'美文分享《A New Story of the Tortoise and the Hare》'

A New Story of the Tortoise and the Hare

Once upon a time a tortoise and a hare had an argument about who was faster.They decided to settle the argument with a race.They agreed on a route and started off the race.

The hare shot ahead and ran briskly for some time.Then seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise,he thought he’d sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race.

He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep.The tortoise plodding on overtook him and soon finished the race,emerging as the undisputed champ.

The hare woke up and realized that he’d lost the race.The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the races.

This is the version of the story that we’ve all grown up with.

But then recently,someone told me a more interesting version of this story.It continues.

The hare was disappointed at losing the race and he did some Defect Prevention(Root Cause Analysis).He realized that he’d lost the race only because he had been overconfident,careless and lax.

If he had not taken things for granted,there’s no way the tortoise could have beaten him.So he challenged the tortoise to another race.The tortoise agreed.

This time,the hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish.He won by several miles.

The moral of the story?Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady.It’s good to be slow and steady;but it’s better to be fast and reliable.

But the story doesn’t and here.The tortoise did some thinking this time,and realized that there’s no way he can beat the hare in a race the way it was currently formatted.

He thought for a while,and then challenged the hare to another race,but on a slightly different route.

The hare agreed.They started off.In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast,the hare took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river.

The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river.

The hare sat there wondering what to do.In the meantime the tortoise trundled along,got into the river,swam to the opposite bank,continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story?First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

譯文：

龜兔賽跑新傳

從前，有一隻烏龜和一隻兔子在互相爭辯誰跑得快。他們決定來一場比賽以分高下，它們選定了路線，就此起跑。

兔子帶頭衝出，奔馳了一陣子，眼看它已遙遙領先，心想，它可以在樹下坐一會兒，放鬆一下，然後繼續比賽。

兔子在樹下很快就睡著了，而一路上緩慢走來的烏龜則超越過它，不一會兒就完成比賽，成為名副其實的冠軍。

等兔子一覺醒來，才發覺自己輸了。這個故事給我們的啟示是：緩慢但持續的人會贏得比賽。

這個龜兔賽跑故事的版本從小伴隨我們長大。

但最近有人告訴了我一個更有趣的版本。故事這麼繼續下去。

兔子當然因為輸了比賽而倍感失望，為此他做了些缺陷預防工作（根本原因解釋）。它很清楚，失敗是因它過於自信、大意以及散漫。

如果它不自認一切都是理所當然的，烏龜是不可能打敗它的。因此，它單挑烏龜再來另一場比賽，而烏龜也同意。

這次，兔子全力以赴，從頭到尾一口氣跑完，贏了烏龜好幾公里。

這故事有什麼啟示？動作快且前後一致的人將可勝過緩慢但持續的人。緩慢但持續固然很好，但動作快且牢靠則更勝一籌。

但是，這個故事還沒有結束。這下輪到烏龜要好好檢討，它很清楚，照目前的比賽方法，它不可能擊敗兔子。

它想了一會兒，然後單挑兔子再來另一場比賽，但是是在另一條稍許不同的路線上。

兔子同意，然後兩者同時出發。為了確保自己立下的承諾-從頭到尾要一直快速前進，兔子飛馳而出，極速奔跑，直到碰到一條寬闊的河流。

而比賽的終點就在幾公里外的河對面。

兔子呆坐在那裡，一時不知怎麼辦。這時候，烏龜卻一路蹣跚而來，跳入河裡，游到對岸，繼續爬行，完成比賽。

這故事有什麼啟示？首先，確定自己的核心競爭力，然後改變遊戲場所以適應（發揮）你的核心競爭力。

——摘自：《高考英語晨讀美文100篇》（亓軍主編）（中國宇航出版社）