Gan Ying was a crack shot in ancient times. Once he pulled his bow, the animals he shot at would fall and the birds he shot at would drop. He hit the target with every shot. His disciple¹, named Fei Wei, learned diligently² and practised hard, and surpassed his teacher in archery.

甘蝇，是古代的一名神射手。只要他一拉弓，射兽兽倒，射鸟鸟百发百中。他的徒弟名叫飞卫，勤学苦练，射箭的技艺胜过了老师

A man named Ji Chang came to Fei Wei to learn archery. Fei Wei said to Ji Chang:

有个名叫纪昌的人，跑来向飞卫学艺。飞卫对纪昌说:

"You must first train your eyes not to blink. Then I can talk with you about archery."

“你必须首先练习不眨眼睛，然后才能谈射箭。”

Ji Chang returned home. Following Fei Wei's instructions, he lay face up under his wife's loom³, with his eyes fixed⁴ on the foot tweezers⁵ moving up and down.

纪昌回到家，就照着飞卫的话，仰天躺在他妻子的织布机下，眼睛紧盯着一上一下的脚踢子。

After training in this way for two years, his eyes would not blink even when an awl⁶ was flying towards them. Ji Chang gladly reported the result of his training to Fei Wei.

这样练习了两年后，即使有锥子朝他眼睛射去，他的眼睛也不眨一下。纪昌高兴地把练习的结果报告了飞卫。

Fei Wei said:

飞卫说:

"This is not enough. You must train your eyesight, then we can talk about archery. You must train till you can magnify small things into big ones, and see minute things distinctly."

“这还不行，你必须练好眼力，才能谈得上射箭。你要练得能把很细小的东西看得很巨大;能把很细微的东西看得很清晰。”

Ji Chang returned home and hung a louse on the window with an ox tailhair. Every day he faced south and stared at it with fixed concentration. Over 10 days later, he felt that the louse was becoming bigger. After 3 years, it looked as big as a carriage wheel. Then he looked at other things and they became as big as small hills in his eyes.

纪昌回到家里，用根牛尾毛将一只虱子吊在窗户上。他每天面朝南，目不转睛地盯着它。过了十多天，他觉得虱子渐渐地大了起来，三年后，看起来竟像车轮那样大了。再看别的东西，在他眼里都像小山那样大了。

Thereupon, he took an arrow and shot at the louse. He hit the center of the louse with one single shot, while the ox tailhair was untouched and still hanging on the window.

于是，他拿起一支箭，向虱子射去。一箭就射中了虱子的中心，而那根牛尾毛没有被射到，依然好好地挂在窗户上。

Ji Chang ran to tell this to Fei Wei. Fei Wei gladly patted him on the chest and said:

纪昌跑去告诉飞卫。飞卫高兴地拍着他的胸膛说:

"You have really mastered the skill of archery."

“你啊!真的学到射箭的本领了!”