英语翻译
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When the Great Library of Alexandria burned,the story goes that one book was saved.But nobody thought it was valuable book.A poor man,who could read a little,bought it for a few coins.
The book wasn't very interesting,but between its pages there was something very interesting instead.It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!
The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold.The writing explained that it was lying thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it.But the secret was that the real stone would feel warm,while ordinary pebbles were cold.
So the man camped on the seashore and began testing pebbles.He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold,he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times.So,when he felt one that was cold,he threw it into the sea.He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone.Yet he went on and on this way.
One day,however,about mid-afternoon,he picked up a pebble and it was warm.He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done.He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along,he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity.Unless we are careful,it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand.