During the Xia Dynasty, there was a crack archer¹ named Hou Yi.

夏朝时，有一位神射手，叫后界。

One day, the King of Xia pointed² to a shooting target of one square metre in size with a bull's eye of only 1/3 decimeter in diameter,

一天，夏王指着一块一平方米大，靶心直径只有一寸的箭靶，

and said to Hou Yi: "If you can hit the bull's eye, I will award you 1，000 pieces of gold.

对后弈说:“如果你射中了靶心，我就赏你千金。

But if you miss, I will take back the 1，000 li of land granted to you."

如果射不中，我就收回给你的千里封地。”

At that Hou Yi山vew the bow to shoot, but he felt very nervous, his face turning red and pale in turn.

后翼听了夏王的话，拉弓射箭，但是心里很紧张，脸上一阵红一阵白，气急难平。

Unable to calm his flustered³ mind, he missed the target with the first arrow, and missed again with his second arrow.

第一箭，没有射中，第二箭，还是没有射中。

When the King of Xia saw this, he was rather surprised and asked Mi Ren: "Usually, Hou Yi hits the target every time. But today he failed. What's the reason?"

夏王看了，觉得很奇怪，就问弥仁: “后界这个人，平时射箭，总是百发百中。可是今天他却射不中，这是为什么呢?”

Mi Ren replied: "Hou Yi failed to hit the target because he was in an unstable⁴ mood, which affected⁵ his shooting skill.

弥仁回答道: “后界射不中，因为情绪不稳定，影响了他的射技。

The award of 1, 000 gold pieces was the cause of his fault.

千金厚赏造成了他的失误。

If people could take no account of their gains and losses, and put aside either generous awards or severe punishment, then anyone could become a crack archer."

如果人们能够不计较得失，把厚赏重罚抛在一边，那么谁都可能成为神射手了。”