There is a famous saying in English that comes from an old British proverb. It says, “If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride.”
Beggars are very poor people who have to ask other people for money and food, so having horses would be very good for them. This saying uses this as an example of how easy life would be for people if wishing for something could make it happen. It lets people know that it is not always enough to just wish for something, because wishing really cannot make anything happen. It is telling us that if wishes always came true, then everybody, including beggars, could have anything they wanted.
We know that it is impossible for everybody to always have what they want, so we also know that it does no good to waste time for wishing for things to happen. The better thing to do is go out and get things done yourself.
PHOTO: EPA
(Emily Shih, Staff Writer)
這句有名的英文諺語源自英國格言︰「If wishes were horses, then beggars would ride（如果願望能變馬，乞丐也有馬可騎）」。
乞丐是貧窮得向別人乞求金錢或食物的人，所以有馬騎對他們來說是天大的好事，此例說明，若許願能使美夢成真，人生將會多輕鬆，這讓人們明白許願是多麼無濟於事，因為願望無法成就任何事。這告訴我們，如果許願就能讓夢想成真，包括乞丐在內的任何人也能擁有任何想要的東西。
我們知道任何人都不可能事事如己所願，所以我們也知道浪費時間在希望事情發生是不智之舉，最好起而行，自己動手完成。
（翻譯︰鄭湘儀）
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