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During the Spring and Autumn Period (770一476 B.C.), a skillful craftsman named Gongshu Zi in the State of Lu, known to people as "Lu Ban", made a magpie with bamboo and wood.

春秋時期，魯國有個能工巧匠公輸子，人稱“魯班”。他用竹木造了一只喜鵲。

A machine was installed in this magpie which, when started, could fly high like a real bird. It actually flew continually for three days and nights before it landed.

這只木制的喜鵲，安裝著機(jī)關(guān)。只要一開動它，就能像真的鳥一樣展翅高飛。它一連飛了三天三夜才降落下來。

Gongshu Zi greatly appreciated this excellent work of his own.

公輸子非常欣賞自己這件得意的作品。

When Mo Zi (Master of the Mohist School) heard of this, he went immediately to see Gongshu Zi and said to him:

墨子知道了這件事情以后，立刻去見公輸子，對他說:

"As you know, it takes an ordinary carpenter a very short time to make a linchpin of a wheel with the minimum amount of timber. A vehicle with a linchpin inserted into each end of an axle can carry many things and bear a heavy load of 50 dan(1 hectolitre). But you took painstaking effort to make this wooden magpie. Though pretty and able to fly, it cannot compare with the linchpin in terms of practical value. Things made by a carpenter should be useful for people's life, so that everyone will praise him for his cleverness and skill. Otherwise, he is bound to be derided."

“你知道，普通的木匠只花很短的時間，用極少的木料就能做成車轄。將車轄插在車軸的兩端，這樣的車子可以裝載許多東西，能經(jīng)受五十石的重壓。而這只你費了心血做成的木頭喜鵲，雖然會飛也很漂亮，但是卻不如車轄那樣有實用價值。木匠做出來的東西，要對人們的生活有幫助，大家才會夸他心靈手巧;否則難免被人笑罵?！?/div>