着的剑从船上落入了水中。他立即在船上刻了一个记号，说：「这就是我的剑落下去的地方。」
等船停下来，他便照着船上的记号，从刻记号的位置下水，寻找落入江中的剑。
然而，船已经向前行驶，剑却没有随船移动。他所标记的，是船上的某一个位置，并不是江中固定不变的地点。船一走，那个记号也跟着走了，剑仍然留在原来的地方。
船上的记号虽然没有改变，寻找的地点却已经变了。船停下时，刻着记号的位置早已不是剑落水的位置了。
位置已经发生变化，他却仍按原来的记号寻找。像这样找剑，岂不是糊涂吗？
English summary · includes the ending
A man from the ancient state of Chu is crossing a river by boat. His sword falls from the boat into the water. He immediately cuts a mark on the boat and explains that this is the place where his sword fell.
When the boat stops, he enters the water beside the mark to look for the missing sword. He uses the mark as his guide, although the boat has travelled away from the place of the accident.
The problem is simple: the sword has not travelled with the boat. The mark remains in the same place on the boat, but that part of the boat is now above a different part of the river.
The tale ends by questioning such a confused way of searching. The man has carefully marked a position on something that moves, then treated it as a fixed position in the water.
Adapted for Lejrbål from the credited source.
Read the source