介绍:
When the great library of Alexandria was burned, the story goes, one book was saved. It was not a valuable book, and so a poor man bought it for a few copper coins. Between its pages there was something very interesting. It was a thin paper on which was written the secret of the touchstone!
The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into gold. The writing explained that it was among thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this：the real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles were cold.
So the man camped on the seashore and began testing pebbles. He thought that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and put them down again, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea.
He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone.
The days became weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea. So when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.
So it is with opportunity. Unless we are careful, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is at hand. And it's just as easy to throw it away.
故事大意：
当亚历山大图书馆被烧毁的时候，有一本书被保存了下来。这是一本没有什么价值的书，所以一个穷人用几枚铜币买了下来。书页之间有一些非常有趣的东西。那是一页薄薄的纸，上面写着“点金石”的秘密！
“点金石”是一颗小卵石，它可以将任何普通金属变成黄金。书上说点金石和成千上万看起来和它完全一样的鹅卵石混在一起了。但这个秘密是这样的：真正的点金石摸起来是温暖的，而普通的鹅卵石则是冷的。
于是那个穷人在海边扎营住下了，开始寻找点金石。他想：如果捡到普通的鹅卵石，我还把它们放回去，那我很有可能几百次都捡到同样的鹅卵石。所以，当他捡到冷的鹅卵石，他把它扔进大海里。
他捡了一整天的鹅卵石，但没有一个是点金石。
时间一天天过去了，他一直重复着捡起鹅卵石，将它丢进大海的动作。有一天，他捡到了一块暖和的鹅卵石，但在他意识到自己在做什么之前，他已经将这块鹅卵石扔进了大海。他已经形成了一个顽固的习惯，就是将捡起的每颗鹅卵石都扔进海里。所以当他想要找的那颗鹅卵石出现时，出于习惯他将它丢掉了。
其实机会也是这样的。如果我们不认真对待，当机会在我们手上时，我们也很容易错失。因为错失机会本来就是一件很容易的事。
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