正文
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail（桶）, and a shiny, red plastic shovel（鏟子）. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.
一個小男孩週六早上在沙箱裡玩兒。他帶著自己的一盒子小汽車、小卡車、塑料桶，還有一個磨得亮閃閃的紅塑料鏟子。在軟沙子上面修路挖隧道的時候，他發現沙箱裡面有塊大石頭。
The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With a little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged（推） the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy, and the rock was very large.)
小男孩繞著石頭挖，終於把它從沙土裡挖了出來。他稍費了點兒勁兒，用腳推啊推，把石頭往沙箱外面推。(他年齡非常小，可石頭卻非常大。)
When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn't roll it up and over the little wall. Determined, the little boy shoved（推擠）, pushed,and pried（撬）, but every time he thought he had made some progress the rock tipped（傾斜） and then fell back into the sandbox.
小男孩把石頭推到沙箱邊緣的時候，他發現推不上去，翻不過箱壁這道小牆。 小男孩意志堅決，又是推又是撬的，但是每次他覺得推上去一些的時候，石頭一傾斜，就又掉回沙箱裡。
The little boy grunted（嘟噥著）, struggled, pushed, and shoved; but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing（猛砸） his chubby（胖乎乎的） fingers. Finally he burst into tears of frustration.
小男孩咕噥著、掙扎著，推啊推啊，換來的卻只是石頭滾回箱裡，砸到他胖乎乎的手指頭。 終於，他沮喪的眼淚奪眶而出。
All this time the boy's father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded（展開）. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's father. Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn't you use all the strength that you had available?”
從這一幕展開的時候起，父親一直就在客廳窗邊看著。小男孩落淚的瞬間，有個大大的影子罩住了他和沙箱。是他的父親。父親用堅定的語氣輕聲說：“兒子，你為什麼不動用手邊所有的力量呢？”
Defeated, the boy sobbed back, “But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!” “No, son,” corrected the father kindly. “You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me.” With that the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed it from the sandbox.
小男孩感到很受挫，哽咽地回答：“我用了呀，爸爸，我用了！我用盡了自己所有的力氣！”“不，兒子，”父親親切地糾正他：“你沒有動用到所有力量。你就沒有向我求助呀。”說完，父親低下身來，撿起石頭，把它從沙箱裡拿了出來。
如果說拼盡一己之力是“盡力”的內涵，那麼合理動用身邊的資源便是它的外延。
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