In the state of Chu, there was a man who sold both spears and shields. He held up a shield and boasted, "My shield is very solid. There is nothing that can pierce it." Later on, he raised a spear and bragged, "My spear is so sharp, it can pierce through anything." Consequently, everyone was curious about the spears and the shields.
One man questioned, "If you try to use your spear to pierce your shield, what will happen?"
The seller was so astonished by the question he couldn't say anything.
Moral: We should do things honestly and not exaggerate, as our consequent mistakes will reveal our deceit.
Useful words:
boast : If someone boasts about something that they have done or that they own, they talk about it very proudly, in a way that other people may find irritating or offensive
pierce : If a sharp object pierces something, or if you pierce something with a sharp object, the object goes into it and makes a hole in it.
brag : If you brag, you say in a very proud way that you have something or have done something.
curious : If you are curious about something, you are interested in it and want to know more about it.
astonish : If something or someone astonishes you, they surprise you very much
deceit : Deceit is behaviour that is deliberately intended to make people believe something which is not true.
This is a famous story, i think most of you listened it not less than ten time, but how about in English version?
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