亡羊补牢

亡羊补牢 Repairing the Pen after Losing a Sheep

从前有个人，养了一群羊。 Long ago, a man raised a flock of sheep.

有一天早上，他发现少了一只羊 —— 羊圈破了一个洞。 One morning, he discovered that one sheep was missing — the sheep pen had a hole in it.

邻居劝他：快把洞补上吧。 His neighbor urged him, “Hurry and repair the hole.”

他说：羊已经丢了，补了还有什么用呢？ He said, “The sheep is already lost. What use is repairing it now?”

第二天早上，他起来一看，又少了一只羊。 The next morning, he got up and saw that another sheep was missing.

这一次他赶快把羊圈修好了。 This time, he quickly repaired the sheep pen.

从那以后，他再也没有丢过羊。 From then on, he never lost another sheep.

出了问题及时补救，还不算太晚。 When a problem arises, it is not too late if you fix it in time.

考试考坏了，马上开始好好复习，这就是亡羊补牢。 If you do badly on a test and immediately start studying hard, that is 亡羊补牢.