A man was strolling along the beach when he suddenly noticed from afar what he thought were children dancing. “What on earth are they doing dancing on the beach?” as he quickly paced towards them. He was surprised that a boy and a girl were not dancing but picking up the starfishes which were washed ashore by the tide and throwing them back into the sea.
“Excuse me, why are you throwing the starfishes back into the sea?” he asked.
The children ignored the remark but they continued picking up the starfishes and kept throwing them back into the sea.
“Don't you think it is a waste of your time as there are hundreds of starfishes still lying around. Surely you can't keep this act all day long.”
At last the elder boy replied, “Sir, you see the sun would soon rise and the tide will ebb away. Though my sister and I can't throw all the starfishes back into the sea, we are sure it matters to the ones we succeed in throwing. Would you like to join us, it would make a difference.” The man smiled and said, “It certainly would,” so he too picked up the starfishes and threw them into the sea.
一个人沿着海滩散步，这时，他看到远处好像有孩子们在跳舞。“他们到底在干吗？居然在沙滩上跳舞。”他朝孩子们快步走去。他很惊讶地发现男孩和女孩并不是在跳舞，而是在捡被潮汐冲上岸的海星，并将它们扔回到海里去。
“打扰一下，你们为什么要把海星扔回海里去呢？”他问。
孩子们根本没理会他的提问，继续捡着海星，往海里扔着。
“你们不觉得这是浪费时间吗？这周围可还有好几百只海星呢。显然你们不可能扔一整天啊。”
最后，男孩回答道：“先生，你看太阳很快就要出来了，潮水到时就会退去。尽管我和妹妹不可能把所有的海星扔回海里，但是我们干的这件事对那些被扔回去的海星是很重要的。你愿意和我们一起扔吗？肯定有意义。”这个人笑着说：“绝对有意义。”于是，他也开始捡起海星，朝海里扔去。
-stroll [strəʊl] v. 闲逛
-ebb [eb] v. 退(潮)
行善的千里大道都是由点滴跬步铺就的。