Welcome, little friends, to LingoAce Story Time! Today, Teacher Xiaoyu is going to tell you a story about "按图索骥" (Àn tú suǒ jì).
Let the story begin!
During the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient China, there was a man named Sun Yang in the state of Qin, renowned as the most outstanding horse expert in ancient China.
He possessed an unparalleled eye for equestrian skills, able to judge the excellence of a horse at a glance. Legend had it that since Bole (伯乐) was considered the manager of celestial horses, people affectionately called Sun Yang "Bole."
According to the legend, Bole compiled his rich experience in horse identification into a book called "相马经" (Xiāngmǎ Jīng), which translates to "Horse Identification Classic." In this book, he detailed the characteristics of various exceptional horses, accompanied by illustrations, serving as a reference for horse identification.
Bole had a son, who, while not as intellectually gifted, aspired to be an excellent horse identification expert just like his father. He eagerly flipped through Bole's "相马经" and dreamt of going out to find a thousand-mile horse.
In the book, he read, "The main features of a thousand-mile horse are a high forehead, big eyes, and hooves resembling stacked blocks of wine yeast." With the book in hand, he decided to test his equestrian eye. After walking for a while, he suddenly spotted a huge toad. Excitedly, he caught the toad and went back to tell his father, "I found a thousand-mile horse! It closely matches the characteristics described in your '相马经,' except its hooves don't look like stacked blocks of wine yeast!"
Bole took the large toad from his son's hands, feeling a mix of amusement and frustration. However, he humorously remarked, "This 'horse' can jump but can't be ridden!"
Question time!
Now that the story is over, here's a question for you, little friends: Do you know what lesson this story teaches us?
The answer is revealed!
This story tells us that true experts, those with extensive experience in a field, possess unparalleled insight and abilities. Relying on superficial similarities can lead to misunderstandings and become a source of amusement. To truly understand, one must earnestly study and comprehend.
Story source
This story is referenced in a poem by Yuan Jue from the Yuan Dynasty: "隔竹引龟心有想；按图索骥术难灵." (Gé zhú yǐn guī xīn yǒu xiǎng; Àn tú suǒ jì shù nán líng.)
LingoAce is your child's excellent companion in learning Chinese. For more fun interpretations of idioms, choose LingoAce, the No. 1 brand in international language education. At LingoAce, we are dedicated to providing high-quality courses for your children. Each course is the result of our team's extensive hours in course design, material creation, simulated teaching, teacher training, and quality control. We help overseas parents better address various challenges and pain points in their children's Chinese learning journey! We invite you and your child to join our free trial class and experience the extraordinary Chinese learning journey with LingoAce!
