The Goal of the Archer 射手的目标

张祖平

Achilles was an archery3 teacher in a sports school and had trained many great archers. So many parents sent their children to him. One morning， Achilles took the students to a tall tree for training. He walked to the tree about 20 meters ahead， put a toy bird on the trunk and said， “The task is to shoot the toy bird down.”

The students stood in a line quickly. The first one was Sandy. She walked a few steps forward， put the arrow4 on the string5， drew the bow and aimed at the toy bird.

“Whats over the bird？” asked Achilles suddenly.

“The blue sky，” Sandy answered.

Achilles smiled. He asked Sandy to stand aside. The students wondered what the teachers meaning was， but none of them asked.

The next was Tom. Like Sandy， he walked up. Just as he was ready to shoot the arrow， Achilles asked him the same question.

“I see the trunk and the leaves，” answered Tom. Achilles smiled and asked Tom to stand aside， too.

The third one was Bob. Just as he was drawing the bow， Achilles asked， “Whats over the bird， Bob？” Bob stared6 at the toy bird and said， “I have seen nothing but the toy bird.”

“Great！” said Achilles. Then he shouted， “Go ahead！” Bob shot the arrow and the toy bird fell. The students cheered with one voice. Achilles looked at the surprised students and said seriously， “Remember that when an archer is shooting， he must have only the goal but nothing else.”

阿基里斯是一個体育学校的射箭教师，他训练了很多杰出的射手，因此，很多家长把他们的孩子送到了他那里。一天早上，阿基里斯把学生们带到了一棵树边训练。他向前朝着树走了大约20米，放了一只玩具鸟在树干上，说道：“任务是把这个玩具鸟打下来。”

学生们很快站成了一行。第一个是桑迪，她朝前走了几步，搭箭上弦，拉弓，瞄准了玩具鸟。

“鸟的上方是什么？”阿基里斯突然问。

“是蓝天。”桑迪回答。

阿基里斯笑了，他让桑迪站在一边。学生们想要知道老师是什么意思，但是没有人问。

下一个是汤姆。像桑迪一样，他走向前去，就在他要射箭的时候，阿基里斯问他同样的问题。

“我看到了树干和树叶。”汤姆回答。阿基里斯笑了，让汤姆也站在了一边。

第三个是鲍勃，就在他拉弓的时候，阿基里斯问：“鸟的上方是什么，鲍勃？”鲍勃盯着玩具鸟说：“除了玩具鸟，我什么也没看到。”

“好极了！”阿基里斯说，然后他大吼一声：“射！”鲍勃射出一箭，玩具鸟掉了下来。学生们齐声欢呼。阿基里斯看着惊讶的学生，严肃地说：“记住，当一个射手在射箭的时候，他眼中必须只有目标，心无旁骛。”