春秋时有个人叫庄周，
家贫无粮去求友。
朋友说很快有进项，
请庄周耐心地等候。
庄周一听很生气，
板着脸把一个故事讲给朋友。
说他在车辙里见了一条鲤鱼，
为活命这条鱼向他哀求，
求庄周赐给它清水一斗，
“我欣然答应了鱼的请求。
可我说马上要到南方旅游，
答应给你的水须待我回来之后。
那条鱼听了我的话非常生气，
说那样它早摆在干鱼店里头。”
说完这段寓言故事后，
庄周生气地转身就走。
庄周历来说话好绕弯子，
故事讲的道理不难猜透：
它劝人对待困窘的人，
要及时有力地援救。
假如只是嘴里答应没行动，
那简直比直接拒绝还要叫人难受。
A Carp in a Dry Rut
In the Spring and Autumn Period（770—476B。C。），there was a scholar by the name of Zhuang Zhou。He was very poor and went to his friends for help。His friend told him that he was going to have a large sum of money pretty soon，and promised to lend some more money to him if he would like to wait。
On hearing this，Zhuang Zhou was very angry。Frowning，he told his friend a story。He said that one day he saw a carp in a chariot's rut，and the carp was begging him to save his life by giving him a jar of fresh water。
“I merrily affirmed the fish's plea，but I said that I was going on a tour to the south，I'll give you much more water when I come back。On hearing my words he was quite angry。He said that he would be on the shelf of a fish store。”
Having finished telling the interesting fable，Zhuang Zhou furiously turned and went away。Zhuang Zhou liked to express himself in a roundabout way，but the exact meaning of the story was quite clear。It urges people to help those who are in trouble，in a way of doing it in time and to the point。If you only promise by words without action，it is even worse than a direct refusal。