郑人买履
A man from Zheng Buys Shoes
从前，有一个郑国人，有一天，他决定去集市上买一双新鞋子。他在家里量好了自己的脚的尺寸，然后仔细地把这个尺寸记在一张纸上。
Once upon a time, there was a man from Zheng. One day, he decided to go to the market to buy a new pair of shoes. At home, he carefully measured his foot size and wrote the measurement down on a piece of paper.
他到了集市后，看到了一家鞋店，里面的鞋子样式很多，他觉得每双都很好看。于是，他想从口袋里拿出那张写有自己脚尺寸的纸，可是，发现纸不见了！他想了想，决定先回家找那张纸再回来买鞋。
When he arrived at the market, he saw a shoe store with many different styles of shoes. He thought they all looked very nice. So, he reached into his pocket and wanted to take out the piece of paper with his foot measurement, but he found that the paper was missing! He thought for a moment and decided to go home to find the paper before coming back to buy the shoes.
他一路跑回家，找到那张纸，然后又急急忙忙地跑回集市。但是，当他回到鞋店时，集市已经关门了。他什么也没买到，只能空着手回家了。
He ran all the way home, found the paper, and then hurriedly ran back to the market. However, when he returned to the shoe store, the market had already closed. He couldn't buy anything and had to go home empty-handed.
旁边的人看到后，觉得很奇怪，问他：“为什么不直接试试鞋子，看看合不合脚呢？”
People nearby saw this and found it very strange. They asked him, "Why didn't you just try on the shoes to see if they fit?"
郑国人回答说：“我只相信那张纸上的尺寸！”
The man from Zheng replied, "I only trust the measurement on that piece of paper!"
这个故事告诉我们，有时候我们过于依赖外界的标准，而忽略了最直接的方法，结果反而得不偿失。
This story tells us that sometimes we rely too much on external standards and ignore the most direct method, which can lead to missed opportunities.
