Translation: When someone was crossing a river, he saw a man pulling a child and throwing him into the river. The child was crying. The person crossing the river asked why he did this, and the man said, “His father is good at swimming.” Although his father is good at swimming, does his son have to be good at swimming? It must be absurd to deal with things in this way.
This story tells people: First, you have to rely on yourself to acquire skills, not on innate inheritance. Second, you have to deal with things based on reality. Different objects require different methods of handling. There is no same situation in the past.
译文：有人在过江时，见一个人正拉着一个小孩要把他投到江里去，小孩啼哭。过江的人忙问这样做的原因，那个人说：“他的父亲擅长游泳。”他父亲虽然擅长游泳，儿子难道就一定擅长游泳吗？用这样的方法处理事物，一定是荒谬的。
这个故事告诉人们：一是本领的获得要靠自己，而不能靠先天的遗传。二是处理事情要从实际出发，对象不同，处理的方法也要有所不同，千古无同局。
《古代寓言·游泳名手的儿子》
有过于江上者，见人方引婴儿，而欲投之江中，婴儿啼。
人问其故。
曰：“此其父善游。”
——其父虽善游，其子岂遽善游哉！
——《吕氏春秋》
The Son of a Good Swimmer
A man walking along the river bank saw someone about to throw a small boy into the water. The child was screaming with terror.
“Why do you want to throw that child into the water?” asked the passer-by.
“His father is a good swimmer,” was the answer.
But it does not follow that the son of a good swimmer can swim.
The Discourses of Lü Buwei
(Lü Shi Chun Qiu)
