古时候，有个人他指望田里的禾苗长得快，天天到田边去看，几天过去了可是禾苗一点也没有长高，他在田边焦急的转来转去，自言自语的说：“我的想个办法，帮助他们长高，”一天他终于想到一个办法，急忙来到田里，把禾苗一颗一颗的往上面拔，从中午一直忙到太阳落山，弄得筋疲力尽，他回到家里一边喘气一边说：“：“今天可把我累坏了，力气总算没白费，禾苗都长高了一大截！”他儿子不明白是怎么回事跑到田里一看禾苗都枯萎了。
     这则寓言告诉我们，任何事物都有它的发展规律，按照事物的发展规律才能把事情做好，如果仅凭自己的愿望而背离了事物发展规律，结果只能是适得其反。有时候“揠苗助长”也作“拔苗助长”。

      揠苗助长英文版
      (To Pull up the Seedlings to Help Them Grow)

      Once upon a time, an old farmer planted a plot of rice. Everyday he went to the field to watch the seedlings grow. He saw the young shoots break through the soil and grow taller each day. But still, he thought they were growing too slowly. He got impatient with the young plants. "How could the plants grow faster?" He tossed in bed during the night and could not sleep. Suddenly he hit upon an idea. He had an idea not wait for daybreak. He jumped out of the bed and dashed to the field. By the moonlight, he began working on the rice seedlings. One by one, he pulled up the young plants by half an inch. When he finished pulling, it was already morning. Straightening his back, he said to himself, "What a wonderful idea! Look, how much taller the plants have grown one night!" With great satisfaction, he went back home. He told his son what he had done in a triumphant tone. His son was shocked. Now the sun had risen. The young man was heart-broken to see all the pulled-up young plants dying.

      People now use " Ba Miao Zhu Zhang" to describe the behavior of those who are too eager to get something done only to make it worse. The idiom is a bit like the English proverb "Haste makes waste" ------to spoil things by excessive enthusiasm.