有一个楚国人坐船渡江，船正在江中行驶着，他一时疏忽扑通一声，他将随身所带的宝剑掉入江中，他马上在船落剑的地方刻上一个记号，并且自言自语的说：“我的剑是从这个地方掉下去的”。船在江中行驶了好久终于靠了岸，他从船上刻记号的地方跳下去寻找宝剑，结果捞了半天也没有捞到，他没有想到船离开落剑的水域已经很远了，凭着船上的记号怎么能找到剑呢！

     这个故事告诉我们，事物总是在不断变化，发展的，想问题的时候要考虑到这些变化。同时寓言讽刺了那些死守教条，拘泥成法，固执而不知变通的人。

      刻舟求剑英文版

      Once upon a time a man from the State of Chu was crossing a river by boat. But carelessly his sword fell into the water. Immediately he made a mark on the boat. He said,"This is where my sword fell off."

    When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to look for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. Of course he couldn't find it. He didn't know the boat had moved but the sword had no.

      刻舟求剑英文解释：
     To cut a mark on the side of one's boat to indicate the place where one's sword has dropped into the river; to take measures without regard to changes in circumstances; to be stubbornly unimaginative