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stop potato fill they get fall late boy many quick |
Sometimes people's words are not easily understood.
A man learned this lesson. He had been working late collecting and piling（堆）them high on his wagon（马车）.
Towards the end of the day, his wagon was with potatoes. He decided to head home, for it was late. He wished to know how long it would take to get back to his village so that he could arrive before darkness .
He noticed a small boy along the roadside and to ask for directions.
"Young boy," he said, "it's and I must get home soon. How long will it take to get to my village from here?"
The boy answered, "If you go slowly, it will take only a short while for you to get home. But if you go , it will take a long time and you will not get there until late in the night.”
The man thought about the answer, but he could not understand it. He gave the boy an angry look and hit his horse to make it hurry. The horse began to run quickly. But soon, potatoes began to fall from the wagon. Each time, the man got off to collect the fallen potatoes and put back into his wagon.
The faster he went, the potatoes fell from his wagon, and the more time he had to spend stopping to pick them up. But, if he had travelled slowly, none of the potatoes would have fallen, and the man would have arrived home much earlier.
And so, as the young boy warned, go slowly and it will take only a short while.
