成语故事 - 歧路亡羊 Where there are too many forked roads, the sheep will be lost

歧路亡羊(qi lu wang yang)
Where there are too many forked roads, the sheep will be lost

形容当事情复杂多变，没有正确的方向的时候，人们很容易因为迷失或偏离正道而找不到真理。
When confronted with too many choices and complications, one who seeks the truth is likely to be lost if the correct method is not applied


学者杨子的邻居丢了一只羊，就叫了亲戚朋友又请了杨子的仆人一起去找羊。杨子问他：“只是丢了一只羊，为什么要找这么多人去追呢？”。邻居回答：“因为路上有很多岔路啊！”

过了一会儿，人们都回来了。“找到羊了吗？”，杨子问。大家回答：“没有，路上有岔路，岔路上又有岔路。我们不知该往哪儿找，只好回来了。”

杨子听了后沉默不语。他的学生不明白老师在想什么，便跑去问老师的朋友心都子。心都子说：“你们的老师在担心你们的学业呀！这件事让他想到你们的学习和研究上是会有很多困难的。如果你们找不到正确的学习方向和方法的话，最终将不会有任何成就，就像大家找不到这只跑丢了的羊一样。”


Scholar Yang Zi's neighbour lost a sheep and had asked all relatives and friends, and even Yang Zi's servant to help search for it. Yang Zi asked him,"Only one sheep lost wat, why you send so many people to look for it?". His neighbour replied,"Because there are a lot of fork roads out there loh!"

After some time, everybody came back. "So how? Found the sheep?", Yang Zi asked. "Don't have leh," they replied. "Every road also got branches and then every branches got more branches! Let that we also don't know which road to follow, so we give up lor."

Upon hearing this, Yang Zi stood silent. His student was puzzled what the teacher was thinking about so he looked for Yang Zi's friend Xin Du Zi to ask him. Of which Xin Du Zi replied,"Your teacher is worrying about your study. That sheep incident reminds him of the difficulties you will face in learning and doing research. Scali you fail to find the correct orientation and method of study, you will accomplish nothing, just like how those people have failed to find the lost sheep."