有個(gè)守財(cái)奴變賣(mài)了他所有的家產(chǎn)，換回了金塊，并秘密地埋在一個(gè)地方。他每天都去看看他的寶藏。有個(gè)在附近放羊的牧人留心觀察，知道了真情，趁他走后，挖出金塊拿走了。守財(cái)奴再來(lái)時(shí)，發(fā)現(xiàn)洞中的金塊沒(méi)有了，便捶胸痛哭。有個(gè)人見(jiàn)他如此悲痛，問(wèn)明原因后，說(shuō)道：“喂，朋友，別再難過(guò)了，那塊金子雖是你買(mǎi)來(lái)的，但并不是你真正擁有的。去拿一塊石頭來(lái)，代替金塊放在洞里，只要你心里想著那是塊金子，你就會(huì)很高興的。這樣與你擁有真正的金塊效果沒(méi)什么不同。依我之見(jiàn)，你擁有那金塊時(shí)，也從沒(méi)用過(guò)。”

這故事說(shuō)明，一切財(cái)物如不使用等于沒(méi)有。

A MISER sold all that he had and bought a lump ofgold，which he buried in a hole in the ground by the sideof an old wall and went to look at daily．One of his workmen observed his freqnent visits to the spot and decided to watch his movements．He soon discovered the secret of the hidden treasure，and digging down，came to the lump of gold，andstole it．The Miser，on his next visit，found the hole empty and began to tear his hair and to make loud lamentations．A neighbor，see- ing him overcome with grief and learning the cause，said，“Pray do not grieve so；but go and take a stone，and place it in the hole，andfancy that the gold is still lying there．It will do you quite the same service；for when the gold was there，you had it not，as you did not make the slightest use of it.”

(責(zé)編：馬超勤)