A man was strolling¹ along the beach when he suddenly noticed from afar what he thought were children dancing.

有个人在沙滩上散步，在不经意间看到远处好像有孩子在跳舞。

“What on earth are they doing dancing on the beach？”as he quickly paced towards them.

“他们为什么要在沙滩上跳舞呢？”他边想边快速地朝孩子们走去。

He was surprised that a boy and a girl were not dancing but picking up the starfishes which were washed ashore² by the tide and throwing them back into the sea.

他惊奇地发现，那个男孩和那个女孩并不是在跳舞，而是在捡被潮水冲上岸来的海星，然后把它们扔回大海。

“Excuse me, why are you throwing the starfishes back into the sea？”he asked.

“请问，你们为什么要把海星扔回大海呢？”他问。

The children ignored the remark but they continued picking up the starfishes and kept throwing them back into the sea.

孩子们没有理会他，继续捡海星向大海扔去。

“Don't you think it is a waste of your time as there are hundreds of starfishes still lying around. Surely³ you can't keep this act all day long.”

“你们不觉得这是在浪费时间吗？还有成千上万只海星躺在岸上呢！你们肯定不会一整天都这样扔下去吧。”

At last the elder boy replied,“Sir, you see the sun would soon rise and the tide will ebb⁴ away.

后来，年龄大一点儿的男孩说：“先生，你知道吗，太阳很快就要升起来了，潮水也会退去。

Though my sister and I can't throw all the starfishes back into the sea, we are sure it matters to the ones we succeed in throwing.

虽然我和妹妹不能把所有的海星都扔回大海，但我相信，对于被我们扔回大海的海星来说，我们所做的是至关重要的。

Would you like to join us, it would make a difference.”The man smiled and said,“It certainly would,”so he too pick up the starfishes and threw them into the sea.

你想加入我们吗？这很有意义。”那人笑了笑说：“非常愿意。”于是，他也捡起海星，朝大海扔去。