A woodcutter's eagerness
《伐木磨刀》

Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter applied for a job offered by a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the working conditions. For these reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.
从前，一位非常强壮的伐木工在一家木材商找到了一份伐木的工作。这工作的薪酬和工作条件都非常不错。于是，伐木工决心把工作做到最好。
His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees back to the boss, which he all had cut down himself.
入职后，老板给了这位伐木工一把斧头，并带他看了将要工作的地方。工作的第一天，这位伐木工就给老板带回了18棵树，而且这18棵树都是他自己砍伐的。
"Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!" Very motivated by the words of his boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring back 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only bring 10 trees back. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.
“干得不错，”老板说，“就这样继续努力！”得到老板的肯定，伐木工第二天的工作更来劲了，不过他却只带回了15棵树。第三天，他工作得更加努力，却只带回了10棵树。日复一日，他带回来的树越来越少。
"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. 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 down trees..."
伐木工心想：“我肯定是力气越来越小了”。于是，他去找老板道歉，解释说他自己也不明白怎么回事。“你最后一次磨斧头是什么时候？”老板问道。“磨斧头？我没有时间磨斧头。我一直在忙着努力砍树......”
Our lives are like this. 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.
这样的场景也同样会出现在我们的日常生活中。我们有时会非常忙碌，以至于我们不愿不花费时间去“磨斧头”。当今世界，似乎每个人都比以前更加忙碌，日子过得却不像以前那样快乐。
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 developing our personal life, spending more time to our family, taking time to read etc.
为什么会这样？难道是我们忘记了如何“让斧头保持锋利”？我们为了生活而奔波忙碌并没有什么不对。但，我们不应该忙到忽视我们生活中真正重要的事情，比如：过好我们自己的小日子、发展志趣、多花些时间陪伴家人、花时间读读书等等。
We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take the time to sharpen the "axe", we will become dull like the axe of the woodcutter.
我们每个人都需要时间去放松、思考、学习和成长。如果我们不花时间去“磨斧头”，我们就会像伐木工的斧头一样变得效率低下。

Keep the roots stronger
《养花养根》

Once upon a time, there were two neighbours. One of them was a retired teacher and another was an insurance agent who had a lot of interest in technology. Both of them had planted different plants in their garden. The retired teacher was giving a small amount of water to his plants and didn't always give full attention to them, while the other neighbour had given a lot of water to his plants and looked after them very well.
从前，有这么两个互为邻居的人。他们一个是退休教师，另一个是一位对科技非常感兴趣的保险代理人。他们二人都在各自的花园里种植了各种花卉。退休教师只是每天给他的花卉浇少量的水，不怎么给予它们太多关注。而那位保险代理人，则每天给他的花卉浇大量的水，并且对它们照顾得非常好。
The retired teacher's plants were simple but looked good. The insurance agent's plants though, were much fuller and greener. One night, there was heavy rain and wind due to a storm. The next morning, both neighbours came out to inspect the damage in their garden.
退休教师的花卉长势一般，但看起来还不错。而保险代理人的花卉则更加饱满、更加鲜绿。一天晚上，一场风暴夹杂着大雨和狂风来袭。第二天早上，他们两人都出来查看各自花园的损失情况。
The neighbour who was an insurance agent saw that his plants had come off their roots and were totally destroyed. But, the retired teacher's plants were not damaged at all and were standing firm.
保险代理人发现自己的花卉都被连根拔起、完全摧毁了。但，退休教师的花卉却都立得很稳，且完好无损。
The insurance agent was surprised to see this, so he went to the retired teacher and asked, "We both grew the same plants, I actually looked after my plants better than you did for yours, and I gave them more water. Still, my plants came off their roots, while yours didn't. How is that possible?"
保险代理人看到这一场景非常惊讶。于是，他向退休教师问道：“我们俩种的是同样的花卉，而且，实际上，照顾花卉方面，我做得比你更好，浇水也比你更多、更频繁。尽管如此，我的花卉却被风暴连根拔起了，而你的却一点事儿没有。这怎么可能？”
The retired teacher smiled and said, "You gave your plants more attention and water, but because of that they didn't need to work themselves to become rooted and strong. You made it easy for them. While I gave them just an adequate amount of water and let their roots search for more. And, because of that, their roots went deeper and that made their position stronger. That is why my plants survived".
退休教师笑着回答说：“你的确给予了你的花卉更多的关照，浇了更多的水，但正是因为这样，它们不需要自己努力发展根系，变得强壮。你让它们的生存变得非常容易。而我只给我的花卉浇了足够生存的水，这也让它们的根系有机会去自己寻找更多的水分。而且，正因为如此，它们才变得根深蒂固。这就是我的花卉能够从这场风暴中幸存下来的原因。”
Moral: If everything you need and want is given to you in life, you will not understand the hard work it takes to earn these things. You will not learn to work yourself and not learn to respect people who need to work for their needs and wants. And sometimes it's best to guide others instead of giving them what they need right away. We all need to learn how to walk, but follow and discover your own path. This story contains advise for good parenting in particular, where children are like plants.
寓意：如果你被给予了生活中需要和想要的一切东西，你就不会明白得到这些东西需要付出艰辛的努力；你不会学会如何去自己努力工作，也不会学会去尊重那些需要为自己的需求而努力工作的人。有的时候，对别人最好的帮助，不是去马上满足他们的需要，而是给出他们正确的引导。我们都需要学习如何自己行走，同时跟随并探寻自己的人生路径。这则故事在父母如何养育孩子方面给我们提出了很好建议，生活中我们的孩子其实就像故事中的花卉。